What job should i seek to improve MBA admission chances?

Question

Background:  I earned my Bachelor's in about 1.5 years; i was a stockbroker for four years, I did all sorts of oilfield work for two years in a place like Siberia, i quit and now I want to get an MBA to get a real job in a big city.
GPA: 3.6 (cum laude, top school for pilots)
GMAT: 720
Sending apps to Wharton, Chicago Boothe, NYU Stern, Columbia, UCLA

My question to you is, once I fill out my applications for Round 3 in the next two weeks, I have nothing to do so I should find a job. Nobody will pay me what I was making before, so I might as well think long-term and find a job not based on compensation, but based on the potential for the following:
 1.) Make up for the fact that I didn't ride the Ivy League gravy train 
2.) Make up for my haphazard career path that was based on making the most amount of money possible by working hard (pounding the phone, hitting things with hammers, etc.) instead of working smart (like for Goldman or McKinsey)
3.) I have no marketable skills besides sales and guts.
4.) Provide me an opportunity for good letters of recommendation (do those even matter?)
5.) Preferably one which has good potential for advancement. I have guts and I work very hard; I think it shows and everyone will quickly see I don't belong in the mailroom.

What kind of job is the best for me that I could possibly get that aren't dead-end? My best idea is to cold-call medium-sized business owners and executives convince one of them to make me their protégé. Please discuss.

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Dear Fiat,
Here are a few thoughts on the questions you raise:
 
  This depends on a few factors. Is 3.6 GPA bad on a relative scale for instance? Another thing to bear in mind is, work-experience cannot really overcome weak/average academics. The closest metric that comes to it is really GMAT. Not sure which geography you come from, but depending on that, your score could be close to average or slightly above for the schools you have mentioned.  
  You may be surprised to know that folks at Goldman and McK too slog it out - almost the highest hours across sectors. AND they need to work smart too. But yes, brokering and oil are obviously unrelated. It is critical to think of your post-MBA career and then take up the right course of action. Assuming you are applying to R3, what story line do you have? Stick to that in real life too? 
  Those are two pretty solid skills as I see it. So no issues there. 
  Does this mean you do not have good recos? A few things are not completely clear. Do you mean you finished your Bachelor's in 1.5 years? Which course/stream? Was it a pilot course and after that you did stock brokering? By yourself or as part of a firm? All those are important to understand your overall profile. If you do not have good recos and you arent sure of what you want to do post-MBA, applying to R3 would typically make it pretty tough to crack in. Another strategy might be to take the time, get a handle on things, and then apply in R1. It is usually better to wait then to become a re-applicant 
  As I said above, you should look at a career option now which mirrors what you want to do post-MBA. If the post-MBA goal isnt clear, you may find the post  here , useful. Yes, you should get back into active workforce at the earliest possible. Career gaps are pretty difficult to justify in bschool applications as well as in general.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

fiat · Answer

Thank you for your response and time spent understanding my situation. Part of the reason I’m in my position is because I haven’t had or asked for guidance from role models whose achievements I would like to emulate.

1. At the college I attended only about 1/3 of freshmen made it to graduation, and I graduated quickly by  testing out of a year of basic classes  and  taking very many technical upper-level classes concurrently . In these circumstances I think I can say my GPA as phenomenal.

I ran out of time on the quant in GMAT; I feel I could study and retake the GMAT and get a 740 but from my research, it isn’t clear that it would make a difference. 720 is a hair below average for a white male at these schools; what’s your opinion on retaking it? 
In the last month i've taken my GMAT from 630 to 720 in about 150 lazy hours.

2. I know anybody who makes a lot of money doesn’t work close to 8 hours a day. They work a lot more. I just want my work to make me grow and become better and more skilled so I can find a job anytime and command a high salary.

The best story that would be congruent to my situation is that I'm done with finance and would want to work in energy, oil, and gas. I am not a stronger candidate than the finance guys, so I can’t compete with them.  But I think I have a good story  (“from the ground up”)  for energy, oil, and gas.  Hardly anybody goes into sector (from the stats I’ve seen). Problem is, if I want to work in energy, I would have to move to Houston, when really all I want is to make decent (80K-100K without a Master's) money where I currently live. I will send my info and make calls later this week to see what offers I get; I am ready to move if staying congruent to my story makes a difference.

3. x

4. I don’t have terrific recommendations from recent supervisors. I don’t keep in contact and they’re oilfield rednecks. Best I can do is a recommendation from my supervisor, a partner in the firm, from my first job. Maybe even the CEO if it would really make a difference. I planned to have two colleagues write something good and short. But no supervisors from any recent jobs.  How big of a hit is that ?

5. I am curious; tell me: I have an attitude that I don’t have to be working all the time. I have gaps of six or nine months and I don’t want to share what I did because it involved trial and error, failure and learning, vacation and personal development. If I have the right attitude ("I worked when I wanted to work") about it, can it still look bad?

Thanks for your guidance; any questions I asked above are not spurious and I would really value your opinions.

Bonus question: should I try for a Master's in Finance (one year program) somewhere instead? I imagine it is easier to get in, shorter, and still gives a salary bump and makes finding a job easier. Would that derail the story (energy oil and gas) that i'm trying to build?

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Dear Fiat,
Apologies, but seems this post missed my attention and hence remained unanswered. Not sure if you've gotten the answers already, but here goes:

For the schools in your list, a 740 will definitely help. Given the fact that it is still early days for this year's cycle to begin, you can utilize the time to go up the GMAT ladder. Either by yourself or with professional help - but go for it. 
  Well, Houston is the hub as you've rightly mentioned for that sector. So the big game is there. Other geographies are likely to be limited in action and scope unless you are open for international locations.  
  XX 
  It usually is not looked upon well by most adcoms. So be prepared to justify why your recent supervisor(s) are/is not giving you a reco.  
  That doesnt cut water unfortunately. That's akin to telling a company that I dont want to work today because I dont feel like it - I dont care if that means that the firm will lose $X million for instance. There are rules / guidelines that most firms have to abide to ensure people/departments cooperate. While that attitude may be ok in your own firm, a large firm is likely to look down upon that. That doesnt mean that for instance, 'vacationing' is bad. But you HAVE to be prepared to justify/share why you did that, how it helped you, and how it did not hamper the firm you were part of. Random, unexplained career gaps can blow a death knell on your application.  
  Bonus reply: MiF is likely to take you away from your career goal. So I wouldnt recommend it.

Hope this helps

Cheers,

What job should i seek to improve MBA admission chances?

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