Manager
Joined: 23 Mar 2010
Posts: 57
Given Kudos: 10
Concentration: Finance, Leadership
GPA: 3.3
Profile Evaluation Request
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21 Jul 2011, 13:29
I'm looking for some guidance. Any advice is much appreciated!
Academics:
• GMAT: 680 (Q46, V38)- this was my second time taking the test; the first was: 640 (Q39, V39)
• College GPA: 3.3 in Finance from a State college from MAC division. Graduated 12/2008
• Passed CFA L1
Professional Experience:
• [Jan 2009- July 2010] Worked in Financial Planning and Analysis group at Fortune 100 financial services firm. Forecasted various P&L items
• [August 2010-present] Work as analyst in Treasury-Structured Funding group at same company. Our group executes large auto-backed securities transactions in the $1-2 billion range and has me working closely with i-bankers on the deals.
• 1 promotion, probably another by this Fall
Extracurricular (starting with most recent):
• Board member and volunteer @ local non-profit that focuses on adult literacy. As board member, I have created some initiatives related to marketing and attracting volunteers
• Founded and chair community outreach group at my company. To date we have held over 6 successful & diverse volunteer events and raised over $10k for local non-profits and charities. I founded this group at the beginning of 2010
• Junior Achievement volunteer; I teach success and work readiness skills to local Detroit public high school students
• During undergrad:
• Secretary of college Allocations Committee; responsible for doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars of school monies to various student organizations
• Tutored for finance courses
• Member of two academic clubs including the school’s investment and economics club; no leadership positions held in either
Goals:
• ST: investment banking
• LT: buy side- either HF or PE
Target Schools: Booth & Columbia (reach), Stern & Yale SOM (sweet spot), Cornell (safety).
My question: I understand that my academic profile is less than stellar, so I am planning on taking one or two supplemental courses online (probably Calculus I and Business statistics) to bolster that part of my application. However, I feel like I’m running out of time with R1 and Columbia ED deadlines quickly approaching. I don’t know that I have enough time to take the GMAT again (although I’m confident I can break the 700 barrier) and both supplemental courses. So the question is, do I use my current GMAT score and take two courses, or re-take the GMAT and take only one course? Or do I re-take the GMAT, take two courses, and apply to most schools in R2? Further, what are your thoughts on my set of target schools – are there any obvious ones I’m leaving out or that I shouldn’t bother with?
I could really use some guidance here as I approach application season. Of course, I am planning on using an admissions consultant for a few of my applications, so any additional strategy advice you can dole out given my profile and career plans will be much appreciated.