Help required: Broken but the phoenix shall rise again

Hi StrugglingGmat2910:

I'm going to be frank with you while tempering my thoughts as I do not have enough of your background information to draw any definite conclusions.

My first thought is this – Your 680 GMAT should be enough to get into a top 30 MBA program - especially at the ones you listed. I've had clients with the scores significantly less than that – about 100 points lower – crack the top 25. With the 680 you should have at least Received more than one interview invite.

Since we've "eliminated" the influence of your 680 GMAT score and GPA (and I did take a look at your grades on the resume), here is what I think - and again I do not have the complete story from you - I believe the problem is in the way that you are presenting yourself. Why do I say this? Because there are a few things - even in your forum post - that gave me slight pause. And it tells me that you could have a bigger issue - that would be poor communication skills and self awareness.

The odd nature of your post title - what's up with the phoenix reference. Yes, I know the story of the resurrected Phoenix. I get that part. But why not just stated plainly? Perhaps I'm reading way too much into this. But I've been doing this for 13 years and I see Dramatics when they doesn't have to be. The best communicators are those who state exactly as quickly and concisely as possible using as few words – no fireworks, no drama, no illustrative stories.

The other thing that gave me pause is something you said at the end of your post and in passing ... it would also give an admissions committee pause should you say anything similar. Specifically, you mentioned that you "expect some genuine insights." I suspect there will be a few consultants on this forum who won't bother to answer your post because of that. I know you're not trying to be rude or pushy or anything like that. But it's all about how you frame what it is that you want. And that's my overarching point here.

The other thing I wanted to call out is that you seem to think that it comes down to your GMAT score. Why is it that you think it's your GMAT score? Couldn't it be your essays, Why was that eliminated? Or do you think that its almost impossible that it could be what you said in your essays and what you may have stated as your goals (for example)? In other words, why is it what you wrote in your essays on the table for consideration? that's what I mean by self-awareness. And even though it's not feasible for you to post your essays here and have the world take a look at them, Have you actually considered what you've written and whether or not it's problematic?

Here's another thing about self-awareness – did you notice the grammar and format issues on your resume? I am assuming this is the resume you submitted to the admissions committee. Or something close to it. They're not complete deal breakers, but they don't paint you as the most effective communicator. In fact, they paint you as sloppy. That's not a good look. Here are just a few examples – Why is your education section at the top of the resume? Are you currently enrolled in school? Because that's the only good reason you would put your education section at the top of a document that supposed to be chronological in order. Why are you using the wrong verb tense on some of your bullet points? It's "manage" and not "managing" - these are basic errors. Why are some words randomly capitalized such as the word "Earned". Why do some of your bullet points begin with action verbs and others begin with adverbs. That's inconsistent. The more I look at this resume, the more I see "careless" errors. By the way, sentence fragments do not require periods at the end of them. Another thing – is your current title "Executive Operations"? That doesn't seem to make immediate sense to me.

If I had to guess more than I already have, I would say there would have been an issue with your goals. The programs to which you applied are extremely pragmatic and must know that your short-term goal is very realistic and attainable upon graduation. Given what I know about your background, which is limited, I hope you stated that you wanted to go into consulting and you did not come across as a career switcher. More than that I hope you would've specifically defined the type of group you wanted to work with within the consulting firm – something within operations or heavy industry.

Everything I've stated above, I mean in the most constructive way possible. You asked for my honest and open assessment, and I gave it to you. In no way do I intend for it to irk you. And if it does, that should tell you enough to give you pause, take a step back and reflect on why.

Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti