Mr. RAV4 Chemical Engineer

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission. I love the continuous learning mindset, and your parents’ success story. It sounds like you’ve made meaningful impact both at Toyota and outside of work in your tutoring role. Those achievements, alongside your strong academics, will be viewed very favorably by the admissions committee.

The admissions committee, however, will also want to understand the motivations behind your career goals. I recommend doing some reflection to narrow down your desired path. What draws you to technical operations at an F500 based on what you have experienced and observed to date? Or, would you rather do finance/banking, and if so, why do you feel that’s a role you’d enjoy? In either track, what is the impact you want to make in the short and long-term? Then once you land on your short and long-term path, you’ll want to make a strong case for how each MBA program you are applying to will prepare you for this path via its resources within and outside of the classroom.

I hope that helps – please feel free to schedule a free consultation if you’d like to discuss in further detail. Best of luck!

Hi Mr. RAV4 Chemical Engineer, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. Sounds like you’ve made some strong impacts during your time at Toyota – and maybe have some pharma experience as well. And you have strong stats which are a great addition to your profile. As you are pulling together your story for your applications, you are going to want to dig deeper into your post-MBA goals. While both paths may make sense for you – they are different enough that you will not be able to tell why on both sides. Adcom is evaluating your ability to use an MBA to change into these goals – and will have expected you to do some of that research before applying. I would imagine you can visualize what upper management in a pharma company looks like with your experience. Spend time connecting with students who are transitioning into banking from engineering. Use LinkedIn to research paths of engineers into banking. And think about what interests you within each of these paths. As you pull your essays together, showing a personal connection to your goals can help admissions understand your story on a more authentic level. If Columbia is your top choice, then consider applying ED – remember this is a binding application and you would be expected to withdraw your other applications if admitted. Sign up for a consult if I can answer any other questions for you! Best of luck!