I absolutely love your podcast, and I have not stopped talking to folks about it, ever since I discovered it! I think you’re both doing a fantastic job in hosting it, and I love the fact that you’re able to anticipate questions that future applicants like myself might have, and answer it with student profiles you’ve done.

I would really appreciate your input in my profile-my area of work is unique, and I’m not sure as to how it would be viewed/bucketed by AdComs. I’m applying this year, to start in 2023 Fall. So here’s my story-
Background- I’m a Food Scientist by training, did my Undergrad in India in Biotechnology, and a semester abroad in Ireland. I came to the US straight out of Undergrad for a Masters (MS) in Food science, in a Public Ivy school on the East Coast.
Academics- I’ve always been a good student, received 2 scholarships in Undergrad, and in my Masters I worked as a Graduate researcher to cover off a portion of my tuition. I have high scores in all my grad classes except 1 (unprecedented circumstances led to me receiving a failing grade, which, needless to say, really upset me at the time, but I pulled through and re-did the course, and received an A, in fact I went on to teach a couple of courses at Grad school). My grad school GPA is a little low, because of that 1 course I have a 3.2. The podcast episode you did on a similar story, really helped reassure me that this could be addressed and explained in my essay, so THANK YOU!

Work Experience- I have ~5 years of work experience, in the Food and beverage industry, have had 2 promotions plus another jump up, when I switched companies, and I am expecting a 4th promotion in the next couple of months. I manage a direct report now, and lead several key projects. I work in a niche field (plant based meat) at a well known start-up in the Bay Area. My day to day constitutes some level of technical work, but majority of my day is taken up by strategy meetings around de-risking the supply chain, scaling up, looking for alternate suppliers, working internationally with partners in Asia etc (more on the Business development side of things, which as you can probably tell, isn’t very ‘Science-ey’). Not sure how adcoms would view that, given that I am a scientist by training.

ECs- I lead the Women’s development Employee resource group at work now and have been on the leadership council for the group for over a year and a half. My role as the Chair of the organization has been to be the face of women’s development and Inclusivity and Diversity at the workplace, and drive positive change by creating a more equitable work environment for Women irrespective of their gender identity. I have organized, led and moderated several women’s development workshops, panel discussions etc. I’m usually the youngest voice in the room, and sometimes the only woman of color + scientist in discussions around diversity at the workplace, which is what drives me to build a more accepting environment, one where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.

I’ve been lightly involved in ECs all through my student life too, not a lot in grad school, because I wanted to focus on getting my GPA back up over 3 (with fewer courses and credits it’s a little harder to pull it back up - not sure if that would be viewed as a negative?)

GMAT - I’m a little nervous about my 710, I was a bundle of nerves when I took the test, I’m usually at 730-740 in practice tests, so I plan on taking it again in a couple of weeks.

LoRs - I think I’ll be able to get amazing recommendations from the awesome folks I work with, one of my recommendations is coming from an ex-Sloan grad and the other from my Manager who is a Harvard+Stanford grad (although he did not attend business school)

Post MBA - I would like to take on a consulting role in the near future, I feel like I might be able to have more of an impact there, bridge the gap between R&D and the Business side for Pharma/Food/Biotech companies. Midterm I’m thinking perhaps an executive role at a Food CPG and long term perhaps work in the UN/world food program and truly go out there and help those in need. I think my career might help me be uniquely positioned to have a positive impact in the non profit space.

Concerns- Slightly low GMAT (but I’m working on retaking it), I’m worried I’d be categorized in the Asian-Indian pool of students who all have very very high scores and my profile might just get lost in the mix, given that I don’t have a traditional background (finance/engineering/business etc.)
And low grad school GPA - I want a high GMAT to make up for that low GPA.
Not sure if I’m applying to the right schools or not either.

Would love to know what you think!