Profile Evaluation Request

[cshen1219]

32 year old Eastern Asian male.

GMAT: 740.
BS in Information and Computer Science from University of California, Irvine.
GPA: A whopping 2.89.

I have been in the IT field for the past 8 years. My experience ranges from .com, the defense sector, to now the financial sector. In these 8 years, I have gone from being a junior Java developer to a senior position. I am now a technical architect at my current company.

As far as extracurricular activities go, I am quite lacking in this area as well. I have not done any voluntary community service since I was in high school.

Short Term/Long Term Goals: I am looking to get into the IT management. In the short terms, I am looking to stay on the west coast. However, I am definitely opened to furthering my career on the east coast and in Asia as well.

Schools of Interest: Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, USC. For Stanford, I am interested in the full time program. For the rest of the schools, I am interested in their part time programs. I am looking to apply for round 2 this year.

I think my biggest question mark is definitely my gpa and the lack of extracurricular activities. Is there anything I can do to help mitigate those weak areas?

I know Stanford is a long shot. However, for part time programs at Berkeley, UCLA, and USC, do I have a realistic chance at those programs?

[mbamission]

Hi Cshen,

Thanks for writing in. Your GMAT is clearly top-rate (even moreso if it breaks the 80/80 barriers on both quant and verbal), and you are right to call out your GPA and extracurriculars as a weakness. You can overcome your GPA through a short optional essay, where you can address that college was a long time ago for you and point to your job success as proof of your professional maturity.

I don't really have a similar approach to the lack of extracurriculars; so in this case you may want to just highlight your other strengths, rather than trying to justify your weakness in this area.

As for the three part-time programs you list, I do think you can be competitive if you can illustrate a logical progression of your career to date and why you want to go into IT management. Wit part-time programs, it's important to discuss specifically why you are seeking part-time, ie what is the benefit of continuing to work while taking classes.

Good luck!
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (14 individual school titles)

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter

[cshen1219]

Thank you for your reply, Dan.

When you mentioned the 80/80 barriers on GMAT, were you referring to the 80th percentile on both verbal and math? (Mine were 93/89 math/verbal)

Is it possible for me to improve my chances by holding off my application till next year and taking this time to engage in activities that may help address my shortcomings?

As to your comment regarding the importance of stating my reason to seek a part time program, what kind of reasons are these schools looking for? Would it be something to the effect that I want to stay in touch with the industry by continuing my work while I work on my mba education? Is the financial reason a valid one? (I need to pay for it somehow!)

Thank you for your input. Really appreciate it!


Chris

[mbamission]

Hi Chris,

Yes I was referring to the percentile on the two sections, which you easily cleared. As for waiting an extra year, you are already on the older side of the application pool. And while you certainly can still legitimately apply, I worry that another year could just make it even harder to apply. In the eyes of the schools, if you haven't put together a solid application profile after 8 years, it is unlikely a 9th year will change much.

I think the financial factor is basically understood, but I do think you could call out that for your goals it is important to remain active in your field while also applying what you learn during school to your job.

Hope this helps!
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (14 individual school titles)

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter

[cshen1219]

Sounds great. I really appreciate your advice, Dan. Thanks a lot!