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18 Dec 2017, 17:55
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Hi Everyone,
I am a 27 year old Chinese male from Toronto. I graduated from University of Toronto (BBA) with 3.22 GPA. After I graduated I worked for back office and retail banking at the big five banks in Canada. I was fired twice during my career, once from a top bank in Canada after I worked there for a little over a year(this was the back office position supporting the Corporate banking division). It took me 3 month to find employment through the help of a friend. I started to work in another big bank in the retail banking division as a Financial Advisor, but I did not like the job as I want to work for Capital Market in the front office. After 10 month in the job I left to join another retail banking as a Financial Advisor due to higher pay and other issues. After 4 month, I was fired during training because I didn't get along with one of the boss in training there were also some other issue on my side too like punctuality. I felt like a total failure having been fired twice and doing so poorly. I tried to recover by taking 2 weeks of road trip to Prince Edward Island and to Chicago. Then I went back to China for a month after not being back ever since I came to Canada at 9 years old.
Now my relatives wanted me to succeed and felt that the only way to get to my dream career of investment banking is to pursue a top MBA program. They agreed to provide me with all the funding once I get accepted. My family are all fixated on the idea that I get a top MBA.
I started to study for the GMAT 2+ month ago. First I picked up GMAT Princeton Review and GMAT McGraw and spent 1 month going through these resources. After, I did a GMAC mock exam and only got 500. I skip AWA and got Q38 V21. I had a lot of issue with timing and managed to do only 8 questions for IR, 29 questions for Quant, and 25 questions for Verbal.
Then I got the OG 2018 think its the key to getting a good score and started to focus on my weakness, verbal, but I struggle with the answers on OG (sometime I find my self spending 30min+ reading a single SC explanation and I still can't understand it).
I was introduce to Manhattan Prep by a friend and currently I am going through the SC guide. But I feel I am moving in a very slow pace as I still haven't finished the SC guide in 3 weeks. I feel that I still need to go back and review SC again as I didn't grasp most of the concept.
Now I attempt the GMAC mock exam again yesterday and got 510 (only 10 mark higher O.o) I still find my self struggling with time (but a lot better now since I managed to do all the question) and for 3 to 4 questions at the end of verbal I had to guess due to lack of time. I probably guessed 2 questions for the quant part too. ending score is Q42 V19 IR5.
Now I feel very unmotivated I feel I am becoming slower at reading comparing to a month ago. Verbal and grammar has always been my bane as you can tell from reading this post. I am getting constant pressure from my parents and relative asking about progress. I feel very disconnect as I live uptown and haven't hung out with my friends ever since I was back from China.
I feel completely lost and hopeless due to unemployment and no improvement for over 2 month of full time study. I need some help and guidance.
Do you guys think its possible for me to get accepted to a decent MBA program in the State with all this that had happened to me.
I am a 27 year old Chinese male from Toronto. I graduated from University of Toronto (BBA) with 3.22 GPA. After I graduated I worked for back office and retail banking at the big five banks in Canada. I was fired twice during my career, once from a top bank in Canada after I worked there for a little over a year(this was the back office position supporting the Corporate banking division). It took me 3 month to find employment through the help of a friend. I started to work in another big bank in the retail banking division as a Financial Advisor, but I did not like the job as I want to work for Capital Market in the front office. After 10 month in the job I left to join another retail banking as a Financial Advisor due to higher pay and other issues. After 4 month, I was fired during training because I didn't get along with one of the boss in training there were also some other issue on my side too like punctuality. I felt like a total failure having been fired twice and doing so poorly. I tried to recover by taking 2 weeks of road trip to Prince Edward Island and to Chicago. Then I went back to China for a month after not being back ever since I came to Canada at 9 years old.
Now my relatives wanted me to succeed and felt that the only way to get to my dream career of investment banking is to pursue a top MBA program. They agreed to provide me with all the funding once I get accepted. My family are all fixated on the idea that I get a top MBA.
I started to study for the GMAT 2+ month ago. First I picked up GMAT Princeton Review and GMAT McGraw and spent 1 month going through these resources. After, I did a GMAC mock exam and only got 500. I skip AWA and got Q38 V21. I had a lot of issue with timing and managed to do only 8 questions for IR, 29 questions for Quant, and 25 questions for Verbal.
Then I got the OG 2018 think its the key to getting a good score and started to focus on my weakness, verbal, but I struggle with the answers on OG (sometime I find my self spending 30min+ reading a single SC explanation and I still can't understand it).
