Profile Evaluation - Target School Recommendation

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General Info
27 years old
Hispanic Male
I want to make a career transition into management consulting

Academics
Undergraduate GPA - 3.1 - Upward trending/4.0 final three semesters - Took 12 semesters to complete
Unknown state school in Texas
Major: Interdisciplinary studies, focus in business
Worked Full time while earning degree

Alternative Transcript - 3.8 GPA from 18 hours of Calc, Stat, Econ @ community college

Graduate GPA - 4.0 - completed in one summer and one long semester (I was able to transfer grad level courses taken final semester of undergrad)
MS in Marketing from top 40 b-school
Worked Full Time while earning degree
Very specialized (36 hour program, 30 hours were marketing courses) - Confident I can make the case that the degree would not be redundant


GMAT
730

Work Experience
4 years in Real estate/Property Management - 3 promotions
3 years in Marketing - Fortune 500 Company - 2 Promotions

Community Service
3 years of giving monthly presentations at local high schools to parents of seniors. I worked in off campus student housing and property management throughout undergrad; I do talks in the evenings offering expertise from this experience to help better prepare parents for making housing decisions for their incoming college freshmen.

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by Donna@Stratus » Thu Aug 11, 2016 5:26 am
trey333 wrote:General Info
27 years old
Hispanic Male
I want to make a career transition into management consulting

Hi Trey333! Thanks for reaching out. Let me make some comments below...

Academics
Undergraduate GPA - 3.1 - Upward trending/4.0 final three semesters - Took 12 semesters to complete
Unknown state school in Texas
Major: Interdisciplinary studies, focus in business
Worked Full time while earning degree

Alternative Transcript - 3.8 GPA from 18 hours of Calc, Stat, Econ @ community college

Graduate GPA - 4.0 - completed in one summer and one long semester (I was able to transfer grad level courses taken final semester of undergrad)
MS in Marketing from top 40 b-school
Worked Full Time while earning degree
Very specialized (36 hour program, 30 hours were marketing courses) - Confident I can make the case that the degree would not be redundant
Be sure to mention in application you worked full time in school- that may make the 3.1 go over a little better.[/color

GMAT
730
Great GMAT! That will help for consulting.
Work Experience
4 years in Real estate/Property Management - 3 promotions
3 years in Marketing - Fortune 500 Company - 2 Promotions

Community Service
3 years of giving monthly presentations at local high schools to parents of seniors. I worked in off campus student housing and property management throughout undergrad; I do talks in the evenings offering expertise from this experience to help better prepare parents for making housing decisions for their incoming college freshmen.
]

Trey- you have a lot of strong positives here- great progression at work, giving back to community, strong GMAT, underrepresented pool in application process and so the weakest link is the 3.1 but I don't see that being a problem given the strength of your application. Now you don't say WHERE you are targeting... but I see you being able to present well anywhere you apply. So the next big question is where are you looking? I suggest you look at the consortium https://cgsm.org/ as you may find this very useful. And if you want to do a free consult with us to learn more about how we could help you strategize for scholarships and also best fits for you for MBA please reach out here: https://cgsm.org/

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by mcbMcK » Thu Aug 11, 2016 6:08 am
A few perspectives on your profile trey333:
  1. While the undergrad is going to remain an issue, it is good that you've built an alternate transcript. You will have to tackle this entire bit well in the Optional essay but overall, seems like there is a reasonably defendable story there.
  2. It is not clear as to whether you are now in real estate or marketing. Nonetheless, it is difficult to understand your actual role just by those alone - what facet of property management? What aspects within Marketing? Those will dictate the overall richness of your profile. This will also determine your relative attractiveness for consulting firms. So feel free to add those bits.
  3. The community service bit will add a nice overall touch to the profile. So in summary, articulate your stories well and you should have a shot at some pretty good schools out there.
Hope this helps some.

Cheers,
MG
MG (Manish Gupta)|The MBA Crystal Ball Team

Website: https://www.mbacrystalball.com
Email: mcb at mbacrystalball dot com

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by trey333 » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:47 am
I truly appreciate the input!

To answer your questions:

Target Schools
Columbia, LBS, UCLA Anderson, Tuck, UT McCombs, TAMU Mays, USC Marshall. I really haven't considered trying to crack top 5, but certainly would appreciate thoughts on my perceived competitiveness in that range.

More Detailed Work Experience

Property Management: Did this while completing undergrad. 2 years of experience in student housing; 1 year of that I directly managed a five person team. Was honored as "Leasing Professional of the Year 2014" by regional professional organization. 2 years of high-end luxury leasing experience in a customer-service/sales role, consistently led my staff as the top-producer. Had the opportunity to gain exposure to development.

Marketing: Currently work in a role as a senior marketing analyst. In this position I've had the opportunity to mentor new employees. I don't have managerial experience in this role, I mainly do market research and working with digital analytics.

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by Edison@VeritasPrep » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:15 pm
Thanks for sharing.

In addition to the advices above, as you write your essays, be sure to showcase the skills and experiences you gained at each stop and how they will all help you achieve your post-MBA goal of transitioning into Management Consulting. Identifying specifics of your target role could also help show that this is a well thought out decision and that this is very realistic. Identifying how the target program's courses, culture, and community would help you would also clearly show you would benefit from attending the program, and allow you the chance to elaborate how you can contribute/fit, as well.

Wish you all the best!
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by mcbMcK » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:18 pm
trey333 wrote:I truly appreciate the input!

To answer your questions:

<<snip>>

mentor new employees. I don't have managerial experience in this role, I mainly do market research and working with digital analytics.


Right, so you have 3 years of post-qualification experience then?

Market research and digital analytics are promising given the data analysis that usually comes with it. Articulated well, you should have a decent shot and it's good to see that you have a broad selection of school.

Go for it!

Cheers,
MG (Manish Gupta)|The MBA Crystal Ball Team

Website: https://www.mbacrystalball.com
Email: mcb at mbacrystalball dot com