come on, a HR story

A lot of posts I've been reading here, never find somebody claiming that they have pre-MBA HR experience.  This is no encourging news for me, meaning I am one of the minority in this big chasing game of MBA app.

Here is my story:

Score quite decent: G 750/4.0 T 640/4.5 GPA87/100

Typical corporate HR path: from specialists to manager, has been with 3 big corporations (3 different industry and culture), responsible for greater china, also give suppor to south-east asia, including Japan.  Lots of projects that are pioneers in this field.  Lots of initiatives and drive many original ideas to success.  Set benchmark for other markets.

Entrepreneur: Run one export business as partner.  Now profitable.  Another one (domestic trade) is under investigation, will be up soon.

Community: Chairwoman of a committee to take care of kids

Career goal: partner of MC in China (handling big-scope project)

Why MBA:

1. exposure: many of my business ideas come to me when I am working in a foriegn location; I believe 2 years of exposure can really broarden my horizon

2. entry to MC

What to expect from school:

1. name

2. MC-feeder

3. field projects

4. city environment

Schools are considering:

I love Harvard's name, Stanford's value in elite and individuality.  I admire Northwestern as being a MC feeder, and Tuck's reputation as ivey with a gm concentration.  Virginia for the case(?), and quite decent MC-feeding.

I also need some schools from 10-20.  Haven't got a clue...any suggestions here?

Your valuable comment/input/question/suggestion is highly appreciated.

Good to hear that...

Any suggestions for me on the school selection?

It seems to me that you've already done enough homework. Yes, HBS, Stanford, Tuck and Kellogg are good choice for you. You could add MITand Michigan (maybe Wharton) into your list as well. Also, don't forget those European top schools like INSEAD and LBS. They may provide what you want in case you don't get into one of top U.S programs.

Honestly, if your goal is really focused on MC, I would not recommend schools ranked >15 to you, since that's just waste of your time & money. Even CEIBS provides more value to you, from invest/return perspective.

for an HR professional with wonderful track record, like you, there are decent opportunisties to take advantage of MC life. and literally comparing with applicants in many other fields, you'll be able to place more convincing points for switching to MC in essay composing.

for MC, HBS defnitely goes No.1. both Kellogg and Tuck are decent, followed by Stanford, MIT and Columbia. Chicago GSB sent bunches of Chinese graduates back to MC in China 5-8 yrs ago but unfortunately during recent yrs quality of its Chinese students has dramatically dropped due to the "enrollment inflation". excuse me, chipmonk bro, while i dont think Michigan a promising choice for MC. the edge of UMBS is that it's a well-rounded school. however nearly each aspect is just around average, to say nothing of its boring location, a fact keeps producing frustrating prospects to Chinese career-switchers.

Thanks both, Chipmunk and Dianarose.  Quality info/advice.

Summarize what we've discussed, seems we can draw a tentative conclusion about top-tier: Harvard, Kellogg, Tuck, Stanford.

Then I have 3 questions here:

1) Columbia & MIT

It seems to me MIT has a large student pool with engineer background while Columbia loves Finance background.  Is it true?  Share your insights here.

2) Am I aming too high?

I am not fully confident.  Shall I reconsider my strategy?  Advice welcomed here!

3) Other school

In addition to strong MC feeders, I'm also considering to appy for schools with good location, easy access to business network (preferablly commercial, not industrial please -- I'm not that manufacturing type), and reasonable MC placement among that group (maybe 10-15% placement in MC).  

Making choices here is difficult.  UNC is nice, but is located in campus town.  USC has good location, but seems its strenth is elsewhere.  UT Austin looks good, but how about the business environment?  CEIBS is 20 minutes drive from my home, but the placement is quite industrial.  I don't have complete picture here and is desparately need help and insight.  Viginia stands out in this group but I think I need 3-4 more to select from.

Come on, let's discuss!!!

By the way, my main focus is in US.

I think the best way to estimate your chance is to get the number of admitted applicants with HR background from those schools. Unfortunately, it's just like mission impossible! So, I would suggest you to forget about your background, and focus on other requirements, try your best to apply as many school as you can to improve your chances.

For your questions:

1) CBS and MIT:

Yes, they're both very competitive programs, the only problems for our Chinese applicants is: they only admit handful students from mainland China (<6) every year. So, it's not very wise to put too much efforts/hope on those two programs.

2) Aming too high:

Assuming you're 28 or 29 (based on what you said), yes, it'll be a big challenge for you to get into HBS/Stanford/MIT. Not just because of your age, but more importantly, because of what you've done in your age, plus the competition is incredibly fierce. Sure, you can try those schools, but try them if you finish other schools and still have extra time/energy.

3) Other schools:

First of all, sending 10%-15% gratuates to major MC company is still in most school's dream. In other words, it's not very realistic for schools ranked >16.

If you want a good location, then it's a relatively easy task. You may consider NYU (in big Apple), Gerogetown (Washington D.C), UCLA and USC (L.A), etc.

For CEIBS, what I heard is most MC big names, like Mckensey, BCG, come to campus this year with offers in hand. True, they may offer different positions to CEIBS students, but it's still a reasonable choise for you, in case you can't get into one of your dream school in U.S.

Hope that helps.

以下是引用elma在2004-7-9 21:51:00的发言：
One correction, I'm 26.

MM, one myth for b-school app is that set your target high, let it stimulate you maximally, so as to turn out a result far beyond expectation.

Stongly suggest you try H/S/W