Berkeley / Haas - 07-15-2020 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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July 15, 2020 10:46am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Dartmouth / Tuck, Harvard Business School, Michigan / Ross, Stanford GSB, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2021

Pre-MBA Career: D2C startup

Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship, Non Profit/SI

GRE: 328

GPA: 3.51

Years of Work Experience: 3

Location: Detroit

Post MBA Location: West Coast

Notes:

Clear admit has been so helpful as I've gone through the research process! I'm mostly trying to gauge if i'm reaching absurdly high here. I come from the world of trendy D2C startups, where I work in brand marketing. My experience is with small teams at growth-stage businesses, meaning I'm one of the cliched "wears many hats" people.

I have, I think, very strong extracurriculars involving entrepreneurship, design thinking, and women's issues. Those have all informed why I want to get an MBA. I want to continue working at innovative companies, but I need better cross-functional skills to grow to the leadership level (I was a history + poli sci major), and I want to dive deep into corporate social responsibility, and how it can be applied to the founding, funding, and operating stages of startups.

I'm worried about my quant chops. My GRE was 168V, 160Q. I did fine in stats, research methods, and geospatial analysis in college. I did get a C in a math class my freshman year. I worked on a big data project for three years in college, but my current job is not something that's identified as a quant-heavy role, which worries me. I'm currently taking a class through the Berkeley extension program, which is going well. Do we think this will be enough?

Thanks so much from a clueless liberal arts grad.

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Show Comments (5) Last: July 27, 2020

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 Hopefully Graham will comment, his profile (from several years ago) is eerily similar, I think. My quick thoughts, there’s a lot of upside here, assuming you can show impact at work, which appears to be a very reasonable assumption. Quant on the GRE is decent, getting an A on your additional course will also help. You should be targeting top programs. (0)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1245 Thanks for this post - and for your kind words about the Clear Admit community! Alex is right; I had a similar background when I applied to business school. I had studied art history, had a so-so result on the math section of the GMAT (GRE was not an option back then), and limited quantitative coursework on my transcripts. [As an FYI: the adcom won't put too much stock in geospatial analysis or research methods when it comes to measuring your quantitative skills, but they will give you some credit for your stats class and they will unfortunately note the math class (especially if it was calculus).] The good news is that you are taking the right step by pursuing the Berkeley extension coursework (hopefully in a subject like calculus, accounting, or even micro/macro economics). As to the GRE, that quant score is indeed a bit light for the very top schools (which often see averages a few points higher), but it is in the ballpark. I don't think a retake is worth it though with a 328 overall, and I suspect that the adcom will actually love your liberal arts background, ability to wear many hats, and the verbal chops you demonstrated on the GRE. In short, the real question is whether or not you may want to take another class to bolster that 'alternative transcript' and demonstrate commitment to excelling in a quantitatively rigorous program. You might even consider taking that second class once you have applied - but letting the adcom know that in addition to the first class (for which they will ideally have a grade and a transcript) you have already enrolled in a second class and will send that grade along when you have it. Overall, I think there is a TON to like in your background and that you should aim high. Just be sure to address the quant. stuff head on, and to get an A in that Berkeley class! Best of luck!
(1)

anon75031 Likes Earned: 14 Thank you for the feedback. I too thought a retake risked a lower overall score without much significant improvement, so I've stuck with my original 328. Because of my interest in entrepreneurship, I've decided to take the shot at Stanford, knowing it's an unlikely option. But, I sort of just want to rule it out as a possibility. HBS is less interesting to me, and I am still considering adding one or two different schools (UCLA, maybe MIT) in its place. I'm very interested in Haas and Yale. The aforementioned C in calculus (yes, I know, not great) was during the first semester of my freshman year, and I've demonstrated a significant GPA upward trend. I think it's good to acknowledge my own weaknesses so I am planning to acknowledge it in my additional essay, and detail my class at Berkeley (math for management). In all honesty, the program fee for an additional class is a barrier for me. But in addition to the class (and asking recommenders to highlight instances of analytical chops), would it be useful to highlight my time working on a big data project? It's not finance, exactly, but it was valuable experience in analytical frameworks that has stuck with me. It's pretty celebrated in its field as innovative and the data has been used in published papers/articles, etc. (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 If it’s an impactful project, both for you personally (growth) and in terms of outcomes (impact on the business) I should think it will be worth highlighting, (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2020/07/episode-113-wire-taps-can-a-class-make-up-for-my-quant-less-liberal-arts-background/ (0)