Advice: Current situation -> Top MBA -> MBB:
Current analyst 2 years out of undergrad at an F50 (think Boeing, United Technologies, GE) working within it's professional services unit. Getting exposed to consulting and really enjoy being a position that requires the capacity to be client-facing and highly analytical...plus, I think I enjoy the travel.
My profile:
VP of fraternity at non-target school in the northeast (think St. John's University, Drexel, UMass Amherst). Double majored in Finance and Marketing. Graduated undergrad with 2.0 gpa due to general lack of structure and maturity, honestly. Took some luck, a little nepotism and a ton of hustle to even get where I am now. Thankfully, my employer education program agrees to pay full tuition provided the maintenance of a C average. That said, I've recently been admitted into a 2 year Master's in Project Management program and will begin in one month.
My main goal for this Master's program is to:
1) take advantage of the opportunity to align course and professional work
2) KILL it and boost my profile for applying to a strong MBA program
What do I need to do in order to fill the gaps between where I'm at -> admittance into Top 25 MBA program -> landing a job a solid consulting firm (Parthenon, Deloitte, BAH, MBB)?
My goal is to return to WSO with some crazy ass success story. Advice is heavily appreciated.
bump.
For starters, your undergraduate GPA is considerably low. There are two ways to "balance" this out: top Master's GPA and top GMAT. Ideally you are looking at a 3.8+ for your Master's GPA and a 750+ for your GMAT. In many instances (but not all), your Master's GPA can serve as a replacement for your undergraduate GPA).
You have great work experience at a name-brand company so keep killing it there and stand out via performance. Also, assume leadership responsibility in a non-profit, volunteer capacity and deliver quantifiable results.
Final MBA application: Strengths- Top Master's GPA, Top GMAT, Solid work experience, solid postgrad EC, decent undergrad EC, strong letters of rec (because you killed it at your job), strong essays(because you're going to hire an admissions consultant-trust me) Weaknesses- low undergrad GPA, non-target school
With this application you should not have a problem gaining acceptance into a top 25 MBA program, dare I even say top 20.
One more thing: choose your MBA program based on your regional preference as top consulting firms will hire out of those programs for their regional offices in the area. Example: MBB recruits at UT for Dallas/Houston but not for Chicago.
I think your better offer avoiding the Masters in Project Management. I don't think anyone at MBB would really value or respect that degree.
My suggestion is as follows:
Go back and look at your undergraduate transcripts. What classes did you get F's and D's in? Were they your quantitative classes?
Enroll at a local university, in person evening, or if you're travelling, look into UC Berkeley's Extension School (they offer classes online). Focus on taking some quantitative classes (Finance, Economics, Statistics, Calculus, and Accounting)......maybe even do 1 of each, or at the very least, 1 Accounting Class (Financial Accounting, Managerial, Cost), and take 1 Finance Class. Take Calc 1 as well, and ace these classes. By ace, I mean, get a 4.0.*
*Your alternate transcript with a few finance/accounting/calculus classes will be cheaper, less time consuming, and more respectable than a Masters in Project Management. In fact, a Masters in Project Management will get you laughed at most consulting firms. Project Management is a skill that you learn on the job and it doesn't involve any intellectual horsepower, critical thinking and reasoning skills, any application of any frameworks, doesn't give you any knowledge of anything relevant to the strategy consulting firms you mentioned you would like to target.
Focus on your GMAT (you need at least a 720 to be competitive)
Have realistic expectations (You're probably not getting into Harvard, Stanford, or Wharton). Apply to schools like Georgetown, UNC, Emory, and maybe NYU. Have a back-up option like UMD College Park or U Washington.
Hire an admissions consultant to help shape your story. Jerking around in undergrad or being immature is a weak story to tell the admissions committee. Get to the root cause, were you depressed? Did you have completely different priorities? Were you going through any family issues? Were you distracted by girls, drugs, peer pressure? Whatever it was, figure it out and be able to explain how that impacted your education
Going back to what I mentioned earlier, seriously don't do a Masters in Project Management. That degree is considered a joke. You're better off doing:
- Classes like I mentioned (Finance, Accounting, Econ) or doing the UC Berkeley Certificate Program (all online) - Learning Chinese/Arabic/Spanish - Taking and passing the CFA Level 1 - Masters in Finance - Masters in Engineering - Masters in Economics - And then pursuing the MBA down the road
Source: 2.5 GPA non-target, in a growing practice area at Deloitte with over 6 F500 clients I've worked with between Deloitte (and Accenture previously). Have been admitted last year in a T25 MSF Program, T30 Masters in Econ Program, and 2 T50 MBA Programs (have opted out of all of them) in order to target a T10 MBA. The classes I've been taking on the side really do provide a boost. Haven't even taken the GMAT yet (took GRE on a month notice).
This is solid advice. I didn't realize how disrespected the Master's in Project Management really is. However, OP's post was last year and I would assume that he is knee deep in the first year of the program by now.
Wow, my mistake. I didn't check the date/time stamp. The only place i've seen the MS in Project Management is on the federal side of the house since federal consulting has a ton of PMO work that goes on. But I don't really consider federal consulting to be 'real consulting'.
I wouldn't mind an update on Primeape14's situation, though.
Hey solid advice consultant120 & shootmoreshots - I genuinely appreciate the point of view. Better late than never! but I'm a little less than halfway through my coursework with 3.7GPA and was promoted last month within my unit. My company pays for all of the program, really seemed like a no-brainer. Didn't know there could be a wrong option. I don't plan on using the Master's to particularly impress anyone (though you'd be surprised at who takes these things more seriously than I expected) but more as a way to cover up my UG GPA.
Currently looking at two trajectories once I finish the program spring of 2018. Am open to suggestions, critiques:
1) Go to a client, kill it there --> crush GMAT. All of my clients are leading Life Science companies 2) Network back my way into Federal side (Deloitte, Accenture, BAH) back home in DC where I have a few people willing to put their neck out for me. Same folks who recommended MS in Proj Mgmt --> crush GMAT.
Keep in mind all of this is a means to an end. I don't have the background to jump into strategy work right now, that's why I'm looking at hitting the MBA restart button. I think taking classes at UC Berkley is a strong recommendation. And I will be looking at hiring an admissions consultant, Natalee Epstein is super impressive. When I say Top 25, I'm obviously ruling out the Sloans, Booths, Kellogs, Dardens, etc. I've got realistic goals and am thinking Georgetown, Mendoza, UNC (more of a reach) could be a fit.
Thanks again everyone
Great to see you doing work out here. I definitely am in the boat of using a Master's GPA to cover up undergrad GPA.
As for which of the two trajectories to go after, I would suggest option 1. If you manage to kill it at a leading life science company, you may be able to present yourself as more marketable because you have experience and contacts in an industry that commonly hires the services of consultants.
If you really want to opt for option 2, I would say try to get BAH as they are the most respected of the three you mentioned in the federal arena.
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