Carnegie Mellon / Tepper - 11-28-2023

November 28, 2023 1:19pm ET

Applying: Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Cornell / Johnson, Georgetown / McDonough, Indiana / Kelley, Michigan / Ross, U. Washington / Foster, UCLA Anderson

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Lead Engineer at OEM automotive company

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Consumer Goods

GMAT: 690

GPA: 3.0

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: Indiana

Notes:

-White, US and Middle Eastern dual citizenship.
-Why MBA: Automotive is transitioning in the next 10 years with EVs. I want to pivot from product engineering into product planning during this period. Having trouble breaking in without an mba or business background. Returning with MBA and an engineering background will make me a very strong candidate.
- 3.0 GPA in Mech Engr, struggling to get gmat past 690 (Q44,V40).
-Greenbelt certificate worth 96 hours towards PMI cert.
-Starting company Business Leadership certificate at state uni this upcoming year. Will receive an additional GPA for this.
- Lead engineer managing multiple multi million dollar projects at household name car company. Started on projects on production line equipment and transitioned to a lead product engineer managing prototype car deployment at factories. Exposure everywhere from production line to proposals to executives.
-Extracurriculars: Leading company diversity initiative to rewrite job postings for division and general volunteer work.

Like (1)

Show Comments (6) Last: December 11, 2023

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 How many times have you taken the GMAT? I assume you’re targeting Round 1 next season?

Showing impact and growth at work will be important. Might be worth stepping up your volunteer work, especially if it relates to something about which you’re passionate?

Do you have any geographic preference, post MBA?

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zbad26 Likes Earned: 0 I have taken it twice. Score went down second time. Attempting a third in January before the current format retires. I have been trying to take on a lot of responsibility through the diversity panel after work through leading projects. Most of my traditional volunteer work (soup kitchen, food drives, etc.) have been scattered through work promoted functions. Would it be advisable to specifically target volunteer work that focusses on external community rather than improving opportunities for people at my company? Slight geographic preference to East/West coast over Midwest but not hard set. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 Yes, external community work can help. Having one more go at the GMAT is good. An extra 10-20 points may make a difference. After Jan the new GMAT format might be worth looking at, as you have time to Round 1 next season? (0)

zbad26 Likes Earned: 0 Thank you for the response and input. I will be strapped for time for taking the new gmat as I will be in the middle of a major work cycle and taking the company grad certificate at night. I will be reatempting the gmat at least one more time before the swap. If all else fails would this current profile be within range of some of these targets? Particularly looking at Georgetown. My gmat is just about on their current average but obviously my gpa is underperforming. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 It’s the combo of those two data points that potentially harms your prospects. You will be within range, but below the median. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1584 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2023/12/mba-wire-taps-327-super-profile-305-gre-airline-entrepreneur-engineer-690-gmat/ (0)