PHD in either MIS Operational Research

[JordApple]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to figure out if I have a shot at grad school based off my current experiences....

I would really like to pursue a either a Masters or PHD, I don't really know if I am a academic. However, I know I would like to get my masters at the very least.

Age: 23

 

School Applying to: UW, Berkeley, Texas A&M, Portland(I am a PNW kind of guy), Columbia(Dream School)

Programs I am hoping to get into: MMIS, ORMS, or possibly a Masters in  Management Science which will hopefully shift into a PHD

Undergrad Institution: UW Bachelors in Information Systems

Undergrad GPA: 3.68 with some grad courses

GRE: 161 V, 157 Q, still waiting for writing

Years of Full-Time Work Experience: 

1 year working as a BI analyst at Providence Health and Services. Developing their reporting website for their Information Systems Department,  Supply Chain and assisting in Talent acquisition projects.

1 year working as a coding instructor teaching middle school students how to program with java script.

Published Work: None sadly

Languages: English and Proficient in Romanian 

Background: I grew up in Washington. Both my parents came from Romania before the wall fell and I am the first in my family to get a 4 year degree. On top of the jobs mentioned above I worked full time as a cook(not putting it on my resume) to pay for college. I also speak at events for my Romanian group and still work part-part time for a start up that does Pop Up restaurants. 

Quant Experience: Basic Calc, Computational Neruo, basic Statistics, economics and accounting

Strength of LoR 1: Professor I worked for as a TA who has his PHD from Texas A&M in Information Systems and a background in EE

Strength of LoR 2: Chief of Staff of Providence Health and Services who I work directly under

Strength of LoR 3: Still need to source this...I am hoping to ask another PHD holder who I work with the next time we have lunch or possibly my old boss from when I taught programming. He has his PHD in Medical Imaging 

 

Concerns: My GRE scores are either below average or average for most schools. I know they are too low for a top tier school. I will most likely be retaking the GRE since there is still time. I think my GPA is alright. In addition, in my last three quarters I took several grad courses along with my normal three or four classes to try and make my transcript look a little more interesting. Although, they were completely out of scope, they were all neuro, pathology and bioinformatics courses.