What Are Your Odds Of Getting In?

Mr. Sales & Marketing

 

• 730 GMAT (44Q/45V)
• 3.8 GPA in economics and Spanish from a top liberal arts college (Bowdoin/Colgate/W&L)
• Work experience includes four years at a boutique sales/marketing analytics consulting firm with 100 employees
• “I have been promoted rapidly into a significant people management/client management/ project management role”
• Fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese, having used both extensively at work with a Fortune 50 tech firm’s branches throughout Latin America
• “I don’t have significant EC’s after undergrad, although I was quite involved in college and was an Eagle Scout prior”
• Goal: To broaden my skill set/acumen beyond sales and marketing, and break into a general management role at a Fortune 100 tech firm, ideally with a focus on emerging Latin American markets
• 26-year-old white male, originally from Idaho

Odds of Success:

Harvard: 30% to 40%

Dartmouth: 40%

Virginia: 40%+

Texas: 50%+

Sandy’s Analysis: Hmmmm, a 26-year-old white male, with solid stats: 3.8 from Sorta Little Ivy, 730 GMAT (44Q may be under 80th percentile but you were Econ major so schools will assume you can add!) and “4 years – all at a boutique sales/marketing analytics consultancy (around 100 employees)” A lot will turn on what schools think about that company and if they have familiarity with grads or other applicants. If not, it’s not the kiss of death, but make sure you describe its bona fides (size, revenue, employees –any metrics you can quote) in your resume.

Your major work there has been  “working with a Fortune 50 tech firm’s branches throughout Latin America” and you fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

You want to build out that profile and  “use an MBA as a way to broaden my skill set/acumen beyond sales/marketing, and break into a general management role at a Fortune 100 tech firm, ideally with focus on emerging Latin American markets.”

That sounds solid to me, not sure you need the Latin American angle, since general managers at tech companies usually move around a lot. You might say that your dream after getting an MBA is to enter a rotational management program at a leading or innovative tech company, and look up some examples.

There is a pretty handy list of exactly these programs, broken out by industry,  right here

http://www.careereducation.columbia.edu/resources/leadership-development-programs

Very useful, check it out. As the doc states:

“Leadership development and rotational programs provide you with in-depth experiences, ongoing mentorship, and targeted training across a range of business areas within a company. Companies usually use these types of programs to hire interns or post-graduates and train them through rotational programs (i.e. rotating through different parts of a company) or specific, structured training programs. The goal is to recruit and develop leaders for their organization.” Dude, sounds like you, even if you don’t go to Columbia.

Your target schools are : Harvard, Tuck, Darden, UT-Austin (McComb)

That’s a good list. You are deeply a Tuck and Darden type, and I suggest you start schmoozing with those places ASAP.

See this important article:

http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-24/business-school-admissions-offices-track-applicant-interest-to-improve-yield 

which suggests that schools like that actually keep track of your contacts, attendance at forums, even emails!!!

You should get into UT-Austin, if you can convince them you want to go.

HBS is good reach. They might go for the solid stats and Latin American experience (stress that in resume and essay). It may turn on what they think of your job and how selective it is.