Georgetown / McDonough - 06-25-2020 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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June 25, 2020 1:37pm ET

Applying: Georgetown / McDonough, NYU Stern, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2022

Pre-MBA Career: Government

Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship

GPA: 3.5

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: NYC

Post MBA Location: NY Metro

Notes:

I am looking for advice on best fit MBA programs given my long term goal post-MBA is to built a technology company focused on improving the delivery of government services, operations and/or quality of public education through technology.

I am currently getting experience on Capital Hill with my portfolio including Science/Technology issues. The intention is to move to an agency after 2 years where I can understand the challenges of applying technology to improving operations, service delivery and outcomes within the public sector from the inside.

I have dual undergraduate degrees from a LAC (Liberal Arts) and Ivy engineering school (Engineering Management)

Like (1)

Show Comments (13) Last: July 6, 2020

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 I would look to explore Sloan and HBS, along with the programs you have listed. It will be important to show impact at work. Are you involved in activities outside of work? Have you taken the GMAT or GRE yet? (1)

anon12185 Likes Earned: 3 Teach martial arts at a free municipal program. I have over 15 years of practice. I had senior leadership roles in College government and served on the Board of Trustees of a mid-sized non-profit ($100M budget). I am not a Trust Fund kid. I was able to attend my colleges due to generous financial aid. I am working with non-profits on an initiative to develop an open source platform for community groups. Haven't taken the GMAT yet, preparing. HBS seems overly large. Not a fan of big classes. The quality of teaching at my LAC was significantly better than at Ivy engineering school. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 HBS may have a large enrolment, but the in class size won't be that different to other top programs. Outside activities do sound good, both teaching MA and the open source platform. (1)

anon12185 Likes Earned: 3 I would like to expand my list before winnowing it down. I am adding MIT-Sloan and HBS as per the advice given by alexbr4. Any others? I would like to add some which aren't reaches like M7. Yes, I understand that no school is a sure thing given the level of competition these days. In particular, I would like to understand why those schools are good fits given my goals. I am very unsure of the culture and curriculum of individual schools and how they would support my goals. The only school which seems a bullseye is Yale-SOM but others must be strong options as well. Thanks. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 Frankly, I'd consider all the top programs on the east coast. Tuck seems like a good cultural option, if you’re seeking a more intimate environment, for example. (1)

anon12185 Likes Earned: 3 I am wondering if anyone can comment if as an Indian-American, I will be put in the 'Indian engineer' bucket which I understand is a brutal category to get out off or will I be in the US-government background bucket? (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 With Indian heritage, you may get included. But your different life experience should help you differentiate yourself. (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2020/07/episode-110-wire-taps-what-are-your-career-goals/ (0)

anon26349 Likes Earned: 26 @graham -- might be helpful to know that there are 3-2 programs where someone can get a liberal arts degree at a liberal arts college and then an engineering degree from a university, so two bachelor's degrees in 5 years. It's an agreement between a number of LACs and engineering schools (1)

anon12185 Likes Earned: 3 HI Anon26349; I don't understand your comment. Are you asking if 3+2 programs exist between LACs and Engineering Schools? They do as do 4+2 and 2+1+1+1 versions. My LAC has it with an Ivy engineering school. (1)

anon12185 Likes Earned: 3 Thanks for talking about my candidacy. I wish you had added some more schools for me to consider. Outside of Yale, I didn't get a sense that there was significant interest in the schools in applying business tools to the public sector when looking at faculty interests or courses offered. I liked Wharton because the Year 2 curriculum seems open and one can take classes across the University which allows one to compensate. Harvard which I went through more carefully after your suggestion, of course, has everything, it is in fact, quite overwhelming the range of possibilities at HBS. I have added Sloan, Tuck and NYU, anyone else? I spoke about not being a Trust Fund kid because I was on an education Foundation board with a $100 million budget while an undergrad and most kids I know both at the LAC and and my Ivy who were on such boards were Trust Fund kids and it was their family Trust. It was a great experience. At the same time I will take to heart your comments about being careful in the application with regard to making politically charged comments. Unfortunately, a noticeable percentage of students at expensive private LACs and the Ivy's have an overweening sense of entitlement with regard to themselves. It is appalling how many thought they were a gift to the world, rather than understanding that they were lucky that the Adcom chose them rather than one of two other equally qualified kids from the applicant pool and they have a responsibility to give back rather than being all about themselves. Many refuse to even recognize that equally talented kids exist at LACs, State Universities, or horror community colleges. I want to point out most of my classmates at these institutions were wonderful people and will do or are already doing interesting and great things. But our elite institutions have created a cult around themselves and the frenzy during the admissions process in high schools surrounding them is unhealthy all around including for the kids who win admission to these institutions. The college admissions scandal highlighted this very clearly. Still, I count my blessing everyday that I was able to go to a LAC with small classes and a tradition of close academic engagement between undergraduate students and faculty and then get exposure to a major research university and the opportunity to attend lectures and activities in class and outside with some of the most interesting people in the world. The education I got was a privileged one and I understand why the world is trying to attend but I also recognize I was lucky. I am hoping to get equally lucky with regard to business school. (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1677 Your response is very appreciated, and your thoughts make a lot of sense. Regarding which programs might be a good fit, recognise that an MBA is a generalists degree, and that most top programs let you take electives from other graduate colleges. So you should be able to tailor your academic experience. (1)

anon12185 Likes Earned: 3 Graham. In response to your comment/question on the podcast. I have two degrees, a BA in Liberal Arts and a BS in Applied Math/Engineering Management, they are from two different schools. The BA was from a small college with 2,000 or so students and BS from an Ivy engineering school. The college and the University have had an articulation agreement for over 50 years and between 1-4 students participate every year. It is a great program that combines in my view the best of American higher education. The intimate environment of a small college and almost personalized education during the early years as the student is maturing and then all the opportunities afforded by an Ivy University when the student is more mature. It took 1 year more but it was perfect combination for me. (1)