bb11 wrote:
GMAT: 730, 48 Quant (76th%) and 42 Verbal (96th%), 8 IR (93rd%), 6.0 Writing
3.51 GPA, B.A. in Psychology from a mid-tier UC (Davis/San Diego/Santa Barbara/Irvine group). Graduated in 2012.
White male. Strong extracurriculars but lacking in leadership roles.
Worked two years at Intel as a sales/marketing analyst. I couldn't stand the Bay Area anymore so I finally quit my job, packed up, and drove to NYC a couple months ago. Got a job as a marketing analytics coordinator at an online video startup about a month ago (building on my previous experience, as I worked in Intel's digital video arm). Obviously I don't have leadership experience yet, and to be honest I don't know that my work accomplishments would stand out. I've got to work on many different types of projects, but all in junior roles.
However, I want to be in management consulting. It seems that continuing to wait to gain more experience is mostly a waste of time, as I don't want to stay in marketing and I'm delaying the doubling or tripling of pay that would come if I hit the average compensation of graduates a top 20 MBA program. I'd like to look at programs that would give me a great shot at consulting somewhere like Deloitte in the Northeast, so programs like Columbia, Yale, Duke, Northwestern, and Michigan would be ideal with Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown as lower-tier targets. Should I apply this year or wait until Fall 2015 to have a realistic shot to be admitted and be able to land a consulting job?
Well, if you are ready to go, I see absolutely no reason for you to wait. You will for sure have enough experience by then. Your GMAT is excellent. Your psychology degree makes you a rare bird (a good thing). And basically, you should just make as much time as you can to make as many applications as you can get by R2. And oh yeah, you should start like NOW!
Don't worry about the lack of leadership roles. Plenty of folks applying have no leadership. But DO worry about the story you are going to present, and how your past (Esp. your UG studies) will help you in the future,
Your school list seems about right to me (I mean very roughly, based on what you wrote here).
All the best,
JF