manish14 wrote:
Hi, requesting a profile evaluation. Thanks for taking the time for your feedback! Appreciate it.
Background and nationality: Currently working as a financial controller in NYC for a F500. I worked for a Big4 accounting firm for 3 years as an auditor in Chicago and San Francisco before taking the controller job here in NY. Nationality: From Nepal
Undergrad Information: Graduated in 2014 from a college in Chicago- 3.5 GPA in accounting (took over 150 credits/40 classes) while in 4-year undergrad program.
GMAT: I haven't taken GMAT but took GRE instead as I was looking into PhD and Masters in Finance programs. GRE Score- 165 in Quant and 159 in Verbal.
Work experience and leadership: 60 months; oversaw auditing projects, guided interns and first years thru audit projects, led corporate reporting changes for a Fortune 500 company;
Campus leadership: President of two different clubs in college
Community and others: Helped with earthquake relief efforts in Nepal
Post MBA goals: Investment Research
Anything else? I have two publications in peer-reviewed finance journal.
I am planning to focus my essay on economic hardship I went thru during college.
Thanks for taking the time for your feedback! Appreciate it.
manish14: Hi and nice to meet you! I came across your request for profile evaluation here, and I wanted to weigh in from a peer applicant's perspective (I'm not an admissions consultant - yet :D)
As Namita from MBA Decoder said, you'd benefit a lot from a higher GRE score as your current score is roughly equivalent to a 680 GMAT. I think that getting that Verbal score up by 4-5 points and maintaining your quant score (or increasing it by 1-2 points) will make your application especially strong in terms of hard numbers.
Fuqua will be a good fit for you given your experience leading clubs in undergraduate + your contributions to Nepal earthquake relief (thank you for that).
From your story perspective, you have an interesting background given your Nepali heritage. That should make for a compelling answer to 25 random things essay. Your undergdatuate financial hardships will also play a major role in this essay. You should talk about how you overcame your tough situation to succeed in undergrad studies and extracurriculars. This can also serve as a major career motivation. Plus, your extracurricular involvement in undergrad can make for a strong essay 2 as well (Fuqua community involvement).
Now your goals: I think this needs the most work.
Fuqua asks for Long Term and Short Term goals, as well as a Plan B in case your stated Short Term goal doesn't bear fruit.
Start by simplifying what you currently do at work. Try to frame your work as an internal consultant/auditor, which will be easier to understand.
You have strong talking points related to leadership. Even though you were not a formal manager, you mentored/coached younger employees. This should position you for leadership roles in the future.
For your short term post-MBA goals, I think that "Investment Research" is tricky as the word "Research" has an MS/PhD connotation, and is not a strong reason to do an MBA. Additionally, you need to have a strong backup plan. In your application, you need to sound sure that the MBA is the right next step for your career, instead of MS/PhD.
Define an overarching "Career Vision" for yourself - something that you see yourself doing in 10-15 years from now, and work backwards from that. It should help you come up with your short term goal and your plan B. Both paths should lead to your long term goal.
Key Takeaways:
* Take the GRE again. Try to increase your score by 5-6 points total (Especially Verbal)
* Get an admissions consultant - they'll help you refine your stories a lot!
* Write down your life story: Find instances where you overcame struggle, conflict and hardships. What did you learn from them?
* Clarify your long term motivations first and work backwards from that
* Clarify your current work experience. As a benchmark, think about explaining your work to a 6th grader
* Research research research! Fuqua values students who know their MBA program in-depth. Get in touch with their adcom/ambassadors. Demonstrate your interest in their program. Attend admissions events.
Hope this helps.
All the best!
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25 Jul 2018, 10:57
