MBA Podcast

Had quite a few extracurriculars in undergrad years and first two years of career, then all ECs are mostly at my job (like conducting training, mentorship program, etc.)

Don't know if this is relevant, but I was born and grew up in Central Asia (think Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, etc.)

I got 4 years professional working experience

Background:

Age: 28
Nationality: French & North African
Undergraduate: Industrial Engineering 3.5/4.3 GPA
GMAT/GRE Score: 655 on only practice exam completed so far (Test date: June 2nd)
Work Experience:

4 years at P&G in Sales - Promoted in 1.5 years and did 3 roles total, the latest in which I managed 2 direct reports
2 years at FAANG in Sales/Account Management - Promoted in less than a year
Extracurriculars / Volunteering:

Case competition Coach for my school’s team at an international case comp for a couple years post grad, now sitting on board of advisors
Mentoring new immigrants to help find employment through resume workshops, interview prep, etc. through a non-profit
Plenty of clubs & case competitions during undergrad
Target Schools:

LBS or INSEAD
Post-MBA Goals:

Middle East Tech PgM/PM or Consulting
Other:

Trilingual and grew up between North Africa, Middle East, Asia, and North America.

Here’s a bit about me: 24 M, def a ORM Went to a decent school, top 10 public university, did CS and Finance there so 2 degrees and got a 3.4

There I built a startup my freshman year, obviously not successful but then I did a lot for university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and led investments at university’s venture fund. Interned at a big startup that raised 100 Mil and worked with CPO on a suite of products that made the company a lot of money, interned at well known app where I built a really successful feature that everyone who uses that app loves (per Reddit funny enough), and interned at a VC under the managing partner and led operations for a few strategic initiatives

Got into an APM program (not FAANG, think Uber, LinkedIn tier) where I work on the AI team.

Really high visibility role, lots of impact, lots of strategic work directly contributing towards growing the business and landing huge enterprises. Can say I directly contributed towards revenue growth which has been awesome. Get face time with company leadership as well which has been a great learning experience.

On the side, in a couple AI fellowship and small programs just to be more involved in the ecosystem.

Got a 685 (equivalent to 730-740 on the old one) on my first attempt of the GMAT FE, retaking it in a week to try to get above a 715 (760) confident I can do it.

Applying this fall and will have 3 years working experience when matriculating. Goal is to use the network I make to work at startups with potential with people I actually know. If that doesn’t work out would love to be a product leader or go into venture.

Aiming for HBS MS/MBA, GSB, Sloan, and maybe Booth. Don’t think the ROI is high enough elsewhere for me given my goals and that I’m not trying to make a career change and not sure how tied into the startup ecosystem other schools are. Also if I forgo 2 years of salary and the role I’m in it’s definitely gotta be worth it long term.

Obviously lofty goals and these things are super competitive and I don’t have a perfect profile in any ways, but worked to have good work experience to try to make up for it, would love any advice.