Unique Pre-MBA Experiences
Hello all,
I am trying to build my profile early for MBA applications. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be applying after gaining 3 or 4 years of experience. Prior to applying, I would like to do something off the beaten path such as a non-profit in a low income country.
To clarify, because I know this will come up, I would not be doing this simply for the sake of improving my b-school application. This has always been something I have wanted to do, and I know if I don’t do it prior to B-school and while I am young, then it will never happen. Can anyone speak to such experiences? Any recommendations about specific programs and details about your experience would be incredibly helpful.
I am a recent graduate working for a nichey, buy-side PE fund in NYC. I volunteer with a Big Brother, Big Sister program and am getting more involved within the program in addition to simply mentoring. I graduated from a top state UG b-school with a lower GPA 3.3-3.4 and am currently scoring between 700 and 740 on Kaplan CATs. With all that being said, where should my expectations be regarding the m7 schools?





I did Peace Corps, which I'd
I did Peace Corps, which I'd say is more on the hardcore side of the spectrum, after 4 years of finance and before bschool. There are also things such as Technoserve. If you dig around there are a decent amount of programs out there. I enjoyed my experience but my expectations were nothing what my actual experience was. I got, as well as my peers, pretty jaded but I think that comes with the territory of actually being on the front lines of such work.
Appreciate the response - If
Appreciate the response - If you don't mind sharing, where did you do Peace Corps? And why did you choose PC over other options?
I was in a spanish speaking
I was in a spanish speaking country. Honestly I didn't even look into other programs. I just always wanted to do the Peace Corps. I didn't even know other programs existed at the time I applied. I didn't really do much research, rather just applied to PC.
B-schools eat this stuff up,
B-schools eat this stuff up, especially H and S. You see tons of kids that do IB for 2-3 years, and then go do a non-profit for a year or so while studying for the GMAT. Although to me it seems clear what these kids motivations are for doing the non-profit (i.e. they aren't really interested but know it makes them really well rounded and attractive as a candidate), the business schools absolutely love it. Go to gmatclub.com (sorry WSO, love you) to see a bunch of threads on this.
"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
Also another comment, while
Also another comment, while it might be something you consider to be rare and unique, you'd be surprised how many kids at bschool have experiences like this. While I'm sure it is no doubt helpful, it is not so out there to truly separate you from the pack. I think what happens is you are just compared to other nonprofit types. So as you stated do it because you want to not because it will help you - think of benefits as just icing on the cake.