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Hello everyone,

I'm currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree (international economics and management) at Bocconi University and will be graduating soon. I took a gap year for personal and professional reasons (I would like to gain some experience in the finance sector in this year). The courses that I am interested in are Finance or Management and I'm planning to apply for the first rounds in the following universities:
- HEC
- ESSEC
- NUS
- LBS


Background: I'm a Chinese citizen, born and raised in Italy, female
GPA and GMAT: my GPA is quite average (around 26/30) for a few reasons. I wasn't the most responsible person during my first year of studies and, more importantly, had to be quite involved in the family business over the past few years. I attempted to try the GMAT last year after two weeks of preparation and got a very mediocre grade. I am now studying more seriously for it and aim for a 710-720 (I am currently in the 680-690 zone after an on and off preparation of about two months)
Work experience: I worked as a waitress from 2018-2019 (I had different responsibilities despite my age, but I don't know if i should put it on my CV as it doesn't have much to do with the courses I would want to get into), had a one month training as a junior consultant, did an internship of 6 months at Xiaomi as an e-commerce business analyst, and 3 months in an Italian consulting firm as a junior consultant. I am now looking for an internship starting from September for something more finance related (in case I can find something, I will be able to put it on my CV by the time I apply)

I'm quite worried about my profile for a few reasons: I learnt that my citizenship will bring the recruiters to compare me with all the Chinese students (who are quite competitive, especially the ones from mainland), being Chinese also means that I belong to an overrepresented pool of candidates, and to make everything even worse I have a very mediocre GPA. I do have valid reasons for it (depression and family business ) but I feel like trying to explain it only makes everything sound like excuses.

I want to ask you if you think I have any chances to get into these schools with my current profile, and if there's anything I can improve on.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it!

Hello everyone,

I'm currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree (international economics and management) at Bocconi University and will be graduating soon. I took a gap year for personal and professional reasons (I would like to gain some experience in the finance sector in this year). The courses that I am interested in are Finance or Management and I'm planning to apply for the first rounds in the following universities:
- HEC
- ESSEC
- NUS
- LBS


Background: I'm a Chinese citizen, born and raised in Italy, female
GPA and GMAT: my GPA is quite average (around 26/30) for a few reasons. I wasn't the most responsible person during my first year of studies and, more importantly, had to be quite involved in the family business over the past few years. I attempted to try the GMAT last year after two weeks of preparation and got a very mediocre grade. I am now studying more seriously for it and aim for a 710-720 (I am currently in the 680-690 zone after an on and off preparation of about two months)
Work experience: I worked as a waitress from 2018-2019 (I had different responsibilities despite my age, but I don't know if i should put it on my CV as it doesn't have much to do with the courses I would want to get into), had a one month training as a junior consultant, did an internship of 6 months at Xiaomi as an e-commerce business analyst, and 3 months in an Italian consulting firm as a junior consultant. I am now looking for an internship starting from September for something more finance related (in case I can find something, I will be able to put it on my CV by the time I apply)

I'm quite worried about my profile for a few reasons: I learnt that my citizenship will bring the recruiters to compare me with all the Chinese students (who are quite competitive, especially the ones from mainland), being Chinese also means that I belong to an overrepresented pool of candidates, and to make everything even worse I have a very mediocre GPA. I do have valid reasons for it (depression and family business ) but I feel like trying to explain it only makes everything sound like excuses.

I want to ask you if you think I have any chances to get into these schools with my current profile, and if there's anything I can improve on.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it!