MS Finance Profile Evaluations [Master Thread]: Post all Profiles Here

Hi,

I am planning to do Masters in Finance and targeting top 10. I am sharing my profile for evaluation and I am 26 years old from India:

1. GMAT Score - Yet to give(Targeting 700+)

2. Work Experience -4.5 years of experience
a. Worked for 2 years in Investment banking division in India
b. Worked for 2.5 years as Senior Financial Analyst in a Start-up

3. Industry - Financial Services

4. Academics - 10th: 87%, 12th:85%, UG:7/10 CGPA
Cleared all 3 levels of CFA in first attempt in shortest span of 18 months
Also, worked for NGO for more than 10 months

5. Background - BBS from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

6. Misc - Earned cerfiticate for Certified Investment Banking Analyst level 1 and specialized in Financial Modelling, Bloomberg, Thomson, Factset and other database as well

7. Extra curricular: Part of Photography and Art societies at college level and also volunteered for social events.

Thanks

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I am a student of Economics at a well known private university from India. My GPA is 7.7/10 (with an year to improve) and I've had an internship with a brokerage firm and a government partnered firm (non finance role) where I wrote a paper which has been published in a scopus indexed journal (highly accredited). I have been running a portfolio since the age of 19 and have several leadership positions under my belt. I also founded the Finance and Investment Cell of my institution. I estimate a GMAT score of 700-750 for myself. What chances do you think I have for the Oxford MFE program.

Oh and I don't know if this helps (because it's not finance related), but I grew up in Africa and was deeply involved in social work.

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Hi SajjadAhmad,

Well your GMAT is pretty Strong (MFin Schools will be interested in your quants score, so do highlight that part). Your research papers are intersting as well. Do you have any other ECs like Social volunteering that you might have skipped mentioning? Schools are interested in holistic profiles so mention so do dig deep into your profile for any overlooked experiences.

Coming to your Target Schools, for HEC your UG Rank would matter as well as the school is known to recruit applicants from the Top 10 Schools. St Gallen as well would be slightly tough as it has a smaller class size than most other EU Schools.
With a strong application however, ESADE, ESSEC NUS (MiM programs with a specialization in Finance) look reachable.
You can target EDHEC as well, it is a school known for its Finance Track.
You can drop me a Whats-app for any further queries or doubts +91-8810658356

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to apply for a Msc in Finance (most likely Round 2) for 2021. The reason for my decision is to launch a career in Europe (currently working in Brazil). My initial objective is to pursue a Master in Finance from a well-known institution to secure a job in the IB industry at a European financial hub (e.g. London/Paris/Zurich).

Nationality / Age:
Brazilian (with french nationality) / 22 y.o.
Languages: Native Portuguese/French. Fluent: English.

GMAT/TOELF:
720 (target - have yet to take the test, but confident in this score-range) / 110

Work experience:
After graduation:
1) 1 year as an Associate at a Big4 - Investment Banking division (M&A/Restructuring - current job) in São Paulo;
Before graduation:
2) 8 month internship at a credit Hedge Fund (+1B USD - biggest credit HF in the region) in Brazil;
3) 8 month internship at a medium sized startup in London.

Educational Background:
1) Business Management in Brazil (non-target school, but well ranked regionally) - Graduated in 2019
CGPA 3.89 (9.73/10) highest grade of the class
2) Commerce in France (non-target) while in a Double-degree program with my main university
CGPA: 16/20 (French grades are a bit harder to "translate" into GPA).

Extra Curricular:
6 months of NGO work (10 hours per week)
Undergraduate teaching assistant (Corporate Finance) in university.

Master program(s) targets:
Jugde, Oxford, HEC, St. Gallen, LBS, LSE, ETH Zurich (Quant finance). I'm open to hear suggestions as well.

My final objective is to transition from financial advisory/consulting to S&T/HF in Europe, but I would be completely OK to continuing working in IB.

Thanks for taking the time to evaluate this profile. I’m eager to receive your feedback.

Hello everyone,

May you help evaluate my profile and advise on program choices if possible?

Age: 34 (targeting Sep 2021 intake so will be 35 by then)

From: Hong Kong

Academics: GPA 3.2 from a top business school in Hong Kong, major in Management and Economics

GMAT: 750 (42 verbal and 49 quant). This is my latest Feb 2020 results, scored 700 in Jan 2020(37 verbal and 49 quant) which is also printed on my report.

Qualifications: CFA charterholder

Work experience: Currently an associated director in a small local professional service firm. Have five years of experience in business valuation, financial modelling and derivatives valuation. Clients are listed companies in HK, PRC and US and also big 4 and other auditors. Prior to that I had 2 years investor relations experience in a listed company and 4 years sales experience in a Fortune 500 company.

