Berkeley / Haas - 11-07-2019 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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November 7, 2019 9:11am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall

Intake Year: 2020

Pre-MBA Career: Homeless Services, Affordable Housing Real Estate

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

GRE: 326

GPA: 3.68

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Oakland, CA

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Show Comments (8) Last: November 18, 2019

annahklam Likes Earned: 4 Background: 4-year undergraduate background in independent social research related to race, inequalities, residential segregation, homeownership, and access to opportunity. Post undergraduate, I worked in homeless services for 2 years, very involved in grass roots community organizing, lots of direct service, and led my own team to organize a winter shelter funded by the County. Currently working in affordable housing development in the Bay Area. Experience in all aspects of real estate development in this realm - acquisitions, entitlements, community outreach, working with architect/consultants/contractor, construction, working with investors/lenders. I'm applying to dual degrees - MBA x Urban Planning. My main intentions for graduate school study are to (1) understand how to plan for healthy economic development without gentrifying a place; how to promote spatial equity and welcoming community space, (2) gain both the hard and soft skills that business leaders have, (3) intern as an MBA consultant to a nonprofit who needs a problem solved, (4) intern with a for-profit business in their corporate social responsibility or philanthropy sector, and finally (5) share my own social enterprise idea with other faculty, centers, and students who can provide guidance in seeing the idea to fruition. My current long-term goal is to work in a space where partnerships between sectors are involved. The social issues we face today definitely require all hands on deck. In some ways, affordable housing development really does require cross-sector relationships, so I could see myself coming back to this work in the future after some more exploration. (0)

anon46519 Likes Earned: 4 Should I try to obtain a GRE score 2+ points higher in order to increase my chance of scholarships?? Do 2 points make a big difference? I know I am capable of a higher score. Also, I'm applying through the Consortium. Thanks! (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 My advice: if you are capable of a higher score, and the effort to do so doesn't impact your applications, then do so. As it stands now, you have a very interesting profile for top schools. Showing impact at work now, will be important. Showing future impact through your goals, too. And I'd think schools will really like your passion and goals. Why is Stanford not on your target list? (0)

anon46519 Likes Earned: 4 Thank you for the insight! I think I'm going to retake it but for studying, I'll focus on test-taking skills and pacing myself, since I'm more confident in the material now. Also, Stanford isn't on my list because it's not a member school of the Consortium, and unlike Columbia and MIT, it does not have an urban planning grad studies program. Again, thank you :) (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 Great, re the retake. If you are capable of improvement, you need to do it. I love the consortium, but is it smart to only consider consortium schools? Urban planning school aside, you sound like a great fit for Stanford. Have you looked at their first essay? (0)

anon46519 Likes Earned: 4 Hi there!! So I went to an Access MBA event this Saturday. I just happened to see your response towards the middle of the event, so I added Stanford to my schedule. I got some info from an admissions director at the school. Afterwards, I did some more research. And after some long deliberation, I still feel that Stanford isn't a good fit for my goals. Though their values of changing the world aligns with my own, I feel that their program isn't as strong in experiential learning, and it's really important to me that they have an Urban Planning department. Though Berkeley does not allow the dual degree between Planning and MBA, I'm still applying because I can potentially take my electives at the Planning school. Thank you so much for your recommendation though. Hopefully this thought process makes sense to you as well :) (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 I'm very glad you've had a look at Stanford, at least. Not a bad idea to keep ruminating on their first essay, in case you have a change of mind. It's a program that can help you change the world. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 More details on this candidacy, plus additional programs to consider, in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2019/11/episode-65-wire-taps-consultant-from-colombia-social-impact-and-considering-round-2/ (0)