Berkeley / Haas - 04-27-2020 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

April 27, 2020 6:42am ET

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

Intake Year: 2021

Pre-MBA Career: Marketing Analytics

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology Companies: Amazon , Apple , Facebook , Google , LinkedIn , Microsoft , Oracle , Twitter

GMAT: 730

GPA: 3.74

Years of Work Experience: 2.5

Location: Singapore

Post MBA Location: U.S.

Notes:

Hi A&G,
The podcast is fantastic! I enjoyed listening to it while jogging every week in the past few months. It’s really informative and interesting to hear others’ stories!

A bit about myself, I'm a Taiwanese (male) and I’m currently working in a marketing analytics role in a tech company within the S&P 500 index. For the past two years, I have been promoted twice and relocated from Taiwan to Singapore. My short term post-MBA goal is to stay in the tech industry but move to product marketing or product management related roles, perhaps in the state. For the long-term goal, I'm interested in going back to Asia to work for Taiwanese tech brands or tech start-ups for branding or product strategy related roles to help local brands to market oversea.

As I’m kind of from an over-represent country and I only took GMAT test once so far, I’m preparing GMAT again to give it another try to hit 750 or above.

Due to the COVID-19 situation and my below-average work experience, I’m a bit hesitant that should I keep the plan to apply for 2021 Fall or push back for another year to apply for 2022 Fall while I have more work & leadership experience to show? Want to know your opinion on this, thanks!

Like (1)

Show Comments (10) Last: May 5, 2020

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 You are targeting the best programs, so an additional year of work, showing impact and growth, may well be helpful. That said, it might be worth submitting a few applications next season, see how things work out. If you're not successful, you can still reapply. In most cases, reapplicants who show further growth/development are considered favourably. Are you involved in activities outside of work? Glad you're enjoying the podcast! (1)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1153 Thanks for the positive feedback on the podcast; we have a lot of fun recording it! (Note: I am impressed that you are able to jog to it!) I am going to disagree slightly with Alex here and suggest that you should apply this fall with 2.5 years of experience; especially if you are planning a GMAT retake and think you can hit 750+. In that instance, your academic profile will be really superb (it's already very solid), and you should be able to make a compelling case for the need to get an MBA as you seek to pivot your career sooner rather than later. I like your experience to date (sector, international nature, etc), and the fact that you are applying from Taiwan (a market that the top b-schools like quite a bit). In short, I can see a path to admission for you, assuming you really execute on your materials and excel in the interview process, etc. Best of luck!
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alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2020/05/episode-99-wire-taps/ (1)

tmark12345 Likes Earned: 8 Hi A&G, Thanks for the feedback! Again, I listened to this episode while jogging today too :) Reply to some questions you guys mentioned in the podcast. I graduated from National Taiwan University (rank #1 in Taiwan) with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. My GMAT breakdown is Q51/V36. For free time, I'm recently a texas poker lover, and I personally think Game Theory Optimal (GTO) in poker is just really fascinating! I also played Go (board game) - but definitely not in world champion level :) Based on my analytics job, GMAT Q score, and my personal hobbies, you can probably tell that I'm a very number driven person! For extracurricular activities in college time, I joined two different volunteering clubs and was the lead of activities for both. We conducted learning camps for children living in rural areas in China & Taiwan. I did an exchange student program to study in the U.S. for one semester. During the exchange time, I participated in a big FMCG marketing competition and got into the final top 10 teams in the U.S. Due to the VISA issue, we didn't get the chance to participate in the final round for it. I also love sport and exercise! I played basketball in college and was on the team in my department. I also once cycling around Taiwan (about 1,200km) by bike. (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 Lots to like. I'd try to focus a little on seeking out outside activities that focus on the learning camp experience you had in college, if you have the extra time (I know that may well not be the case). It does look to me that whatever you do, you do it at a high level. Happy jogging! (1)

ae8686c Likes Earned: 1 Hi there, A fellow Taiwanese here considering MBA applications as well! I overheard your case on the podcast and almost jumped out of the chair when I heard the word Taiwanese. Would definitely love to connect and discuss more. Let me know if you're also interested! (1)

anon25982 Likes Earned: 8 Hey ae8686c, Sure, I would love to connect with you! Let me know how you prefer to talk - email, Facebook, or any other way. (1)

tmark12345 Likes Earned: 8 I chose anonymous accidentally.. (0)

anon41746 Likes Earned: 1 Thanks a lot! Let's exchange contact info through email first: [email protected] (0)

4d3d3d3d Likes Earned: 3 Whoa a lot of Taiwanese here! This is another one who plans to apply in 2020 R1. I am also a friend of Mark and would love to connect with more applicants. Taiwan let's go 2020! (1)