Which makes for a stronger MBA Application? Making Manager in the Tech Practice this year, or transferring to Strategy?
Hi everyone, I'm a new member of WSO although I have been following these forums for the past 8 years. I've received great advice and now I am at the crossroads and would greatly appreciate some guidance and feedback from fellow WSO members.
I'm currently in Accenture Technology, within the Commercial Practice and have been at the Consultant Level for a year and a half now. I've performed exceptional on one engagement and above average on another. On one of my projects, I led a team of 12 resources for a short period of time (including 2 analysts here in the US along with an off-shore delivery team in India).
I'll be applying to MBA Programs next year and have been preparing for the GMAT. I'm targeting either UVA Darden or Columbia business school, with Georgetown as my safety school. I want to target an Associate position at MBB coming out of the MBA.
What I need advice on now is the following: Option 1) Through extensive networking, I have the option to join a Strategy project within Accenture and follow-up with an official transfer request. There's a 50/50 chance the transfer request is accepted. I would attend Accenture's strategy college training program in Illinois, and then apply for open positions. The concern here is I might be able to officially 'transfer' into the Strategy practice, however landing a real strategy project will be difficult as they usually prefer to send in their MBAs.
Option 2) I'll be up for promotion this year within the Technology practice. One more year of stellar reviews and I should be able to climb up to Manager, Technology. This would involve more PMO and Delivery work.
Which option would look better applying to business schools? Showing I was able to transfer into the Strategy practice, or showing I was able to excel and get promoted to Manager within Technology. I'd also be one of the younger Managers in Technology, if promoted this year (at 25).
Thank you.
Additional Information: Went to a non-target state school, 3.1 GPA Business Major. Only person from my school to get into Accenture's commercial practice (everyone else got into their federal practice) which is local. Preliminary gmat test scores falling between 680-700.
Extracurricular: Volunteer for major non-profit in research role and field work.
End Goal: MBB Strategy Consulting practice (Energy Oil/Gas sector).
I went through a similar path as you're coming up to, but I have a question first which may affect my answer - are you a URM candidate?
I don't consider myself a URM candidate (parents are first generation south Asian immigrants and went to college here in the U.S. Both parents also went to graduate school here as well).
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