mbaat2018 wrote:
Hi Jon,
I have been a long-time follower of gmatclub forums and extremely thankful to the consultants who help the MBA applicants.
I am myself in a dilemma regarding school choice. I would really appreciate your wisdom nuggets regarding the same.
So here goes my situation:-
I got accepted to McCombs(without any scholarship). I recently informed my organization that I will be quitting to pursue my MBA. To my delight, my company extended an offer to partially sponsor my MBA if I intend to return back. The HR is even fine if I want to join some other company after MBA (I just have to pay back the sponsored money). Now that's a sweet deal.
Now this changes things.
I had applied to Columbia in 2014 but got dinged.(I applied too late in the rolling admissions cycle - That's DOA for CBS)
However, given the sponsorship offer from my company, I am thinking of applying to CBS J-term. [Learning from my past mistake I want to apply as early as possible]
My post-MBA goal is to work in Consulting/Marketing/Entrepreneurship.(not looking into Finance)
Now regarding my goals, this is what my research tells me:-
1)Consulting - I know that J-term students can switch to MBB without a need for internship.
2)Marketing/Gen. Mgmt - Marketing is very difficult to switch for international students even with an internship(2 yr MBA).
3)Entrepreneurship - J-term is ideal for entrepreneurs according to my chats with current J-termers.
Lastly, I have the option of coming back to my company. Also, a backup job frees me to pursue entrepreneurship.
Now, a lot of CBS students that I talked to mentioned that lots of students do school year internship. So I was wondering that maybe I can leverage that opportunity for career switching.
Moreover, I have a decent network in NYC(in IB & MBB).
What I see is that traditional Finance recruiting requires internship. However, I am not interested in Finance.
Given the HR offer of sponsorship, what do you guys suggest ? (I guess I should apply ASAP so that I can get CBS result before starting at McCombs)
Thank you in advance for your time.
Hey dude,
Interesting dilemna. And amazing sweet deal!
The short of it is: This sponsorship will make your profile stronger. The question is: Do you want to not attend McCombs and delay your matriculation for a year in order to take advantage of this by applying to other schools (not just Columbia)? The best case scenario is: You defer McCombs successfully (you can say something like your company will sponsor you if... ) and then see what you can do at other schools. Is it worth it for the delay? And what happens if McCombs doesn't accept the deferral?
Anyhow, A lot of my advice would depend upon what your current profile looks like, and I don't know enough about that yet.
If you like, drop a line to Lauren:
lauren@admissionado.com... give us ALL your info and we can get you hooked up with a free consultation about this once we know more.
I hope this helps, and if you have other questions, do not hesitate,
Best,
JF