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September 30, 2023 10:16pm ET
Applying: Harvard Business School, U. Chicago Booth
Intake Year: 2024
Pre-MBA Career: HR, Artist (recent MFA graduate)
Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship, Non Profit/SI, Other
GRE: 324
GPA: 3.3
Years of Work Experience: 6
Location: Illinois (USA)
Post MBA Location: Chicago
Notes:

I'm a black and Middle Eastern, female Ivy League grad with a BA in Government. 30 years old. Planning to apply R2.

I worked in HR for a large multi-national food and ingredient corp for 5.5 years in the US, Switzerland, and South Korea.
- Started in a 3.5-year rotational development program for high-potential recent grads.
- Operationalized an industry-wide consortium in partnership with a US federal agency to diversify the sector. The consortium won an innovation award and is now a standalone not-for-profit research center.
- Increased diversity in global senior leadership by 24% YoY.
- Captured 40M+ in synergies during a post-acquisition reorg.
- Following the program, promoted to lead a multi-million dollar system implementation in EMEA & APAC as part of a business transformation.
- Member of the Executive Diversity Council
- Mentee to the CHRO

In the community:
- VP for Recent Grads for the local alumni club
- Won alumni fellowship for public service for a project teaching cultural awareness to inner city kids through art
- K-pop fan club (followed a group on tour in Europe and in Asia)

Recently earned my MFA in London. No transcripts yet.
- Selected as the Departmental Student Coordinator (DSC) for my Uni's post-grad art department.
- As DSC, restructured and introduced new systems resulting a 300% increase in resolved student complaints YoY.
- My art research and practice became increasingly hybrid, combining the freedom and radicality of art thinking with my HR background.

Post-MBA / Life Goal: My art research and practice have taught me that the world would be a much better place if we all cared about profit a little less and did our best to live by a love ethic (bell hooks). I believe that world can exist, and I wish to build a business that incorporates my HRt ("H-Art") practice with business to transform ways of working and prove that prioritizing love as much as profit leads to better outcomes for all.

I'm taking a break right now, but I have two strong recommendations from previous direct supervisors who have supported me throughout my journey.

My concern is my GRE score and my GPA.
- I struggled when I started college, so my grades were poor at first but gradually improved, ending with an annual GPA of 3.8.
- My calc scores from freshman year aren't great. My stats score from junior year is strong.
- After doing social science, HR, and art for 10+ years, my GRE quant score was only a 158 (V: 166, AWA: 5.5) even with a couple months of test prep.
- I'm taking calc courses online with LSE and HarvardX to show that I'm able to do quant in a normal setting, but I don't know if it's going to be enough.

I can't change my GPA, but should I try to retake the GRE?

Any guidance would be super appreciated! I know I've written a book, so thank you so much for making it this far!