Seeking Advice
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18 Oct 2018, 11:58
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 mathematic concepts at the time of the test.
Post MBA goals: I would love to move into management consulting, or a strategy position. In my career thus far I have been required to travel up to 60%; I have earned my fair share of airline miles and hotel reward points, and know that I can handle the travel required for consulting. More importantly, the most enjoyable experiences I have had in my career have been the instances that allowed me to ask questions, brainstorm, and analyze data to develop solutions for the divisions and businesses I have worked for.
- 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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