Ms. African Marketing

Hi, this is Jean-Philippe (“JP”) Odunlami, Senior Consultant at The MBA Exchange. I immediately connected with your story, having personal connections to Africa and business experience there. Importantly, having helped dozens of applicants who were at your career stage over the last 10+ years, I can say with a very high degree of confidence that your application success will hinge upon understanding the strength and weaknesses of your profile AND targeting the right programs. It would help to have a knowledgeable voice on your side to guide you through the process, especially to help focus your energy on programs that are welcoming to your profile. If you are aiming for round 1, you should start planning all the key steps and milestones right away. I’d be happy to discuss in more detail, just email me at jpo@mbaexchange.com.

Hi Ms. African Marketing, this is Julie-Anne Heafey here with mbaMission. I absolutely love your passion and goals, and you’ve scored some impressive marketing accomplishments. That said, I agree with much of what Melisa is saying in the other expert review. In particular, your GRE score is likely to be a hurdle for your target schools –it’s pretty far from their averages. Can you manage a retake? Also – where are you located? A part time program might not be realistic if you aren’t in the area, but you might consider one year/executive ed programs, particularly programs in Europe. Sometimes candidates can get a testing waiver with those programs, and with COVID-19, I wonder if you could be successful obtaining one, particularly since you have that post-grad coursework in finance. It might be worth looking into. Since you’ve studied in the UK, have you looked at Oxford Said and Cambridge Judge, by the way? Oxford Said has made a big commitment to recruiting African students to its MBA programs and might be a good choice if you can get a waiver or improve your test. Cambridge Judge would be another to consider for its tech connections. Good luck!

Hi Ms. African Marketing, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. Sounds like you’ve had some great successes in marketing and mentoring. These will be strengths in your applications! Unfortunately your GMAT score and GPA are below the averages for your schools. You may want to consider trying the GRE again to raise your score. Because your years of experience put you above the 80% median of 3-8 years, if you are committed to a full time program, you will want to be clear about why now is the right time for you to get an MBA. I would suggest also looking at the Part Time or Flex programs at these schools. With your years of experience, you may find that you are sitting with others with equal years of experience at the table. While you are slightly on the low end of years of experience for an Executive Program – you could reach out and talk with admissions and students in these programs to see if they are a fit for you. In general, Part time and Executive programs are very willing to sit down and discuss your profile, whether you are a good fit for the school. And generally these programs are less competitive or sometimes even will waive test score requirements. As you work through this process, I suggest you are clear on why tech strategy and where you see this taking you long term. Good luck!