<p>i work at a Big 4 accounting firm - background in accounting & consulting. 730 GMAT. 3.7 GPA. Doing relatively well in my job, would REALLY like a shot at a top 10 mba school, but no time for quality ECs!</p>
<p>these days it seems like everyone who got into one of these schools turned a struggling company around, started multiple charities, and climbed mount everest!</p>
<p>pls help me understand - how am I supposed to have very meaningful ECs, which presumably require a lot of time and effort, while at the same time maintain my track-record as a top performer in a job as time-consuming as consulting?</p>
<p>Odds are if you can’t balance this your not intended to go to a top 10 mba school.
gpa don’t really matter, for mba many of the things are not about undergrad. Your best bet is to maybe quit your job and do something for your community that shows your not completely selfish and only for yourself. Seriously, universities want alumni who can/will/likely to donate to their schools esp. if they are top 10. That is why ECs are so important.</p>
<p>Bill gates is a good candidate because he gives away money to fight aids in india. some other ceos like the one from oracle are against donations, he would never get in. I talked to a prof who was on the mba admission team, he advised to go to africa and build houses /volunteer- a past applicant did so-or do something of that nature.</p>
<p>He said most applicants who apply are qualified and will have good jobs at the end, the comittee basically selects those who they think will give donations to them.</p>
<p>I had similar stats and worked in consulting (not accounting arm, but management and strategy consulting arm) for what was then one of the Big 6 firms. It’s tough, but you need to find time to do something. Some ideas:</p>
<p>If you’re traveling, see if there’s an organization that can use your skills to prepare grant applications or work on their business plan (I worked on a business plan for a non-profit in the education sector…I did occasional meetings (1x per month), but otherwise the work was stuff I could have done from home/hotel). </p>
<p>If you’re staffed in town, look for an organization that fits your interests (I played basketball and ran XC/Track in college and worked with some youth sports organizations doing weekend clinics. I couldn’t commit to coaching a team (b/c I couldn’t do weeknight practices when traveling and my schedule was uncertain), but I could do weekend clinics.). </p>
<p>Does your firm (or do partners in your firm) have a relationship with any local non-profits? Is there work you could do when you’re unstaffed/on the beach? This was how I found the non-profit I helped with some business/strategic planning.</p>
<p>Finally, one of my big activities was work-related. I served on a national committee for my firm and helped plan a significant conference for analysts/associates that were applying to business school (it was an annual event and considered an honor to serve on the committee).</p>
<p>Honestly, if you want to go to a top business school, you need to try to figure this out. While there were plenty of folks with lighter extracurricular loads if you’re one of hundreds of candidates nationally from Big 4 consulting, you need something to stand out (and almost everyone with this background has a high GPA and 700+ GMAT). Either your work experience/project experience needs to be incredible (with incredible recs to match) or you need to be strong across the board.</p>
<p>glennnat - i get that business schools care about EC, and i also understand why it’s important to be involved in the community. (otherwise i wouldn’t have asked the question!) my question was really the HOW to do this when work is so time-consuming.</p>
<p>oldcmcalum - thanks a lot for the advice! very glad to see someone with a similar background having juggled both career & ECs. may i ask if you’ve applied to/attended b-school?</p>
<p>I graduated from Kellogg (back in '99) so I’m a little older than you </p>
<p>I applied to two schools (Kellogg & Stanford) after my first year at my firm (we were strongly encourage to apply and consider attending with two years experience). I was given a deferred acceptance to Kellogg (they wanted me to get one more year of experience, but apparently made a great connection with the Dean I interviewed with, so I was guaranteed a spot in the next class, so long as I worked one more year) and rejected by Stanford. After my second year at my firm, I reapplied to Stanford (I had gotten some feedback from an Admissions Director and tightened up my app) and also to UCLA (I was living in LA and my husband was working on his PhD at Caltech…UCLA was basically a safety for me in case he didn’t finish his research). The second time around I got a full tuition scholarship to UCLA and was waitlisted at Stanford (ultimately accepted off the waitlist). I was one of the first two people off the waitlist at Stanford in April/May that year, but my husband had already accepted a job in Chicago and ultimately I ended up at Kellogg for two great years.</p>
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