Kellogg School of Management

Sorry I am no expert on the CPG part of Kellogg since I dont plan on entering Marketing post grad so I didnt research it at all. I can tell you that Kellogg is considered the top Marketing/CPG b-school. Not everyone that goes into marketing post MBA has prior experience, having at least been in the industry it will help in all aspects from trying to convince them of your career switch to recruiting. Since it has such a great reputation for marketing it definitely appears to be common for people to attend who want to switch in. I have met people going from many different careers hoping to enter CPG...military officers, IT, finance, engineering...much like banking or consulting its doable as long as you pursue it.

On how to present your story, you definitely can play on the angle of loving the industry but wanting a different roll. It will be especially effective if you have ever done anything outside the IT department for the company, it would be worth a shot trying to get on some project or something that will give you exposure to the MBA type marketing folks. Career switching is common in all MBA programs, the more convincing you are and the more you can show you understand the career/industry the better off you are.

I think if you want to apply to schools for marketing and CPG specifically, I would add Kellogg as your best option and Duke as a solid back-up (it also has a great marketing program).

That was lightening fast response, thanks River.

I love food, does that count as a reason ? Actually, I do love the industry. Will sure try to get involved with more business, although it is not very likely to happen at this point since the company has been bought by a private equity company and there is a freeze everywhere.

Hi there,

I'm heading to Chicago today for a two week assignment for Work, and plan on visiting Kellogg just to look around and get a feel. I will also reach out and visit with some students early on in the fall session, but for right now I just want to check out the joint.

At any rate, how do you have access to the 2009 Application Materials already? When I check the website, it says they are not available yet.

Thanks

They posted the questions on their site...the recommendation form is last years but it most likely wont change. No deadlines yet. I would bet applications will be online by early August. You can get to work on the essays already though if you want.

Another 2010 ambassador checking in. I would discuss your interest in entrepreneurship in depth if you have legit ideas in your mind. I did and I think it made my application more compelling. Given your exposure to the industry for the last few years, I think you can craft a very good picture of where you've come from, how a school/MBA will help transition you into a business role, and how experience in CPG will give you the weapons to start your own company doing XYZ.

Also, I would put Kellogg way up on your list. Kellogg has the largest CPG internship/full time recruiting pipeline among the top 5 schools and has tons of the best professors, classes, and programs. The famed marketing competion every fall quarter is evidence enough of how engrained it is at Kellogg.

Hi all, I'm looking to apply for Fall 2009 and wanted to do a little research by speaking with alumni or current students. Since I live on the east coast and have limited time off to visit during weekdays, does anyone have contacts or advice on finding students that may be willing to exchange a few emails or chat over the phone?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

stern, most of us arent at Kellogg yet but there are plenty of people on this site heading there in a month. There are a dozen soon to be first year Kellogg students on here, including a JD/MBA candidate. (not sure if anyone is a MMM). Look at the profiles of some of the admits and if anyone is similar to you then PM them. You can also ask questions on this thread.

Thanks Steel, I did observe the CPG recruitment trend at Kellogg, which has been about 10% for past five years.

Is there a way to get an idea of what roles are offered? I am more interested in an operations and supply chain management (global) role, right after graduation.

Kellogg's employment report is by FAR the best you will find. It gives every student, the company they are going to and their job title.

https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/car ... t_2007.pdf

If you are heading into CPG but not marketing then you would be more in the operations/production side. MMM might be something to look into if that is the career path you want.

Thanks River, I am checking out this report right now and looks like I will find here everything I need.

Also, my plan is to focus on the following in no specific order:

Operations management
Transportation and supply chain
International business

along with basic business management skills. In your opinion, will MMM be a better option?

I am no expert on MMM, it along with MIT's LFM are considered two of the best specialized dual engineering/mba programs.

Check out the website for detailed info. The people I met who are MMM's love the program and highly recommend it. As an engineer a few people told me to go for it because they seem to have an edge in placing folks.

https://www.mmm.northwestern.edu/

MMM is actually better than LFM in my opinion for people such as myself who like the M. Eng degree plus the flexibility to go into consulting rather than a corporate role. LFM sponsor companies cover most of the tuition, the internship is 9 months, and if the student doesn't work for a sponsor company (amazon, cisco, etc), he/she has to pay back the tuition difference. Obviously that's better if you want to go work for the sponsor company, but I think MMM is a better fit for me personally.

Kellogg is high on my list since I want to transition from MC (Bain) to a GM/product management role in a tech-oriented media company (e.g. Amazon, Apple). My career goals made me consider the MMM, though I see most students have engineering while I majored in management and cinema) and my weakest grade in UG is a bloody C+ in... statistics for business decisions (I had family issues back then though).

I'm not that bad quantitatively as I've been scoring A+/A/A- in maths, finance and other numerical courses. I am taking the GMAT in a few days and I am consistently in the Q47/49 range.

My current plan is to go for the plain MBA admit and then ask to be enrolled in MMM after researching it deeper (if there's an MMM candidate here I would love to talk to her) and possibly having took a class in statistics as a refresher. The website seems quite possibilistic on that.

I would love to hear comments and advice from current and incoming students at Kellogg (or anyone else who wants to chime in, for that matter!).

P.

I am no expert on the MMM program but I believe you have to specfically apply to that MBA program and also apply to the masters of engineering program too. Definitely look at that, I dont believe you can just transition into the MMM program.

thanks for linking out to this! They did get pretty specific by industry - I appreciate their calling out healthcare consulting as separate from the rest of consulting - very handy

river,

I am planning to reapply to Kellogg in R1. I had previously applied in R1 last year. Essay directions indicate that I'll have to submit 1, 2, 3, 4D and an optional essay too. So, do you know if Kellogg refers to the previous years application at all? Since the questions have remained the same (except 4), can I reuse the content and use 4D to explain progress in the last one year?

Thanks,
SV

I dont know if they refer to last years applications. Its possible they pull your file since they will know you are a reapplicant. Honestly, if you did get in with the material you had last year you shouldnt recycle it this year. I would start fresh...yes you can use some of the materials but I would add new stuff and rework it all. Obvoiusly some of the stories will be the same however coming up with a different sales pitch would be a good idea.