Ms. Impact Investing

Yale will find a lot to think in your application, particularly your global outlook, your UCLA degree, solid GPA and a within range GRE score, and the fact that you are a woman in international deelopment. The quant side of your GRE is important to Yale because the school looks for a slightly higher Q score on the GRE. But these are also difficult times and so if you are applying now, you have a good advantage. You are on the young side, however, and could probably benefit from a year or two more of work experience. And I wonder if you ever held any leadership positions in student groups while you are doing your undergrad at UCLA. That would certainly help you as well. My odds are if you get your application in this year. If not, I would take 10 percentage points off for next year when schools will have a ton of deferrals already occuping seats in their classes and a recession that will fuel a significant increase in applications.

Hi Miss Impact Investing! This is Talon Rindels, Sr. Admissions Consultant at The MBA Exchange. Despite your rather brief profile submission, there’s something I like about you! Your robust global experience is certainly what stands out the most, but you also have a fantastic GPA to go along with it. Your GRE score does fall below Yale’s average of 328, but well within the 80% range, which goes down to 319 (albeit, I would suggest trying for a higher score and get test prep support if you haven’t already). No, working for a boutique firm can sometimes make it challenging for adcom to assess your potential, as brand name recognition goes a long way and also often comes with career progression. With boutique firms, associates often sit in the same position for quite some time without an actual “promotion” on paper… so, it will be critical for you to demonstrate to adcom how you’ve essentially been “promoted” by being given the opportunity to expand your impact (and hopefully at a quicker rate than your peers). Your goal makes sense given your work experience, but I encourage you to dig deep for a specific “story” around how this became your goal. Get emotional and vivid. This will help adcom to believe that your goal is authentic. I’d also recommend that you get some extra curricular leadership experience, hopefully in something that also makes your goal more genuine. I think you have a lot of potential with the right moves between now and application time!

Hi Ms. Impact Investing! This is Kate Richardson, Senior Admissions Consultant here. It sounds like you’ve narrowed in on a great list of schools for your profile and goals. With Yale in mind, I think they will love your global outlook and experience in developing countries. Having worked for a boutique firm myself, I know there are pros and cons. What you lack in brand name and traditional promotion schedules, you make up for in more autonomy, leadership, and ability to have an impact internally. Make sure your recommender writers speak to those things and support how impressive your contributions have been. You’ve got a great GPA, and as the other experts pointed out, your GRE is in range but Yale’s average (328) is quite high, so I’d want to know more about your score breakdown and in particular, whether you need to make up for a gap on the Quant side. I’d also like to know more about your “extracurriculars” or activities you’ve pursued outside of classes/work. There may be personal passions you pursue or voluntary firm roles you take on that could be positioned as such. Good luck!