Good GMAT score but weak experience


arcaius

I've been living in China teaching English since I graduated from UW (28 now), which is obviously not the corporate/finance experience b-schools usually look for, but I got a 740 gmat so I'm wondering what you guys think the best schools to realistically apply for are? I also speak Chinese well, about HSK 5 (going to take the test in a few weeks) so business level anyway, which makes me think I have a good shot at ceibs/pku/tsinghua. But I'd like to know outside of China which of the more respected schools might care more about international experience/less about fortune 500 experience? I'm open to considering schools anywhere in the world as long as they are arguably worth the extra cost, since the top Chinese schools are relatively affordable.

I've been living in China teaching English since I graduated from UW (28 now), which is obviously not the corporate/finance experience b-schools usually look for, but I got a 740 gmat so I'm wondering what you guys think the best schools to realistically apply for are? I also speak Chinese well, about HSK 5 (going to take the test in a few weeks) so business level anyway, which makes me think I have a good shot at ceibs/pku/tsinghua. But I'd like to know outside of China which of the more respected schools might care more about international experience/less about fortune 500 experience? I'm open to considering schools anywhere in the world as long as they are arguably worth the extra cost, since the top Chinese schools are relatively affordable.
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Duncan

I think starting from your goals would be a better way to start.

I think starting from your goals would be a better way to start.
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Inactive User

If your goals are to stay in China, then I think a Chinese school - or a Hong Kong school maybe - would be a good way to go. Otherwise, study where you want to work.

It's a fallacy that schools 'care' about Fortune 500 experience; many MBAs are recruited each year with more diverse experience. It's often less about the company name or status then your own growth during your career.

If your goals are to stay in China, then I think a Chinese school - or a Hong Kong school maybe - would be a good way to go. Otherwise, study where you want to work.

It's a fallacy that schools 'care' about Fortune 500 experience; many MBAs are recruited each year with more diverse experience. It's often less about the company name or status then your own growth during your career.
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arcaius

Well I'd like to live/work in Japan or Scandanavia, but there aren't any top-tier business schools in those places, plus I don't speak the languages. So I'm hoping to find which program gives the most international mobility, if nothing else so I can go back to the US and find work rather than being stuck in China. As for goals, when I graduated I hoped to go into securities analysis and am still interested in it, but now I think given my strengths (ie low quant/high verbal scores) corporate strategy/consulting would be more suitable.

Well I'd like to live/work in Japan or Scandanavia, but there aren't any top-tier business schools in those places, plus I don't speak the languages. So I'm hoping to find which program gives the most international mobility, if nothing else so I can go back to the US and find work rather than being stuck in China. As for goals, when I graduated I hoped to go into securities analysis and am still interested in it, but now I think given my strengths (ie low quant/high verbal scores) corporate strategy/consulting would be more suitable.
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Duncan

I think you need to focus more on goals. Japanese and Scandinavian networks are very different, and language and culture are more important than MBAs.if you have a foreign MBA and nonlocal language skills then it won't be the MBA that gets you hired.

I think you need to focus more on goals. Japanese and Scandinavian networks are very different, and language and culture are more important than MBAs.if you have a foreign MBA and nonlocal language skills then it won't be the MBA that gets you hired.
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laurie

I think that you odds of using a non-local MBA to try to work in Japan or Scandinavia, without knowing any of those places' local languages, will be next to zero.

If you want to work in a place like that, the best approach would probably be to learn the country's local language and then do a management program in that language, in the country.

In terms of which program will give you the best overall international mobility in a broad sense, sort the FT's ranking by International Mobility.

I think that you odds of using a non-local MBA to try to work in Japan or Scandinavia, without knowing any of those places' local languages, will be next to zero.

If you want to work in a place like that, the best approach would probably be to learn the country's local language and then do a management program in that language, in the country.

In terms of which program will give you the best overall international mobility in a broad sense, sort the FT's ranking by International Mobility.
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