Berkeley / Haas - 08-10-2020 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

August 10, 2020 12:22pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2021

Pre-MBA Career: VC

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

GMAT: 740

GPA: 3.13

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: NYC

Notes:

Spent 5 years in VC and founded a non-profit that helps under-represented minority entrepreneurs create startups and get access to funding (3 years). Looking to transition to a large tech company in a Strategy/Operations role to gain hands-on, cross-functional exposure to building and growing a large tech company, so I can apply those learnings to eventually launching my own VC fund and actively helping my portfolio companies grow.

Like (2)

Show Comments (7) Last: August 17, 2020

anongreg Likes Earned: 70 Great GMAT! You have a great story for “why an MBA?” That I think will help you a lot on your essays. Needing one to pivot to another functional area to expand your knowledge fits perfectly. I’m a little worried on your GPA though as it’s a bit below the standard for your listed schools. Any reason for the lower GPA? Grade deflation school or major switch? (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1582 Agree, GPA does stand out, any context? Any additional coursework? 5 years in VC sounds impressive. Assume a good track record at work? Are you involved in activities outside of work? (0)

anon43737 Likes Earned: 1 OP here. No excuses for GPA. Extremely involved on campus with clubs, had in-semester internships, and put grades on the backburner. I also majored in Math, minored in Physics, and took all pre-med courses so had a heavy quant courseload with some semesters taking 5 upper-level STEM classes at the same time. I've taken 2 additional exec education courses since graduation and gotten As in them. Outside of work, I run my non-profit as I mentioned which is the bulk of my time (20+ hrs/week). I'm also on the board of a non-profit and volunteer at another tech-focused non-profit. (1)

anon75143 Likes Earned: 70 Be sure to put in your optional essay the work you put in post grad in those executive courses if not already mentioned in your resume. That coupled with your GMAT will show that you are taking the process seriously and that you are willing to go the extra mile to show that. Your quant heavy background is also a big plus. I see no major issues with your profile at this point as long as you address your GPA in your application somewhere and can get some solid recs. You might want to narrow down your list of schools and start engaging with them to show interest. All should have virtual events or admissions people that you can talk to in order to show interest. Pick about 3-5 to apply to in R1 and if you are not satisfied with the result apply to the rest in R2. Good luck! (1)

anongreg Likes Earned: 70 That anon comment is me, Greg the egg. I missed the checkbox again. Also, for people wondering my name is a reference to a character in HBO’s Succession series. Thanks for the shout out on the podcast Alex! (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1582 Thanks for your terrific contributions, so far! More great advice, here. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1582 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2020/08/episode-116-wire-taps/ (0)