Mr. Low WE

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission. It’s great that you’ve landed on such a specific passion early on: digital operations. Aside from the impact you’ve made in your professional roles to date, I like the strong GMAT score and the community involvement you’re building so far.

The average number of years of work experience at Stern and Anderson is about 5 years. While you’re certainly not out of contention with 2-3 years, you may have an even stronger application down the road, when you’ve made even more progress at work (perhaps in the form of a promotion), built stronger relationships with potential recommenders, and have had even more community involvement (the ACLU work sounds fantastic – congrats on achieving such a strong voter turnout in GA!) The startup is intriguing as well – once the Covid-19 situation finally improves, perhaps you’ll get to resume this work as well, which would add another dimension to your application.

So in sum, I recommend waiting until at least Round 1 2020 (perhaps even 2022, depending on how much growth you feel you can achieve in the areas I’d mentioned above). In the meantime, attend as many virtual events as possible and connect with students/alumni so that once you’re ready to apply, you can make a strong case for why each school is a strong fit for you based on its culture and resources within and outside of the classroom. Hope that helps – best of luck!

Hi, it’s Jennifer Jackson from Stratus Admissions. Your solid stats will serve you well, and you’ve had good work experience but as your name suggests there’s not a ton of it. You’d have 3 years at matriculation (assuming you’re applying in R1 in the fall), which is under the average but not what I’d call a red-flag number. When someone is lower in work experience, I always suggest highlighting the Why Now part of the application more than normal. (Why MBA/Why Now/Why Stern). I had a client a few years ago who was only two years out when he applied (similar to you) and made a point to really emphasize what he’d already learned in his consulting role, how he was promoted early, and how to get to the next phase in his career he needed the MBA to gain X or Y skills. I think you can try to make this point as well but I do agree that you’d be a stronger candidate if you wait a year particularly if you can get any additional types of experiences at work, show more leadership outside of work, etc. Otherwise, you still do have a shot this year so just write the strongest essays you can and prep your recommenders to bolster your strengths. Wishing you lots of luck!