18/19 Fall申请北美MBA，求定位！（我知道求得有点太早了。。。。。）

梨子的饺子

CD上的各位大神好！

小弟我现在还是硕士在读，16年夏天毕业，按说连工作都没开始，说申MBA有点早了，但是我想It's never too early to start preparation. 所以怀着忐忑的心情，希望各位大大不吝赐教！

小弟基本背景：
本科同济大学软件工程专业，14年毕业，GPA：4.37/5.00
现在Columbia University在读，专业是Operations Research, GPA:4.00/4.33，预计2016年夏天毕业
GRE Quant: 169, GRE Verbal: 158, GRE Analytical Writing:4.0
TOEFL: 103, 具体每项几分不记得了

无全职工作经历，实习经历有三段：
Consultant Assistant @ ATKearney for about 7 months
Winter Intern @ Roland Berger for 1 month
Part-time Assistant @ Bain for 1 month (Present)

Extra-curricular:
PwC LEAP Club (Undergraduate)
支教 (Undergraduate)
CSSA中国学生学者联合会 Dept. of Career Development 组织过alumni sharing workshop, case interview practices 之类的 (Graduate)
同济北美留学协会公众号运营 (just started, 250 followers already, determined to make this a big deal)
还有一些杂七杂八的case competition之类的

未来第一份全职工作希望往management consulting entry-level position方向找，不过现在MBB竞争这么激烈，我本科学校/GPA都不出彩，课外活动也不是很出彩，感觉压力蛮大的
我的长期目标是buy-side investment (PE/VC) 或者 banking/consulting, 由于higher level position一般需要MBA学位，所以读MBA自然在我的计划之内
我的目标是M7，但是由于我不太清楚申请难度/competitive dynamics，所以心里没底，请CDer大大们给小弟一些建议，要怎么样改善我的背景，才能比较大的希望申到M7？
如果M7很难，那我这样的情况，大概适合什么档次的学校呢？T16? T10?

感谢开贴的朋友花宝贵时间读完，希望可以得到您的建议！

cc224

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梨子的饺子

purplecici 发表于 2015-7-15 20:16
...no Chinese keyboard again...
Lz, planning early doesn't necessarily mean plan well. It is always  ...

I feel like being enlightened reading what you wrote. I couldn't thank you enough. You're right, the highest priority now for me is to get a consulting job. Although I mentioned I'm trying, but obviously I haven't been trying my best. Thanks again.

I should probably start by polishing my resume and asking resume critiques from consulting industry insiders, which I luckily know a few. : )

purplecici

...no Chinese keyboard again...
Lz, planning early doesn't necessarily mean plan well. It is always better to view MBA as an alternative in your career plan than as the plan itself. When you get a dream job after MBA, that is only the start of your career story, not the ending. People do make short-term efforts to get into good MBA programs but it's only optimal when there is no better alternative.

To make it clear, MBA is never a prerequistie for a higher level position for PE/VC or IB/consulting. In your case, your first full-time job is so much more important. It not only defines the chance of getting into a top Bschool in the future but also shapes your whole career ahead. If you are really interested in consulting and with so much part-time experience, why don't you focus on getting a management consulting job now? It could be hard but don't imagine it would be really easy to do it even with an MBA. Say you are ready to invest years of efforts to get a consulting job, then show such commitment now. A resume revised for 10+ times, participation in all recruiting events, networking with alums and recruiters, ... There are so many things you can do now.

梨子的饺子

继续顶！

梨子的饺子

rachel8587 发表于 2015-7-15 17:56
我很赞同论坛里面同学的一句话，MBA是工具而不是目的，应该等你工作了再做决定。

另外再送LZ一句话，

谢谢！很喜欢五十岁这句话，很受用啊~！

rachel8587

我很赞同论坛里面同学的一句话，MBA是工具而不是目的，应该等你工作了再做决定。

另外再送LZ一句话，
如果以五十岁时的成功作为标准来制定计划，那么即使这个人非常成功，ta的一生也不过只活了一个五十岁而已。

梨子的饺子

xiaoyongnao 发表于 2015-7-15 17:28
走一步看一步吧。做自己喜欢做的事情最重要。
要是老心心念mba，就会常想着，我做这个事情对申请有没有用， ...

哈哈，我觉得我就有点这样的。。。。不过我觉得这样也不坏啊，plan ahead and know your weaknesses，然后就可以有针对性的改进自己的credentials嘛，而且即使有些事是为了申请MBA有意为之，说不定自己也能从经历中受益不少呢。像我就是leadership太弱了。。。对这点我很郁闷

xiaoyongnao

走一步看一步吧。做自己喜欢做的事情最重要。
要是老心心念mba，就会常想着，我做这个事情对申请有没有用，我今年考个GMAT吧，我GMAT不够高我再刷刷吧，我去做个volunteer吧，哎呀我GPA不高怎么办啊，他挺牛逼的我怎么弄到推荐信呢，等等等。。你觉得这样好吗？

梨子的饺子

再顶一下！！