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mcnabakuk
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Joined: 19 May 2021
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Location: Azerbaijan
Schools: Wharton '24 (A) Booth '24 (D) Harvard '24 (D)
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MBA Admissions and post-mba job career advise 19 May 2021, 11:17
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I’m at MBB in a Eastern European country as an analyst/consultant. I have recently received an offer from an education start up as their chief of strategy. They started as a private school and prep courses chain, but quickly grew to become one of the biggest private establishments in the country and are now planning digital and international expansion. I’m applying for mba this year for 2022 intake, and my story is going to be around education so it looks like a great fit to the story. However I have a couple of reservations that I would like to ask advice/opinions for:

1) would leaving the MBB just shy of getting sponsorship hurt my chances of admission in the eyes of top schools (M7)? Would it be perceived as “unable to get sponsorship” or as a good move because it is a startup experience and fitting to the story?

2) I am unsure whether Education is the industry for me in the very long term though, so would it have any negative implications on my post mba job applications in the US? Would I be locking myself in the industry?

3) would it matter to employers that I left MBB without sponsorship, would it be perceived by them as “unable to cope with MBB” and “went to some unknown company” or be a good position because I’m moving to such a senior position?

Thanks!

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MBA Admissions and post-mba job career advise 19 May 2021, 12:41
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Hi. Welcome to GMAT Club and congrats on your awesome accomplishments so far.

I think and in general kids a strong opportunity though you want your MBA goals to be attainable and fairly normal or standard I should say. The Adcom should feel that your transition makes sense and that other people have made the transition and that you have researched I have a pretty clear idea about where you’re going and what you will be doing. This is how it relates to the business school applications.

First of all, I don’t think leaving MBB is a bad thing. I don’t know how long you have been there but as long as it’s more than two years, and you have some good accomplishments, I don’t feel anyone would feel that you couldn’t handle it especially if you’re switching into a more senior role, even if it’s a startup. I think that part is OK especially if you’re not expecting a promotion in the next six months. MBB has a strong sign/stamp of validation and anything that follows it would be considered a positive.

Asked to switching jobs at this point in time, it’s a little tricky. You will need to get recommendations from your supervisor and you will need 2 for most programs. That means you will need to get one from your old boss and one from the new one and most likely your new boss will have a fairly shallow recommendation letter because you still haven’t had a chance to accomplish much and they wouldn’t have known you well enough. That’s understandable but do they know you’re planning to leave them in just a year? Would that be a dealbreaker to inform them that you are planning to be applying and leaving?

You definitely want to keep your bridge with your old supervisor to make sure that you can get a good recommendation and they don’t slip something unpleasant in there….

You are definitely not alone. There’s been at least another few discussions in the last month alone of people in a very similar position of wanting to switch employers. It’s not so uncommon and perhaps your start up will do amazing and perhaps convince you to delay your plans… That is also a possibility.

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mcnabakuk
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MBA Admissions and post-mba job career advise 19 May 2021, 13:23
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Hi. Welcome to GMAT Club and congrats on your awesome accomplishments so far.

I think and in general kids a strong opportunity though you want your MBA goals to be attainable and fairly normal or standard I should say. The Adcom should feel that your transition makes sense and that other people have made the transition and that you have researched I have a pretty clear idea about where you’re going and what you will be doing. This is how it relates to the business school applications.

First of all, I don’t think leaving MBB is a bad thing. I don’t know how long you have been there but as long as it’s more than two years, and you have some good accomplishments, I don’t feel anyone would feel that you couldn’t handle it especially if you’re switching into a more senior role, even if it’s a startup. I think that part is OK especially if you’re not expecting a promotion in the next six months. MBB has a strong sign/stamp of validation and anything that follows it would be considered a positive.

Asked to switching jobs at this point in time, it’s a little tricky. You will need to get recommendations from your supervisor and you will need 2 for most programs. That means you will need to get one from your old boss and one from the new one and most likely your new boss will have a fairly shallow recommendation letter because you still haven’t had a chance to accomplish much and they wouldn’t have known you well enough. That’s understandable but do they know you’re planning to leave them in just a year? Would that be a dealbreaker to inform them that you are planning to be applying and leaving?

You definitely want to keep your bridge with your old supervisor to make sure that you can get a good recommendation and they don’t slip something unpleasant in there….

You are definitely not alone. There’s been at least another few discussions in the last month alone of people in a very similar position of wanting to switch employers. It’s not so uncommon and perhaps your start up will do amazing and perhaps convince you to delay your plans… That is also a possibility.

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Thanks a lot for your reply. To answer a few comments that you had:
1) I am at the 2 and a half year mark and I am just 6 months shy of getting sponsorship from my company. But even if I do get it (which is a strong possibility) I’m not sure if I’ll take it given that I don’t necessarily want to come back.

2) I am planning to get references from my current employer and from a senior client that I have good relations with; I doubt that it will change if I leave, they will still be happy to write me recommendations. I do not want to ask from my current employer because I will have spent only a couple of months there, and they will not have enough data points to give me a glowing reference. Would it reflect badly on my application if I don’t get my reference from my then current employer because of this reason, or is it perfectly normal?

3) the startup knows that I’m leaving for mba in 1 year and they are fine with that, they are already considering giving me a return offer post mba if I decide to come back, so no risks there i would say.