Ms. Healthtech Venture

Hi Ms. Healthtech Venture, this is Kristen from MBA Prep School. Although your career start may have been “accidental,” I love the consistent themes that you have woven through your story since then: technology, health care, and social impact. Your professional progression is fantastic and has given you the ability to be a decision-maker and have a big impact at work. It’s great that you found ways to apply that strong STEM background to your passion for the healthcare sector outside of work, both through volunteerism and your side hustle. Academically you check all the boxes with that 3.5 from CMU and double engineering majors. And your goal is realistic and nicely aligned with both your past experiences and what an MBA can provide you. The reality is that you are targeting by far the most selective MBA program out there. While you certainly embody the ideal applicant in terms of your desire to change organizations AND the world, even a 720 might not be enough to crack into the class (especially coming from an oversaturated group within the applicant pool). I do like your odds at many of the other choices on your list. And as a former Sloan adcom, I have to wonder why MIT isn’t on there?! I’d be happy to offer you a complimentary consultation to chat more about your application strategy and help you find ways to maximize your chances!

Ms. Healthcare Venture, there is much to like in your profile. Your profile description is crisply written in a way that tells me you are a very effective communicator, especially for a quant! A 3.5 from Carnegie Mellon in both biomedical engineering and computer engineering is nearly as impressive as your being an accidental Software Engineer at a prominent Wall Street bank who made a transition to Product Manager. Plus, your Big Life wins show that you can deliver the goods. You have not only racked up great undergraduate and employer credentials, you have actually done something meaningful and impactful. Your GMAT is 14 points below the class average at the GSB and that could be more consequential than it should be, given your quant background and your ethnicity. But I can tell that while you are reaching for the stars in applying to the most selective prestige business school on the planet, you are realistic, too. Your other choices all will get you on the road to achieve exactly what you want. So even if the GSB fails to bite on this one, as I think it likely will, you should be in very good shape at most of your other target schools. Good luck to you. You are going to do great things with your life.