Not optimistic after using Consultant - realistic school choices?

Hi,

I signed up for a 3 school package from a highly-rated admissions consulting group that has ended in unexpected results. I've been dinged from 2 out of my 3 R1 schools without an interview because of my GPA (feedback from schools). The schools I used the consultant for were schools ranked 6-10 and were schools that I was told I have a decent shot at given my stats. I was quite clear that I would like to leverage a consultant for schools that I have a good chance at and not at reach schools. However, after two dings without interviews because of a low GPA, I am starting to worry about A: my chances of getting into a top 13ish program and B: was my money not spent well and the schools were out out reach? Although I am aware consultants can't promise admissions to a school, otherwise work experience, GMAT and GPA would be rendered obsolete, and that the admissions process is a crapshoot, I will admit that I have been caught off-guard by the dings without interviews for schools that I had a "decent" shots at. I have two awesome references that are very personalized and I feel as though my ECs are decent, maybe average or slightly below avg. I am sad that I didn't even get the chance to mess up the interviews on my own .

In all seriousness, I am willing to try the admission consultant process again for a single R2 school, in case the approach for my R1 applications was part of the problem. I am hoping to get feedback on what Top 13ish schools are realistic for me, if any. Due to my age, I would very much like to matriculate Fall 2018.

I have provided an overview of my background and work experience below:

I am a 30 year old, white male who has a 3.11 combined GPA (will talk more about this in a little) and a GMAT score of 740 (Q50, V40, IR 7, AWA 5). Grew up in the South Carolina and attended a top 75 liberal arts college, always listed as a top 3 school in SC. In hindsight, I probably should have taken a year off before going to school because I was immature and wasn't ready to tackle the challenge of college. I graduated with 2.87 GPA in Business Economics.

After graduation, during the height of the recession, I landed a job at a tech startup in Jacksonville, FL focused on investment reporting. Because I was one of the first 50 employees, I received stock. Within 6 months of starting, I was promoted to a role that had two reports and was responsible of developing a process to integrate new clients on to our platform. After a tenure of 2 years, the company was purchased by a tech giant in San Francisco and I had a decision to make: exercise my stocks or reinvest in the larger company. In the end, I decided to exercise my stock to fund a second bachelors degree in Applied Mathematics.

At the age of 24, I found myself back in the classroom at University of South Carolina, hard to say no to in-state tuition, for a second degree that would only take me 2 years to complete; my credits transferred from my first degree. During my degree, I didn't have much time for ECs because I was taking a full load every semester and during the summer. I ended up graduating Cum Laude with a 3.5 GPA in December of 2013. By January 12, 2014 I had a job offer at Home Depot's HQ in Atlanta, GA working in Supply Chain Finance.

During my time at THD, I was promoted from analyst to sr. analyst, taught myself vba, sql and python, won multiple awards, including an executive award for combining data from numerous subsidiaries, and lead my teams philanthropic efforts to a platinum, highest, award from the CFO. I loved my time at Home Depot but the company was a well oiled machine and when a former colleague reached out to me regarding a position at Newell Rubbermaid (now Newell Brands) that would allow me to own projects for an upcoming merger, I couldn't say no.

My time at Newell has not been the easiest because the sell from the former colleague didn't go as planned; however, in the end, everything has worked out. I have been promoted since joining a year and half ago, actually turned down promotions along the way, and am currently leading a team working on supply chain optimization. The team I lead owns the ideation and business case creation portion of the process as well as any financial tracking of synergies. I have also assisted in organizational designs and owned a portion of a ZBB (zero based budgeting) projects. I truly enjoy my job but I know there is room for me to improve in strategic approach and leadership. I am pursuing an MBA to help me transition into consulting which expose me to a wide variety of strategies and industries. In addition, an MBA will provide me with a holistic view of a business - as I have been mostly focused on supply chain for most of my career - but more importantly an MBA will strengthen my leadership skills, skills I will need for my long-term goal of rolling back into a consumer focused company, such as Home Depot or Newell, as a leader within a strategy group.


Look forward to hearing your thoughts and hopefully working together.


Best,

J

Edit: added clarity to a statement made