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arags01
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Paul : Career + MBA Advice Needed 29 Aug 2006, 13:56
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Hi Paul,

I prepared for the GMAT for about 2 months and finally decided to take the GMAT last week. I scored a 640 and plan on retaking it in the next few months. My ultimate goal is to get into a Top 10 school and I wanted to get your opinion on a couple of options regarding planning and executing the entire process. Here’s some background info. on me and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1)25, M, East Indian (US Citizen). Graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering from the Ohio State Univ. (minor in Info. Systems) in June’03. Overall GPA: 3.2

2)Work Experience: Primarily in Healthcare Clinical Information Systems

a.Healthcare Software Company – 2 years
b.Big 4 Consulting Firm – 1.2 years (current)

3)Extra curricular activities: I am currently involved in a few extracurricular activities at work but do not have a leadership position. However, I just signed up to be on the Associate Board for an external non-profit organization and will be involved in executing a fundraiser event for about 6 months.

What would you say are my main weaknesses and can you suggest ways to beef up my resume/application? I have also been thinking about switching companies to gain some additional experience (strategy consulting) and will this move hurt my B-school application if I were to apply in Fall 2008? Would schools look at the different companies I would have worked for in a span of 5 years in a negative way? Do you recommend staying with the same company (just for B schools purpose) inspite of limited opportunities? Would you advice applying this year (if I were to score in the high 700s) or next (Fall 08)? Thanks,

Amit
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PaulBodine
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Paul : Career + MBA Advice Needed 31 Aug 2006, 16:58
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arags01
Hi Paul,

I prepared for the GMAT for about 2 months and finally decided to take the GMAT last week. I scored a 640 and plan on retaking it in the next few months. My ultimate goal is to get into a Top 10 school and I wanted to get your opinion on a couple of options regarding planning and executing the entire process. Here’s some background info. on me and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1)25, M, East Indian (US Citizen). Graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering from the Ohio State Univ. (minor in Info. Systems) in June’03. Overall GPA: 3.2

2)Work Experience: Primarily in Healthcare Clinical Information Systems

a.Healthcare Software Company – 2 years
b.Big 4 Consulting Firm – 1.2 years (current)

3)Extra curricular activities: I am currently involved in a few extracurricular activities at work but do not have a leadership position. However, I just signed up to be on the Associate Board for an external non-profit organization and will be involved in executing a fundraiser event for about 6 months.

What would you say are my main weaknesses and can you suggest ways to beef up my resume/application? I have also been thinking about switching companies to gain some additional experience (strategy consulting) and will this move hurt my B-school application if I were to apply in Fall 2008? Would schools look at the different companies I would have worked for in a span of 5 years in a negative way? Do you recommend staying with the same company (just for B schools purpose) inspite of limited opportunities? Would you advice applying this year (if I were to score in the high 700s) or next (Fall 08)? Thanks,

Amit
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Amit,

Your main weaknesses are not glaring, just a lack of anything particularly unusual that would help you stand out. Aside from getting your GMAT over 700, I would just recommend accumulating as many high-impact leadership experiences as you can, in and outside of work. Your fundraising event, for example, sounds great. I do not think gaining additional experience for the sake of breadth of experience would help you very much. You don't want to appear unfocused. But if a new job would give you direct reports or more overt leadership opportunities then go for it. If you do switch, it will only be 3 companies in 5 years, which doesn't make you too much of a job hopper. So if you find a better leadership role that fits into your skills and long-term goals go for it. If you get a 700, there would be no harm in applying this year; if you don't get in you could just try again next year with the advantage of knowing what the application process is about.

Good luck,