Targeted school and programmes: LSE (MSc Accounting and Finance), Warwick (MSc Accounting and Finance). I intend to study in the UK.

Would you comment on my odds in getting into the schools above, and is there any recommended choices based on my profile? Thanks so much for the help!

Hi CKLaw,

Thank you for your post and for sharing your profile. Congrats on a great GMAT score! You seem to have strong experiences that make you quite competitive for a masters degree. That said, the LSE program you mention is not right for your level of experience. I recommend looking at LBS' Masters in Finance instead. That could be a better option for you.

Please reach out if you would like to discuss your profile further: https://www.siaadmissions.com/complimen ... nsultation.

Good luck!

Susan

Hi guys, I’d really appreciate any input that you all have on my chances at Vanderbilt’s MSF program. If you think Vandee’s a bit of a stretch for me I’d love to hear what schools you think would better fit my profile.

Background:

I am a senior at a small non-target college in the south with a respected finance program. Age: 20

GMAT:

740 (46Q/47V) (I take the test tomorrow, my practice tests were 740 and 750 with verbal a point higher or equal to quant.)

Academics:

3.73 GPA, majors in finance and economics. A’s or A+’s in all quant-related courses. University honors program, beta gamma sigma.

Work Experience:

This is the rough part.

-Received an offer for a corporate finance/ financial reporting role at a midsize publicly traded company for my junior year internship which was cancelled 2 weeks before I was scheduled to start due to covid.

-I have irrelevant experience working at a law firm and a moderately successful eBay business that I’ve run since I was a freshman.

Extra Curriculars:

- My school has a competitive multi-million dollar student-managed equity fund for which I am one of 16 managers/analysts. This is run by the dean of finance who will write a glowing letter of rec.

- Treasurer and House Manager for my fraternity, managed a 6-figure budget and managed lease agreements, coordinated with vendors, etc.

- Involved with student media, got the school newspaper distributed at several businesses in town and sold several ads.

Goals:

I hope to ultimately wind up in private equity, although I think I would be happy in a variety of analyst roles.

Thank you for giving me a look, any insight you can offer would be incredibly appreciated— thanks!

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Hi BCFKJE,

I completely understand your concern about not having work experience, but Covid-19 is a situation that has impacted the entire globe and Schools understand this.
So do make it a point to highlight the above in your application articulately so that the work part is compensated.
The rest of your profile is pretty good- Strong Quants, solid GPA and GMAT score.
I believe with a strong application you do have a fair chance at Vanderbuilt.
You can also consider programs at
TamU
JHU
Ohio Fisher
University of Washington
Texas A&M
You can keep University of Buffalo, Rutgers as safe options.

You can check out more school recommendations suited to your profile by taking up a profile evaluation here: https://www.mim-essay.com/profile-evalu ... evaluation

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Hi all,

Planning to apply for a MSc Finance / Financial Economics / Financial Analysis next year (Sept '21). I have a strong preference for UK programs in order for me to secure a career in London.

Nationality: Dutch/British
Age: 23

Undergrad Programs: Double BSc Engineering and Economics & Math (doing a 6 year program in 5 years) in the Netherlands
Ranking: Top 20 Europe: Economics and Top 10 Europe: Engineering
Extra: Summer School Advanced Corporate Finance at LSE
Also been a student assistant at both faculties and tutor in undergrad mathematics

GPA: 3.5
GMAT: 710 (Q49, V39)

Work Experience: One finance internship (4 months full time) at the largest national bank
Leadership: President of Student Society (750 members), VP of Trading Club (15 members)
ECs: Research Project in S-America, voluntary work

Target Schools: LSE, LBS, Oxford Said, Imperial

How are my chances looking?
And how much will my low GPA hurt me in these top UK programs?
Is it worth applying later (last round) to get a 3.7 or 3.8?
What should be by back up for these four schools?

Thank you in advance.

Hi pskony,
I must say that you have quite a strong profile. You have a unique UG background, which you can use to your advantage.
International experience is a major plus, especially for LBS
The ECs and extra-curriuculars look good as well.
UK Schools are GPA-centric, so while the GPA might be slightly on the lower side I would still say it would be enough to apply in the earlier rounds. However, you can E-Mail the Universities before hand and they can tell you if you are good to not wait until the last Round.
UCL, Cass can be your back-up options, both are pretty good brands in London.
You can take up a quick profile evaluation here to know the competitiveness of your profile on a score of 100: https://www.mim-essay.com/profile-evalu ... evaluation

You have a compelling profile in many respects. Because Masters in Finance AdComs will be more interested in raw intellectual potential rather than work experience (students tend to be younger and less tenured for Masters in Finance programs versus MBA), they’ll be impressed by your 4.0 in Accounting & Finance and the fact that you are minoring in Math. But your GMAT of 710 is low - both in an objective sense against the MIT average and especially in a relative sense if you are from an overrepresented demo (you mentioned being Int’l). If you are from one of the most represented demographics (Indian, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Pakistani), GMAT scores tend to be higher than the school average for admitted students. You still have a year left of undergrad - perhaps you can lift your GMAT a little before you apply?

