Yago87 wrote:
Good afternoon all, I would really appreciate your feedback on a career opportunity that recently opened up to me and I need to take a decision relatively soon and I am not sure how this will benefit/impact my plan to attend a top 10 Business School in the US.
Just to put the question in context, a quick introduction on my person, I am Western European national with a BA in International Business with Mandarin Chinese from a reputable University in London (3.5 GPA) and I spend one year studying abroad in China as part of my degree.
I volunteered as one of only a few non-Chinese volunteers during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, where I led a team of 4 volunteers, and also interned for my country’s Consulate in Shanghai organizing the World Expo in 2010. I speak 5 languages and love anything international (travelling, cultures, etc).
For the past 2+ years I worked as a Senior Consultant in the Strategy Consulting arm of a Big4 (Deloitte, PWC, EY, KPMG) in London and had the opportunity to work on engagements in Russia, South America, Africa and recently the Middle East.
So getting to the point and my question. The Senior Manager from my Middle East project, where I worked the past 5 months, is transferring to Dubai to continue working in the area. As I was a high performer, the SM and the local Partner asked me to transfer there as well. My question is how do you guys think that Business Schools will assess this move in my application 7 months before submitting my application. I would like to continue Strategy Consulting post-MBA so I am targeting Schools like Kellogg, Fuqua, Tuck, Booth and maybe HBS & Stanford (but not sure about chances there).
Would you think these Schools will see this experience as a plus in terms of more international experience (do the aforementioned schools really care about this or is it just a nice to have) or rather a lateral move out of a geographic market that is highly skilled into a lesser skilled marketplace.
I am not sure what to do really as the move to the Middle East would nicely align with my application story around international experience etc but I would be on this project in the Power & Utilities sector for another 6 months at least, which is not my primary sector of interest.
What is your take on this, for me to get into my target Schools, is this a good more or should I stay in London for another year+. Also if you have any views on my chances in terms of my target Schools I would appreciate your comments as well (knowing that I am currently studying towards GMAT and eyeing a 720 score)
Sorry for the slightly long post, but I would really appreciate your views on this.
Actually I think the answer is simpler than what you may think: The story you tell is the story you tell. What I mean, that in a move like this, the move is as "good" or "bad" as you present it: i.e. "I was handpicked by my boss to follow him to Dubai and work on HUGE project X". Sounds great! No one will think bad of you for having taken on an interesting position and for gaining more international experience. Instead, I'd just suggest that you forget about the MBA in terms of this particular decision, because you can swing it how you like it. Instead choose based on what you REALLY want to do...