U. Chicago Booth - 08-05-2024 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

August 5, 2024 12:08am ET

Applying: Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Product Operations Manager @ AI Startup

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Entrepreneurship Companies: Apple , Facebook , Google , LinkedIn , Tesla , Uber

GMAT: 740

GPA: 3.70

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: San Francisco

Post MBA Location: New York, Boston, San Francisco

Notes:

Education
* 3.70 at top-30 state school
* STEM major, writing minor
* Did graduate research that was published and presented at a conference
* Worked part-time for three years in a relevant field while in school
* Grad Program: MS in STEM major at a top 10 school, 3.60 GPA

Work
* Started career with two years at an IT consulting company
* Have spent the last three years at an AI startup with one promotion
* Briefly managed two reports while the company was restructuring
* Two patents

Extracurriculars
* Have spent four years as a junior board member for a non-profit focused on education for low-income students. Last two years have been in a leadership position, co-leading a team of 12-16. One recommendation will be from CEO
* Animal rescue volunteer in college
* Played the guitar in multiple bands and played a few dozen shows in high school and college

Other
* Applying round 2
* Recommendations from manager and non-profit CEO
* Post-MBA goals: Product Manager in AI/Mobility and then entrepreneurship in Transportation/Mobility

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Show Comments (4) Last: August 12, 2024

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1186

Thanks for your post! Your counting stats are very solid and should be competitive at the top schools on your list. Your STEM/quantitative background will help too, and it seems to blend nicely with the career path you've taken in terms of everything being consistent. ECs also sound great. In short, you have many of the ingredients for success.

The only thoughts/questions I have are as follows:

1. One thing you will need to do is showcase the fact that you aren't purely a "STEM geek" - e.g. that you have people skills, management potential, etc. I presume this will be feasible in light of some of your leadership roles, your music experience, and the rec letter from your volunteer work, but just be careful when it come to using lots of tech/STEM jargon in your file/on your resume, etc.

2. I am curious as to why you aren't applying to at least a couple of these programs in R1? I would argue that on the margin - unless you are under-represented - your odds of admission (and scholarship dollars too) will be greatest the earlier you apply. Of course, this depends somewhat on your profile too - e.g. a white or Asian male with an IT background may be better served applying earlier than a female from Eastern Europe who came to the USA to study, etc.

Best of luck!

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rnkv2 Likes Earned: 1 Thanks for the quick review! I am an Asian male but a US citizen. Unfortunately, I just won't have my application materials completed at a high enough standard by the round 1 deadlines. One recommender is also going through a family emergency so I don't want to rush their recommendation right now. (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1646 Sloan typically has a late Round 1 deadline, might be worth targeting that? It would also give you some early signals regarding your overall competitiveness, ahead of Round 2? (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1646 More details on this candidacy in this episode f Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2024/08/mba-wire-taps-376/ (0)