MarquisParker.com // Business Strategist, Speaker, Advisor, and Coach

Remember when i said that the regional newspaper for my hometown was going to do an article on me? Well, the article came out last Sunday and I’ve been slacking on posting it. I had been waiting to see if some errors in fact from the article would be edited in the online version, but that didn’t happen. My mother suggested that I just list the miskews and post the link, so here are the things that were mistakes in the article:

- “High school graduation was nine years ago for Marquis [X]” –Actually, my high school graduation was… Read the rest

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What’s up, everyone. I’m back in Palo Alto after my 3-day trip to ATL for McKinsey’s Black Consulting Services Staff orientation and the event was a great experience. The purpose of this first-time event was to give the Black Associates and Business Analysts coming in this season insights about McK and the mission of BCSS, and provide some helpful lessons to improve our chances of being successful. McKinsey has a strong commitment to diversity and I believe this orientation is part of a set of initiatives intended to help it retain its African-American talent and attract even more top candidates… Read the rest

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Goodness gracious!!! It has been a scorcher of a day out here in the Bay area. At around 1pm, the temperature reached 104 degrees (according to the digital readout in my rental car) and it is still blazing now a few hours later. It is so daggone hot that I haven’t wanted to venture back outside after getting back from the LEAD Conference…speaking of which, I’ll give you guys a quick rundown of the big event from earlier today.

Overall, the LEAD Conference was a really well organized event and I had a great time there. My primary involvement was… Read the rest

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I really like being able to sit back and chill all day. I’ve probably said that many times before since graduating, but I can’t understate how good it feels to wake up and know that you can ust hang out all day. I’ve got to get myself out of that comfortable mindset because I start my job at McKinsey in about a month, but I am enjoying it while I can.

In other news…The process of moving to ATL is coming along smoothly and it’s becoming even more real that I’ll be out of here soon. Yesterday, I had my… Read the rest

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Those of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while likely know that the concept of “community” is a big thing for me. This notion can be interpreted in many different ways, particularly when it comes to business school, where students become a part of the overall community at their school and several other smaller communities within the school. For me, one of my most important communities at the GSB was the Black Business Student Association and, although there weren’t many of us in number, we developed bonds tighter than i could have ever imagined coming into the GSB.… Read the rest

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I’m writing this entry from good ol’ Palo Alto, where it is blazing hot!!! I was always a fan of the Bay area for its cool whether but that was before I’d spend time out here during the summer. All of the cool and mild weather I’d gotten used to during my academic periods at the GSB has gone away and it has been replaced by heat. I’ve only got a few more weeks until I move out to ATL, but something tells me that I’ll be ready for “Hot-lanta” from spending my time dealing with this Cali heat…usually without… Read the rest

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I’m writing this entry from my mother’s living room and it’s great to be back in the great state of VA. I got here on Friday and will be heading back to Cali tomorrow to finish up preparations to move to ATL. While I’ve been here, I’ve been rushing around to take care of a bunch of things and I’m shocked that I’ve been able to cram so much into such a short trip. I’ve loked at this trip as a way to “close the circle” and do a sort of farewell tour for my peoples around here before starting… Read the rest

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I just got an email from BusinessWeek containing a link to the following article about the GSB’s plan to start accepting the GRE in place of the GMAT from applicants: Link to Article… Read the rest

I understand the Admissions Office’s rationale for doing this, but I’m not really sure how it’ll play out once it gets implemented. As you guys know, i’m a big fan of diversity and opening the school up to applicants who might be shut out by the cost of the GMAT…my main concern is that it seems the GMAT and GRE test different things and it seems that

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