For anyone who is interested in helping me out - take a look below! Thanks!
sefienolteHappy to provide some additional thoughts. Having the Canadian angle could help you stand out, strong cross-cultural experience that could help to set you apart. You may want to reach out to some of the programs you are interested in and find connections with students - mgmt consulting club and find out how successful they are with career changers moving to consulting. You can leverage your volunteer work in strategy competition in 2 ways- helps you tell the WHY for consulting and reinforces that you are doing work related to strengthening your positioning for post MBA career goals. Good progression at work, and it does help to have a hook and you've got some great material with golf and the Big Brothers so I think the extracurriculars could help set you apart and schools are looking to make sure there is good diversity in all areas so reaching out to LGBT community clubs at your top schools could also be a way to learn more from students about their experience and get ideas on how you could contribute to student life in that club or in any club where you want to make an impact. I see a lot to work with here and you should be proud of what you've accomplished to date. GPA will help you get noticed- GMAT while good is not going to stand out in top programs. If you want to see how we could help you feel free to PM or look at our website with link below for a free consult.Goal: Apply in Round 1 in September of this year to top programs.
GMAT: 720 (Q46, V42)
GPA: 3.86/4.00 (From a top Canadian university - degree in mathematics)
Age: 29 (Would be 30 at Matriculation)
Work Experience:
I have been working for Avanade (An Accenture and Microsoft owned company) for 4.5 years. I started as a developer and after 1.5 years of doing that I transitioned into a business analyst function. All of this time has been spent implementing Dynamics AX (an ERP software) for large scale clients across the US and Canada (I have 3 major projects experience, with extensive travel for the last two). Especially relevant is that my progression has led me down a path of dealing more with the business functions (such as the procurement, sales and project management teams within my clients) and therefore I want to position myself to go work in management consulting after my MBA. (Ideally top 3 consulting, but open to others as well). I'd like to frame my brand as someone who is able to work exceptionally well with others given my diverse background (I am South African born, immigrated with my family to Canada as a teenager). I am also an openly gay professional so that has come into play in several of my relationship building techniques with clients (building trust especially).
I also did two 8-month work terms during my degree (one at IBM as a developer and one at Redback Networks as a documentation and content management specialist).
Extra Curricular:
I volunteered as a case competition coach for my alumni university for 2 years. This again is one of the key experiences that has opened my eyes to world of strategy consulting.
I volunteer with Junior Achievement and Big Brothers, and implemented a strategy for some of the financial/money training that Junior Achievement provides to be incorporated into the after school program I ran for a year with Big Brothers.
Finally I am an avid golfer and played competitively in high school and currently I am volunteering with a junior tour to promote the game to young people.
Thanks again - let me know if you want further information!
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03 Jun 2016, 14:07
