Hi there, and thanks for writing. A CPG background certainly isn't a negative - schools are looking for a diverse range of applicants, and it appears that you've made a good amount of impact in your roles.
The application process is very holistic, and it's important to apply only when all of your materials are as strong as possible. Regarding GMAT, the schools you've listed will be quite a reach with your current score, so I would aim to boost it to 720+.
You're right that your length of work experience puts you on the upper end for people applying to full-time MBA programs. That doesn't mean they're out of the question, but you'll need to make a strong case in your apps for why NOW is the right time for an MBA.
Hope that helps a bit!
wwang252
Hello Experts,
I'm new to this site and have recently wrote my GMAT. I would really appreciate your help in reviewing my profile below.
Ethnicity/Nationality: Chinese/Canadian
Age: 30
Work Experience: 8 Years
GMAT: 680 (Q47, V36, AWA6, IR4) 1st time. Wrote a 2nd one within a month and didn't have time to study in between.
Scored 680 again (Q48, V34, AWA?, IR7)
Undergad: University of Western Ontario in Canada majored in Finance/Accounting (3.3 GPA)
Work Experience:
2 Years at Philip Morris Int. - Market/Business Analyst within the Business intelligence team
- First Full time job out of school.
- Worked with supply chain, CRM, Marketing Data to provide solutions for Sales & Marketing.
- Was promoted once in between from a regional role to a head office role
- Lead several company wide projects (SKU Rationalization, Implement new CRM, etc) with multi-million dollar impacts.
1 Year at Spin Master Ltd (Up and coming Canadian Toy Company) - Forecasting Analyst supporting the Wal-Mart US Account
- Worked on the largest Customer/Account at the Company
- Received Vendor of the Year Award from Wal-Mart
2 Years at Spectrum Brands - Category Management for several lines of Small Kitchen Appliances
- Started as a Category Advisor for Wal-Mart Canada (supported the customer/buyer with retail strategies and execution)
- Was promoted in a year to Category Manager overseeing the category for total Canadian retail channel (Multiple large customers)
- Had 1 direct report post promotion. Grew sales by double digits
2 Years at Kraft Heinz Canada - Manager, Sales Advisor
- Joined because of opportunity to work at Tier 1 CPG company
- Worked on the Loblaws Account (#1 Grocery Chain in Canada) for several large categories (Coffee, Peanut Butter)
- Sold through all innovation items and doubled distribution/shelf face at LCL for my category.
- Worked on several large exclusivity and Preferred Vendor deals to align customer to a shared growth plan.
Current: 13 months thus far on a Canadian Public Tier 3 CPG company - Key Account Manager
- Moved into a Key Account Manager/Sales from Sales support
- Responsible for the P&L of Loblaws, Canada's largest grocery chain and the company's largest customer
- Role can be summarized to developing a sales plan, executing the plan and delivering financial targets
- Reality is that majority of the responsibilities is executing and solving day to day issues
- Biggest accomplishment here was that in 2017 where the account had a negative trade balance of half a million I was able to balance in 2018
Extracurricular:
I did a couple summers of pro-bono consulting with a Non-Profit Organization that organize teams and that lends help to various small businesses/NPOs seeking these services. Typical engagements relates to building marketing or operation strategy and are about 8 weeks long.
Target Goal Post MBA: Consulting or in a Strategic Role in Corporate
My GMAT score isn't ideal and it has been challenging putting away time to study with my current role. Working in sales means that I have to spend a lot of my non-working hours still thinking about work. Otherwise I'm not committed to achieving targets.
I've held a lot of different roles at various organizations but can all be explained. Partially it was because I wanted to explore different industries or discover what I really like to do. Partially it was also because of unforeseen circumstances such as restructuring.
I think my background is decently well rounded and I have been able to leverage what I'm learned in my previous experiences in every new role I've taken. I'm excited about improving performance and solving problems which lead me to this post MBA goal.
I haven't seen too many profiles here that comes from a consumer packaged goods background and I'm not sure if this is an unfavorable background.
Here are the list of schools I'm looking for based on their employment reports
Duke
NYU
Cornell
London Business School
Insead
I would also love to go to Kellogg, Columbia, Yale but understand that my GMAT is very far off. I do want to reattempt GMAT again in 2 months to try to achieve a 720.
Here are the questions I have regards to the application process.
1. Do I have a shot at those 5 schools listed above? If not, is there anything else (GMAT is one) I can do to improve my profile?
2. I'd like to be in for Round 1. However, reading a lot of the posts here, I understand the application is just as if not more important. Should I spend the current time rewriting GMAT or actually preparing for the application?
3. I see that the average age and work experiences of students at these top schools tends to be around 28 and 5-6 years. Since I'm already over the average, does delaying my application hurt my chances?
Thank you,