Cambridge / Judge - 09-03-2021 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

September 3, 2021 7:07am ET

Applying: Cambridge / Judge, Harvard Business School, Imperial, INSEAD, London Business School, NYU Stern, Oxford / Saïd, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2023

Pre-MBA Career: Postdoctoral Research Scientist

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , McKinsey , Other

GPA: 3.3

Years of Work Experience: 3.5

Location: Belgium

Post MBA Location: London or East Coast

Notes:

Hi Alex & Graham, I recently found the podcast and it's been a great help navigating all things MBA related!
I am 30 year old Female, dual Swedish/British national with an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences (2:1 from Top 5 UK University with study abroad at UCSD) and a PhD in Immunology (Grade A1). For the last 3.5 years I have been working as a postdoctoral research scientist in Belgium, leading a team investigating how the immune system is involved in organ regeneration.
I want to transition away from the lab and help bring cutting edge therapies from academia to market. By doing an MBA I hope to build a strong business acumen and build my network in the biotech space. Post MBA I hope to gain a role in biotech consultancy with the long term goal of moving into biotech VC.
I am currently studying for the GMAT.
As a non traditional applicant I would love to hear what you think about my school choices and any advice. Thanks!

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Show Comments (8) Last: September 9, 2021

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1577 Very interesting. When will you take the GMAT, what’s your target score? Outside of work, are you engaged in other activities? You’ll want to show fit, for the programs you apply, leading teams really help. Showing your impact at work, how that translates to the marketplace. I’d target programs that have core strengths in health care and entrepreneurship. Those include Wharton, Kellogg, Fuqua etc (0)

anon15564 Likes Earned: 0 I am planning to take the GMAT in December and aiming for a 690. Outside of work I am involved in SciComm, during my undergrad this was through podcasting, later on mentoring high school students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds interested in science and most recently outreach events at festivals, museums and libraries both in the UK and Belgium. I sit on the postdoctoral committee of my institute representing 150+ postdoctoral researchers across Flanders organising scientific and social events. I was the class representative of my undergraduate cohort and coordinator of my institute's international seminar series during my PhD and am one of the current chairs of the leading international organ regeneration conference. I am a keen hiker (national parks in the US and across Europe) and just completed a 2 day 100km walk across Flanders. In terms of impact at work I have several high impact publications (IF > 20) the publication resulting from my PhD (funded by a large pharmaceutical company) was awarded best research output of the year from the faculty. I hold two research fellowships one is the top Flemish research fellowship the other the top European Research Council fellowship for my career stage. In addition, I have several side projects co developing techniques and testing compounds with biotech/big pharmaceutical companies. I currently co lead a trans European project bringing together computational researchers to apply new techniques to wet lab questions. To date I have supervised 3 PhD students, 5 Masters students and 15+ undergraduates. Thanks for the additional school suggestions! (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1577 You belong in a top MBA program, no doubt. Really push for a high GMAT score (700+ if possible). Also consider Stanford? (1)

anon15564 Likes Earned: 0 Thanks Alex! I will take a closer look at Stanford. Back to studying for the GMAT! (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1577 Best of luck! (0)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1151 Such a unique candidacy! School will be looking for a reason to take you; so just be sure to execute well on the application materials and to aim high on the GMAT. Best of luck and thanks so much for listening to the podcast! (2)

anon15564 Likes Earned: 0 Thanks both for your feedback. I was just wondering how worried I should be that my 2:1 from a UK university is roughly a 3.3 which is slightly on the lower side. Will having a graduate degree help mitigate that? (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1577 Yes, in your case, the grad degree should help. (0)