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07 Feb 2015, 14:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Bhavik,
Thank you so much for this thread! I am applying to business school this fall and will matriculate in 2016 with a bit over 3 years of work experience. Please see my profile below.
Eduction & GMAT:
- Small university, top 100 or so (in a good year); not completely unknown but far from a target
- Major: Econ w/ minor in math
- GPA: 3.75 overall, 3.9ish in-major
- 780 GMAT
Work:
- 1.75 yrs of work exp at a large financial institution (GS/MS/JPM) doing financial operations. Same department as product control but it is the Excel/Access data work that underlies a lot of financial reporting, and is on a very broad scale. Does include a combination of business as usual and project-based work. Have become an SME for my area and for constructing Excel files, etc.
- Lots of praise for work and have received a couple of awards. Should definitely have strong letters of rec... basically as high praise as one can get in this sort of role. Clearly weakness here is selectivity of the particular role
While working I do the following extracurriculars:
- Volunteer with a handful of charities on an ongoing basis. Volunteered 100 hrs this last yr!
- Work with different charities in the area to lead initiatives with employees from my office and friends from outside of work; have helped
coordinate an extra ~50 volunteer hrs in '14 thru this activity and the arrow is pointing up for '15
- Raised $15k in '14 doing fundraising for nonprofits
- Avid guitarist and musician with a few other stringed instruments as well (banjo, mandolin). Have not been in a band since college, however
Goals
- Still have an open mind about what I'd like to do post b-school. Most likely this will be consulting or banking. Want to have a career in finance coupled with strong volunteering/nonprofit involvement in my free time as I currently do
Schools:
- H/S (I know, everyone writes this), Wharton, Booth, MIT, Columbia, Tuck, Yale
Wondering if I'm deluding myself in thinking I should give H/S a shot given that I'm not applying with front office experience and I'll be a part of the uber-competitive finance cohort. Curious to know how you view my odds at the other schools listed. Would also love to hear any suggestions as to how my profile can be strengthened. Thank you again!
Thank you so much for this thread! I am applying to business school this fall and will matriculate in 2016 with a bit over 3 years of work experience. Please see my profile below.
Eduction & GMAT:
- Small university, top 100 or so (in a good year); not completely unknown but far from a target
- Major: Econ w/ minor in math
- GPA: 3.75 overall, 3.9ish in-major
- 780 GMAT
Work:
- 1.75 yrs of work exp at a large financial institution (GS/MS/JPM) doing financial operations. Same department as product control but it is the Excel/Access data work that underlies a lot of financial reporting, and is on a very broad scale. Does include a combination of business as usual and project-based work. Have become an SME for my area and for constructing Excel files, etc.
- Lots of praise for work and have received a couple of awards. Should definitely have strong letters of rec... basically as high praise as one can get in this sort of role. Clearly weakness here is selectivity of the particular role
While working I do the following extracurriculars:
- Volunteer with a handful of charities on an ongoing basis. Volunteered 100 hrs this last yr!
- Work with different charities in the area to lead initiatives with employees from my office and friends from outside of work; have helped
coordinate an extra ~50 volunteer hrs in '14 thru this activity and the arrow is pointing up for '15
- Raised $15k in '14 doing fundraising for nonprofits
- Avid guitarist and musician with a few other stringed instruments as well (banjo, mandolin). Have not been in a band since college, however
Goals
- Still have an open mind about what I'd like to do post b-school. Most likely this will be consulting or banking. Want to have a career in finance coupled with strong volunteering/nonprofit involvement in my free time as I currently do
Schools:
- H/S (I know, everyone writes this), Wharton, Booth, MIT, Columbia, Tuck, Yale
Wondering if I'm deluding myself in thinking I should give H/S a shot given that I'm not applying with front office experience and I'll be a part of the uber-competitive finance cohort. Curious to know how you view my odds at the other schools listed. Would also love to hear any suggestions as to how my profile can be strengthened. Thank you again!
09 Feb 2015, 07:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
Well YoshiIsAwesome, your GMAT is pretty darn awesome! Congratulations! And thanks for the kind words - happy to help! So let's see what we've got here...
You seem like a person who values conciseness so that's what I'm going to give you. Your job, while at a blue chip, isn't impressive. You're right in being concerned that you're not front office. Your involvement is great and that isn't the issue. And, while your GMAT is amazing, your lack of undergrad prestige is going to hurt. But, more than anything else, it's that you're young. You'll have just 2 years of experience when you apply - that's SUPER low. It would maybe be ok if you came from a front office role, but you're not. You're coming from back office ops. You need to wait. Because you have an amazing GMAT and you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot by applying too early.
So here's what I would say - wait at least another year, continue to outperform at work, and try to get more IMPACTFUL in your involvement (so think more about difference rather than hours). Then applying next fall. Because if you apply this year, it might not go as well as you're hoping for! Does that make sense?
Bhavik
You seem like a person who values conciseness so that's what I'm going to give you. Your job, while at a blue chip, isn't impressive. You're right in being concerned that you're not front office. Your involvement is great and that isn't the issue. And, while your GMAT is amazing, your lack of undergrad prestige is going to hurt. But, more than anything else, it's that you're young. You'll have just 2 years of experience when you apply - that's SUPER low. It would maybe be ok if you came from a front office role, but you're not. You're coming from back office ops. You need to wait. Because you have an amazing GMAT and you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot by applying too early.
So here's what I would say - wait at least another year, continue to outperform at work, and try to get more IMPACTFUL in your involvement (so think more about difference rather than hours). Then applying next fall. Because if you apply this year, it might not go as well as you're hoping for! Does that make sense?
Bhavik
09 Feb 2015, 12:29
Kudos
Bookmarks
Bhavik,
Thank you for your extremely thoughtful reply. I appreciate your honesty in addressing concerns with my application. Do you see it as being unrealistic that I'd get an admit from at least one of my target schools upon applying this fall? I really would prefer to go sooner rather than later, as the opportunity cost for each foregone year of grad school application is actually higher than my current salary!
Regards,
YoshiIsAwesome
Thank you for your extremely thoughtful reply. I appreciate your honesty in addressing concerns with my application. Do you see it as being unrealistic that I'd get an admit from at least one of my target schools upon applying this fall? I really would prefer to go sooner rather than later, as the opportunity cost for each foregone year of grad school application is actually higher than my current salary!
Regards,
YoshiIsAwesome
