What can I do now (a year out) to increase my chances.

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Hi,

I'm very passionate about applying to business school and I'm currently studying for the GMAT (Month 2). I'm planning on applying next year to enter into the class of 2017.

In addition to preparing for the GMAT and working on increasing responsibility at work, I'd like to know what I can do now to help my cause.

Here are schools I'm considering applying to in Round 1: Michigan, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, Cornell.

Undergraduate education: 3.37 GPA from UT Dallas, Marketing Major
Was playing in bands at time recording music, VP of Marketing Associate at School

Target GMAT: 730

Age 27 - applying at 28.

Extracurricular: Running 1/2 marathons and 10ks in NYC. Founder and president of Alumni chapter in NYC.

Work experience:

Marketing Coordinator at large publishing company, ended up developing and implementing corporate social media strategy under CMO and VP of Marketing's direction. (1 year, 7 months)

Marketing Automation Manager at small software company, work with major big name brands, manage 2 outsourced teams and manage relationships with major clients. (11 months, currently)

Interviewed and considering moving to a Forbes 50 company as a marketing software consultant (would be 1 year before applying)

Alternative transcript:
Considering taking 3 classes to get As and provide alternative transcript for schools.


What else can I do a year out from applying to increase my changes? I'd ultimately like to switch to management consulting to a firm such as: Mckinsey, Bain, BCG. What are my changes at the listed schools and should I consider any others?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

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by Michael@VeritasPrep » Sat Sep 19, 2015 2:55 pm
One thing that you could do is get in some volunteer experience. Maybe you could even apply your marketing experience to help out a non-profit which would make a nice resume builder, essay topic and networking opportunity. You have pretty good stats for those schools (GPA might be a tad low).

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Wed Sep 23, 2015 5:21 am
So there are two things we see:

1) The additional coursework could be great. Which courses are you considering? Make sure they're foundational courses. Think Calc, Stats, etc.

2) Get more involved and find ways to have an impact. It's great that you founded the NYC alumni chapter (love that) but you need to do more. Running doesn't count. It's a solo activity. It's definitely challenging, but it doesn't demonstrate many of the themes we'd want to showcase.

Other than that, just keep doing a great job at work!
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by mattnyc15 » Wed Sep 23, 2015 7:53 am
So classes should be calculus and stat? Not like economics? What's the ideal number of classes 2-3?

Also, I'm looking to join a charity board now Oct 2015 and I'll submit my apps Oct 2016. Is this far enough in advance or will it look too "staged" and work against me somehow?

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Wed Sep 23, 2015 8:09 am
Econ is a good option but we think Calc and Stat, if you're only taking 2, are the 2 to take. But if you can squeeze in a 3rd one, go for Econ!

As for looking staged - not at all! A year gives you a great runway to ramp up that involvement.
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by Dozie@VeritasPrep » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:45 am
Just to add a few more points. I would start identifying and cultivating relationships with your recommenders. This is a good time to start working on this especially if you do not have a career champion at your firm. Reccs are a major part of the application process that many applicants overlook. Also, if you have your school list set you may want to start visits so when you are ready to apply next year you don't have to worry about this aspect of your research
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