Profile evaluation

[artista0218]

It would be great if you could evaluate my profile and provide some recommendations for the upcoming application process.

Background

German citizenship (born and raised). During my university time I interned with consulting and steel companies in Chicago, Washington D.C., and London. After working for three years in Germany on global projects, my company, the second largest media company in the world, transferred me to LA. I’ve been working here in LA for over a year now, managing an e-commerce team and global project rollouts. My goal is to apply to MBA programs during the fall of 2009, after five years of work experience, and start the MBA program in 2010.

I am planning to apply to UCLA and USC for the part time programs here in LA, as well as IMD, IE, and IESE in Europe for full time programs.

Work experience

- Four years work experience as a project manager and global account manager in the IT High Tech industry.
- I managed global teams of more than 20 people in various locations in the U.S, Canada and Europe, with a focus on implementing new businesses.

Education

University of Applied Sciences (in Germany): Graduate Information Scientist for Business, graduating in top 10% of my class. During my last year at the university, I represented the student body in the university board.

One of my professors recommended me to a professor at the Ashridge Business School, where I wrote my final thesis and received top grade of 94%.

Fluent in German and English, with a working knowledge of Spanish.

Education after university:
- Six Sigma Green Belt Training
- "˜Introduction to Management Programme’ at Ashridge Business School
- Dale Carnegie Sales Academy

Volunteer work

After high school, I participated in civil service, working as a full-time paramedic with the German Red Cross. During this year I experienced everything from child birth to horrible car accidents on the German autobahn. After the one year full-time position, I continued to volunteer my paramedic services while studying at my university.

GMAT

Total 600

Verbal 31

Quantitative 42

Analytical Writing 5.0
TEST INFORMATION (Score / % Below)
Personal Interests

- Sports: marathon running, scuba diving, soccer, skiing, rock climbing, hiking
- Fervent interest in international travel and culture

[mbamission]

Thank you for your inquiry. Your background is an interesting one that I think will make you competitive at any of the schools you mentioned. In particular, your global and leadership experiences make you a strong candidate, and from what you're describing it sounds like you'll have solid references from both your company and if necessary from internships or university (if you have stayed in touch with former bosses or professors). Your paramedic experience could give you some powerful stories for an essay, and it's particularly helpful that you continued as a volunteer paramedic beyond that one year, so that the experience is deeper and more current.



To strengthen your application you should consider re-taking the GMAT again, since 600 is a fairly low score. I know English isn't your first language, but if you can pull up your score it will remove doubts that the committee might have about your ability to excel in a rigorous English-speaking academic environment. If you don't have time to re-take it or don't believe you can pull your score up, address the low score in your optional essay without making excuses, but focusing on your academic strengths. You also don't mention any current or recent community activities. If you can get involved in something you're passionate about that shows continuity with past experiences (for example, volunteer paramedic work in L.A. or something sports-related), you'll be able to demonstrate a different side of yourself in your application.

Good luck!

Sincerely,
Jessica Shklar
MBA Mission

646-485-8844

Website: www.mbamission.com
Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: www.mbamission.com/consult.php

[artista0218]

Hi Jessica,

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback. I will definitely think about taking the GMAT again to increase my changes of admission. However, I would have one concern: what happens if I only get the same score (or even worse a lower score) and this is reported to the schools? Would this have a negative impact on my changes for admission? If I decide to retake the exam, would it make sense to only send it to the relevant school after I reviewed the results and I am sure that the result increased?

I thought about taking some classes at UCLA for the PMI this year. Would this have a positive effect on the application considering the GMAT score?
In addition, I heard that in general recommendations from the working world are preferred compared to academic recommendations. I am sure that I could get very good recommendations for both my working experience and for academic achievements. Given the relatively low GMAT score, would you rather recommend having one recommendation from each world?

Thanks again for your support and helpful advice

[mbamission]

Thanks for writing back in. I wouldn't be too concerned about taking the GMAT again; most schools just ask for your highest score, and in any case, the schools are certainly familiar with candidates taking it more than once! The classes at UCLA could be quite helpful in building an alternate transcript and to give the schools additional evidence of your academic strength. Since your undergraduate education was in German, 2-3 solid grades at UCLA will demonstrate your ability to excel in an English-speaking academic environment.

The most important criteria in selecting who should write your reference is to choose someone who has known you well over a period of time and can speak specifically and in detail about your strengths, development and goals. Two work references who can do that is strongly preferable. Unless your academic reference is someone you worked with for an extensive period of time on a research project, for example, and who you stayed in touch with since then, it's probably not the best choice. If you were only out of school a year or two my answer might be different but at this point, an academic reference isn't relevant enough to be really strong for you.

I hope that helps!

Sincerely,
Jessica Shklar
MBA Mission

646-485-8844

Website: www.mbamission.com
Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: www.mbamission.com/consult.php