JonAdmissionado wrote:
HImba88 wrote:
Hi Jon,
Looking for a bit of advice regarding the range of MBA programs I should be targeting (e.g. top 25, top 16, M7, etc.). Since you're the resident real estate expert, I figured I'd throw a profile evaluation your way since most of my experience is in the RE field.
Basics
-25 years old, will be 26 in a couple of weeks
-3.48 cumulative / 3.83 major GPA from a small, private, non-target liberal arts college
-Majored in general business administration
-GMAT 740 (48q, 44v)
-Male URM
Work Experience
Currently an analyst at a regional commercial bank in the division that manages the bank's commercial real estate portfolio. Have been in this position for a little less than 3 years. The bank isn't a widely known name, but it is the biggest company (in terms of assets/revenue/net income) in the state and has a decently sized CRE portfolio ($574M) which includes the tallest building in the state. The division is small, so I've gotten a lot of good experience (including some leadership experience), but unfortunately no promotions. The job involves all different kinds of work, ranging from FP&A to tenant relations to property acquisition analyses to conducting research on the local market.
Prior to this job, I did some purchasing and accounting work for a small local telecommunications company for 7 months.
Extracurrics
-Varsity athlete (wrestling) for a year in undergrad and some undergrad club leadership experience
-Volunteer work for the past year and a half at a homeless shelter with a program assisting residents in obtaining employment (resume/cover letter help, budgeting, computer skills, etc.). Have been with the program since its inception, so a little bit of leadership xp there as well.
-Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the past seven years (actually the reason why I quit wrestling was to pursue competitive BJJ more seriously)
-Recently passed CFA Level I exam, looking to pursue Level II in June
I recently applied to MIT's and Claremont McKenna's Masters in Finance programs (was accepted at Claremont). My thought process was that with my current non-target UG and non-selective work experience, my chances at top 16/M7 MBA programs wouldn't be very good. I thought a Masters in Finance program could either be an MBA substitute, or get me to a better position to apply to top MBA programs (although at my age/experience I'm starting to realize a MFin/MBA is an either/or decision). I thought I could do Now>MFin>Better Job>MBA, but I'm starting to think I may be too old to go down that path and still remain competitive for top MBA programs.
Post MFin/MBA looking to get into investment management, although I am very open to exploring other career paths.
Basically, just looking to see what range of MBA programs I could target with my current experience and weigh that against any potential post-MFin options. Sorry for the novel and thank you in advance for your input!
Hey dude,
So let's start with the end. I agree that it doesn't make that much sense to plan to do BOTH an MBA and an MFin. That'd be a very expensive way to look for a better job, and you may be doubling yourself up a bit. So what makes more sense, is in respect with your goals, you choose the one that is better for you from the start. It is totally true that in some industries (basically many of the finance ones) you can get the same/similar jobs upon graduation, so there is for sure overlap in terms of both knowledge and jobs.
For the MBA, I think that you might be underevaluating yourself a bit (which better than the opposite). Top 5 schools are probably out of range because of the non-famous job + non-famous school, but otherwise your GMAT is awesome! Your GPA is great! Your work experience seems excellent! (And you should be writing the AdComs what you have written me here) So I'd say Top 20 out of the Top 5 is your range, so you can do it if you wish.
Which brings me to my next question: What is "it"??? What do you want to do? What are your goals???
Best,
JF
Thank you Jon...I really appreciate your advice. I realize most of my profile is already set in stone (i.e. not much can be changed at this point), so it's good to hear that my chances at MBA programs are better than I initially predicted.
I am also starting to realize the redundancy of attempting to pursue both graduate degrees. Basically, the "it" is investment management. I've always been interested in investing, whether it be in securities or real estate. However, this seems to be a rather difficult path being that I don't have any related experience. So in terms of being realistic, I am very open to other paths (which I still need to research further).
In terms of the MFin vs MBA argument, I still need to do some evaluation (pretty late since I already applied) about which degree will help me "best" achieve my goals. As of writing this, I'm leaning more MBA because while both degrees place in finance, the MFin seems to be a more "junior" degree (i.e. targeting younger students) as well as primarily placement in entry-level positions.
Anyway, thanks again for the advice and sorry for the rambling.
close
23 Feb 2014, 04:13
