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2 years ago

Opportunities from McCombs tend be focused in Oil & Gas Banking in Houston, although there are a tonne of them and I personally feel it will be less competitive than NY Banking. If you dont have an O&G inclination would suggest looking at Johnson, Stern which tend to be feeders in top tier IBs on Wall Street. From a profile standpoint it should be fairly easy to transition from Corp Banking to IB.
PE / HF tend to be focused in NY so maybe keep that in consideration and quite a few of them tend to sector agnostic.

Nice username! I learned something new! Been to Austin many times but have not heard of Spamtown until I googled it now.
I would probably recommend Darden as a more proven IB/Finance career school. It is on par with McCombs and can rival it even if you are getting the in-state tuition in TX.

P.S. Have you considered perhaps working for a few more years? Perhaps 4 or 5 and getting a few promotions and then heading to a place such as Booth, Wharton, etc if your career track is steep enough? I wonder if having a bit more experience under your belt will make your attractive as a hire for IB/PE?

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Since you will have 2 years of experience would suggest exploring the deferred MBA route of maybe a Masters in Management. Most MBA programs globally look for around 4 years of experience since that much is required for you to add value in the program and share your experiences, the curriculum requires participation and sharing of your views.
With a 720 CBS maybe a stretch. Would suggest you have a relook at your profile and your program selection.

Reach out at [email protected] | +918368000961 if you have any other queries.

Sudutt

Thanks a lot for your review!
I have edited the profile a bit more. Could you please suggest which programs might be open with this amount of work experience? Also, should I consider retaking the GMAT or should I be focusing more on program selection?

For MBA would suggest you wait for 1 or 2 years (preferable), build your professional career and get some interesting projects / leadership experience under your belt. You already have a good international mindset which will be a positive and the profile broadly looks okay. If you feel you can improve the GMAT definitely give it another shot and see how high you can reach. Do explore the deferred option and see if that works as per your expectations.
For MIM would suggest targeting the LBS, HEC, INSEAD MIM programs which are really good for early career candidates and will enable you to transition into Management Consulting. You can subsequently do a top MBA after getting some work post your MIM (have been seeing a lot of candidates take this route as well).

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Hey Kaustubh,

730 maybe a borderline score for LBS given the volume of Indian applications, plus from a fit perspective havent seen a lot of Manufacturing guys being represented in LBS given their focus towards Finance and Consulting. Check out some other programs like HEC, IMD and even some US ones which will be solid bets for a career transition from Manufacturing to Consulting.

Reach out at [email protected] | +918368000961 if you have any other queries.

Welcome to GMAT Club. Happy to share some thoughts on your profile.

1. What's attracting you to the European programs?

2. If you want to move to Canada or North America after school (not eventually but rather immediately), usually I would recommend picking a school there. It will be easiest and best to recruit in the country you are attending. Yes, LBS or Oxford brand may be cooler than Rotman but it is always easier to be on the ground in the city (or at least country) where you want to recruit. Curious what's the driver for EU.

3. I think Tech is a great transition. It will be a fairly minor adjustment with a major bump in pay. Or at least that's how it was until the Tech crash last year. Either way, you should have a leg up in your recruiting compared to some of the folks without tech or digital experience.

Welcome to GMAT Club and awesome job working towards your goal. Great score too!

I don’t think you realistically need to wait until you get managerial experience. I mean if you get a promotion in the next 6 to 12 months, we expect one, then there could be some benefit but if you are expecting it, you can include it into the application and ask you recommend her to perhaps mention it. If you were expecting anything.

CPA is a valued credential and a very respected one. I have to complement you on the choice of schools. I don’t have much to recommend in addition.

Great school choice and I think your GMAT will totally address your lower GPA. I also think being married and supporting your family demonstrates a certain level of maturity and thoughtfulness and responsibility. That should come through in the application.

Overall, I think you’re doing all the right things and hitting all the right points. I would say you’re going beyond the expectations.

PS. I see you did not put Wharton on your list. My guess is concerned about the GPA. You can always consider it once around one results are out.

🤞 good luck!

haighter

Thank you for the reply.

I am glad my list of schools makes sense, as I spent a long time narrowing down my list. I considered Harvard and Wharton, but I figured that both schools were long-shots (and application fees are steep!) and a lot of the finance-focused students at those schools may have previous IB experience and would be targeting PE or VC roles. I thought a school with a higher number of pivots into IBD would make sense, as we will all be on the same learning curve.

Essentially I targeted schools with a high number of IBD placements each year that are known to have structured recruiting processes.

Good choice and great strategy. You want a school that has a pipeline into target companies and target industry, has a relevant club and second year students who can coach the first years.

Acadia1234

Hi there! I have not too dissimilar stats and I’m wondering if I could PM you to learn about your experience navigating this process? Thanks in advance!

Awesome profile.
Agree with you that you are not a very typical 2+2 applicant 😇 but I don't think it is going to make a huge difference if you applied for FT program, I think you will get evaluated fairly.

Also agree that your work experience is diverse, though fairly focused. It is just unorthodox perhaps to have PT positions. Not common and the AdCom may wonder why you would not commit to any of them if they were really that good? That's the question they will ask in their minds. They would love it if you were studying or engaged in something else and these were side hustles but for someone who is supposed to work FT, having so many PT jobs is a question mark. Or did you go to school while you were doing these jobs? It would have been awesome if these were promotions/growing responsibility but the PT part will be confusing to AdCom. They will want to know why not FT?

However, you can try to tell the story of "I had an opportunity to try a lot of options/roles/jobs and I did - consulting, fintech, startup. Now I know what I want to do - I want to be a part of a large corp structure and eventually go to the C-suite"

They may like you just because your app will be so different. However, you want to present yourself as focused, determined, and committed because your resume (at first glance) looks the opposite of that - you had a number of PT jobs, startup, getting a masters, and going for an MBA very quickly (why did you get a Masters then?).

I think you can totally apply and have your fingers crossed. Potentially one solution is to work for 2-3 years and apply after that when your work experience will show Full Time, continuity and hopefully some promotions with a strong brand. Then you can have even a stronger story.

Hi there! I have not too dissimilar stats and I’m wondering if I could PM you to learn about your experience navigating this process? Thanks in advance! JB

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Yale and Columbia arent really known for their tech recruiting, both can be solid schools for non-profit and finance focused careers. Ross is a solid choice although your GMAT will be on the borderline for their class and hence the decision can go either way. Same with Darden, although I have heard really solid reviews about Darden in consulting and they are trying to solidify their tech recruitment. You can even think of some solid tech schools like Tepper, McCombs, USC and Foster which have established relationships with tech recruiters and are known to have a solid pipeline of students going to the likes of Amazon, Microsoft etc.
On a separate note, if you are looking to build your career in education, an Edtech firm maybe a better bet than Big Tech as that will be a more specialized role. Big Tech will typically absorb you as a PM for their multiple offerings which maybe no where close to education. Do give it a serious thought.

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Hello, without knowing your background, it's challenging to provide meaningful advice about your suitability for these schools or the feasibility of your goals. A profile evaluation should consider more than just your GMAT score and goals; it requires a broader understanding of your overall qualifications and experiences.

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