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rukruk
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Advice please on MBA 27 May 2007, 02:00
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Ok, this is my situation:

I'm an asian male (Filipino) 24 years old wanting to get into a top 15 mba school by the time I'm 27. I'm currently a corporate finance analyst in a top investment bank, and handling a variety of roles, including overseeing the success of our side of the business, analyzing target companies, implementing our systems to clients -- good overall training of our business. I came from the back office in the same company, where I received a quick promotion and several accolades/achievements for successful improvements in operations.

I have a low GPA of 2.8 (though I improved a little in the end with a 3.3 average my senior year), I handled a few extracurricular projects on the side that can explain the poor GPA.

This is my plan:

1 Take the CFA exams the next three years to overcome this low GPA and to augment my financial knowledge and skills.
2. Get at least a 700 in GMAT.
3. Renew my passion for community service.. last got involved when I was in college..
4. Work my ass off, hopefully be assigned in more significant leadership roles

My goal is to get into a good business school where I can learn and work with the smartest and diverse people and receive business training that can help me move into a management consulting career after--a career to further enchance my business skills. My dream is to lead a company that not only generates a ton of profits but also contributes to the community and my country.

Now given my profile (asian banker with low gpa), and, I believe, a profile with a lack of significant leadership experience, and looking at my plan, what are my chances in my target top business schools (Wharton, Kellog, Chicago, Columbia, or NYU)? Am I on the right track or am I just dreaming to get into these schools?
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PaulBodine
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Advice please on MBA 29 May 2007, 09:58
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rukruk
Ok, this is my situation:

I'm an asian male (Filipino) 24 years old wanting to get into a top 15 mba school by the time I'm 27. I'm currently a corporate finance analyst in a top investment bank, and handling a variety of roles, including overseeing the success of our side of the business, analyzing target companies, implementing our systems to clients -- good overall training of our business. I came from the back office in the same company, where I received a quick promotion and several accolades/achievements for successful improvements in operations.

I have a low GPA of 2.8 (though I improved a little in the end with a 3.3 average my senior year), I handled a few extracurricular projects on the side that can explain the poor GPA.

This is my plan:

1 Take the CFA exams the next three years to overcome this low GPA and to augment my financial knowledge and skills.
2. Get at least a 700 in GMAT.
3. Renew my passion for community service.. last got involved when I was in college..
4. Work my ass off, hopefully be assigned in more significant leadership roles

My goal is to get into a good business school where I can learn and work with the smartest and diverse people and receive business training that can help me move into a management consulting career after--a career to further enchance my business skills. My dream is to lead a company that not only generates a ton of profits but also contributes to the community and my country.

Now given my profile (asian banker with low gpa), and, I believe, a profile with a lack of significant leadership experience, and looking at my plan, what are my chances in my target top business schools (Wharton, Kellog, Chicago, Columbia, or NYU)? Am I on the right track or am I just dreaming to get into these schools?
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rukruk,

The fact that you are Filipino helps you a great deal IMO. It's not a profile that I see alot of (in fact, it's downright rare in my experience). That simple diversity asset may help you overcome the low GPA as long as take all the other steps you mentioned. I would give acing the GMAT (700 minimum) higher priority than doing the CFA, which doesn't seem to fit with your long-term goals (MC) so earning a CFA just to compensate for GPA might strike the adcoms as curious. Better to get a 740 (for example) and maybe ace some pre-MBA type courses. I also agree that you will need to show leadership experiences so work on that in your career. Also, on the community side, think in terms of *leadership* roles, not just volunteering. If you get leadership roles you'll be killing two birds with one stone (so to speak): showing social impact awareness and the leadership B-schools love.

If you do all this then you have a decent chance at the top schools, but I would also apply to some a bit lower on the food chain (still outstanding, highly ranked programs) to spread your risk.

Good luck,