Profile Evaluation

[doyle.grd]

Hi,

I am hoping for a profile evaluation. Will have 3 years of work experience by the time I am applying. Want to focus in gen mgmt or strategy.

Schools:
Columbia: Early admission as this is where I want to go
HBS, Chicago, Northwestern, UPenn, Tuck, MIT (R1 & 2 fall of 2009)

Stats:

750 GMAT (48 quant, 45 verbal)
3.4-3.5 GPA at top 50 U.S University (May of 2006)
Double major: econ & psychology, minor in poli sci

Work:

This I am a little concerned about as I have had 3 jobs since graduating - no gaps in work history and am highly recommended by all co-workers and supervisors
)
Right out of college small management consulting firm - due diligence and strategy (18 months). Worked with some of the biggest P.E firms in the world as well as midmarket, fortune 500, and mid market companies

Thought I wanted to go into finance so moved from Boston to NYC only to, due to the credit crunch, take a job in corporate advisory working with CFO and IROs of oil & gas companies (6 months). Job sounded pretty good, but felt the skills I was learning were only really good in sell-side research or within the same company.

Moved back to Boston to take a job with another management consulting firm working in corporate strategy, sourcing, and due diligence work. Good career progression, will be promoted next month. (8 months)

Community service:

Was active in college and over the last year or so. Work mostly with non-profits where I can apply my business knowledge as well as mentor youth.

Recommendations should be very solid all of my bosses have attended school I am interested in. Additionally, they have all held management positions or have been partners at the top 3 consulting firms. Few have been c-level at mid-market companies.

Other:

Chosen to be a Starting Bloc fellow, which is a non-profit that educates and trains students and young professionals in social sector and non-profit work.

Career goals:

A little non-traditional here, I would like to work in a Charter Management Organization through a post b-school fellowship, such as the Broad Residency. CMOs run charter schools and I am interested in applying my business education and consulting skills to that arena.

You have said before that job hopping is not nearly as bad as it used to be, is that true? Or will I have to realy explain myself.

Thanks for any input, please be as critical as possible.

[MBAApply]

You're actually competitive for the schools you mentioned - competitive enough that it's worth a serious shot sooner than later.

You're being a little too concerned about your job history - being young certainly helps, and it's not like you swung wildly from one unrelated occupation to the next. On the surface, you started in mgmt consulting, then switched to finance briefly before returning back to consulting - to most people it would seem like you tried something different (finance) and realized it wasn't for you and got out quickly rather than sticking around for the sake of sticking around - and went back to consulting. Sure, you'll have to address it in your essays but it's nothing to get defensive or apologetic about.

The only thing you can do practically speaking is to focus on the applications - it will come down to how well you convey your overall candidacy in the essays, rec letters, resume and interviews.

Good luck

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
http://www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

[jaek99]

doyle.grd,

I had some questions about management consulting boutiques in Boston. Could we possibly chat offline? My email is jaek99@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you soon.