Although it’s impressive that you were student body president in HS, I’d leave that off your masters-level resume. You’ll look like a “faded glory” if you use stuff that’s that old in your app. And you have great & varied current ECs so there’s no need to go back that far.

While it’s certainly demoralizing and indeed quite difficult to secure an internship as an international student (especially a typical internship like one your peers might have at a fortune 500 company that won’t sponsor internationals), it is likely possible that you could do *something* in your senior year to get work experience on your resume prior to your app submission. Even if it is unpaid, having some work experience is important. The reason why work experience is critical is because schools like MIT want to know that you will be *employable* post masters because employability and exit comp is one of the critical metrics by which masters programs are evaluated by rankings institutions like US News & World Report and The Economist. The best way that you can prove to AdComs that you are employable is based on your previous employment. With COVID, it may be possible to secure an on-campus work-study position or an unpaid academic research internship with one of your favorite finance or accounting professors. If you do a good job, you’ll probably get a great masters rec letter out of it even if you don’t get paid. More importantly, there will be people competing with you for spots who *do* have work experience, so in order to beat them out for the spot, especially if you are applying from an overrepresented demo with a lower-than-average GMAT score, you’ll need to make sure you have some work experience.

If you are intent on pursuing a masters in finance, you might want to explore other schools as well, and hedge your bets with a few different countries. Italy, France, the UK and Canada all have world-class masters in finance programs that are associated with similar professional outcomes and compensation similar to that of MIT. Applying to several different schools in several different countries will maximize your chances of getting into one or more schools as well as maximize your chances of being able to negotiate a scholarship (typically negotiating a scholarship is easier when you have leverage of a better offer -- either a higher ranked school or a scholarship somewhere else -- in hand).

If you are applying with a below-average GMAT score or from a school outside of the top 25, you need to make sure that the strategic positioning outlined in your essays (e.g., what you want to do post-masters, how your ECs in student government and community engagement will enable you to lead as a student in b-school, what sorts of clubs you’ll get involved with, etc.) resonates with and syncs with your prior successes. If talking to an admissions consultant about school choice and strategic positioning may be helpful to you, feel free to sign up for a free consultation here: https://admissionado.com/free-consultat ... sultation/

Applying to Nova SBE as first choice, Catolica-Lisbon second choice, ISCTE third choice. All located in Portugal and all MSc in Finance.

Current University: University of San Francisco (tier 1)
Major: Business Management, Minor: Legal Studies
Nationality: USA
Age: will be 22
GMAT/GRE: Not taken yet (what score would I need?)
GPA: 3.4/4.0

Notable experience (not all):
Intern at economic center 6 months - received certification from IRS
Volunteer at technology center 6 months
Online course in Organizational Analysis from Stanford University
Exchange program in Spain 1 semester

Given my profile and desired schools, any thoughts or predictions on admission? Any advice to raise my chances?
The programs say a GRE/GMAT are not required but can be included to enhance admission...would it hurt more to not have a score to submit vs an average score?

Thank you!!

Hello everyone!

I am planning to apply to several MFin/MiM/MS this winter/spring. I am in kind of a weird spot since I have 2 years of full-time work experience. I could have worked for 1-2 years more and try to apply for an MBA, but I would like to take a break from the professional life and experience the US/UK a bit. I still want to go for a FT MBA/PT MBA/EMBA down the road, but that’s not relevant for this discussion. Please help evaluate my profile, and beware the long post!

Background:
27, male, Southeast Asian (planning to get an MBA at 32-ish, or at 36-ish if I go for EMBA)

Education:
1. UG: Top 120-150 university according to the QS, in Northern Europe. BSc in Economics. GPA: 3.49/4 (I should have studied harder, but I was too focused on prepping for my internships).
2. GMAT: 730 (just make the cut at some programs. Should I aim for 750-770?)

