mbahopeful04Planning to apply this fall with hopes of matriculating Fall 2020. Would appreciate any thoughts, tips you're willing to provide!
Work experience:
3.75 years working in social media strategy and analytics (think: media planning and buying, not so much content creation / community management) at an independent advertising agency (~100 employees) in Minneapolis; promoted four times during my time there, ultimately managing two assistant account executives
This is obviously not a typical pre MBA job which might help you in terms of work diversity, however it's really really important that you demonstrate leadership teamwork problem solving and innovation to sell the quality of your work experience. Hopefully the fact that you've worked at a smaller company gave you a chance to wear many different hats and see the business end to end more so than people at larger MBA feeder companies CURRENT: 1.5 years in digital marketing strategy/operations (non-management position) at a large integrated healthcare system based in the Midwest, playing a lead role in enterprise digital media planning/buying/analytics in social, display, direct, native, etc.
I'd be interested in knowing how this fits into your overall trajectory, did you want to work for larger company for perspective or is that the direction you want to take things? Just make sure to shape the narrative in something that makes sense to the admissions committee Extra curriculars:
Spent the last 1.25 years on the Programming Committee and Associate/Junior Board (~8 hours/week) of a prominent inner-city youth sports organization; will continue to participate for as long as I can (even during/after MBA) – truly value my time here and the opportunity to have an impact
Very excited to see that, that's a large commitment as well. I hope that you can leverage some of this experience in your applications I think it would set you apart if it is done correctly. sounds like you're really passionate about it and I think that's fantastic During my time at the agency, I was selected/sponsored by agency to participate in a three-month-long national case study competition
This is interesting, I'd be interested in knowing what the criteria was for the selection , do they see you as someone who is particularly good at this? One of five students selected to represent my university in the Public Relations Student Society of America’s Bateman Case Study Competition – a year-long, national case study competition in which student teams create and implement a full public relations campaign
This demonstrates leadership, if you have a good story around what you learned from this it might be a helpful thing to discuss in your applications, because it has some applicability to business school team dynamics, analysis, etc. Multi-year member of two different ad/PR student orgs
Undergrad school/major:
Big10, Journalism – with an emphasis on Strategic Communication (i.e. Advertising/PR)
I think I would need more granularity around this, if you were a journalism major at Iowa that would be a lot more impressive than maybe other big 10 schools, not generally considered the most challenging major.Race/nationality:
White; born in Northern Ireland, primarily raised in US
were you there during The Troubles or anything or impacted by that? Anything particularly interesting or diverse about your background ? might add some depth to your somewhat vanilla profile Sex:
Male
As you probably know white males are overrepresented so that's not a plus factor but you can demonstrate diversity in other ways Stats
GRE Score:
332 – 167Q, 165V (according to ETS’s conversion tool, that would be a 750 GMAT - hence the headline)
You might be pleased to take a look at this link, however I do want to caution you that universities often accept candidates with GRE scores that are not really is on par with the GMAT average is because they want them for their diversity. If they can find an Iranian feminist or something who will really add a lot to the diversity of the class they are more motivated to accept them with a so so GRE, especially because it won't pull down published GMAT averages. That said I really don't think you are in need of retaking this exam. https://poetsandquants.com/2019/03/17/average-gre-scores-at-the-leading-business-schools/3/You might HBX Core because it will give you a chance to develop an alternative transcript but that might offset your ability to put in applications at a variety of schools answer to a bang up job at them. So weigh the options there. Undergrad GPA:
3.0 – I understand this is something I’ll need to overcome (more on that below).
I get that you don't feel very good about the way you started your academic career and that's understandable but I don't think this is really a very big deal given that you've proven yourself with the GRE score. I've helped people with this GPA ,even more overrepresented with zero extra curriculars or hobbies, get into schools like Ross and NYU.
Of course it would be wise to address it and how you have since matured but the 3.0 threshold is important and you're at least on that threshold. Definitely apply to Cornell because there is really zero correlation between an acceptance there and GPA. Goal of MBA:
Transition out of marketing into the digital group of a Big 4/T2 consulting firm
Make sure that you have a good solid why; connect dots. Would be nice to have a long-term goal that speaks to something bigger than just you.
Target schools:
Will narrow down in the very near future, but the current list consists of:
Reaches/High Targets: Northwestern, Yale, Dartmouth, Michigan, Virginia, Duke, Cornell
Targets: Rice, UNC, Texas, Emory, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin
When I look over this target school list I'm like this guy really feels bad about his GPA. If you didn't have a good test score then it would really be a problem but you do.
