Answering several user emails in a single entry

Categories: APD recruiting, application process, Bschool admissions, consulting, other blogs, professional advice, recruiting, Technology-related, venture capital

What’s good, everyone. Recently, I’ve had a few emails asking relatively straightforward questions that I’ve been able to crank out pretty quickly. I thought about making separate entries for them, but each would have been so short that it made more sense to consolidate them. The topics of the emails are all over the place, so I won’t try to summarize them, but my responses might be useful to some of you.

Before I go, I wanted to leave you guys with a couple of notes:

1. First, I wanted to pass along a link to a blog of a rising second-year student at Stanford GSB. His name is Evan and he’s currently working for a VC firm in Africa and living in a hostel. As such, he refers to himself as “The Hostel Venture Capitalist”. His blog is still in the early stages, but he’s writing about his experience day-by-day, so his blog is going to be an interesting one to follow. You can find his blog at http://hostelvc.com/ and I’ve also added a link to it on the navigation bar to the right of this page.

2. This second point is one that I wish I didn’t have to write, but I’ve got to set more boundaries for this blog. I recognize that some of you might be interested in my employer, but I am not open to being contacted regarding recruiting or getting the hook-up in any way. Let me repeat that..PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME ASKING FOR ANY HELP GETTING INTO THE PIPELINE AT MY EMPLOYER. There’s a recent back-story that has made it necessary for me to post this. As I’ve stated on here many times before, I don’t mind helping people by maintaining this blog, but my professional life is separate from my presence on here. Please be mindful of this request going forward. Cool?…good.

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YK wrote:

“Hello Marquis,

Do you think participating in a couple of executive education program in a business school, and by this means becoming an alumni of this b-school , can improve the chance of an applicant to be admitted to this B-scool?
Thanks for the help.

Great blog,
YK”
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My response:

YK,

Thanks for checking out my blog and bringing your question to me. This is a really unique question and I’m not sure if my answer is 100% correct, but I’ll give it anyway. I can see how attending a couple of executive education courses would be helpful in a business school application in as much as showing that you’ve got a thirst for knowledge about business. With that said, I don’t think doing so and trying to leverage the fact that you’re an “alum” of the school would give you much of an advantage. Actually, now that I think of it, I don’t think taking executive education courses would count toward inclusion in any b-school’s alumni association. The most important thing for you to do in this case is to weave those exec education courses into your overall story for the application and show how your passion for business led you to want to pursue those classes. Hope this helps.

-Marquis
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DP wrote:

“Hi,
My name is ‘DP’ and im in the ATLANTA area as well and trying to break into consulting I finished my MBA last year and just haven’t had any luck. Can you advise me on strategies to break into the industry?

Thanks,
DP”
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My response:

Donna,

Thanks for reaching out to me with your question. You haven’t given me too much information for me to work off of in developing recommendations, so I’ll just try to freestyle something good for you. The following might help you get into the consulting industry in ATL:

- Apply to some of the larger consulting firms that do various types of consulting-related work like Accenture, Deloitte, and BearingPoint because places like that have so many different types of work that they might consider people from a wide range of backgrounds.

- Take a closer look at niche or boutique consulting firms because their size might lead them to weigh a candidate’s fit as a huge factor during the recruiting process and, if you bring a special expertise in your background, you could have a great shot at getting an in.

- Think about volunteering your time to a non-profit or a church to help them deal with some major business or organizational issue. You won’t get paid for it, but it would give you experience in a consulting capacity that you could put on your resume.

Take care and good luck.

-Marquis
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TS wrote:

“Hello Marquis

My name is ‘TS’ and I am currently a Junior Economics major at Howard University. I am considering a career in consulting. I would like to obtain my PhD in Managerial Economics in order to fuse economics and business. As I search the web, I often find most associates or partners have their MBA. My question to you is will I need to obtain my MBA in order to become a consultant or will a PhD in managerial economics be suitable? Also, if there are any other suggestions you may have, please feel free to include them as well. Thank you for your time!

-TS”
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My response:

TS,

Thanks for checking out my blog and thinking of me as a resource for your question. I like questions like yours because they’re quick and I can knock them out without too much trouble. In short, the answer to your question is “no”…you definitely don’t need an MBA to go into consulting. There are plenty of consulting folks who have other grad degrees, including PhDs, so you should be fine with a PhD in managerial economics. I’ve made plenty of posts in the past about non-MBA grad degree holders in consulting, so check out the archives of my blog and you should be able to find a lot of advice on that. Good luck!

-Marquis
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KS wrote:

“Marquis,

I’ve been following your blog and totally love it. Your commitment to help people with their questions for B-school and general guidance is excellent.

I’m yet another person on the verge of falling into the MBA trap

But unlike most, I am looking to apply to only 1 school, the 1Y program at Kellogg school of management. I am not sure if you would be able to help directly, but any references or suggestions would help.

As a part of our corporate training initiative, I took courses offered by a local school to meet all the pre-requisites at Kellogg. I am an Engineer with Bachelors and Masters degrees in Engineering from top schools, 4 years of work-ex by the time I start for Summer 2009, and a GMAT of 720/800. I was wondering if Kellogg accepts applicants who do not have graduate business degrees but have all the pre-requisites in place. Also, for a program that would largely attract people with undergraduate degrees in business, will being a non-coding Engineer be a significant diversity to stand out in the applicant pool? Basically trying to assess my chances at the only school I am targetting.

Also, my intent is to return to my company in the role of a Global Product Manager. I’ve already been trying to assess my chances of such a role but requires about 7-8 yrs of exp, and an MBA would accelerate the process.

I am attaching my resume, for you to get an idea of my profile. I hope a response does not take up too much of your time. My questions summarized:

1) What are my chances of getting into a 1Y MBA program @ Kellogg, based on my profile so far?
2) With the program tailored for people with undergrad in Business, will being an Engineer stand out?
3) Is there any significant advantage applying in the first vs second round?

Thanks in advance.

KS”
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My response:

KS,

Thanks for checking out my blog and bringing your question to me. Unfortunately, you’ve asked me a question that I don’t have the expertise to be able to answer. I never attended Kellogg and have never worked for their admissions office before. I will try to give you some short responses to your questions, but don’t look at these as the definitive answers.

> 1) What are my chances of getting into a 1Y MBA program @ Kellogg, based on
> my profile so far?
–> Based on what I know of your profile, you’ve got a good shot at getting into a top business school, but I dont know of what your chances of getting into the 1Y program at Kellogg would be. I know that it’s a competitive program, but I don’t have a clue about what they look for.

> 2) With the program tailored for people with undergrad in Business, will
> being an Engineer stand out?
–> Being an engineer always makes one stand out as a business school applicant, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’ll be up to you to make your essays stand out and present the best case for your inclusion in that class. You’ve got the GMAT and grades to have a good
shot…now you’ve got to tell your story well enough to get in.

> 3) Is there any significant advantage applying in the first vs second round?
> Thanks in advance.
–> I don’t know if there is a definitive rule on whether it’s better to apply in Round 1 or 2, but I’ve always believed that it’s better to apply as early as possible. I would guess that the group of Round 1 applicants is just compared to other Round 1 applicants, but Round 2 applicants are compared to people from both rounds…this may be wrong, but that’s the reason I pushed to get all of my applications out in Round 1.

I hope this is helpful, but you should really reach out to the admissions people from the Kellogg 1Y program. That’s the only way to get the real type of information that you’re seeking.

-Marquis
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