Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hello and thank you for your time and insight. Up until a couple months ago, I was on the warpath to apply to three MBA programs that appealed to me the most. At that point, I decided that it was a little too early and that I should devote a little more time to increase the quality & quantity of my work experience. Basically, I would like some opinions on my current plan and how to make myself the most appealing to my target schools in a couple of years. The programs I am targeting are UVA Darden, UCLA Anderson and UT McCombs.

A summary of my current résumé:

I am a certified public accountant licensed in the state of Oklahoma who currently works as an audit senior for a regional public accounting firm. I will have been employed by my current firm for 3 years in June (internship negotiated into a full-time position during my undergrad). I am the lead staff member on client audit engagements. I am responsible for making sure procedures performed effectively evaluate client assertions, supervising and mentoring assistant staff members, preparing client financial audit reports and pretty much everything else you would expect an assurance senior to be responsible for. I have worked on a variety of clients in multiple industries including Banking, manufacturing, state governments, municipal governments and not-for-profit entities.

I attended a smaller state University and graduated with a GPA of 3.4 (mostly due to poor performance in my first year).

I volunteer with the local animal shelter performing multiple duties primarily related to the care of the animals.

I have taken the GRE but plan to take it again with the hopes of achieving about a 710 GMAT equivalent.

At this point, I am exploring opportunities with Big 4 public accounting firms with the hopes that a couple more years on my résumé will make me appeal more to my target MBA programs. Very little differs from my work at my current firm and Big 4 save for the higher volume of clients and obviously the brand name (Some of the clients I've worked on previously employed a Big 4 auditor). Accepting that I also need a satisfactory GRE/GMAT score and perhaps a slightly more diversified extra-curricular portfolio, am I making the right move in my career? Do schools in my target range care about Big 4 public accounting (or accounting at all for that matter) or am I wasting my time?

Apologies for the long post and thank you again for your consideration.

Thank you for posting your profile.

Your CPA background at a Big 4 accounting firm will be appreciated, together with your leadership experience and exposure to varied industries. An MBA can help you take the next step in your career towards more senior management whether in an accounting firm or for the industry firms particularly where you had extensive experiences in.

Your targeted GMAT score is around the average for your preferred programs. Of course, scoring higher can only help you chances.

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much for your feedback!

I am definitely committed to achieving an MBA not only to build on my current skills but also switch from an accounting to a more managerial role. I was nervous as I hadn't read about too many auditors making it into the top MBA programs.

Thank you again for your time!

Identifying the specific skills and knowledge you will need to shift to your desired managerial roles and matching these with the specifics of the program and school you are applying to will help demonstrate your fit with the school.

All the best!