Engineering to Brand Management
I'm not looking to go into banking, but this site has some good info and brutally honest feedback (lol) curious what some of you may see my chances at an MBA business schools<br />
">M7 as (specifically Kellogg and Booth)
Profile: White US Male
Major: Chemical Engineering (Mid ranked Big Ten school) 3.62gpa (probably more like 3.8 in Math and Engineering classes)
GMAT:720 (Q49 V40 IR8)
Work: 4+ years by matriculation (2 years at a top chemical manufacturer in production, 2 years at a top consumer packaged goods company in production)
EC's: Nothing crazy, lots of social sports involvement, some volunteering, did a lot of tutoring in college (Paid and unpaid)
Goals: Get into brand management with a consumer goods company.
Fire away!
I don't know why you want to do that when consulting is something might suit you really well, but I presume that you've done your homework. You won't really have any trouble getting into one of the MBA business schools ">M7, just know your story and why you want to do brand management.
Thanks for the reply. Brand management interests me as it is sort of like running a small business, and as someone from an engineering background I think I can bring an analytical mindset while getting as much business knowledge as possible. I'd be afraid of being pigeon holed into industry if I go consulting. Curious why you say I won't have any trouble. I'm in for Rd2 this year and am trying to weigh my chances :p
You definitely have a good shot at a slightly lower ranked school like a Michigan, NYU, Duke, etc. which all place well for brand management. I would say how impressive your work experience is will play a role in how competitive you are at MBA business schools ">M7 programs but with just this info you definitely seem to be in the running. I'd also probably try to get some more leadership in volunteering or something that interests you, and if your role is somehow related to marketing or running an overall team/process/organization that would all be helpful for your brand management story.
As someone who has worked with a lot of CPG's, one piece of advice I have for you is to consider doing a marketing internship before you start school. Probably not gonna happen at the big CPGs but other companies that hire MBA interns but are less ingrained in traditional OCR processes will potentially be open to giving you a shot pre-MBA. While your experience at a CPG company may be enough, I'll say that brand management recruiting can be surprisingly competitive especially if you're dead set on a certain location/company, so it would be good to get some marketing experience before you get to school to really demonstrate interest. If you have a feeling you may want to go back to the same place you're working now before you leave the company I'd also start doing a little networking with ABM's, ideally alumni of your future school once you are accepted. Good luck!
Thanks. Yea I have a fair amount of leadership in my work, mostly running teams focused on continuous improvement. My main roles have been to keep the production processes running and look for efficiency gains, so lots of troubleshooting as well as working with other departments. I picked up a new project recently where I get to work with marketing and the brand managers for a packaging change, I'm trying to pull from them what I can.
Once you get into school I think you'll be able to make the change. CPG companies will like that you've already got exposure to branded products and aren't coming from something purely technical. I haven't seen a ton of people make that switch, but I'm sure it happens.
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