Should I apply this year?

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Should I apply this year?

by bb11 » Fri Oct 31, 2014 1:57 pm
GMAT: 730, 48 Quant (76th%) and 42 Verbal (96th%), 8 IR (93rd%), 6.0 Writing
3.51 GPA, B.A. in Psychology from a mid-tier UC (Davis/San Diego/Santa Barbara/Irvine group). Graduated in 2012.
White male. Strong extracurriculars but lacking in leadership roles.

Worked two years at Intel as a sales/marketing analyst. I couldn't stand the Bay Area anymore so I finally quit my job, packed up, and drove to NYC a couple months ago. Got a job as a marketing analytics coordinator at an online video startup about a month ago (building on my previous experience, as I worked in Intel's digital video arm). Obviously I don't have leadership experience yet, and to be honest I don't know that my work accomplishments would stand out. I've got to work on many different types of projects, but all in junior roles.

However, I want to be in management consulting. It seems that continuing to wait to gain more experience is mostly a waste of time, as I don't want to stay in marketing and I'm delaying the doubling or tripling of pay that would come if I hit the average compensation of graduates a top 20 MBA program. I'd like to look at programs that would give me a great shot at consulting somewhere like Deloitte in the Northeast, so programs like Columbia, Yale, Duke, Northwestern, and Michigan would be ideal with Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown as lower-tier targets. Should I apply this year or wait until Fall 2015 to have a realistic shot to be admitted and be able to land a consulting job?