Ms. General Motors

The fact that you are a high-achieving woman at GM makes you a rare and attractive candidate for an elite MBA program. Even if Wharton doesn’t bite, you are sure to get lots of offers from the other schools you are considering.

Five years in sales, marketing and IT at a company with the scale and visibility of GM gives you a powerhouse MBA candidacy. Engaging with cross-functional stakeholders and international teams — especially at a young age — ensures a knockout resume and abundance of essay topics. The near- and long-term goals you describe are so exciting — and attrainable with a top MBA. Your Northwestern undergrad CS education and impressive GRE leave no doubt about your academic competence. Playing club-level ice hockey rounds out your profile. (I’d be cautious about mentioning your undergrad admissions consulting biz as unfortunately some adcoms are sensitive about that. And you don’t really “need” that activity to impress.) The biggest soft spot I see is in current non-work leadership. Guest speaking is wonderful but not enough. Assuming you’re in or near Detroit, there’s probably a large Northwestern Alumni Chapter that would welcome your active involvement. Your target list is appropriate and you have the right stuff to make adcoms smile at multiple schools — some with merit aid — if you plan your story and interview well.

While there are many computer science majors and developers applying to business school these days, your profile goes beyond the typical CS candidate. You’ve gained diverse experience at GM, and your promotions will be noted and appreciated by admissions committees. While your 3.2 is below Wharton’s typical 3.6 average GPA, the fact that it was in computer science at Northwestern provides additional weight to that GPA. Your GRE provides additional and more recent evidence that you will be prepared academically for the rigor of Wharton (assuming your quant score is solid within that 330, which I expect). Your experience working with diverse groups (with varying backgrounds, seniority levels, and nationalities) will be a plus, and the ability to translate ‘technical’ terms for a general audience is extremely valuable these days- in the business world, AND in the b-school classroom! I imagine your experiences in ice hockey (which is a bit more memorable for a female applicant!) and swim have taught you valuable teamwork skills and discipline, and that running your own small business also showed you some of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. It’s not clear how much community involvement you have recently—if your work in Stem for Girls is a large commitment and passion, and if you plan to continue that at Wharton and/or beyond, definitely emphasize that. I feel your odds will be more than double Wharton’s 22% acceptance rate, so estimating 55%. If you have several strong accomplishments and leadership examples to emphasize in your resume and essays, and if you do well in the Wharton TBD if invited, those odds are likely even higher. Your other schools mentioned feel appropriate for you as well, though you may need to spread across several rounds. Good luck!

Ms. GM, it’s Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. You seem like a terrific candidate on paper. While your GPA and GMAt may be slightly below Wharton’s average, you make up for it in work experience. I love that fact that you can speak many “languages” at work and translate ideas between the business and tech teams – that is a rare yet valuable skill. How do you get those disparate groups to collaborate? I see good stories of being able to influence others coming out from that. What do you do outside the workplace?
Where do your passions lie? You will want to flesh that out. While you are working on gender parity in the industry can you also work on it for everywhere else too? Best of luck.