27F. Asian. Graduated T20 undergrad with double major in Biology and Statistics.

I applied Round 2 last cycle to Stanford, Northwestern MMM, Harvard, and MIT. I was accepted to the MMM with 30k in scholarship and waitlisted at MIT without interview. I actually posted on here back then and was featured on the podcast, which was awesome and I really appreciate it.

I ended up declining admission to Kellogg despite it honestly being the program I was most excited about as I received another promotion at work and the salary increase was too great compared to the cost of attendance. Applying round 2 last year was actually somewhat unexpected as I planned to apply this fall anyway, but did really well on my GMAT, so I ended up applying earlier. The extra time enabled me to save up more and gain more experience at work.

Professional Experience:
I currently work at a top gaming company as a mid-level project manager. I do a lot of operational work revolving around team morale and engagement. Think onboarding, swag, internal events, office management, and some executive assistant work. Since applying last year, I dove heavily into AI and how it can improve and automate my work. I then starting teaching other admins across the company how to make tools for themselves as well. I ran a 2 hour long workshop and launched an entire learning and development program for the admin discipline, featuring workshops, office hours, show and tells, and more. I have also been advocating with company leadership to get additional clarity and job architecture around the admin function at work.

For extracurriculars, I have and still do a number of speaking engagements at conventions and universities about gaming careers and breaking into the industry. I was also honored at a local university for my efforts with helping wit htheir gaming program and my work across collegiate gaming as a whole. I was president of my gaming club in college and founded a grassroots gaming community for students in response to COVID that grew to 3000+ members in 3 weeks. I have directly coached 100+ students and early career professionals, helping to place 10+% in jobs through my work. I also mentored 1 student very closely over 3 years, helping her secure a position at a top gaming brand. Since applying last year, I started a local gaming community for 100+ people in the Seattle area to connect and have hosted 20+ events both online and in person. I started a Gen Z career community with a friend but we haven't had a ton of time to build it out. We have a pilot group of 10+ individuals and have started ideating on programming. I also volunteer at my local aquarium educating people about ocean conservation and local marine wildlife.

Post-MBA: Last year I wanted to pivot into product within gaming and eventually entrepreneurship. This year, I realized my actual passion was going straight into entrepreneurship and hopefully building something that focuses on human connection and mentorship as a means to empower people to reach their dream careers. Also potentially with the focus on technology resilience and adaptability so people are able to develop skills that will help them as tech continues to evolve and change.

Applied/Applying Round 1. Reapplying to Kellogg MMM, Stanford, and MIT. Applying first time to Booth and Wharton. Hoping for more money this time around! I did speak with Kellogg and they understood this was a financial decision and that I was still very interested in attending.