MarquisParker.com // Executive, Advisor, and Speaker

Questions from a prospective Management Consultant and MBA applicant who is serving in the military

Marquis — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 14:27:47 +0000

The message below recently came in from a prospective management consultant who is currently serving in the military. In addition to wanting to become a consultant, he wants to eventually earn an MBA, which begs the question of which path he should pursue first…and is why he reached out to me.

My long-time blog readers probably have an idea of the kind of advice that I’d offer to this reader. Check out my response below to see what I told him.

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AC wrote:

Hi Marquis,

First off, I just want to say I appreciate you and your blog very … Read the rest

Going full circle: From long-time friendship to subject of a high school class project

Marquis — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 18:30:42 +0000

In the words of the immortal Randy Watson, I believe that children are the future…we need to teach them well and let them lead the way :-). And, this topic is the point of this blog entry.

First, a little background…

Over 20 years ago, during my Freshman year at Princeton, I connected with a kid from El Paso who worked at the campus Student Center with me. He’d come from relatively humble beginnings like me and was using work-study to help pay his way through college, just like me. Over the years, we developed a great friendship and ended … Read the rest

New college graduate considering MBA and MPP/MPA programs

Marquis — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 01:20:59 +0000

The email below came to me from a young man that I met four years ago during his Freshman year when I delivered a keynote speech to a group of undergrad business students at his university. Over the years, I stayed in touch with him and answered any question that he had related to his college experience and career, including his course selections, internships, and overall career plan. Last month, he finally reached the end of his collegiate journey and walked across the graduation stage…what a big moment! He will be starting as an Analyst at Deloitte Consulting in a… Read the rest

Questions from a Masters student at London School of Economics interested in McKinsey

Marquis — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 02:20:10 +0000

The email below was sent to me a long time ago (sadly, in 2012) by a reader who was a grad student at the London School of Economics at the time. Over the years, my inbox has become loaded with messages and, as my career advanced and I had less free time, I have had less bandwidth to go through those messages. This reader’s email became a worst-case scenario example of that.

The reader reached out because he was interested in McKinsey and had some specific questions about training, staffing, and culture. I couldn’t go into specifics in my response … Read the rest

Early-career BioPharma professional looking to move into management consulting

Marquis — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 03:07:07 +0000

The email below was sent by a young lady who works in BioPharma and wants to transition over to management consulting. She doesn’t have any business background, so she wondering if there is a way to make the change despite that.

Check out my advice for her below.

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SU wrote:

Good afternoon Marquis,

I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from a New York SUNY school in May 2013. I have since then been working for a biopharmaceutical company within their manufacturing group. This June will mark my 2 years working for this company and I am looking … Read the rest

College student seeking advice on positioning for internship recruiting a year early

Marquis — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 21:17:26 +0000

The email exchange below happened at the end of 2014 and I just realized that I’d forgotten to create a blog post for it. Better late than never, right?

Anyways, the sender is a college student with whom I connected back in Fall 2013 when I had a speaking engagement at his university. He just completed his Sophomore year and, at the time of this email exchange, he had just recently secured a summer internship with a large global organization, which is HUGE. This kid is such a go-getter that he was already thinking ahead to how to set himself … Read the rest

Aspiring MBA wondering whether an MBA is useful for entrepreneurs

Marquis — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 02:38:35 +0000

The email below was written by my friend Deepak, who I’ve known for several years since connecting online during the “MBA student” era of this blog. In his email, he asked for my opinon about an article that he’d read about whether the MBA degree is useful for people who want to be entrepreneurs.

Check out my response to him below to see my view on his question. Some folks may not agree with me on the topic, but I’m just offering it as one MBA grad’s perspective on the question.

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Deepak wrote:

Hey Marquis,

Hope things are good. … Read the rest

Aspiring MBA from Auto industry seeking advice on transitioning into management consulting

Marquis — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 02:55:19 +0000

People who have followed my blog for a while know that it can take me a while to respond to emails and, at times, I can fall really far behind in reading my emails. Unfortunately, the email below is one of those cases, as the kid first contacted me in late 2012. Taking 2.5 years to send a response, but I did so on the off chance that my thoughts might be helpful to him.

