MBA Handicapping: Lots Of Jobs, 3.7 GPA & Below Average Test Scores = H/S/W?

Blessing is a 26-year-old Nigerian who recently joined a top three global consulting firm. It is his fifth job since graduating from the University of Benin in his home country with a 3.7 GPA in accounting where he was the best graduating student in the department. He is hoping to gain a seat in an elite MBA program and is now targeting all the typical suspects: Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, MIT, and Chicago Booth.

Straight out of college, he landed an analyst’s job in PwC’s advisory and corporate finance group in Nigeria. After nearly a two-year run there, Blessing moved to an analyst’s position at an investment management firm where he reviewed more than 30 investment opportunities valued at over $200 million. Nine months later, he made another move, this time as an associate at a newly formed software startup with a digital logistics platform for cargo and transportation.

After a year and four months, Blessing accepted yet another position as the manager of strategy and growth for a digital payments provider in Kenya until recently joining a top three consulting firm in its highly selective leadership program.

Although Blessing scored a 320 on the GRE, ten points under Stanford’s latest average and seven points below Harvard Business School, he certainly has analytical chops. He boasts a CFA Level 1, landing in the top 1% of test-takers.

In this episode of Friday’s With Sandy, HBSGuru.com Founder Sandy Kreisberg is pretty optimistic that Blessing will get a shot at several of his target MBA programs despite the five jobs and the below-average GRE score. Find out why.

If you would like to participate in a future Fridays With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and John here.

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