Hi
ProgressionPoint,
Thank you for your post and for sharing your profile. I have answered your questions below in blue:
- Assuming I do well on the GMAT, how competitive am I?
How many years of work experience do you have? Overall, I think you have an interesting story, but your competitiveness depends on a lot of factors, including your target schools and your professional goals. I would require additional information to better evaluate. - Will my GPA hurt me?
You will need to explain your GPA in the optional statement. Provided the rest of your profile and essays are strong, your GPA will not impede you from admission.1) will schools appreciate the strong upward trend
Yes. Everyone has challenging periods in their lives; what matters is how you move and learn from them. 2) I am planning on taking some quant courses (micro/macro economics, finance, calc 2) to demonstrate my quant abilities. Will this help?
Where are you planning on taking these courses? I would recommend something like HBSs CORE, which is structured to prepare for the MBA. It is a much more rigorous and reputable program than, say, coursera, or other similar online courses. I would also focus on your GMAT, and score well on the quant component- Will my career help or hurt me as an applicant? 1) I feel that it is understood that gaining entry into pharmaceutical sales is extremely competitive. The income is also high (relatively similar to that of careers that more commonly lead to MBAs). I am hoping that my sales job won’t be viewed negatively.
It all depends on how you tell your story. That's one of the reasons why the essays are important in the process.- Assuming I receive a high score of 700+ on the GMAT, which tier of b-schools should I be looking at?
It depends on what you are planning to do. I would focus on developing your goals first, and then look at which schools make the most strategic sense for what you want to do. You can read this to help you narrow down. - Do you have any suggestions career or otherwise that you feel could help improve my candidacy?
To answer this question, I would require a lot more information from you about your background and aspirationsHappy to continue the conversation. If interested, please reach out to coordinate a call (contact in signature).
Good luck!
ProgressionPoint wrote:
Hello,
First, let me thank you for your time and help; it is greatly appreciated! I am seeking advice and insight into how my current stats lend themself to top b-schools, and suggestions for ways I can improve myself as an applicant in the coming years.
I graduated from a non-flagship state school (think UNC-Wilmington) with a liberal arts degree. I took multiple quant courses (i.e engineering physics, calculus, etc.) and received A’s.
My CGPA: 3.45
with a strong upward trend for four years (had a 3.7+ my last three years. My low GPA is due to my first year of college—in my first semester I received a 2.1, and in my second I did not show up to class and did not withdraw, so I failed every course.
Work experience:
Out of college I worked my way into a position as a Territory Manager for a consumer goods company, in which I managed sales for the entire east coast. Within five months of employment my territory was the most profitable in the country. I also identified an opportunity to decrease spending and increase profit, and successfully implemented a nationwide strategic territory realignment. After 10 months I was given the added responsibility of interviewing candidates and training new hires.
I recently took an Account Management (sales rep) position with one of the largest global pharmaceutical companies.
EC:
Extremely proud father
Emergency Department Volunteer
Teach a spin class at the local gym
GMAT: hoping to score 700+
I have written one practice test without studying for diagnostic purposes: I received a 610. I have read that with intensive study it is not uncommon to improve scores by around 100 points. I did very well on the verbal section, and terrible on the quant section—around 30th percentile. I think I can boost my score, because I never had any issues learning math, and I feel that I was rusty with a lot of simple mathematics concepts at the time of the test.
- Assuming I do well on the GMAT, how competitive am I?
- Will my GPA hurt me?
1) will schools appreciate the strong upward trend
2) I am planning on taking some quant courses (micro/macro economics, finance, calc 2) to demonstrate my quant abilities. Will this help?
- Will my career help or hurt me as an applicant? 1) I feel that it is understood that gaining entry into pharmaceutical sales is extremely competitive. The income is also high (relatively similar to that of careers that more commonly lead to MBAs). I am hoping that my sales job won’t be viewed negatively.
- Assuming I receive a high score of 700+ on the GMAT, which tier of b-schools should I be looking at?
- Do you have any suggestions career or otherwise that you feel could help improve my candidacy?
Thanks!
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