Marco

My name is Marco and I am Italian. I have a Ph.D. in Applied Sciences from the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics. I have worked as a Research and Development Engineer before working as a Product Application Manager for Plastic Omnium for over a year in Brussels before joining Westinghouse Electric Project as a Senior Project Manager.

I am fluent in six languages, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

I have a Ph.D. but have no training in business at all. After my Ph.D. the type of jobs I got was mostly as a researcher or project manager in technology companies. My interests were more into entrepreneurship and I wanted to combine my scientific expertise with a great knowledge of business to make an impact on the world. That’s why the MBA came to mind as it was a way for me to compliment my education to understand how investors, decision-makers think and assess the situation.

The major difficulty I faced was the GMAT as the level of competency in English I had was not enough when squared against native speakers. It was very difficult for me to reach a score of 740 as just a perfect Math score is not enough for that. It took me quite some time to master the specificity of questions and read carefully and faster for the verbal section of the GMAT. In that respect I was very pleased to work with Dr. Hubert Silly and his team who have been essential in helping me get to the required score, growing from 680 to 740, these last 60 points being very difficult to get.

The second thing that I found difficult was to put a value on the experiences I had accumulated until then. It is very difficult to talk to an MBA admissions committee about your experience when you have a degree in a subject like fluid dynamics. The idea was to translate an experience that was mainly technical and boring, difficult to understand for someone who is not initiated in the field, while also exhibiting leadership skills and entrepreneurial mind so that they would feel that you had something to offer to them.

As a place where I elected to learn how to combine my scientific research with business acumen, I could not have come to a better place than the Yale School of Management. With its fantastic course work and the quality of the teaching and facilities provided Yale certainly lives up to the reputation it enjoys. I have come across people from different parts of the world and been exposed to views from the most diverse people I could have thought of. All in all, a great experience.

MBA Programs are always looking for candidates with diverse profiles. So do not disqualify yourself from the race before you even start. Let the committee decide what they have to. When I was at Yale I studied with veterans, small business entrepreneurs, civil servants, school teachers, young students, etc. Do not judge yourself prematurely. If you have the basic qualities required by an MBA program and you are surrounded by the right kind of people like Dr. Hubert Silly who can advise you, then everything becomes easier. When I was at the MBA Center I met people who were not that different from the people I meet at the day to day work. Yet, not one of them was not accepted by top MBA programs. This just goes to show that all of us have the capability to be in such programs. We just need to be surrounded by the right kind of team and people like the team at the MBA Center.

Another piece of advice: do not underestimate the GMAT. Many people who have PhDs and have worked in very complex concepts and projects believe that the test that is a replication of concepts learned in middle school is an easy task. They need to keep in mind that they have not been to school for years and the GMAT is actually quite tough for non-native speakers of English.

Finally, the MBA admissions are difficult. You need to do everything in your power to align it in your favor. One of the most powerful assets that you can get is the support of people like Dr. Hubert Silly and the MBA Center team. They were essential for my success, allowing me to get into a top ten program and also avail a sizeable scholarship that allowed me to make my MBA project a reality.