Ask Jason@沃顿 (closed)

zhanghongzxl

这是我的履历背景，请问我这样的背景申请你们学校有希望吗？？非常感谢！！

GMAT 750

TOEFL 105

2001-2005—— 上海财大本科毕业,金融专业 GPA：3.5左右

2005-2007 —— 在一家大型制造生产业公司从金融助理跳到金融主管，主管银行融资这一块儿。因为自己年纪还小，所以跟公司申请想继续深造，考读研究生，公司给与充分支持，并强烈邀请毕业后重返公司。

2007年9月——  考入贵州大学入读金融系研究生（我的家乡和公司厂房都在贵州）

在校读书一年至2008年7月——重返这家公司，边工作边写论文。感谢公司非常支持，现在的工作岗位提升到经理级别。年薪20w-30w。现在论文完成的差不多了，并且还是不能满足现学到的东西，想要去美国商学院入读MBA。

加起来到2010年。工作经历为4年。

请问，这样子断断续续的工作经历，对申请会不利吗？？学校接受吗？？

cannedpineapple

zhanghongzxl>

    

I did not go to school in China, so I don't know if your grades are
considered good in your school. So I won't be able to comment on that.

    

The main thing I can comment on is your 'story'. Adcom is going to have
major questions about why you need a second business/finance degree so
quickly. Did you really think through your decision to get a previous
finance Masters? After all, it was a full-time masters, you did it with
your company's support, and now barely a year and a half later you're
looking for another degree that is very similar. This raises questions
about 1) whether you've been thinking through your goals clearly 2)
what more you can learn from an MBA so quickly after just completing a
finance degree 3) especially at your young age, applying for two
masters degree in a span of four years may suggest that you are again
not entirely clear about your goals, and may instead just be
'collecting degrees'.

    

There is nothing wrong with '断断续续的工作经验'. More important, you have to
address why that's the case. If you took a year off to take care of
your parents, that's a lot more understandable than 'I took a year off
to get a finance degree, and now I want another one'.

    

As for everything else (eg. school, pay, job, etc) I would not be able
to comment. If I wrote a one-liner about my own experience, it would
be: working experience 0, yearly pay 60,000RMB (when I did my
internships). Obviously that doesn't look very impressive, nor
representative of what my application would look like. So MUCH more
important than these 'profile issues', are the stories that will go
into your essays.

    

Good luck!

zhanghongzxl

在中国读研究生3年，一般都是第一年FULL TIME，接下来两年导师鼓励出去实习，并在工作精练中完成论文。

但是说实在的，上了研究生之后，感觉对自己的帮助并不是很大。

想去美国读MBA最主要的原因是觉得在国外可以更好的锻炼自己的意志，学习西方先进的管理技术，金融系统。并且大家都知道，对自己将来的事业发展更有帮助。

这是我真实的想法，请问jelt2359，这样的解释合理吗？

cannedpineapple

The thing that immediately comes to mind is, why didn't you anticipate this before? Unlike me, you seem to be a lot better informed about the Chinese educational system. Remember that there will be readers who like you had gone to school in China, and they may question whether your doubts are understandable (going through a local masters thinking you'll learn a lot, and finding out that's not the case) that you were simply not clear on what you were doing.

Nonetheless, if this is genuinely the reason, then go ahead and explain it that way. After all, there can be doubts in their (and my) minds, but if it's the truth, well, then that's what it is. Lots of people get sponsored for masters programmes and find them less useful than a programme that they end up choosing for themselves later. Just be honest about your reasoning, and you'll be fine.

ElisaWang

Am I fit?

Hi Jason,

I saw you being very active helping clarify many CDer's questions. I'm very interested in Wharton, but I'm not sure whether I'm a fit. My background:

WE: 3.5 years as sales in real estate agency(promoted fron junior to senior) + 2 years as purchasing manager in manufacturing till now (US-owned) (1 year part-time volunteering service for China Red Cross till now)

Age: 25 (Due to less affluent family background, I started work earlier than my peers.)

