The Application Process

Hello all, I have just graduated from the university this year and am planning to study MBA in the next two years. Currently, I got job offers in the sales position from three companies; the choice of which I chose will greatly affect my future.

Background: Chemistry graduate from the top university in Thailand. TOEFL 100 ( target 108) GMAT 660 (target 730). Having my own family business which is a chemical trading firm with 70-80 employees.

So, there are 3 choices right now:

1) A big well-known marketing company in Asia- the job involves utilizing the marketing strategies at the location(the shelf in Supermarket) in consumer goods section. (The company has more than 1000 employees in Thailand.)

My opinion: I like the idea that this is a very big and well-known company because it will look good in my profile, but the job responsibility doesn't suit my family business. In other words, little knowledge and experience (marketing and logistics in consumer products) in this kind of field can be used to apply with my family business (trading company).

2) A well-known manufacturing chemical company in Thailand (subsidiary from Japan)- One of my friends is working here. There are about 200-300 people in this company in Thailand.

My opinion: The company looks nice; however, my friend said that the job is relatively easy; the responsibility is to maintain the current customers because the firm is the sole manufacturer of this chemical product. All he need to do is to deal the about price and specific details. He doesn't have to spend much time in finding new customers.

3) An unestablished chemical trading company which is the sole distributor of famous US and Indian chemicals in Thailand. There are about 20 employees in this company. Also, this 30-year-old firm is in a family business form. It used to be a dealer and sold the products to other distributing company. Now, it just started to sell the products directly to customers for 3-4 years; this could explain about the small workforce size.

My opinion: This firm is quite similar to my family business. The process of selling and finding new customers is quite similar to the way my family business works. I will get the valuable experience here. But I may not learn that much about the organization of the company since it is quite small.

To sum up, the choice of my preference is number 3 because I will get the real experience similar to my family business; however, I am afraid that joining an unknown company would reduce my chance of getting into one of the top B schools in US. Also, joining a big company doesn't really suit my family business in term of experience. So, What should I do? If I choose choice no.3, can I still get accepted to the likes of UNC, CMU, Cornell and so on? Please please help.

PS. I know this is way too long but thanks for reading. I will really appreciate your opinions and suggestions.

I also feel that choice number one is likely the best. I say so for two main reasons.

First, I think it could say a lot about the flexibility of your intellect to go from Chemistry to consumer marketing and excel. I was a brand manager at J&J before going to HBS and consumer marketing is a great career start and very attractive to business schools. You will be doing this transition from a hard science, and this is just the type of brave switch that could show schools you know how to learn and achieve in broad environments.

Second, given you are coming from Thailand, which as a country sends fewer folks to the top schools versus say France or the UK, I think that having some brand recognition on your resume is worth a lot. The small company you mention may or may not do well, so you may not want to pin your MBA hopes on that horse race.

You are smart to think strategically now, and don't forget to be involved in your community, as this also helps cement you as a well-rounded applicant!

Good Luck!

Alex