Hello there,
New gmatclub member here

Guess what, I want to get into a MSc in Finance and I'd like to have some feedback on my profile. I'm going to take the IELTS this saturday, but I haven't scheduled the GMAT yet.

I expect a score of 7.5 or more at the IELTS, and hopefully around 700 at the GMAT, but we'll see.

Anyways I'm 24 years old and I graduated on October 26th in International Economic Relations (Economics) @ University of Rome 'La Sapienza' with a score of 110 cum laude out of 110 (GPA 28 out of 30 - about 3.7/4).

I don't have any relevant work experience (it's basically impossible to find a decent job or an internship with only a bachelor's degree in Rome... unemployment rate of people below 25 years of age is almost 30%!!).

I applied to 4 MSc in Finance in Sweden (Lund, Gothenburg, Stockholm and Stockholm School of Economics), but since their deadlines are in jan/feb, Gothenburg won't likely consider my application at all (applicants are selected based on the GMAT score, and the deadline for submitting the results is the 1st of Feb, so I have no chance) and SSE will consider me a late applicant since the deadline for submitting the IELTS score is the 1st of Feb as well, and I'll get mine on the 3rd).

I'm also interested in applying at many other MiF in europe. So far I'm considering

LSE
Warwick
Saïd Business School
HEC Paris
Rotterdam School of Management
HWR (Berlin School of Economics and Law)
Bocconi

What do you think my chances of getting into such schools would be? You know, considering that as I previously mentioned I don't have any work experience in this field... so basically I have nothing except my bachelor's degree and the GMAT score. Do you think that an extremely good GMAT score make up for what my CV currently lacks?

And finally my last question... about rolling admissions (like in LSE and Rotterdam School of Management)... how does it work? there's no deadline but when all the places are taken they stop taking applicants? Should I apply right away even if I haven't taken the IELTS and GMAT yet or should I wait until I get both results?


Thanks in advance for your help!
Davide

For HEC: work experience in the finance-industry is not an absolute must. I'm coming straight out of a master's in engineering with no internship whatsoever, but I've been accepted for their MIF in the first round.

That said, I do think you need a good GMAT and GPA, but more importantly you should have something that distinguishes you from others. I have a lot of volunteering experience for example.

Take a look at their MIF student profiles: student leaders, national sports champions, etc. I think they're big on diversity, so try to make yourself stand out on extracurriculars.

@KULCE thanks to you too ^^


hmm.. extracurriculars? I didn't knwo they cared much about that...I do a lot of extracurricular activity, electronic music production, martial arts, photography... i guess i'll have to mention this in my cv and motivation letter, huh?

I see. Well I was national light contact sanda juniores -80kg champion when I was 17 xD.... wonder if they would be impressed by that

Another related question... I'm currently working as an English language teacher for children... do you think this kind of work experience would be considered positively in the application process? Since it's not relevant to finance I was thinking about not mentioning it at all, but now that I know that some schools even consider extracurricular activities maybe I should include it in my CV...

I got in in the 1st selection round. Waiting for the decision on the scholarship application. Nonetheless, I'm not too happy about their mandatory payment for the first installment by end of February (2000eur), which they reimburse only in October-November, in case I withdraw from the program before May

Hey,

I am pretty much in the same both as you, applying for masters in finance and also in management. I have applied for SSE as well and looking at the some of the schools you are looking at as well.

Maybe you should have a look at St. Gallen, Imperial and Cranfield as well. Should be good schools, and the two later do not consider the GMAT, whether that would be beneficial or not.

How is GMAT prepping working out for you, have you booked it yet? I am going for my 2nd attempt in the 14 of March, scored a 650 on the first, but hopefully I can reach 700 this time.

Cheers!

No change! They told me you can expect an answer in March!

Alright, good luck! Have you/are you applying anywhere else and what's your first choice?

Ok, got my IELTS results yesterday, overall 8.5 (and I'm quite disappointed about the 8.0 in the speaking section - I really thought it was a piece of cake and to be honest, I deserved a 9. With a 9 I would have scored an overall 9 since I got 9 in the reading section, 8.5 in the listening and 8 in the writing one).

Now I have to decide when to schedule the GMAT.

I took my first GMATprep test yesterday evening, except for the fact that I didn't attempt the AWA (haven't started preparing for the AWA at all!), I tried to recreate the exam setting as much as possible: MGMAT test simulation booklet and marker, timed breaks, no disturbances of any kind. Got a 760, Q50, V42, and I actually felt I relatively poorly in the quant section, I got 2 pretty easy questions wrong because I didn't remember a little geometry thing (i mixed up the 30°-60°-90° and the 3-4-5 right triangles, LOL) and had to rush a few questions in the middle of the section as I was behind on time, and that included a completely random guess and an educated guess - got the random one wrong and the educated one right.

congrats on IELTS! that's a great result!
and you will do just fine on the GMAT, if you got a 760 on GMATprep.
btw, SSE needs GMAT to be taken by Feb. 7th. Otherwise, I think you will be counted as late applicant.