In this Real Humans: Alumni, Bren Marschner, Emory Goizueta MBA ’20, shares his story of pivoting to a consulting career and landing a position at his target firm, BCG. Read on to see how Emory Goizueta‘s curriculum, community, and consulting mastery guided him to a new career.
Bren Marschner, Emory Goizueta MBA ’20, Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group
Bren Marschner, Emory Goizueta MBA ’20, Project Leader at Boston Consulting GroupAge: 30
Hometown: Decatur, AL
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Birmingham-Southern College
Graduate Business School, Graduation Year and Concentration (if applicable): Goizueta Business School, 2020
Pre-MBA Work Experience (years, industry): 3 years, Research and Account Management
Post-MBA Work Experience (years, industry): 2.5 years, Consulting
Why did you choose to attend business school?
I wanted to switch careers and pivot into consulting, so MBA was the best path. I was on an account management/client service track and I just didn’t think that was where my long-term aspirations were.
Why Goizueta? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
I applied because Goizueta has a great track record placing folks into consulting, a tight-knit community, and it checked all the boxes from a curriculum/experience standpoint. I ended up choosing Goizueta because I was able to connect with the leadership of the school in a way that was impossible at the other places I applied – everyone was approachable and genuinely cared about connecting with students.
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career?
So the classes were definitely helpful (particularly the analytics and data-focused ones) as well as the real-life experience of a consulting project through the IMPACT project. I also think the relationships with alumni and the time they took to guide me before my post-MBA role was invaluable.
What was your internship during business school? How did that inform your post-MBA career choice?
Summer Consultant at BCG. This turned into my full-time job so it definitely informed my career choice 🙂
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
I wanted to switch to consulting and BCG was one of my targets coming into school because of the brand, type of work, and caliber of people. The summer internship really confirmed all of those things, so it was an easy decision to go back full-time.
How has COVID impacted your industry/career plans?
It hasn’t had a huge impact, my job has had less travel than I anticipated but overall it has more or less not changed my career.
Advice to current MBA students:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
Hone your story via coffee chats and practice case interviews. These are both basically practicing for interviews and generally practice helps performance – so I’m glad I spent time on those things.
–One thing you would change or do differently?
I probably would have spent more time with different firms. I came into school with a small list of target companies but as I’ve learned more about what different consulting firms do, I think there were more good fits than the companies I focused on.
–Were there any surprises regarding your current employer’s recruiting process?
Not really, BCG has a pretty transparent recruiting process so I was prepared for the interviews, events, etc. Also kudos to the Goizueta consulting club for helping in that prep.
–What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
Take advantage of the access to professors that are true experts and WANT to build relationships with you. It’s easy to take for granted but is somewhat unique.
