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schellha
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Joined: 15 Mar 2013
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Schools: Tuck '16
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Profile Evaluation 18 Mar 2014, 09:45
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First off thank you for taking the time to help a non-traditional applicant like myself. I am currently a 28 year old Food and Beverage Manager at a prominent hotel in Atlanta. a. I originally graduated with a 3.4 in hotel management from the University of South Carolina. It is important to note that I was let go due at my first college (private school in Michigan) due to academic performance. I had medical issues at the time and wasn't fully devoted to my work. The 3.4 above is actually the cumulative including that so at the the University of South Carolina I earned almost a 3.7.

I was accepted in Marriott's manager development program out of college and moved to Boston to complete my training. I was then asked to go to Memphis to help improve the worst performing hotel in the company. I was able to move them from last place, out of 341 hotels, to middle of the pack. I was then recruited to the Hyatt Corporation to help a large Hyatt hotel (1300 rooms and $90 million in revenue) re-establish a poorly operating new concept bar concept of theirs. I was then finally recruited to Loews Hotels where I just finished the year ranked #1 in guest satisfaction, revenue, flow throw and profit for the whole company. Throughout my career I have been known to turn out challenged operations.

I have taken the GMAT and have scored 720. I would like to attend Wharton, Tuck, Emory, Columbia or UNC. Post MBA-I would to transition into real estate investment banking. The reason for such a dramatic switch is to learn the funding side of the business so I can move into an hotel ownership role eventually. Think Starwood Capital, Noble Investments, Blackstone REPE.
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Profile Evaluation 19 Mar 2014, 04:29
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schellha
First off thank you for taking the time to help a non-traditional applicant like myself. I am currently a 28 year old Food and Beverage Manager at a prominent hotel in Atlanta. a. I originally graduated with a 3.4 in hotel management from the University of South Carolina. It is important to note that I was let go due at my first college (private school in Michigan) due to academic performance. I had medical issues at the time and wasn't fully devoted to my work. The 3.4 above is actually the cumulative including that so at the the University of South Carolina I earned almost a 3.7.

I was accepted in Marriott's manager development program out of college and moved to Boston to complete my training. I was then asked to go to Memphis to help improve the worst performing hotel in the company. I was able to move them from last place, out of 341 hotels, to middle of the pack. I was then recruited to the Hyatt Corporation to help a large Hyatt hotel (1300 rooms and $90 million in revenue) re-establish a poorly operating new concept bar concept of theirs. I was then finally recruited to Loews Hotels where I just finished the year ranked #1 in guest satisfaction, revenue, flow throw and profit for the whole company. Throughout my career I have been known to turn out challenged operations.

I have taken the GMAT and have scored 720. I would like to attend Wharton, Tuck, Emory, Columbia or UNC. Post MBA-I would to transition into real estate investment banking. The reason for such a dramatic switch is to learn the funding side of the business so I can move into an hotel ownership role eventually. Think Starwood Capital, Noble Investments, Blackstone REPE.
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Hey there good sir,

Glad to help man. So first of all, I need a weeeee bit more info about your job. I don't get if you lead any people, how far your responsibilities lie, or how exactly you have progressed from job to job, and all of these will of course influence your application.

Your GMAT is awesome, which you know :) So congrats there. Your GPA, despite your story of being let go is pretty good.

I also don't yet get a sense of your extra curricualrs or volunteer work, which would likewise influence your application.

So write me a bit more detail about all this and I'll get back to you.

In the meanwhile I can say that your goals are going to be a hard sell. and you may need to either figure out a way to make them make sense, or maybe consider changing them for the application.

Best,
JF
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schellha
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Joined: 15 Mar 2013
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Profile Evaluation 19 Mar 2014, 22:51
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JF-

Thanks for the reply. I have attached a link for my linkedin account which will help you greatly learn about my career track. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-schellhase/16/888/a11 . It terms of extra curricular I was heavily involved during college but haven't been since then due to working 70-80 hours a week. I was involved in fundraising for St. Jude while I was in Memphis. In college, I founded our Club Tennis team which grew to be the largest sports club on campus. I was also involved in student government in a leadership position. I would love to hear your thoughts and please let me know if I can provide any additional information. Thanks!
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Profile Evaluation 21 Mar 2014, 00:55
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Thanks for the link and for the extra info dude.
Your work experience looks good. Looks to me like you even have some leadership there with the mentoring and coaching, which is a nice extra. Now, other than your story of being let go from school, I don't see any major issues. Maybe that your industry is not necessarily one of the "preferred industries", but MBA programs are actually happy to diversify by taking successful candidates from all industries. You have that great GMAT, very good grades, excellent progression in your work experience, and a bit of extras which are necessary. When you apply emphasize both this progression, and any leadership you have so that the schools will know that you are one of the best in your industry.

I think with what you have, you can reasonably apply to Top 20 schools, and from the schools you have chosen, Wharton and Tuck will be pretty tough, but then you have Emory and UNC, at which you would be competitive. It's not entirely clear to me how you came up with this list, i.e. what your criteria in your school selection are, but its a good start, although you may want to add one to two more schools.

Other than that, the main thing to think about now is your goal - if you are going for a career change, how will you justify that? What proof can you give of your potential success? Or if it's for the moment just an idea, you might be better off going with management goals related to the hospitality industry. Something to think about.

I hope this helps, and if there's anything else, just drop a line,