PROFILE REVIEW AGAIN

[MBA2018golden]

Hey guys,
I made a post a few weeks back for a profile evaluation and really appreciated the replies! I wanted to get a sense though of my Pre-MBA experience:
I graduated from a top 30 lib-arts school early, double major, (econ and film), phi beta kappa, summa cum laude and landed a job in consulting at a big 4. It was really not very challenging, so I left after 8 months. I had completed a number of internships at really high end film Academy Award winning production companies and WME (so film and media/entertainment were always my passions in life and where I wanted to steer my career towards). I took the consulting job to save money and gain finance skills that I could leverage into an MBA and strategy role later in my career.
That brings me to my current job. I am at a top 4 talent agency. I was promoted from the mail room, to assistant in motion picture international finance to assistant to the head of all motion pictures in just 6 months. I will apply next fall with 3.5 years of WE at matriculation and will either stay in my current role or shift to another spot in the industry. Currently building out a VC group at my company.

With all that in mind - Would I have a good shot at getting into my dream school UCLA? Or, should I switch back to consulting or strategy (within the M&E world), and work another year or two? I know HBS is a toss up but I'll apply anyways. Also applying to NYU, CBS, HAAS, Michigan, maybe Vanderbilt and maybe USC.

I scored a 710 on the GMAT (47 Q, 41 V, 6 IR, 6 AW)

Would love any replies! In my current job, beyond the grunt work of assistants aka calls, scheduling, 1000s of emails, the job actually consists of business development for clients by finding great projects and strategy work via analyzing business trends and figuring out where to position our clients to succeed in the marketplace. We're also a part of negotiations, money tracking, and essentially running the direct boss's business from an operations perspective and helping work with lower level assistants to help the overall department run smoothly.
Thanks in advance everyone!

[MargaretStrother]

Hello again!
Thanks for reaching out. Your updated information is helpful, but remember all the issues I posed for you the last time you posted in May: b-school admissions is a holistic process, so you'll want to balance out your professional LEADERSHIP (hope that's expanding!) with community service and international exposure. Whether you should work longer at this job really depends on how big the team is that you're leading. As "assistant to the head of all motion pictures", I can't tell if you lead a team or not, but top business schools will be most attracted to a clear leadership role, meaning that you have a team of followers reporting to you.

As I posted before, Community Service is important, so crank up your current involvements, preferably taking on a team-leadership role.

GMAT: Given your industry and undergraduate profile, my advice would be to try to get past 720, just because I see a sort of invisible line at that point these days. Neither your Q nor your V is problematic, so it would just be a matter of eking out a few extra points, although a stronger Q would give you the most impact. You would know best whether that's realistic for you; I am simply speaking optimally here.

International exposure: it's a major plus if you have it, either professionally or during university.

You can expect to be competitive for USC and UCLA, but with these numbers you might struggle at HBS or Stanford. Your post-MBA goals will be a crucial component, both in helping you identify the right programs and in structuring your research.

Good luck!
Margaret Strother