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Served in the Marines where I really learned leadership, and then continued practicing leadership by being president of two large undergrad organizations. Leadership and managing people is my best skill, want to do an MBA to learn the business side of things before I can get to MBB and then a good management role, or VC/PE
Target School: Kellogg SOM
Considering: Wharton, USC Marshall, Columbia
See More Profiles For: Kellogg SOM
Application Status:
Undergrad School: State School in California
Undergrad Major: International Relations
GPA: 3.0
GMAT: 720
Age: 26, Ethnicity: White
Extracurriculars: Business fraternity founding board member - studied abroad in Europe twice, student veteran organization president, social fraternity president
Title: Sales
Industry: Technology
Company: Start-Up
Length of Employment: 2 yrs
Title: Co-Founder
Length of Employment: 4 yrs
Won a lot of awards and accolades in the Marines. Co-founded a highly profitable cloud consulting firm. I run the business side, marketing, strategy, sales, etc and the other founder runs the engineering/products Post-undergrad: Landed a sales job at a highly selective silicon valley tech company that doesn’t really hire people fresh out of school.
Consulting for MBB! Then VC/PE or general management
Join in! Click here to assess the odds of Mr. Military In Silicon Valley
You say you went to a state school in California so I presume it was not Berkeley or UCLA. That could make something of a difference in your application to Kellogg because you will be competing against other candidates with higher GPAs from more prestigious undergraduate institutions. That said, your service in the U.S. Marines and your being a co-founder of a successful company is certainly impressive. You would definitely increase your odds of an admit at Kellogg with a higher GMAT score–and a better chance of landing an MBB job with a slightly higher GMAT as well.. In any case, I think you have a real shot at Tepper, Marshall, and potentially UCLA.
Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. Came across your profile late in the day but am hoping this review is still useful in some way. You are ideal Kellogg material in my book. (We will come to GPA later). It seems you picked up real skills in the Marines (though not sure how long that stint was for as you also note 6 years of workex). Kellogg loves people oriented profiles and also loves sales professionals, entrepreneurs and internationally minded folks. You tick all boxes. So execute well and explain how you are able to accomplish so much at such a young age. Of all the M7, Kellogg has lowest GPA so that works in your favor. That said you are …
Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. Came across your profile late in the day but am hoping this review is still useful in some way. You are ideal Kellogg material in my book. (We will come to GPA later). It seems you picked up real skills in the Marines (though not sure how long that stint was for as you also note 6 years of workex). Kellogg loves people oriented profiles and also loves sales professionals, entrepreneurs and internationally minded folks. You tick all boxes. So execute well and explain how you are able to accomplish so much at such a young age. Of all the M7, Kellogg has lowest GPA so that works in your favor. That said you are below the 3.5 GPA. If you had exchanges abroad (seems you are alluding to that), then explain its impact if relevant on low GPA. Am bullish re your chances. Good luck
Hi Mr. Military in Silicon Valley, this is Julie-Anne Heafey with mbaMission. Business school ad coms do tend to love military applicants with great leadership stories, and I also like your entrepreneurship background with the cloud consulting firm – very cool. I see a couple of red flags that worry me, though. I’m sure you’re aware that your GPA is below average – a 3.0 is a tough sell at M7 schools. It’s not IMPOSSIBLE, we work with clients all the time to mitigate the damage of a low GPA, but I agree, you should retake that GMAT to try to help compensate for your undergrad performance. Honestly, though, the bigger question I have is on your goals. Consulting is …
Hi Mr. Military in Silicon Valley, this is Julie-Anne Heafey with mbaMission. Business school ad coms do tend to love military applicants with great leadership stories, and I also like your entrepreneurship background with the cloud consulting firm – very cool. I see a couple of red flags that worry me, though. I’m sure you’re aware that your GPA is below average – a 3.0 is a tough sell at M7 schools. It’s not IMPOSSIBLE, we work with clients all the time to mitigate the damage of a low GPA, but I agree, you should retake that GMAT to try to help compensate for your undergrad performance. Honestly, though, the bigger question I have is on your goals. Consulting is a totally typical post MBA path for military folks, but you seem like a take-charge, can-do person with an entrepreneurial streak. Why MBB? I wonder if you’d be frustrated by being in a position more of influence than action. Then I wonder about the VC/PE plan. It’s really hard to go into that from consulting…tends to be more of a banking follow-up, though sometimes entrepreneurs get into VC. So, I recommend some career plan refinement before applying. We just updated our career guides on mbaMission, so I’d take advantage of reading a little more about these different paths, and then, you might book a consultation with our career advisor on our web site. So, with these concerns, I’d put you at lower than average odds for Kellogg right now, but work on that retake and make sure to apply to some more schools! Best of luck, Julie-Anne
This is Donna Bauman, Senior Admissions Counselor at Stratus Admissions Counseling weighing in on your profile. Thank you for your military service! One thing that I am confused about in your background is how you have fit so much life into your 26 years! You have 6 years of work experience listed – not even counting your time in the Marines—so I’m not quite sure how you’ve managed to do all this and graduate college too! Perhaps you don’t sleep! I think one question Kellogg or any MBA program would ask is why you even need an MBA if you have already successfully founded a highly profitable cloud consulting firm—so be sure you have some specific examples of where you have struggled and how an …
This is Donna Bauman, Senior Admissions Counselor at Stratus Admissions Counseling weighing in on your profile. Thank you for your military service! One thing that I am confused about in your background is how you have fit so much life into your 26 years! You have 6 years of work experience listed – not even counting your time in the Marines—so I’m not quite sure how you’ve managed to do all this and graduate college too! Perhaps you don’t sleep! I think one question Kellogg or any MBA program would ask is why you even need an MBA if you have already successfully founded a highly profitable cloud consulting firm—so be sure you have some specific examples of where you have struggled and how an MBA program would help you. With your GPA on the lower side, you should consider retaking the GMAT so that it can be higher than Kellogg’s average GMAT to be a counter to the lower GPA. Use the time you have now before R1 applications heat up to talk to more people in consulting as well VC/PE to determine what the best career path is for you post Kellogg. Leverage your military connections to reach out to the very active Kellogg Veterans Association to connect with students in the consulting and VC/PE clubs. You are in luck as a Veteran that you can reach out to Kellogg now to attend their Military Preview Day on April 24 of this year to meet Kellogg students with military backgrounds to help you do further research. I’d use the same strategy in looking at other MBA programs and I do think that your odds are stronger at Marshall, Anderson and Tepper. Best wishes to you!
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Thank you for your service and best of luck to you!
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