Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

hi experts: i'd greatly appreciate your thoughts/advice/direction/etc. on specifically which schools i should apply to in round 2 this year (round 1 is most probably a no go, given gmat woes). preface: i have not taken the gmat yet, so please assume for time being that i have a 650 score.

-30 year old male, bi-cultural half-Japanese, half-American advertising/marketing professional.
-8 years w.o. at world's leading agencies (ogilvy & mather, mccann erickson, ddb) managing fortune 50 blue chip brands (mastercard, ibm). currently living/working in honolulu, hawaii, managing the hawaii tourism bureau account and leading new business for my agency.
-B.S. in Communication studies from NYU; 3.71/4.0 GPA, magna cum laude graduate. Dean's list and Lambda Pi Eta (National communications honors society).Very active at school: Chair of NYU Dean's Circle - led 50 students on research and study abroad to Havana, Cuba; President Japanese Culture Club; NYU - McCann Erickson Ambassador; American Advertising Foundation; NYU Stern Economics Club. Study Abroad: Florence, Italy (Fall 2001, Spring 2002); London, UK (Fall 2004).
-fluent in japanese and english; elementary proficiency in italian.
-solid extracurriculars: Board of Directors, American Marketing Association (Hawaii Chapter); Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer of online cloud-based procurement system startup. Guest Lecturer at local university teaching Marketing Consumer Behavior course. Director (U.S. West Region) of high school alma mater.
-short term post mba goal: transition into management consulting, specifically in strategy consulting service.
-medium long term goal: general management, director position at a Japanese multi-national corp; industry flexible but passionate in Telecomm, Auto, and Consumer Electronics; utilize my professional (Marketing, MC), personal (Japanese who understands West), and academic (General Management MBA) background; strong position for long term goal - breaking into the Executive/C-Suite Office.
-loong term goal: Lead (as Chairman & CEO) a Japanese multi-national organization that will play a vital leading role in the future renaissance of Japan. Serve as an officer at Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) - advising political leaders, administrators, labor unions, and citizens on the future growth and prosperity of the Japanese people.
-why mba:
1) To develop foundational business concepts - such as Finance, Accounting, Statistics.
2) To hone my strategic and leadership faculties in an environment that encourages it, and to apply them in the classroom as well as in student-led organizations.
3) To develop my analytical and quantitative skills.
4) Enable job transition to consulting which would be difficult to do on my own from my current position.
5) Avoid getting pigeonholed into an exclusively Marketing/Communications role in an organization (breaking through into General Management).
6) Maximizes my opportunity to live/work around the world.

here is where i am currently with schools and would LOVE AND REALLY APPRECIATE your thoughts/advice/direction/etc, please.

Dream (probably stretch) schools - in order of preference: 1) HBS; 2) Kellogg; 3) Stanford
Reach (probably also stretching quite a bit) schools - in order of preference: 4) Booth; 5) Haas; 6) CBS
Safety (or safer?) schools: 7) Yale SOM; 8) UCLA

thank you so very much, in advance, your time and careful thought and attention to my circumstance.

Basso,

I think you have a very well-rounded profile, and you should have no problem finding juicy essay topics. It also sounds like you have done a solid amount of research on the MBA process and key admissions metrics. So, you know that the experts are going to say....

Yes, you can potentially get into an UCLA, CBS, and perhaps a Booth with a 650 gmat (please share splits) but that score leaves you with very diminished chances. HBS and Stanford would likely be beyond reach. But please keep studying, take a course, get a tutor, go NUTS to get a 700 plus. Even a 670 will help in my view as you have some great counter weights (NYU gpa, brand name firms, teaching courses...).

You casually threw in that you co-founded a procurement cloud based start up. Any more details to share? Revenues, full time employees? Website? This could be a great asset for your application and may be a fruitful foundation for an entrepreneurial career story vs consulting. But be prepared to answer why you want to get an MBA now if you just co founded a company:)

Good Luck!

Alex

alex: appreciate the quick response and your thoughts.

re: the start up - no employees (3 partners, including myself), $100k in private capital raised, and website WIP (it will launch simultaneously with product launch - targeted summer next year).

re: gmat, appreciate your encouraging words. i've gotten this advice from others here as well, so i've actually been going nuts studying (private tutor, 400+ hours studying, etc.). quant is just tough for me...and i'm concerned it's not coming around fast enough/in time for R2. but, i hear your pt loud and clear (back to the books and will give it my everything!).

you didn't mention anything about kellogg; assuming that will be a big stretch with 650 as well? i think that program actually "fits" me the best (marketing and ME; strong int'l program).

thank you!

Basso,

My pleasure.

Kellogg will not be easy with that score either.

I have seen folks get interviews with 650 at Columbia and Booth recently but they fell out of the process either with a ding or left on the waitlist. But that suggests there is some hope, and with better interviews it could have happened.

Of course this process is not purely scores driven and some great essays can help you get a look. I run a boutique firm so my "n" is smaller given the limited number of clients each season. So I look forward to seeing how those running larger firms respond to your chances with that score.

by the way: for what it's worth, my target gmat score is 710 (q47, v40). thank you.

That would help for sure! Good luck and let me know if you need any formal help.

Alex