Profile Review: 27M, 3.8 GPA, 740 GMAT
Background
- Undergrad School: University of California, Berkeley
- UG Major: Philosophy
- UG GPA: 3.80
- Race/Ethnicity: Korean-American
- Sex: Male
- Age: 27
- Other: I have overcome my disability to succeed at school and work -- I am fully blind in my left eye.
GMAT
- GMAT: 740
Work Experience
- 3.5 years of total WE at matriculation
- 3.5 years of WE at Oracle Corporation, working as a high-tech enterprise software sales rep
- Have a promotion. My first 1.5 years, I was a "Business Development Consultant" focusing on opportunities. Then I got promoted to "Enterprise Account Executive" with a closing role
- Always exceeded quarterly quotas as a BDC. As an Account Exec, I am in the top 30% of my salesforce, closing over $1,000,000 over two years
- I've received various "Oracle Excellence Awards" for closing business and boosting pipeline
- I've had leadership roles. I was appointed to be a "Senior BDC" where I mentored new hires and ramped them up. I run a professional book club at work. I am the President of my hub's Toastmasters. I organize company-sponsored food drives for low income veterans in the SF Bay Area.
Extracurricular Activities
- Have worked on political campaigns, like been the "field director" of a city councilman during his election. my focus was on municipal broadband and Clean Energy
- Have a leadership position on a micro-finance nonprofit helping low-income entrepreneurs in Oakland
- play electric guitar in a classic rock cover band
MBA Goals
- I want to go into general management at a f500 company.
What do you think? Thanks so much!!
I'm still not sure at what exact MBA schools to target, or how many. Vaguely, I'm aiming for the M7 and t15. Do you have any specific suggestions? I'll probably not apply to Haas since my UG was Berkeley, and while I loved the hell out of my Cal experience, I want to gain an additional alumni network.
Thanks!
anyone? thanks!
But only weaknesses I see: - what was your gmat score breakdown? Not seeing evidence of quant in the rest of your profile, so even though you did really well if it's heavy verbal you might want to find ways to prove quant ability elsewhere, also since it's not super evident from your job - sales -> f500 corporate finance isn't the most compelling career trajectory, probably makes you less of a fit for the H/S/W type schools who are obsessed with creating leaders.
Thinking you could be a great match at fuqua, darden, anderson or ross, but not totally out of scope for kellogg or booth
thanks for your insight and comments!!
so to clarify, i'm not interested in pursuing "corporate finance," but general management. i'm also looking at rotational programs, marketing management, business development, leadership development, brand management, etc. (but not finance). does that make a difference? I'm aiming for a marketing management role with an analytics focus.
Also my GMAT breakdown is Q48, V42.
Thanks!!
So I thought about this a little more - and I mean, I'm no expert, I'm just applying myself - but I think you might want to check in for a profile review at GMAT club or a forum who might be more adept at assessing non-finance candidates like yourself. Obviously not every student in the MBA business schools ">M7 has IB experience or it'd be pretty dull, and I just have no idea how this will be perceived. My assessment in general is that sales is kind of a "meh" background - it's not terrible but it doesn't exactly sell you as an intellectual powerhouse, especially along with a philosophy undergrad major (not saying you're not smart, clearly you are, just the story the experience tells). But you worked at a good company and moved up fast, so it might cancel itself out. Another idea is to take one of those 30 minute free calls with a consultant. They tend to kind of oversell your position sometimes to get you to buy their services ("Yeah I'll get you into GSB no problemmmmm just shell out $5k for consulting") but they can still offer some solid advice and I do think they'll tell you if you don't have a shot in hell at a top program.
Also, I've heard asian males can be at a disadvantage, but IDK if there's any real difference between korean, chinese, etc.
thanks so much dude!! i'll check out GMAT club too!! def appreciate your thought out and detailed posts. i'll check out a consultant for a consultation for sure - i agree my app is a bit atypical.
so i had a question. you recommended Haas to me, should I apply there? Like I said, I loved my UC Berkeley undergrad experience, but I was hesitant to apply to Haas BC I've heard it's not a good idea to go to the same institution for undergrad and MBA bc it lowers ur alumni pool.
What do you think? Or should I apply to Haas anyway? Berkeley was a good "fit" for me and its job placement is good for marketing analytics.
To be honest, i don't know your industry well enough to comment. If I were advising someone in my industry (VC) I would say that you're only as valuable as your network and an MBA is a huge opportunity to expand it.
Questions to ask yourself: could you call up a Haas MBA and he would treat you like you part of the same alumni community or are they fairly separate? Are you looking to place regionally in the bay area? Could you make the industry switch without the MBA by leveraging your Berkeley network? All your call
Here's where you stand:
H/S/W - super stretch; maybe look at 1-2 at most
Sloan, Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, Tuck - stretch, but within reach; aim for 3-4 (given your goals, I'd focus on Kellogg, Tuck, Sloan)
Haas, UCLA, Stern, Cornell, Yale, Ross, Duke, Darden - sweet spots; aim for 3-4 (again given your goals for F500 or west coast I'd look at Haas, UCLA, Ross, and one of Duke/Darden).
I wouldn't look beyond the top 16 given your profile, since it's probably not worth the time and money given your profile unless it's a top 16 or better.
As for Haas, not a big deal that you're a Cal grad. In fact, it'll likely give you a leg up as universities like to keep it in the family. It's not that uncommon for folks to return to the same university for b-school. It's going to be a different experience since you'll be older, in a completely different school within the university, and a different network. Remember your real network is who you know (your actual classmates, and the people they know up to maybe 2-3 degrees of separation). Not some random stranger you can pull up on a search engine in your alumni database. Again, at any b-school, you'll find a good chunk are alums (and at places like HBS, Wharton, Stanford, Columbia one of the largest if not the largest contingents are those who went to undergrad at the same parent university).
And other than Columbia (which only has 2 rounds), you can apply either R1 or R2 as it won't make a difference.
What can help counteract your seemingly solid but not super pedigreed profile is that for some reason, the Asian/Asian-American applicant pool is heavily skewed towards finance (you don't get the more even balance of bankers, consultants, F500, nonprofit, non-traditionals, etc like you would with say other Americans, or other non-Indian internationals). In plain English, unlike your fellow Asian/Asian-American applicants to b-school, there are relatively fewer corporate types, engineers, consultants, etc applying to b-school compared to the armies of Asian finance guys/gals. So consider that as a benefit in your favor given your profile.
I guess maybe it's because if the Asian can't impress his/her parents with the supposed prestige of becoming a doctor, then they'd settle for someone who can make a lot of money - hence the finance route. Kidding, sort of.
i know you went to wharton but do you really think at this point that wharton belongs on the same line as H/S and not on the line with the rest of the M7+Tuck
Even when I was applying 20 years ago, it was perceived as in between H/S and the other top 8 - whether it's closer to H/S or closer to the rest of the top 8 is a matter of Internet Debate, which I'll let the kids duke it out.
I would hire a consultant and shoot for H/S/W, probably Harvard since you want to go into general management
Despite being an Asian male, you are a disabled philosophical rockstar, who wouldn't want to have that in their class. Though just break out of the nerdy Asian stereotypes, I don't know, pick up some cool hobby like Squash or something
I wouldn't look outside of MBA business schools ">M7 schools or equivalents if I were you
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