Mr. Marine Biologist To Consultant

Hi Mr. Marine Biologist to Consultant! Your unique profile has me intrigued and those long island waves seem to be screaming your name. I appreciate that your goals in sustainability are clearly innate in who you are, going back (at least) to your Undergrad days (i.e. before it was the “it” thing). The key for you is communicating your goals in a way that differentiates you from the zillion other aspiring MBAs who want to save the planet – and I am thankful to every one of you as it will take a village. 😉 You will need to showcase (1) the deeply rooted, emotional source of motivation for this goal (what was that moment that made you say “THIS is my purpose on this planet?” and (2) meaningful action that you have taken toward it during your 28 years. Dreams are cool and all, but AdCom needs to see that you’re proactive and deeply committed already. I see that you are involved in the Surfrider Foundation and have set/achieved big goals for yourself in the outdoors – I hope that a compelling tale around deliberate actions to-date toward marine conservation and getting others onboard with your passion is also part of this story (meaningful extracurricular leadership is critical, especially when your job itself doesn’t provide a clear lineage to your post-MBA goals). And, by the way, we are going to need to pull some key achievements at work out of you throughout this process as well. Generalized accomplishments won’t do it for the Top 25. Past behavior/response to specific situations are the best way for AdCom to assess your future actions/potential as a leader, so we must be concrete and specific in telling your stories.

Lastly, I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt regarding your undergrad GPA while providing your rating. I’m assuming here that you have a compelling reason for your less than favorable GPA because your 780 GMAT score demonstrates that you must have learned something at Northwestern.

Overcoming these vulnerabilities through authentic storytelling will be critical for you in your MBA Admissions campaign – very few can just ride the wave to acceptance. I know there’s more here than I am seeing on paper right now so I am cautiously optimistic for you.