Berkeley / Haas - 07-06-2022 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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July 5, 2022 8:00pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Harvard Business School, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2023

Pre-MBA Career: Construction Management (4 Years) at Clark Construction (top 15 contractor in the US); by the time of matriculation, I will additionally have one year at Haley & Aldrich (construction manufacturing consulting)

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, MF, Auto, Aerospace Companies: Booz Allen Hamilton , BCG , McKinsey , Boeing , GE , Tesla , Other

GMAT: 770

GPA: 3.07

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: Arlington, Virginia

Post MBA Location: Northeast, Midwest, Mid Atlantic or West Coast

Notes:

Planning to stress renewable energy in my application for my 10 year plan (short term plan would be to get some experience in the consulting and/or manufacturing realms). My low undergraduate GPA is partially mitigated by the fact that it was Cornell University, majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in civil engineering. Additionally, I helped with recruitment efforts at my job for three years, two of which I was the Recruiting Lead for Cornell. Outside of work, I like to rock-climb (10-12 hours a week). I am also a mentor within Clark for younger employees as a part of our mentorship program and have been for the last year and a half.

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Show Comments (5) Last: July 15, 2022

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 Is this renewable energy in the construction realm? Assuming there’s a connection with your work experience and your goals? Super GMAT will help, but the transcript might raise concerns, any additional context? Showing impact and growth at work will be important. (0)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1310 I love the uniqueness of your work experience and goals (assuming the goals mesh well with that past experience, per Alex's comment above). GMAT is off the charts, which is superb. I am not sure it will be enough to say that the 3.07 is mitigated because you went to Cornell and studied engineering...so you may need to elaborate there. I say this because there will certainly be other Ivy League graduates in the pool, with engineering degrees - and GPAs north of 3.0. This isn't to say that the GPA is a deal-breaker, but, I want to be sure you go in with your eyes wide open here and that you work on a solid optional essay to explain the circumstances (which could be the major/minor combination, along with a learning curve....esp. if your GPA has an upward trend). Everything else looks great (ECs too!). Best of luck!
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alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Tapshttps://www.clearadmit.com/2022/07/wire-taps-241/ (0)

climbergirl Likes Earned: 1 Hi! I'm the person who's profile this is - wanted to add some more context. I'm a first generation immigrant (now citizen) from Indian and my renewable energy goals go somewhat back to what i've seen in India but also what I've seen in construction - there's a lot of waste that's generated and also so much power that is required to power a building and current building standards aren't trying to achieve net zero goals for buildings but rather to check the box so that they can say they were LEED accredited because they bought xyz recycled material (40% of which gets thrown in the dumpster anyways because all materials are bought in excess). I've been a member of my company's Sustainability Steering Committee for a year but felt like I wasn't making much of an impact and that's a big part of the reason that I decided to go for an MBA. Overall, with the planet where it is, I think I can make the biggest impact by informing industry sectors how to be more sustainable and how to switch to renewable energy sources in the short-term. In the long-terms, I'd like to be building renewable energy plants and helping power the world in a sustainable way. Mentoring is something that means a lot to me because I've been fortunate to have great mentors over the years that have allowed me to grow despite being a woman in some pretty male-dominated fields -- i've also had managers that weren't that good which is a reason I want to grow as a leader because I want to make sure that I always, always pull people forward with me, not step on them to get higher. I also love working in teams and building community in my personal and professional lives (I was social chair of each of my professional teams, rock-climbing is a huge community-driven sport, I'm a big advocate for diversity in the workplace and back that up by organizing events meant to discuss what diversity and allyship means in a workplace). In terms of my GPA -- definitely was not looking to make an excuse by saying it was Cornell / engineering. The big reason for that low GPA was because I got involved with a competition project team my sophomore year because I love hands-on work and I quickly became fabrication lead and did that for the second half of my sophomore year and then all of my junior year and then also was team lead my senior year. Our team was not the highest achieving team, it was a bit rag tag - when I started, the team was 25 people, of which only 5 were returning. We didn't have a lot of experience backing us so we really had to work hard at it. The competition involved designing, machining, welding, and constructing a bridge and then loading it. The first two years on the team, our bridge failed before getting to comp load. The senior year, when I was team lead, we had our first successful bridge and went on to place 4th in competition. The team was my passion and my joy and it took a lot out of me - I used to spend 40 hours/week on it during the semesters and some time on it during breaks as well. For the schools that have optional essays, I do plan to write about my team. What do you think - do I have a shot? My top choice after doing lots of research and soul-searching is Kellogg! (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 All schools have optional essays, so you’ll be able to tell that story. Lots to like here, honestly. The sustainability angle makes great sense, based on your prior experiences. (0)