IT工程师申请美国MBA的优势和劣势是什么？

exemplify

硕士毕业后一直在一家小的美国公司，做IT测试工程师。工作的事情无非就是测试软件的性能，也平淡的很。后来逐渐感觉在中国做这个行当的工程师没什么发展。 于是很想做职业的转换，去金融行业，之前考虑过美国的顶尖学校（毕竟自己是国内的top2的硕士），但发现自己连essay都很难搞定。翻来覆去也不知道该怎么写 道德困境这类的东东。感觉现在的生活和工作都遇到和门槛。大家能给什么建议不？

OmniKnight

just do it, code monkey has a dream.

ki87uj

放手去做，just do it

June28

kenhu

放手去做吧，想在这个版上找到答案永远都不可能有，因为大多数人印象里面的工程师是木讷，不爱说话，为了设计一个完美的产品没完没了的在办公室加班，回到家除了上网打魔兽似乎没有别的爱好，个人生活一团糟，找个女朋友都困难，如果真是这样的人似乎没必要申请了，但楼主不管你是不是你都要相信你自己不是，你非常aggressive，非常calm，能够motivate自己或别人去做对的事情。努力吧，你的优势你自己才知道。

withmoon

赞REgirl07，不说别的，能在很忙的工作中抽出时间来共享一些信息就是对CD最大的贡献。

黑眼豆豆

我曾经也试图在版上找答案----到底工程师能不能申请成功？就这样2年时间浪费过去了。
如果你没有决定是否申请MBA，你可以慢慢调研。
如果你不确定工程师是否能成功，你就别再调研了，放手去做吧。

REgirl07

Just wanted to add a bit more...

When I was applying, I thought I had a great profile (760 gmat, 3.6+ gpa, GS/MS + REPE) and could just write some generic essays.  But when I asked a friend who went to a top business school for feedback, the first thing he said was "yea your stats are fine, but finance people like you are also a dime a dozen.  You are just bunch of number crunchers to the adcom...still need to find ways to stand out".  I was a bit surprised, in an unpleasant way, but I definitely took that better than some people did here.  A week before the deadline, I totally rewrote two of my essays that seemed too "stereotypical finance".  For one of my essays, I ended up writing about an artistic pursuit and the lessons it taught me.  And it worked.  Could I have gotten in relying on just my stats and generic essays that talked about what a great analyst I am?  I would never know, but I can say for certain that all those feedback helped me, not only in terms of putting together a better application, but also in terms of understanding my unique strengths and attributes.

Again, applicants from every industry (engineering, banking, consulting, whatever) face their own set of misconceptions and prejudice.  The key is to understand what they are and how to demonstrate that you don't fit into the typical "box".  That's all I have to say on this topic.  Best of luck everyone!

REgirl07

很感谢大家 的支持。我的本意是想指出一下楼主要注意到的地方（那不是我的偏见，是adcom的偏见），并不是说我自己对他的看法。当然，我可以拉拉队式地说，你一定行，一定可以，top15，top10，top3就去吧。但是从我申请的经验看来，在申请的过程中，我觉得理性的批评比意识上的鼓励来得更有意义。其实，每一行的人申请时都会遇到对那行人的偏见。重点是表现出你和对你的偏见有所不同的地方。仔细读一读，贴出来的文章给的建议和我所说的，不就是一样吗？至于分数，其实现在考得好的人很多。而工程师转投行，也不是容易，不过其他人都说我过，我就不再说了。

“The stereotype that you will most likely have to overcome is in regard to your interpersonal
skills. An admissions committee will look critically for evidence that you can
reach goals that require you to work with others. Any teamwork examples that you can
provide will help you a great deal here; particularly stories that demonstrate your ability
to understand others’ motivations and to deal with them constructively. These “empathy”
examples will go a long way toward showing your ability to grow into the role of
a leader.

“So your strategy should be to demonstrate that despite the fact that you are an engineer, you still possess the same interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills that business schools want.  Have you organized teams to fundraise for a non-profit cause?  Have you used your persuasion skills to convince people to do things one way or another?  Those are the things they want to hear about.”

michaelchenma

咳。。。大家这好好讨论问题的，何必人身攻击，上纲上线的。我今天真是闲得，给大家抄写一段Chioma Isiadinso, former admissions board member of HBS在她的《the best business schools admissions secrets》里面写的有关engineers

Valuable Engineer Skill set: Strong with numbers; Technically advanced; Project management exposure; Doers: implementation experience（这点可以在essay和面试的时候使用）

Engineer Detractors: Poor communication skills; Rigid; Executors, not strategic or big-picture thinkers; Poor interpersonal skills

What to Do:
- Demonstrate that you have vision and that you can come up with an idea, sell it to people, and rally people behind a goal.
- Show personality besides being smart and great at your job. Show that you have a life outside work that is dynamic and interesting.
- Show that you are flexible, can go with the flow, and are not limited by only one approach or idea.
- Make sure you demonstrate your real need for the MBA to get you closer to your career goals.
- Stress your interpersonal and people-related skills and experience.