Requesting profile eval - 700 GMAT w/ 5 yrs China exp

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Hello, long time reader, first time writer.

The whole b-school process is really daunting to me and it's hard to find which schools are good for which specializations, and even if I can get into them. I'd be very grateful if someone could help answer some of my questions.

I took the GMAT twice this summer, first time was a 700 with 41 Q, 44 V. Terrible Q, but my IR score was a 7. Second time, I brought my Q up to a 43 and kept the 7 in IR, but verbal dropped so the overall composite was 670. I cancelled that score, but under the new GMAT system, I guess I can restore it within 60 days if I want. I'm thinking about retaking in a month to try and bring some balance to the Q and V, but I've been studying for the GMAT for probably 8 months now and I'm getting really burnt out.

GPA is 3.5 from U Mich in Political Science, completed the Honors program (about 10 of us in the Polisci program who did this) and wrote a senior thesis. After school I got an internship with a US owned manufacturer/exporter in China. I rose to a senior manager with 4 direct reports in account management, 12 indirect reports in engineering, and I can speak/read/write Chinese.

So some questions now:

1) I'm interested in strategy/mgmt consulting. What are the good programs for this that are in my range? Schools don't tend to advertise "we focus on consulting" so it's hard to know what's out there.

2) Would taking an online college math course help compensate for the poor quant? I do accounting and ROI spreadsheets every day at work so I am comfortable with numbers, but having trouble beating the GMAT. I don't know if it's a better use of time to practice more data sufficiency problems, or sign up for a stats/calc course. I'm confident I could do well on the math course, if it came to that.

3) My super duper dream school is Columbia, closely followed by Ross. Am I a contender at these schools with a low quant but somewhat unique background including management exp overseas?

In any case I will either retake the GMAT or take an online math course, but it would help to know what I qualify for today and what I could possibly qualify for with a few extra quant points or a college calculus course under my belt.

Thank you for your assistance! This forum has helped me a lot already!
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by mcbMcK » Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:22 am
Dear Andao72,

Diving straight into the questions you pose:
  1. There are hardly any good schools that have 'consulting' as a course - and for good reason. Consulting is usually a sum total of various business disciplines so a course in consulting will have to be really a business degree really - makes sense :) ? One way to check the school selection is to look at the placements scene at schools. The ones with a vibrant consulting club and good placements are likely to be places where you will have good opportunities to groom yourself.
  2. Wow, 8 months is really something. Shall I assume you've also tried professional help in that period? If not, that's one obvious thing to try. If yes, perhaps it will be better to put the GMAT behind you and focus your resources on other parts of the application. The GMAT after all is not the ONLY thing and 700 is not a 'poor' score. This may give a bit more perspective. With your work-ex and ease with numbers, it would be worthwhile to go ahead with that GMAT score. A course or two in math never hurts though
  3. For reasons mentioned here, I will refrain from making school specific comments. Suffice it to say however that with the right set of application, stressing on transferable skills, you could have a fair shot at some good schools. Which brings me to the final point - your profile is not completely clear. You mention you have both accounting and engineering teams under you? What function do you manage? And how does that connect with consulting? Not sure if you've done your research/thinking on this - a vital piece
Hope this helps,

Cheers,
MG (Manish Gupta)|The MBA Crystal Ball Team

Website: https://www.mbacrystalball.com
Email: mcb at mbacrystalball dot com

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Mon Aug 04, 2014 10:39 am
Most top schools send droves of people into strategy consulting. Just look at rankings (https://www.mbaprepadvantage.com/blog/mb ... -rankings/) and employment reports. You are competitive enough to apply at Columbia (Early Decision) and Ross. I would also recommend you considering Duke Fuqua, UCLA Anderson, Cornell Johnson, Virginia Darden and schools roughly in that area. There are many ways in which you can connect with schools through campus visits, off-campus events, online chats, etc. Take advantage of these opportunities.

Best of luck,
Michael Cohan
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by andao72 » Sun Aug 17, 2014 10:53 am
Thank you both for the excellent advice! I will think hard on this and update late with what I decide.

Thank you again!

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:17 pm
Good luck!!!
Michael Cohan
MBAPrepAdvantage Founder & AIGAC Board Director
305-604-8178
www.mbaprepadvantage.com

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