Profile Evaluation, Please - Fall 2010

[robert.matelski]

Hello,

I am preparing to apply for Fall 2010 admission and I would like to get a realistic understanding of my chances.

White male, US-born, 30 years old (31 at matriculation)
GMAT: 720 (Q: 48, V: 41, still awaiting AWA results), Sept 2009

Undergrad (graduated 2001): B.A., 3.06 GPA from a small Jesuit liberal arts university, Economics major. Worked full-time (insurance industry) during college and managed my own real estate investment properties concurrently.

Grad (graduated 2005): M.Arch (masters of architecture), 3.22 GPA from a Big-Ten university.

Work: During college and for the year after, I worked for an insurance company (Fortune 500 corp) in a variety of roles, starting in a call center (at 19), becoming a supervisor/quality analyst in the call center (at 20), and then becoming a marketing analyst after completing my BA at 22. Decided I was more interested in working in a field that dealt with the built environment than dealing with just financial services, and went on to pursue architecture (grad school). Worked as an intern for a small architecture firm during part of grad school, and have worked in 3 other architecture firms of varying sizes and types since completing the M.Arch. As an aside, most architectural work that I have done is a combination of pure design, technical work, and project management/client interaction. I became a licensed architect in the state of CA this year.

References: Will have very good references from my current supervisor and a principal of my current firm, which is a highly regarded international firm with 7 offices around the world.

Other: involved in community and professional organizations such as the AIA (American Institute of Architects), SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association), LEAP for kids (an organization of architects/builders promoting arts education in Bay Area schools).

I want to enroll in an MBA program as an avenue to transition my career toward the direction of real estate development and/or asset management, building upon my experience in architecture. I realize that my background is certainly much different than the backgrounds of the majority of MBA program applicants, and I am not sure if this will be a huge hindrance that will keep me from gaining admittance at reputable schools.

I would love to get into UC Berkeley (Haas), NYU (Stern), or Cornell (Johnson), but maybe those schools are totally unrealistic given my grades and demographic profile. I am also considering USC (Marshall), Georgetown (McDonough), and UT Austin (McCombs). Are there other schools that I may be a good fit for that I have overlooked?

Would greatly appreciate any advice or feedback you can offer. Thanks!

[mbamission]

Thank you for your inquiry. You certainly have an interesting background that will stand out. Your GMAT is strong and your work experience varied, with demonstrated leadership and increasing responsibility. I do see a few possible concerns: first, your age puts you 2-3 years over the median at most top 20 US schools. While that puts some pressure on you to excel in your applications this year, I don't think it's a huge barrier. Because you switched careers and returned to school, it's clear that you did valuable things with those extra years. Second, your community activity seems limited to professionally-geared organizations. That's also not necessarily a huge problem, but focus in your essays on leadership and initiative you showed in those settings, as well as looking through your personal story to be able to showcase different sides of yourself. Third, your undergraduate GPA is lower than the schools would like. This is somewhat mitigated by the graduate grades and the GMAT, and further, it's something out of your control at this stage! The biggest challenge I see is that you have already switched careers once, and in the four years since completing graduate school, have worked for 4 companies. The admissions committees could have concerns about your commitment and ability to stick to goals and see them through to completion.

I think this last issue is best handled through your career essay, perhaps supplementing it with an optional essay that explains the frequent architecture moves. In the career essay, you'll want to show how all aspects of your past present logical stepping stones to your current goals, so that instead of looking like the jobs were just random, they instead appear well-thought-out and deliberate. In essence, you want business school to position you for a career expansion, rather than a career change.

If you're able to do that well, and can address some of my other concerns, all of the schools on your list seem reasonable, with the first three as stretches but not impossible and the second set as schools you'll be competitive at.

Best of luck,

Jessica Shklar
mbaMission

our blog: www.mbamission.com/blog