Given your marketing background I definitely would like to see you apply to Kellogg as your reach school
I'm kind of wondering what the other schools offer that interests you? I think I'm seeing a trend of college town instead of a city? if you're going to be working in digital it just seems very well aligned with NYU, UCLA, metro schools as well. I think you have achievable goals here; Darden might especially like your case competition experience; Duke has a good marketing focus. Curious how you created this list.
Make sure to choose schools where there's a very clear value proposition on both sides, where you could both stand out and fit in with their values and strengths and they would position you for success with your next goal. Make sure to take a look at employment numbers
Beyond my lower GPA, I have a checkered past academically. Due to lack of maturity more than anything else, I wasted my first two years post-high school bouncing out of a Pac12 party school and failing classes at a local community college. Then I enrolled in the Big10 school from which I graduated and began to take my academics more seriously. And since I’ve been in the workforce, I’ve been passionate and dedicated (which I hope is demonstrated by my history of promotions). Absolutely plan to address past failures in my essays and how I’ve benefitted from them.
If you can scratch beneath the surface of something generic like lack of maturity this might actually be an interesting story that would help them get to know you. Add some depth. Four big questions:
· Any thoughts on reaches and targets?
· Any guidance on framing up my lackluster academic history?
· Wondering about the value of completing MBAmath or HBX Core this summer to reinforce quant skills and demonstrate commitment?
I’m normally a big fan of MBA Math; it is a very simple program so it would not hurt just for your own preparation. But your quant is not problematic so honestly I would like to see you apply your energies more around shoring up your strengths and any diversity you offer; really going more in a positive direction and getting the WOW factor across. · How much will GRE > GMAT hinder me? I’ve taken the GRE three times (324, 325, 332), so I’d very much like to avoid returning to the GMAT.
Unless you are applying to INSEAD, which only takes the GMAT, would not worry about it. Open to other opinions on this but I have had success with applicants with the GRE. More so with diverse applicants; however they had much lower scores than yours in verbal. mbahopeful04 wrote:
Planning to apply this fall with hopes of matriculating Fall 2020. Would appreciate any thoughts, tips you're willing to provide!
Work experience:
3.75 years working in social media strategy and analytics (think: media planning and buying, not so much content creation / community management) at an independent advertising agency (~100 employees) in Minneapolis; promoted four times during my time there, ultimately managing two assistant account executives
CURRENT: 1.5 years in digital marketing strategy/operations (non-management position) at a large integrated healthcare system based in the Midwest, playing a lead role in enterprise digital media planning/buying/analytics in social, display, direct, native, etc.
Extra curriculars:
Spent the last 1.25 years on the Programming Committee and Associate/Junior Board (~8 hours/week) of a prominent inner-city youth sports organization; will continue to participate for as long as I can (even during/after MBA) – truly value my time here and the opportunity to have an impact
During my time at the agency, I was selected/sponsored by agency to participate in a three-month-long national case study competition
One of five students selected to represent my university in the Public Relations Student Society of America’s Bateman Case Study Competition – a year-long, national case study competition in which student teams create and implement a full public relations campaign
Multi-year member of two different ad/PR student orgs
Undergrad school/major:
Big10, Journalism – with an emphasis on Strategic Communication (i.e. Advertising/PR)
Race/nationality:
White; born in Northern Ireland, primarily raised in US
Sex:
Male
Stats
GRE Score:
332 – 167Q, 165V (according to ETS’s conversion tool, that would be a 750 GMAT - hence the headline)
Undergrad GPA:
3.0 – I understand this is something I’ll need to overcome (more on that below).
Goal of MBA:
Transition out of marketing into the digital group of a Big 4/T2 consulting firm
Target schools:
Will narrow down in the very near future, but the current list consists of:
Reaches/High Targets: Northwestern, Yale, Dartmouth, Michigan, Virginia, Duke, Cornell
Targets: Rice, UNC, Texas, Emory, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Beyond my lower GPA, I have a checkered past academically. Due to lack of maturity more than anything else, I wasted my first two years post-high school bouncing out of a Pac12 party school and failing classes at a local community college. Then I enrolled in the Big10 school from which I graduated and began to take my academics more seriously. And since I’ve been in the workforce, I’ve been passionate and dedicated (which I hope is demonstrated by my history of promotions). Absolutely plan to address past failures in my essays and how I’ve benefitted from them.
Four big questions:
· Any thoughts on reaches and targets?
· Any guidance on framing up my lackluster academic history?
· Wondering about the value of completing MBAmath or HBX Core this summer to reinforce quant skills and demonstrate commitment?
· How much will GRE > GMAT hinder me? I’ve taken the GRE three times (324, 325, 332), so I’d very much like to avoid returning to the GMAT.
Thanks in advance for your time and advice!
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