About | Privacy Policy | Advertising| Editorial | Contact Us
Follow Us
Subscribe | Login
I have always been an industrious and passionate individual, and I am an effective leader in the Army Special Operations Forces. Every organization I have been in, whether formal or informal, I end up in leadership roles driving team cohesion and efficiency. My recent experience has been in PSYOP, building strategic marketing campaigns and delivering strong data analysis to drive innovation and decision making to affect operations on the ground. I am a detailed oriented person with great verbal and written communication skills. I am a Chemistry undergrad with a concentration in Forensics, my goal through college was FBI. My career goals have shifted but I have strong data analytics and quantitative background making me highly successful in higher level math classes.
My self-assessment of my MBA profile renders my GPA the weakest part of my application. I plan on highlighting my high academic history in math courses such as calculus and statistics as well as my success on the GMAT with a Quant score of 48, an 8 on the IR and 6 on the AWA portions. I was heavily involved in multiple organizations in my junior and senior year, all director or co-director roles, and had little enthusiasm for my higher chem courses. I also was on a strict timeline to graduate as I started college as a Chem/Music double major but had to drop Music my third year to the conflicting requirements of ROTC, Chem, and Music. I was therefore behind on vital coursework and had to spend my last four semesters taking 24 credits per semester plus some summer courses where I was still juggling summer jobs in the process. I have always been “too busy” and my regret in college is I was spread way too thin. I often think – imagine if I would stop spreading myself so thin, what I could be capable of?
Target School: Columbia
Considering: Kellogg SOM, Berkeley Haas, Duke Fuqua, Harvard
See More Profiles For: Columbia
Application Status: Open
Undergrad School: Olivet Nazarene University
Undergrad Major: Chemistry
GPA: 3.1
GMAT: 700
Age: 29, Ethnicity: Black or African American
Extracurriculars: Math tutor for kindergarten to college students, Volunteer in my church worship band as a drummer, Volunteered in my church to lead the youth group for 3 years.
Title: Psychological Operations Officer
Industry: Government / Military
Company: Army
Length of Employment: 8 yrs, 1 mos
In my last deployed role, I was a Special Activities Lead Planner for a unit conducting activities such as sabotage, subversion, military deception, and other activities. Our team was comprised of many different capabilities who had never worked together before and we had very little guidance. I was able to successfully communicate and focus the team’s planning efforts resulting in successful operations which taught me a great deal on communicating to an organization comprised of multiple organizations and skillsets. Additionally, I was personally asked by my church to start their youth program as the youth leader/pastor while working full-time in the Army. I invested a great deal of time and effort into the youth at this church, growing the program from four students to well over twenty active participating students in three years. I coordinated several big events throughout the year that were socialized through our city to collaborate with other churches and high schools. This time was one of the busiest and most rewarding experiences of my life. I also received a volunteer medal for my service to the church, coordinated through the Senior Pastor and my supervisor. Lastly, I was awarded an opportunity to intern with the Illinois State Police in their crime lab working specifically in the CSI department of Drug Chemistry but also was able to work in and around the Ballistics, Biology, and Fingerprinting department. A great experience which fueled my goal to work for the FBI.
I am using the MBA as a pivot point for my career to learn about the business world, ultimately providing a great foundation to allow my wife and I to eventually start our own company. Everything was geared to a government job working in the FBI/CIA post-military however, with two kids and a wife, I realized how much of a softy I truly am and my desire to be home with my family has become paramount. Alas, my resume was well padded for government jobs, not so much the business world. I am interested in learning anything and everything in the business world to ultimately find my niche, finding my passion and interests to break out into another industry after the initial 2-3 years. I am interested specifically in consulting and leveraging my experience in the STEM world, but am open to roles in project management and even PPM as well – mostly where my experience in PSYOP has been.
