Profile Evaluation - Nontraditional, 690 GMAT

[TrevorW210]

Hi,

I'm wondering if you guys could help give me some insight on if I'll be competitive as things stand for a top tier business school. I'm just out of the Peace Corps, have experience with other NGOs, and want to focus on Social Impact/Sustainable Development/Non-Profit Management.

What scares me most, is that my education background is a bit all over the place.

I dropped out of high school at 15 (family issues, depression, etc) and moved out of my parents house. After spending two years working minimum wage jobs, I really appreciated the value of education, I got my GED and enrolled in college. I had no support from my parents but couldn't qualify for financial aid until I turned 23 and could fill out a FAFSA without them. So I attended community college, but work had to come first. Sometimes I had to withdrawal or even take F's from classes in the middle of the semester because something would happen (my car breaks down and I need $2000 to fix it, my sister needs $3000 for eye surgery...) and I'd need to get another job.

Anyways, I kept with it, and after 5 years I received my 2 year degree. At 21 I had gotten a significant promotion and was finally significantly above minimum wage, at 23 I was able to collect financial aid finally and that was a turning point in my life. I enrolled in a decent University, still had to work 40 hours a week to pay for things, but got a 3.8 GPA and have been working since.

Here's the details -

I am:

28 year old American white male

Educational background - combined GPA 3.49:
A.A Computer Information Systems (Community College - withdrawals on transcript for whole semesters several times, 2 F's on transcript but those classes were retaken and replaced on my GPA through grade forgiveness with A's - GPA 3.2)
B.A. History and International Studies (State University, double major, with certificate for Latin American and Caribbean Studies - 3.8 GPA)
1 year language study - Yunnan University (in Yunnan, China) (awarded a very competitive Confucius Scholarship for 1 year of Chinese language study in China)

Work Experience
-5 years of management experience at a movie theater (I realize this isn't exactly hedge fund management, but at 21 I was supervising 100+ employees, handling all aspects of personnel management, maintaining fiscal controls, and looking over million dollar profit-and-loss (P&L) reports in a retail setting)
-1 year as the Program Manager for an NGO in Colombia (Worked in Bogota - coordinated a program that provided skilled international volunteers to help in areas of need all over Colombia. I worked as a liaison between the volunteers and organizations in healthcare, childcare, education, environmental protection. I created an afterschool English program that is the only source of English education in two rural cities in Colombia that are sustainably still running two years later, helped fundraise to send 5 high-achieving children in drug-infested neighborhoods to Disney world and many other things)
- 2 Years as a University English Teacher in the Peace Corps in western China. (Served two years in the Peace Corps in the poorest province in China. Was one of three foreigners in my city, taught English to mostly rural and migrant students. Had secondary projects that included helping to fundraise and organize a week for students to live on an organic farm and learn about environmental protection, hosting a conference on diversity at my University, participating in women's empowerment conferences, and helping to translate minority folk stories into English for a free textbook)

Volunteer Work:
-6 months - teaching in impoverished schools in Colombia, volunteering in a soup kitchens and elderly care institutions when class was out. (this is separate from the work experience above)
-Many things in China: conducted two weeks of teacher training to countryside middle school teachers, occasionally went to village schools and taught English, etc.
-Over 200 hours recorded with Habitat for Humanity in my hometown, constructing homes for families in need

Languages: English, Chinese, Spanish (Chinese and Spanish largely self-taught from immersion as an adult, both spoken at a professional working level proficiency)

GMAT - 690 (V 39, Q 45)

So here are the questions:
1) I am passionate about social impact programs, and want to attend a top Non-Profit Management/Sustainable Development/Social Impact program. The ones on my list are: Stanford (probably not gonna happen), Berkley, NYU, Colombia, Duke. Given my ...odd... transcripts, and fringe GMAT score, is this realistic as things stand?
2) Should I study more and retake the GMAT again in October?
3) Is the approach that I've taken above to explain my slightly strange academic background, a good approach to take when applying for B-schools?

Thanks so much!

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing so much about your background.

You have some ups and some downs to your candidacy, as you've shown that you are aware of. ;)

Certainly your Peace Corps experience and commitment to giving back to the community and NGO work etc are commendable and will be a strength to your profile. Achieving the 3.8 in the end at university is strong and coming back from the prior struggles says a lot about your character. You've accomplished a lot and had a lot of management experience over your adult life. Your international experience is also important to highlight (what did you learn from it; how has it impacted who you are today and how you interact with others, etc).

As you know, the GMAT and prior academic challenges would be semi-weaknesses, and then there's just the overall challenge of ensuring, since your background is less traditional, the b-schools that you KNOW what you are getting into-this IS the right next step for you and you clearly can envision your post-MBA career.

If you are able to re-take the GMAT it could help some, and it's not uncommon to take it more than once-- schools take the highest score.

Yes Stanford will be a long shot, just keeping it real. Others like Yale or Haas which are great for non-profit etc , you never know... especially if you bump up the GMAT, put together stellar essays and recommendations. (Surprised Yale wasn't on there for non profit/social enterprise??). You could also look at Ross or Kenan Flagler.

And yes you can briefly explain the situation causing the academic weaknesses in the past and how you've overcome it and learned from it, etc. Keeping it brief and focusing on how you've come back from that.

If you'd like to discuss further, we do have a free 30 min consultation option at http://mbamission.com/consult/, and/or feel free to come back and post more here. Wishing you all the best!