3 Jobs in 4 years and their effect on B School Apps

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ck_ey: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 2; Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 9:54 am; Thanked: 1 times

by ck_ey » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:22 am

I graduated in '09 from your average state school. Took a job doing consulting at a Big 4, and, although it was a great company, the job itself wasn't a good fit (I was a finance major). I ended up taking a job offer at an investment bank in town after my 1st in consulting. I'm currently wrapping up my 1st year in banking and looking to apply for b school this fall. Only issue is, I have absolutely zero time to study for the GMAT. I'm absolutely miserable at work, and am looking at other opportunities. My question is, if I were to make another jump, would that negatively impact my chances for a top tier b school.

I'm envisioning two possible scenarios: 1) Stay at my current job, have three years of good work experience and a GMAT close 700 or below 2) 4 years of experience at 3 different places (all good work experience) and a killer GMAT closer to 740.

I've taken a couple dry GMAT runs and am fairly confident that, given ample time to study, I could get close to 740.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Research MBA Programs | Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:22 am

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Stacy Blackman: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 1049; Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:59 pmFollowed by: 113 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 50 times

by Stacy Blackman » Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:47 pm

Hi ck_ey,

I hope the following answers your question. If you have a high volume of job changes on your resume, you may appear to lack commitment or be unfocused. You will probably need to explain the reason for your changes and help the admissions committee to understand the motivation behind your decisions.

It's important in this situation to refrain from merely chronicling your resume. You will want to explain the "WHY?" behind the "WHAT you did." There is no right number of jobs, or right number of years at a job. Most important is to explain why each step is a logical one in your path to the MBA and longer term goals.

Hope this was of help.

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Jon@Admissionado: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 3135; Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:55 amFollowed by: 332 members; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 589 times

by Jon@Admissionado » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:29 pm

Making the jump itself is not necessarily gonna harm your chances. If you have newer and better experiences at the new place, you can always explain it away as "career improvement". Plus if you are really miserable, even if it does give something for the Adcom to look askance at, maybe you should just leave anyway? You know, for you.

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money9111: Legendary Member; Posts: 2109; Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:25 pmFollowed by: 79 members; Location: New Jersey; Thanked: 109 times; GMAT Score:640

by money9111 » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:04 pm

As someone who will be starting my Core classes tomorrow at Johnson at Cornell University I can tell you unequivocally that it's the WHY behind the WHAT that will need to be answered. I've spent three weeks in orientation and Math camp, meeting all of my classmates and some have similar stories to yours. The deciding factor for them over other candidates is that they were able to succinctly build a compelling story as to WHY they did what they did. It will definitely be a question that you'll have to answer - so formulate responses to each move. Best of luck!

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