Berkeley / Haas - 06-28-2022 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

June 28, 2022 1:53pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, U. Washington / Foster, UCLA Anderson

Intake Year: 2023

Pre-MBA Career: Consulting/Product Management or Project Management at Fintech

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , McKinsey , Amazon , Apple , Google , Microsoft , Other

GMAT: 710

GPA: 4.0

Years of Work Experience: 6

Location: Canada

Post MBA Location: Seattle/California

Notes:

- Original from Taiwan. Been living in Canada for the past 10 years.
- Attended National Taiwan University (best in the country). Double major in English/Chinese literature.
- Published poets with national/international awards from Taiwan.
- Received largest scholarship for MA in history at the University of British Columbia
- First-generation college student from a background with limited financial resources. As such, I work as a financial literacy educator for CPA Canada to promote financial knowledge to the underprivileged groups in my community.
- 6 years of work experience working as a CPA with public accounting experience at an international firm. Currently a tax manager at a multinational real estate developer. Experience in managing large-scaled projects.

Question/Concern: As an older candidate (33). I'm worried about the impact of my age on my applications.

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Show Comments (7) Last: July 6, 2022

anon62044 Likes Earned: 17 Sorry my pre-MBA career should be: Public accounting at an international firm and currently a Tax Manager at a multinational real estate company. Sorry for the typo! (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1572 As an older candidate, you’ll really need to show “fit”, both that you’ll fully engage in the MBA experience, and show why the time is right now for you to pursue the MBA. Need to know more about your post MBA goals, both short term and longer term? It will be important to show impact and growth at work. It appears that you’ve got strong ECs. Being first gen, in terms of what you’ve accomplished will also help. (1)

fallingbluesnow Likes Earned: 17 Thank you Alex! My post-MBA goal is to gain experience in consulting (specializing in real estate) before going back to the real estate industry to work in corporate strategy. Thanks for your insights! :) (2)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1145 Given your interest in real estate, I am curious to know if you have looked into the likes of Cornell, NYU, and Wharton? These programs are all strong in that domain. Best of luck!
(1)

fallingbluesnow Likes Earned: 17 Thanks Alex and Graham for the feature on the podcast! I will definitely keep your advice in mind. What do you guys think if I retake the GMAT and perhaps change my post-MBA goal to be corporate strategy in real estate/real estate tech as I currently work as a tax manager for a real estate developer (+ replace some target schools with NYU, Columbia, Darden and Ross). By the way, I happen to be a female student. :) Thanks so much! (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1572 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2022/07/wire-taps-240/ (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1572 Retaking the GMAT might help a little. Not sure that changing your goal pathway will have much impact. If you can show impact/growth at work, and “fit” for your target programs, you’ll be in the picture for a range of these programs. If Columbia, target the ED round. (1)