The writer is in an engineering role in the Automotive industry and wants to pursue an MBA before moving into management consulting. His question to … Read the rest

Quick thoughts on go-to consulting case interview prep books

Marquis — Tue, 26 May 2015 02:11:29 +0000

Every now and then, I receive an email that is so short that I can knock it out in a few minutes. The email below is one of those types of messages.

This reader simply wants my opinion of which case interview prep books are the best to use. My knowledge on that is pretty dated, but I shared my thoughts on his question anyway.

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MB wrote:

Hi Marquis,

I really enjoy your blog and the insights you offer!

Not sure if you have covered this and I simply havenâ€™t yet read that post, but can you advise as … Read the rest

Applicant for job at McKinsey with questions about free-form application questions

Marquis — Wed, 13 May 2015 01:05:59 +0000

I periodically receive emails from people who are applying for jobs at McKinsey & Company and, in those messages, I’m asked to provide an “inside track” on how to get an offer from The Firm. As an alumnus of McKinsey, I can see why folks would see me as a source for this kind of information, but it isn’t really appropriate for me to give details about the process. Plus, each applicant’s experience in the McK application process is based on so many moving parts that I have no notion for the specifics of what someone will see in his/her… Read the rest

Finding a way to be yourself in a professional environment

Marquis — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 04:13:33 +0000

Back in September, I did a talk for a group of students at a university where one of my long-time friends is an administrator. The email below is from one of the students who attended the talk and references a comment that I made about my friend during my remarks. Her questions were more generally about presence and demeanor and how one can be him- or herself in a professional environment.

I probably went overboard on the Consultant-esque structure for my response, but I hope that the message came across well for her.

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ND wrote:

Marquis,

I truly enjoyed … Read the rest

Financial services professional looking to lateral into management consulting

Marquis — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 01:54:12 +0000

In this entry, I’ve tackled a question from a pre-MBA investment banker who wants to transition over to management consulting (preferrably into McKinsey, Bain, or BCG).

Based on her undergrad school and her current employer, she likely has several avenues to get plugged into those companies, but, like many people, I guessed that she didn’t know the power of her own network in this regard.

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MZ wrote:

Hi Marquis,

I found your email through your website. I am currently a financial services professional looking to break into management consulting (ideally MBB) and was wondering if you had any advice … Read the rest

A little professional/business communication advice for a college student

Marquis — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 01:24:08 +0000

This blog entry is a little different than most in that it started based on an email exchange that was pulled from a longer back-and-forth exchange between myself and a college Freshman that I met earlier this year at a speaking engagement.

By way of background, I’d received an email from this student asking me some questions and responded to his questions within 24 hours. After that, I didn’t hear anything (not even as much as a “thank you”) for over a week and, when I did hear from him, he had even more questions for me. This is pretty … Read the rest

Military soldier considering earning a pre-MBA Masters prior to applying to business school

Marquis — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 17:20:40 +0000

This topic of this blog entry is one that hits home for me because it involves something that I’ve experienced: the need to make up for a sub-par undergrad GPA when applying to business school. In this case, the reader is a member of the U.S. military who aspires to get into a top B-school in the future, but is held back by a sub-3.0 undergrad GPA. He has been presented with the opportunity to complete a pre-MBA graduate degree at no cost to him and is wondering whether that might help his chances of getting into a strong MBA… Read the rest

Soon-to-be distance MBA student looking to break into consulting

Marquis — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 01:49:15 +0000

The message below came to me from a UK-based reader who has 11 years of experience as a Software Engineer. Also, he will soon be starting a distance-learning MBA program at one of the top business schools in Europe and aspires to move into management consulting after he graduates.

His question to me was about what I thought of his chances to get a job at one of the M/B/B firms after business school. He has a strong desire to end up at one of those firms, but he doesn’t know whether they recruit at his school. Overall, he’s trying … Read the rest