Louis14 wrote:
I've been working in my family's construction business since 2017 - the year I completed my undergrad studies. I did Bachelor's in Business Administration (Honors) with Double Major in Finance and Marketing from the 3rd best business school in my country. I graduate with a GPA of 3.56 out of 4. I have had some notable achievements while working as Operations Manager for the first two years, and then as a Director. I've been able to make substantial improvement in workers' performance efficiency and productivity. Similarly, I have carried out major financial management reforms in the company. I also changed that company's capital structure, which subsequently resulted in increasing the firm's ROE substantially.
Having said that, I never really envisioned myself working in the construction sector, and my intellectual interests as well as career aspirations always remained anchored to finance. I joined construction sector because my father's company was struggling and I had to step up to lend him a useful hand. Of late, some observations and experiences of mine have stimulated my academic interests. With the firm doing much better now than when I joined, I feel this is the best time to pursue my academic interests and my dream of building a career in finance. Hence, I recently applied to LSE for MSc Finance and MSc Accounting and Finance.
I know this is just an excerpt of my whole profile but what I am really seeking to know about are two things:
1) What are my chances of getting an admit from LSE in either of the program I have applied for, given my lack of experience in fancy investment banks or other financial institutions? Would a family business experience in an unrelated industry hurt my chances? Is it reasonable to make an industry shift like the one I am aspiring for: from construction to finance?
2) I scored a 680 (Q48;V34) in GMAT. Is this score decent enough for the LSE programs I have applied for? Should I consider a retake?
I would really appreciate your taking the time out to attend my queries.
Hi
Louis14,
Thank you for taking the time to share. I am sure your experience with your family business had a lot of leadership and management training. That is a strength of your application. Even if you do not have experience at a major investment bank or other financial institution, the role at your father’s company has inevitably taught you tangible skills.
The question remains whether or not you successfully articulated these skills in your LSE applications. Those coming from family businesses sometimes have to work a little harder to prove themselves to the admissions committee since they have a harder time evaluating how good your work truly was.
Similarly, your shift from construction to finance must be presented in a logical manner. As this is not the most common career pivot, your career path should make sense to the reader and allow you to leverage the skills you will build during your master’s and throughout your early career. Hopefully, you went beyond simply stating what position you aspire to achieve and shared how you will make your unique mark in a particular financial sector.
Would you like to apply more broadly as well? We have a lot of clients who come from family real estate businesses and would love to help you reach your dreams. There are other alternative programs too that you could qualify for that may even get you a bit further in your career.
As for your GMAT, it would be best if you can get into the mid 700s.
Personal MBA Coach offers tutoring services with tutors who raise clients an average of 90 points and have scored in the 99th percentile on the GMAT / GRE and are graduates of MIT, Harvard, and UPenn. I encourage you to take a look at our
customized tutoring services to learn how you can maximize your score!
Happy to further discuss your profile and ways to further enhance your candidacy:
scott@personalmbacoach.comRegards,
Personal MBA CoachThank you so much for taking the time out to read my post and respond so meticulously. I truly appreciate it.
I did try to articulate how I ended up working in my father's firm, how working in construction made me grow so much, and why I want to get into finance now. I guess the best way to share what I said would be to share my personal statement itself. Would you be able to read my LSE personal statement and share your feedback?
16 Feb 2021, 13:41
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