Mr. Family Biz

It would be interesting to know why you left McKinsey to join the family business. I’m assuming that your family really needed you, though you want to pursue an MBA not to run the company but to land a job as a product manager in a tech company. In any case, you are an excellent candidate for Carnegie Mellon and an MBA from Tepper would easily allow you to fulfill your post-MBA goal. Your 3.46 GPA is not mediocre. It’s actually above the latest class average of 3.4 for Tepper, and your 329 GRE score is also well above the class average of 320. What really seals the deal is your McKinsey experience. As everyone knows, McKinsey’s hiring process is among the most selective in the world. You not only got through it but managed to excel at the firm, given the big win you cite. Tepper accepts 41.5% of its applicants. I think you can stroll into the school unless your English speaking skills are wanting or there is something we don’t know holding you back.

Hi, this is Jen Kedrowski at mbaMission. Congrats on the solid GRE score which is above the median at HBS for example and rises above your self-described ‘mediocre’ GPA (which is actually above average at Tepper), overall proving that you could handle the academics at top MBA programs. It sounds like you have some interesting professional experiences, from your time at McKinsey making an impact via the banking risk transformation project for example, to your family business experience. The area that is less clear and your big opportunity is a need to piece together the full narrative of your career to date for admissions readers. Ideally you want your past plus the MBA to flow into your future goals. So-what did you learn/gain from McKinsey that helped you in the past year at your family company, and more importantly that will help you in a product management role and throughout your career? Why did you make the move to the family business? What did you learn there? What do you need to learn and gain at the MBA? Why product management? Is there any future interest in returning to the family business, and why or why not? And so forth. If you can connect your story sufficiently (which I think you could with some introspection and quality brainstorming), you could be a contender, not only at Tepper where your odds are likely high, but potentially at schools like Cornell, and even perhaps Kellogg & Haas. Feel free to click the link below for a free consultation at any point now or in the future if you’d like to chat with us further of course, and good luck.