Mr. Strategic Sourcing

This is a super impressive profile from your basic stats, your Fortune 100 experience and your very cool extras. I love that you have summited the Himalayan peak after a week of backpacking and that you’re commissioner for a 200+ person Ultimate Frisbee League. Tuck fits perfectly with your goal to study in “a small, tight-knit community with a general management curriculum.” Your big win is evidence of your impact in the job, having led led negotiations on a $20MM contract with international supplier. And your post-MBA goal builds on your supply chain experience. This is a neat and tidy profile for admission to a top program. Pack your bags for Hanover.

Hi, Mr. Strategic Sourcing, Julie-Anne Heafey here from mbaMission. Your background sounds really interesting – I am curious to know more about your different supply chain roles in what looks like a relatively short period of time. Were you promoted early? Business schools look for upward professional momentum, so be sure to highlight unusual promotion speed and break out your different positions on your resume, and make sure your recommenders are singing the same tune. I also love hearing about your impact in the negotiation you describe. Sometimes application readers will begin with your resume, so make sure to highlight your accomplishments clearly to make a great impression. For the type of environment you’re describing, Tuck’s a great choice, and I don’t think they’re overrun by folks like you (manufacturing is only 4% of the class), so you should have better than average odds…but anytime a school is small, that translates to limited spaces, so you need to build a list, especially since your experience is light for Tuck (the average months of WE is 64, one of the higher numbers you’ll find at top schools). I like your other suggested schools, but I wonder if you’ve also checked out Darden and Duke, which also seem like a possible fit for what you describe. Worth checking out, I think! All the best, Julie-Anne

Hi Mr. Strategic Sourcing, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. Tuck sounds like a great option for you. And I think you’ve got a nice suite of schools you are considering as well – I would suggest adding Ross to the list. While Michigan is a big school that has strong ties to the tech industry through Ross and the Engineering school, the program has a close knit quality. As you are looking at programs (because I am hopeful for you that you will be able to choose), I would suggest digging into the global aspects of each program. How can you grow your global reach which is so important in manufacturing. It sounds like you’ve had some international travel, but I’d love to know more about the global aspect of your current job. Clients that I have worked with in manufacturing have tended to undersell their international work experience because so much of their job is international, it feels like a norm. If you have this experience, you should make sure you highlight it. How will you continue to grow your international reach while you are in b school? I’d also like to dig into more on the Social Impact side – this is such a growing field in supply chain. How can you contribute with what you have experienced – and where do you want to learn? With slightly less years of experience, you’ll want to be very clear about why now is the right time for you to get an MBA. Best of luck!