GMAT710, TOEFL101   GPA 2 -- My undergraduate degree is self-taught, that is, I learned all by myself to pass the courses. And I did it with spare time in college and at work. NO bachelor's degree-- Because of the inadequate GPA , I didn't get a bachelor's degree,though I obtained the undergraduate degree. The self-taught institution requires an average of 75 to grant the bachelor's degree, but I just got an average of 70. Do you know anyone w/o bachelor's degree accepted by Wharton?  

I'm pretty concerned about my very low GPA and the fact of not having a bachelor's degree. (Actually, it's also because of my inadequacy in academic background that I wanted to pursue further education in a world-class academic institution. )  If you were at my situation, would you choose to apply Wharton? Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you so much!

Elisa

[此贴子已经被作者于2009-7-6 22:21:25编辑过]

ElisaWang

Oh, by the way,my advantage would be the recommendation letter. My recommendation can be provided by my current supervisor, my previous client who knows me very well. And if needed, I can also ask for my previous supervisor's or my current colleages's recommendation. They are all willing to provide solid recommendations about my performances at work. I hope this helps...

Thank you, Jason!

cannedpineapple

Elisa, can you explain to me the difference between a bachelor's degree and an undergraduate degree?

I see you've also posted on S2S. They will be able to provide you with an official answer, which is what you need since this hinges on whether you actually meet entry requirements (as opposed to being a qualified applicant, which I can help more with..)

jimmy_guo

Hi Jason,

Highly appreciate for you advice on my questions and deeply sorry for my belated response as I was in business trip for the whole 2H June and thereafter spent the 1st week in London for my holiday and just came back yesterday afternoon. (The weather in London is fantastic, btw).

Got a quick question on my recommenders. It is my understanding that one of my recommenders should be my current supervisor, while the other one could be from my ex-supervisor/current peer/friends, etc.

Basically, I got 2 candidates for my 2nd recommenders:

a) current colleague - who is a non-chinese (from the west), knows me for 2+ years and have been working/party/team-building with me for 10+ times.

b) former colleague + former college mate - who is a chinese, knows me for 7+ years and have been working/party/studying/team-building/student union activity with me for 50+ times.   

For sure that candidate b) knows me more and much longer. Nevertheless, the advantage of having candidate a) is that Adcom can see me from a western people's perspective.

Could you please share with me your view on this? Again, your advice will be highly appreciated.

How long will you stay in China? Hope you enjoy the hot summer...   :-)

Jimmy

cannedpineapple

Jimmy>

In fact, both recommendations should come from people who have worked with you in a position of authority over you. Peers/friends are frequently less useful, and are only rarely submitted, and even then typically as an optional (read: don't submit unless you have a good reason to, like they provide an important perspective that other applicants might not need. for example, a college senior submitting a professor recommendation) third recommendation.

As for choice of recommendations, western vs chinese is not important. What is important is that they bring different perspectives. So for instance going with two recommenders who had worked on the same project with you would be less helpful, since they will probably cover very similar material. More generally, I would go with the person who knows you better.

ElisaWang

以下是引用jelt2359在2009-7-7 0:55:00的发言：
Elisa, can you explain to me the difference between a bachelor's degree and an undergraduate degree?

I see you've also posted on S2S. They will be able to provide you with an official answer, which is what you need since this hinges on whether you actually meet entry requirements (as opposed to being a qualified applicant, which I can help more with..)

Hi Jason,

Thanks for being so warm-hearted.

In a self-taught program, if you are scored 60 or above out of 100, you pass the course. When you pass all the courses, you are granted a undergraduate degree. -- I passed all the courses, so I have the undergraduate degree. If your average scores are higher than 75, then you are granted bachelor's degree. My average is 70, so I didn't receive the bachelor's degree. As a result, I do have an undergraduate degree, but not a bachelor's degree.

Below is what's published in Wharton official web. I guess I meet the requirement of undergraduate level, but I'm not 100% sure. Do you know who shall I contact and confirm this in admission?

Transcripts

Transcripts of all academic work completed at the baccalaureate/undergraduate level and beyond, whether or not for credit or a degree, are required.  Grades or marks may be self-reported on our online transcript template, with official documents required upon admissions and matriculation.

I really appreciate your willingness to help...

Elisa