Work experience:
1. 0.5 years (recently joined) at a Big 4 company (Deal Advisory). Assisting companies in performing due diligence for their M&A deals.
2. 1.5 years at another Big 4 company (also in Deal Advisory). Supported companies in developing financial models and performing valuations for M&A and capital raising purposes. Promoted to Senior Associate after 1 year.
3. 2nd internship: M&A at a Big 4 company, closed one deal during the internship.
4. 1st internship: Risk Advisory at a Big 4 company (not again!).

Extracurricular activities:
1. Sports at work: 1st prize in intra-firm, five-a-side soccer tournament; represented my Big 4 company in 2 soccer tournaments at the city level
2. Sports at university: played soccer for the school team. Helped the captain in organizing weekly trainings and friendly matches.
3. Others: founded an investment club at my university and recruited 12 members. We used a simulated investment fund to make investments. Results: 5% gain over 3 months, which was 2% higher than the S&P500 during the same period
4. 5 math prizes (bronze/silver) at various national math competitions in Asia/Australia – this was during high school so I’m not sure if it is still relevant.

Other relevant information
1. Submitted a CV for review to LBS (Master of Finance) and Cambridge (Master of Finance) and got a nod from both programs to apply. Not sure if that’s a big deal
2. LoR: 3 strong recommendation letters from work from 3 Directors. 2 professors also agreed to refer me, but I don’t think their recommendation will be strong

Career path post-graduation
In decreasing order of preference: BB banks M&A/coverage groups > MBB > other front office roles at BB banks (asset management, debt capital market, equity capital market, corporate banking etc.) and asset management firms/hedge funds. Looking to work in either NYC/London (slight preference for NYC).

Target programs
Europe
1. Oxford (Said) – MSc Financial Economics
2. Cambridge (Judge) – Master of Finance
3. LSE – MSc Finance + MSc Accounting & Finance
4. LBS – Masters in Financial Analysis. I wrote up there that I submitted a CV review to the Masters in Finance program, but I learned that the average work experience is 6 years. Therefore, I’m going to play it safer and go with the MFA program
5. INSEAD – Master in Management (not sure if I should apply to this program, but their curriculum looks very interesting - where I get to study in many of their campuses).
US
1. MIT (Sloan) – Master of Finance
2. Stanford – MS Management Science and Engineering
3. Columbia (CBS) – MS Accounting and Fundamental Analysis
4. Yale (SOM) – MMS Asset Management
5. Duke (Fuqua) – Master in Quantitative Management (not a feeder to finance jobs but

Hi everyone,

I'm a senior, and I expect to complete my BSc Finance Degree next year. I'm looking at applying for top MSF Programs in the US (Such as MIT, Duke, Columbia, Vandy) and Uk (Oxford, LBS -MFA, Imperial. Below is my profile.

1. GPA: 2.9 (I started with lows, scored pretty well in the previous two terms)
2. GRE: Q168, V161
3. GMAT: 730
4. Completed four Guided Projects (All in the field of finance)
5. 3 Internships ( 2 at well know asset managers, 1 in financial journalism)
6. 2 Papers published (1 in the field of Operations Research)
7. Completed various certification courses from Coursera (Including some advanced level courses)
8. I have high-level proficiency at Python and C. I'm planning to do R Programming in the coming month
9. I'm also planning to give FRM Exam in November this year (Planning to give both levels at once)

Extracurriculars:
1. I'm an avid runner. I participate in many marathons.
2. I play classical piano

I would appreciate if someone could evaluate my profile.

Thank You

Indian, 21, M, yet to take the GRE

Undergrad from Top 5 French Grand Ecole in Economics (2 yr GPA - 13.5/20) with an exchange semester in the U.S (GPA - 3.5/4). I feel my 2 yr GPA is not so good though I'm hoping my critical health concerns will be highlighted by the Director in his LOR.

No formal work experience, however I have interned in 3 countries as of now,
Business Analyst at a tech startup in Spain, Venture Capital Analyst at a well-known American name in its Buenos Aires office followed by a 1 month stint at an Argentine hedge fund, currently working as an equity research analyst remotely at a boutique IM firm in India.

Volunteer experiences include leading a 2 month soft skill seminar in India, working at a bénévolat (NGO) in France and running a community NGO with help from my family which I founded

Applying to HEC MiM and ESSEC MFin (2 yr. track). Unfortunately I'm only interested in top french programs as I deem them to be a feeder for my target industries in U.K but then since I have a french bac, my interview process in other B-Schools/programs would be in French which deters me from applying as I only possess a B1 level of proficiency. Not interested in 1 yr. UK programs as they're too risky specially in this economic scenario, btw LSE would never take me with that GPA xD

Wish to break into high finance preferably in the U.K (particularly M&A but also ok for investment oriented roles)