Hello
MBAMission Team,
I have an uncommon profile, and would love to get your thoughts about it. In a sentence - Dropped out of college in order to build a tech startup which turned out successful. Now I want to go back to school, but I have no undergraduate degree.
BIO: Israeli, 31, Male, looking for admission in 2 years (So 33)
Undergrad: An economics program for distnguished students in Israel's top university. Less than avarage grades due to my entrpreneurship efforts, never finished the degree.
GMAT: Still needs to do. Was ranked top 4% at the Israeli S.A.T, so I am guessing I can do top 10% on the GMAT. Let's assume I can get to 700 after a few trials.
Current role: C-Level in a bootstrapped tech startup I co-founded (13 employees, we're 2 founders). The company is 3 years old, no outside investors, generated around $15M in revenues since inception, with extremely high margins. Although it's a tech startup, the company is profitable from the first year, and it is more of a dividend play than a growth play, so I've managed to generate profits personally already. I am in the proccess of selling my shares these days.
Other ventures I've founded: 1. A 6 years old NGO (Founded while I was a 2nd year student, we're 2 founders) which is now being run by a dedicated CEO, it has it's own revenue streams, and annually donations from big institutions. Currently serve as a board member. 2. A foreign Real Estate investment company (A Texas based company), which focuses on budget properties (Currently holds 3 properties and growing, we're 3 founders). 3. I am also a retail investor, with ~$200K of my personal capital invested mainly in equities.
Probably worth mentioning that I originaly comes from a low social-economic enviornment in the pereiphery of Israel, both my parents are non-academics, I never finished high-school and had to go through a dedicated pre academic program in order to be qualified for the University (Got accepted to one of the nation's top academic programs eventually). I don't want to bore you with too much details but I have some pretty amazing stories I can tell about how I came from the bottom etc... (Normally I wouldn't talk about it but I understood that B-schools appreciate such journeys).
Since I've developed a passion for the capital markets over the last 2 years, and have been investing my own money in companies I personally evaluate, my short term goal is to get into the financial world, and sharpen my valuation skills. Maybe to start in investment banking and than move to a Hege Fund with a Value approach. My long term goal is to co-found a hedge fund, along with partners I will meet along the way. The dream is to reside in London, but the US is an option as well.
My question is - With the above profile, and especially with the fact that I don't have an undergraduate degree, would I be able to get admitted to a top-20 school? Will they even consider a candidate without a Bachlor degree? I would love to study at a T1 european B-school like Insead or LBS, but obviously Columbia and NYU are very appealing, considerng my goals. If the answer is no, I can always go back and finish my bachlor degree, but it will take time and effort which I would really like to avoid. If I will do it, will my chances be significantly better? Because my grades would probably be less than avarage, and the degree will only be completed not long before I plan to attend the B-School (They may not like it).
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks,