Greetings,
I am applying to the Lauder Program at Wharton, the Arabic Language track in Round 2. I am 26 and I will be finishing my undergradaute work at the University of Pennsylvania in May and plan to transition right into the summer immersion at Lauder. I worked in Cairo for four years right after high school in my uncle's convenience store business. My family is originally from Egypt and I was in Egypt from 1999-2003. I originally went to Egpyt because I felt isolated from my roots and extended family and I also wanted to take care of my grandparents in their old age. While working in for my uncle in Egypt, I was responsible mainly for relationships with our suppliers and human resources management (at least, the equivalent in a small business in a developing nation). I developed an affinity for family business while abroad. After I came back to the US, I obtained my Series 7 SEC license and began working at Merrill Lynch. I worked there for two years supporting the firm's financial advisors. I left Merrill six months after I got into Penn to bulk up my course load and go to school full-time. That, however, proved financially unfeasible and I began working at The Vanguard Group. I worked there for two years before finally taking out a loan to finish this May.

My GPA is low, 3.0. I majored in Economics, Political Science, and Philosophy. However, I was working and putting myself for school and I go to a top school. Also, my GMAT is low, but I plan on retaking (650- 48Q, 31V). Due to the specialized nature of the program and all of the people that I spoke to, my impression is that I have a good chance. Penn is the largest feeder school into Wharton. Additionally, I speak Arabic and Spanish proficiently. With my MBA, I want to consult in the Middle East for a few years and then come back to Philadelphia, specifically, and open a consulting business to help recent immigrants to the US with their family and small businesses.

Thank you for reading my long post,

To be honest, your chances are slim to none right now. Too many things going against you - your GPA and GMAT are on the low end (and no, there's no explanation for it because frankly there's enough people who have had similar circumstances who still got higher scores than you did) and you don't have any post-college work experience.

It's in your best interest to go out and get a full-time job for at least 2 years before applying to a top b-school. Even at schools like HBS who are more willing to take fresh college grads, it's basically about a dozen or so out of a class of 900 -- and these people have exceptional academics as well as exceptional leadership experience throughout college. Even at Wharton, the only people you'll see with no post-college experience are the submatrics (the Wharton undergrads who can do a 5th year to get their combined BS/MBA degree - and these kids also have exceptional GPAs).

Also, even if you were to get into b-school right now, you will be looked down upon. You will have a tough time competing with more experienced classmates for post-MBA jobs. You will be simply out of your league professionally, and out of place socially.

When you graduate from Penn, go and get a job, and worry about b-school later.

Alex
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com