Join in! Click here to assess the odds of Mr. Ambitious Veteran
Hi Mr. Ambitious Veteran, Impressive credentials! This is Debbie Choy from mbaMission. I think you have a lot of strengths in your profile – very differentiated career with outstanding achievements, strong leadership experiences through the military, leader within your community with tutoring and church. That said, your academics (GPA and GMAT) are below the averages at Columbia, which could be a concern for AdCom. If retaking the GMAT is not possible, do look into other standardized tests like the GRE and the Executive Assessment. Be sure to check each school’s website to see which test they accept but these two tests are commonly accepted these days. Some candidates also find these different test formats more suited to their test-taking style. Finally, you are more experienced than …
Hi Mr. Ambitious Veteran, Impressive credentials! This is Debbie Choy from mbaMission. I think you have a lot of strengths in your profile – very differentiated career with outstanding achievements, strong leadership experiences through the military, leader within your community with tutoring and church. That said, your academics (GPA and GMAT) are below the averages at Columbia, which could be a concern for AdCom. If retaking the GMAT is not possible, do look into other standardized tests like the GRE and the Executive Assessment. Be sure to check each school’s website to see which test they accept but these two tests are commonly accepted these days. Some candidates also find these different test formats more suited to their test-taking style. Finally, you are more experienced than the average 2-year MBA candidate. Have you also looked into Part-time MBA programs? Given your tenure, you may be a better fit for PT programs which have more middle-management applicants. My estimate of your chances are based on a 700 GMAT score. But if you can bump up your score, even if by 10-20 points, your chances will also improve. If you wish to discuss your profile in further detail, feel free to schedule a consultation with us. Wishing you the best in your MBA journey!
Hi Mr. Ambition Veteran, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. Wow, you may have provided the most comprehensive profile I have yet to see! Thanks for taking the time to give so much background. And thank you for your service. You have a very interesting profile – with a lot that schools will be interested in. While I hear that you are concerned with your GPA – it sounds like you have a story behind this. If you pull out th quant classes in your jr and sr year, do you feel like this is a good representation of your quant abilities? If not, you may want to consider taking a Math for Management course UCLA/UCBerkeley or MBAMath to have a more recent example of your …
Hi Mr. Ambition Veteran, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. Wow, you may have provided the most comprehensive profile I have yet to see! Thanks for taking the time to give so much background. And thank you for your service. You have a very interesting profile – with a lot that schools will be interested in. While I hear that you are concerned with your GPA – it sounds like you have a story behind this. If you pull out th quant classes in your jr and sr year, do you feel like this is a good representation of your quant abilities? If not, you may want to consider taking a Math for Management course UCLA/UCBerkeley or MBAMath to have a more recent example of your class based quant skills. You can also highlight the quantitative side of your role in the military – highlight your data analytics and quant background. Ask your recommenders to highlight your quant skills. Your 700 is still within the 80% range at Columbia. And if Columbia is your top choice – then you should consider applying ED. This is a binding decision, which means you would need to withdraw from other applications if you are accepted. Your leadership through your church and military roles are evident and will be valued at any program. Where I want to suggest you dig a bit deeper is your post-MBA career goals. While an MBA program can help you identify many different options, admissions teams are trying to assess your likelihood of achieving your goals. This is very difficult if you arenāt clear on your goals. It sounds like you have some entrepreneurial plans with your wife. What type of company do you want to start? And what type of role post-MBA can help you get there. AdComs are going to want to see that you have taken the time to build a plan and know what you need from an MBA. Talk with other military MBAs to understand where their careers have taken them. 2 years goes really quickly. And because you are higher on the years of experience for a full time program, you are going to have to explain why now is the right time for you. Because you are doing a career change – I think a full time program would be beneficial to have an internship in a new direction that can lead to a full time post-MBA role. You might consider 1 year programs such as Cornell, Duke or Emory, which will get you through the program faster without an internship, but then you will need to be crystal clear on your goals. Please sign up for a consult if I can answer any other questions.
Submit My MBA Profile
Our Partner Sites: Poets&Quants for Execs | Poets&Quants for Undergrads | Tipping the Scales | We See Genius