Berkeley / Haas - 01-08-2022 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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January 7, 2022 3:36pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Dartmouth / Tuck, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2022

Pre-MBA Career: Education, small business owner

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology Companies: Google , Microsoft

GMAT: 760

GPA: 3.47

Years of Work Experience: 11

Location: Japan

Notes:

Founded and have been managing a language school in Japan for 7 years, looking to pivot to a PM/PMM job in EdTech in the US.

Like (1)

Show Comments (8) Last: January 20, 2022

benchan Likes Earned: 73 OP: Maybe I should've posted some other stats about myself: 33yo white dude, married Dartmouth undergrad, ling and japanese double major Have founded three companies thusfar, my school is the one that has stuck Have lived in Japan since undergrad, never worked in US (besides for my first company, online media business) (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1674 Super interesting profile. Your admissions challenge will be to show that you’ll fit in, that you know the programs you’re targeting and that you’ll fully engage, as well as making logical connections to your post MBA goals. Do you have any geographic preference, post MBA? Are you targeting all these programs in Round 2? (1)

benchan Likes Earned: 73 Thanks for the response. The main reason I took the shotgun approach was hoping that my non-traditional background would "fit" somewhere.... I have no geographical preference really. My mother is in the Midwest but will probably move in with me, and then my wife's family is in Japan so, either way it'll be far. Yes, everything in Round 2, just finishing up Stern and Sloan now. Thanks again~ (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1674 It’ll be up to you to make the “fit”, that’s the challenge, but I think it’s quite doable. (0)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1224 As an older candidate, you will need to convince the schools that you aren't going to just "get in, get the degree, and get out" - that you will throw yourself headlong into student life (despite being older, married, etc.). You will also need to convince the admissions reader that you have carefully thought through how the MBA will help you to achieve your goals, and that those goals themselves are feasible and clear. For instance, do you have a sense as to whether or not Google et al, hire many 35 year olds into post-MBA entry-level posts? I presume they do, but I just want to push you to ensure that your goals feel right to the admissions reader. Beyond all that, I love your unique profile, US education, cultural diversity, and entrepreneurial spirit, and I think you could be an asset in the classroom of any of these programs.
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benchan Likes Earned: 73 Hi Graham, Thanks for your input. I agree whole-heartedly. I'm really most invested in Tuck, Kellogg, Darden, for the reasons that I want to be in a tight, community-focused environment, so I'm hoping that will show through with my essays and hopefully interviews. My research suggests I have a good chance of employment in these kinds of fields, though I think in interviews I will talking about the specifics of the companies, IE I want to go to the Google for Education section, not google generally, and also prepare some backup recruiting strategies surrounding maybe PMM or operations roles in similar companies. Hopefully I can make a compelling case that an old fart like me knows what he's doing (at least I think I do, anyway). Thanks again! PS: I wonder if the email notifications on these comments are working? (2)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1224 All sounds good - I feel like you have a great sense of what you need to do! Also, I've asked the tech folks about the email notifications, thanks for mentioning it!
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alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1674 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2022/01/episode-209-wire-taps/ (0)