Career + MBA Advice Needed

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Career + MBA Advice Needed

by arags01 » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:30 pm
Hi Stacy,

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,

AR

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by Stacy Blackman » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:55 pm
What would you say are my main weaknesses and can you suggest ways to beef up my resume/application?
Hard to tell from the limited information I have. The main weakness that jumps out at me at this point is below average numbers. Improving your GMAT will help.

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?
What are you doing now? II thought you were doing consulting) Is the move in line with your ultimate goals? I would not move just for the sake of a different experience, but if it will help you to reach your goals, and is something that you are interested in, you could build a story around it.

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?
No & no. I rarely recommend doing something "just for b-school". You should be true to yourself - that is how you will excel.

Would you advice applying this year (if I were to score in the high 700s) or next?
I think you could apply this year - you seem to be a promising candidate.
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Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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Thanks!

by arags01 » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:46 am
Thanks Stacy. I really appreciate your feedback. I will work on getting my GMAT score in the 700s.

AR