I was introduce to Manhattan Prep by a friend and currently I am going through the SC guide. But I feel I am moving in a very slow pace as I still haven't finished the SC guide in 3 weeks. I feel that I still need to go back and review SC again as I didn't grasp most of the concept.
Now I attempt the GMAC mock exam again yesterday and got 510 (only 10 mark higher O.o) I still find my self struggling with time (but a lot better now since I managed to do all the question) and for 3 to 4 questions at the end of verbal I had to guess due to lack of time. I probably guessed 2 questions for the quant part too. ending score is Q42 V19 IR5.
Now I feel very unmotivated I feel I am becoming slower at reading comparing to a month ago. Verbal and grammar has always been my bane as you can tell from reading this post. I am getting constant pressure from my parents and relative asking about progress. I feel very disconnect as I live uptown and haven't hung out with my friends ever since I was back from China.
I feel completely lost and hopeless due to unemployment and no improvement for over 2 month of full time study. I need some help and guidance.
Do you guys think its possible for me to get accepted to a decent MBA program in the State with all this that had happened to me.
18 Dec 2017, 18:35
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Johnnyqiao
Hi Johnny,
From reading your post, your problems are multifaceted. You probably need to fix your psychological issues first as this is probably linked to your prep and performance issue as well.
To avoid writing too much, I think you need to first get a perspective and realize how lucky you are and how common your predicament is. Just think of the poverty and lack of opportunities in developing countries ( even in the developed ones) and how you are still in the top percentile of the global economic and welfare scale.
Now lets get back to business schools and GMAT. By reading across this site and others, you will find stories of others in worse situation than yours and how they have been able to get into a good MBA program. Also, you need to be patient and methodical, this might actually be the root of your problem. Just try to breath and relax and communicate honestly to those who are supporting you that you are struggling, but will persevere - I am sure they want the best for you and would not want unnecessary pressure on you- don't put the pressure on yourself.
You came to the right place and you are on a good track already scoring lower 40's in the Quant within of months, as for Verbal you will find that it's not that easy to master, yet that's why you can always improve. Just stick to a study plan and get focused on what you need to do in order to achieve a good score. Most importantly do not beat yourself up.
On the job issue, you are still young and luckily have some experience, albeit a checkered one, so see if you can find another job. Again, relax and try to be introspective about what you really want. This introspection will also help with your MBA essays and school choice.
Similarly, you said you want to be an Investment banker, is that really what you want or you are just keeping up with the Jones or rather want to impress your family. Again, there is no one path to success in life and it's about time you start trying to understand your reasoning for acting one way or the other so that you don't find yourself in the same situation again.
In summary, be grateful,try to relax, get some introspection and communicate honestly with your love ones. Have a plan to get better in your endeavors and most importantly don't give up. Good luck!
19 Dec 2017, 09:35
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Johnnywantover700
Hey Johnny, I agree with everything said by rulingbear, especially about the need to relax, and just wanted to add: It seems from your post that you using a LOT of different practice material, maybe even too much. At a certain point, solving more and more questions really doesn't help very much, and in fact can lead to burnout (which sounds like it might be the case for you). I would recommend sticking to one study program, being methodical and structured about it (that means build a study plan and stick to it), and - this is crucial - taking the time to review your performance, analyze your mistakes, finding patterns of things which take you too much time and thinking of ways to solve them.
Good luck!
Updated on: 19 Dec 2017, 10:59
Originally posted by Johnnywantover700 on 19 Dec 2017, 10:54.
Last edited by Johnnywantover700 on 19 Dec 2017, 10:59, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by Johnnywantover700 on 19 Dec 2017, 10:59, edited 1 time in total.
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Thank you rulingbear for your words of encouragement. I think the biggest difficulty for me is I don't have a structured plan when it comes to studying for GMAT. I have dilemma of either doing Mahattan Prep or OG right as of now.
I am also very pessimistic about getting accepted to a good MBA program(Ivy league, NYU, Northwestern...etc actual I don't know much about the US business schools) because I feel my previous experience is not good enough to qualify me. Especially, the fact that most applicants are from a really good background such as engineering, corporate development, and consultant. I just don't think its possible to get accepted even if I do get 700+.
I am also very pessimistic about getting accepted to a good MBA program(Ivy league, NYU, Northwestern...etc actual I don't know much about the US business schools) because I feel my previous experience is not good enough to qualify me. Especially, the fact that most applicants are from a really good background such as engineering, corporate development, and consultant. I just don't think its possible to get accepted even if I do get 700+.
