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4
September 14, 2021 10:23am ET
Applying: Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Northwestern / Kellogg, UVA / Darden
Intake Year: 2024
Pre-MBA Career: Supply Chain Consulting
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , McKinsey , PWC , Google , LinkedIn , Microsoft , Other
GMAT: 700
GPA: 3.69
Years of Work Experience: 1
Location: Atlanta, GA
Post MBA Location: Atlanta
Notes:

Alex and Graham - love the podcast and excited to post my ApplyWire entry! I have been listening for the past 2 years to learn about the application and admissions process in order to help me best build my profile. I've learned a ton about what is important to me and how I can best achieve my longer term goals through an MBA. I have two main questions I am struggling with that I would love some help with:
1) Should I retake the GMAT?
2) Any other schools I should be considering?

GMAT
I just had my first attempt on the Online GMAT and scored a 700 (Q47, V40). In the practice tests I took before under the same settings, I scored, in the weeks before 710 -> 720 -> 760 prior to the actual test. I got sick the day before my test, but I am struggling to decide if I should give the Online GMAT another try due to the inability to cancel my score if for some reason I were to perform worse. Based on my practice test scores, I believe I can and should score higher than a 700, but in the off chance I don't, I would have to start over testing in a test center to prevent schools from seeing a decline in score on the Online GMAT.

School Selection:
I want to end up in either Atlanta or somewhere in the southeast if not Atlanta. My school selection revolves around my desire to be in the southeast long-term and picking schools that place well in consulting.

Work Experience:
I am looking to apply in 2023 (3 YOE) and matriculate in 2024 (4 YOE). After graduating from a large state school in the southeast in 2020, I spent a year at a Big 4 firm doing IT Audit and I have since transitioned to a Supply Chain Technology Consulting role. I plan on staying here through matriculation and I hope to have at least one promotion by time of application. I will also have the opportunity to take a Supply Chain Technology product to market.

ECs:
While at the Big 4 firm, I helped lead a summer program where we taught elementary school children how they can use the Google Suite of tools (Docs, Sheets, Slides) for both school and professional purposes. Now, I volunteer as a free resume reviewer for low-income individuals and I volunteer as a pro-bono management consultant for education nonprofits in Atlanta.

Post-MBA Goals:
I am currently located in Atlanta, GA, which is where I would like to be in the long-run, but I am open to trying another area for a couple of years post-mba. In the long term, I would like to work in Educational Technology, combining my background in technology with my social impact passion I have discovered through my extracurriculars. In the short-term, I'd either like to get into consulting to build up strategy skills or I'd like to join a tech company already in the education space. My primary goal is consulting in the short-term.