Profile Evaluation

[mkolympic]

Hi mbaMission,

I'd appreciate some thoughts on my background and whether I would be competitive for MBA admissions.


Academics:
3.43 GPA, Liberal Arts Background
For undergrad, went to a top-40 public school (UC San Diego) for 2 years, then transferred to a top-18 private school (Notre Dame). Graduated from latter school

GMAT: 720 (although quant didn't make it above the 80th percentile)
Took an accounting course at a local community college. Received an "A"

Professional Experience:
-1 Year as a business development professional for a relatively large, institutional investment manager (the equity investment arm of a publicly-traded European financial conglomerate).
-Suspended my professional career for 6 months due to family emergency: running and managing a restaurant that was going under. Managed the restaurant and successfully sold it (for a profit) to avert total loss.
-3 Years as a Technology Investment Banker for a small boutique firm in Silicon Valley. Even though I will be typecasted as a "I-banker" in the eyes of admissions, my role was really a hybrid of science engineering, i-banking, and consulting. Received incredible M&A deal experience (particularly cross-border international experience, heavy in European regions), helping small technology companies get acquired by large technology conglomerates such as Google, IBM, Qualcomm, etc. Interfaced with many Venture Capital firms and incredible engineering CEOs/talent in Silicon Valley. Highlights include having successfully sold companies to Apple, Sony, etc. for a premium and raising $10-30 million for small technology companies to help them with their growth plans. During my tenure, the firm had unprecedented revenue growth and has expanded.

Extracurriculars:
-In college (so I know it will weigh less), served as Editor-in-Chief for the college's official student magazine (oldest continously published magazine in the U.S.)
-In college, Served as a Resident Assistant of a dorm of 270 students
-In college, was one of 17 seniors (out of 2,000+) selected to design a new class for the university, led by the Business School Dean and the No. 3 authority at the University
-Started a relatively successful entrepreneurial business that sold products to Korea (and operations in the U.S.)
-Helped a startup's CEO copyedit his autobiography and draft the provisional patents for products
-Actively mentor Stanford undergrads, and help them craft their resumes for job recruiting
-Actively involved in a national organization (Korean-American Scientists & Engineers), participating and giving presentations on trends in technology and advancing Korean-Americans in society
-Started a successful web property as a resource for Korean-Americans in job recruiting and life skills

Why I want to pursue MBA:
I have built relatively substantial experience in finance, technology, and consulting from my 3 years with the boutique firm. Love working with small companies/entrepreneurs and have good experience from working M&A deals from beginning to end, selling to large well-known technology companies and raising money from well-known Venture Capital firms (Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, etc.). My passion is seeing great ideas go to market, and how I do this is help entrepreneurs grow their business and achieve an nice outcome (but I've also been of course humbled by many failed attempts as well and learned from them). I've seen this from the traditional sell-side perspective, but now I aggressively want to pursue this from the Venture Capital perspective.

I want to leverage my professional experience with my personal knowledge of Korea. I've helped Koreans in the past with crafting their voice (through resumes and essays), now I want to do so in building their woeful venture capital resources. I want to use the skills and the network built from the MBA to tackle the obstacles preventing an otherwise brilliantly technical country flourish more by encouraging a culture for startups and building new credible pipelines for investment to fund them.

I'll be 29 yrs. old when applying (30 when I matriculate), and I am Asian-American.

I know it's a stretch (for everyone), but I'd like to apply to: HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, and Dartmouth

[rachel]

Hi! You certainly have some strong credentials that you can use to bolster your business school application. I believe your varied experiences will work in your favor if you are able to show the AdCom your accomplishments - not responsibilities - in each. I think your restaurant experience will turn into a strong differentiator because most other business school applicants don't have those kinds of career shifts to talk about. Also, your GMAT score is within the range of the top schools but the lower quant could be a hurdle for you. I think the fact that you took the accounting course at a community college could help show the AdCom that you have the quant skills you need for business school.

Best of luck,

Rachel Beck

http://www.mbamission.com

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