School List/Profile Eval - Marketing/Female Candidate

[nycgirl500]

To the mbaMission team,

I am planning to apply for Round 2 and am looking to finalize my school list soon. I am suffering from school panel-itis and could use your take on a school list given my profile!

Profile Overview:
- 28 year old white female
- NYC native
- BA in Art History from Ivy League school, 3.43 GPA overall
- GMAT: 710 (92 %) Quant: 43 (64 %) / Verbal: 45 (99 %)

Career:
Cosmetics industry since college for 2 different companies
- #1 Brand in Fortune 500 Company: Temp -> Admin Assistant

- Privately-owned c. $50 million company: Exec Assistant to CEO then promoted to Asst Manager Sales/Mktg for HSN/QVC Accounts (5 brands on 2 channels, 2 person team, NA responsibility)

- Returned to different brand within the same Fortune 500 Company: Marketing Associate (2 person team, with Global responsibility)

Personal:
- Volunteer 2x a month at cancer hospital teaching women how to do their makeup to counter appearance-related effects of chemo/radiation (close to my heart as a childhood cancer survivor myself)
- Active in a Toastmasters club
- Letter writer for HS alumnae giving team
- College Interviewer
- Dance Classes (African, Hip Hop)
- In college: Secured a year-long competitive internship at college art museum where I worked with a curator and got to design and put on my own mini-exhibition; Philanthropy Chair of my sorority; Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor; First Year Student Academic Advisor; Summer Mentor to underprivileged HS students doing program at the college

Additional Coursework:
Big concern in my profile is weak GMAT quant score.

I decided not to take the GMAT again, but to supplement weak quant am currently taking an introductory statistics course (which will be complete end of Nov so can report grade to schools).

I also do some quant work in my current job (cost objectives, year plan analyses) and meet with finance team frequently about our targets.

No quant in college but did the Tuck Bridge Program as a college junior, and since graduating from college have taken courses in Marketing at Columbia, Accounting at FIT, and Investing at Baruch.

Career Goal:
Short Term: move into a brand management/brand strategy/or corporate social responsibility role for a CPG/Retail/Luxury company or consulting focusing on the retail industry

Long term: launch my own brand/company with products targeted towards women that also has a social mission (for example, by manufacturing the products in a community where jobs are needed/reinvesting portion of profit into the community/etc)


My goal is to apply to 6 schools (2 reach, 2 target, 2 "safety"...) thinking about the following programs:

- Harvard
- Stanford (amazing school but not sure if this makes sense given my profile and liklihood of returning to East Coast after graduation)
- Kellogg

- Columbia
- Yale

- Ross
- Cornell

What do you think of this list? Should Wharton or NYU Stern should be on here?

I am looking for a school with a strong sense of community and a focus on conducting business in a socially responsible and sustainable way.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[mili]

Hello!

Thanks for submitting your profile - it's strong in many ways. Let's break it down:

Academics: Average - 3.4 GPA and a 710 overall GMAT. The low quant score is a concern. You're doing the right thing by supplementing with a course -- just be sure to address this in an optional statement.

Professional experience: pretty strong, especially in the more recent years. I kind of love that you moved from admin roles into business roles - shows a go-getter approach/style. Seems like you'll have great leadership stories to tell as well.

ECs/Community: Pretty good. I especially like the volunteering at the hospital (fits nicely with your personal and professional story). You're active with your college and other orgs as well, so that is great. Would love to see more leadership in your ECs, but it's not the end of the world so long as you can show strong leadership ability through your professional experience and/or personal stories.

Overall you have a strong profile, but I wouldn't say it screams HBS/GSB. That doesn't mean those aren't possibilities, but I would definitely count them (as most people do) as stretches/long shots. With that in mind, I might suggest adjusting your list:

Stretch: HBS, Kellogg
Target: Columbia, NYU
Safety: Cornell, HEC

I know this is a pretty different list from what you have below, but here are my thoughts: 1) Given your focus on brand/luxury marketing, I think you definitely want to try to be in a place like NYC or Paris where those companies have a very strong presence. HEC is one you should look at if you're open to programs that are abroad. I definitely think NYU should be on your list given your interests.

Yale and Ross are strong general mgmt programs. Ross has great CPG marketing opportunities, but I'm not as sure about luxury brand marketing. I think you'd be best off positioning yourself either at Kellogg or at a program in NYC/Paris or a similar location with a high concentration of luxury brands.

Hope this is helpful,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com

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