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

Hey there,

Beginning the profile evaluation with your academic background, your majors in finance coupled with a top UG brand most certainly plays to your advantage as B-schools tend to favor students who possess relevant knowledge in a specialized field, hailing from top schools of each country. On the other hand, your GPA is a bit on the lower end, to remedy which you would need to draw attention towards the other stronger aspects of your profile.

In addition to this, another significant aspect that schools focus on is extracurricular activities as they are looking for a holistically developed profile. Hence, it is essential to shed some light on the endeavors taken up at any clubs, associations, sports, fest, or events you managed or participated in during your undergraduate. Volunteering initiatives, certifications, or internships undertaken during the course of your study would also count towards your extracurricular initiatives. While you have a fair share of extracurriculars vouching for your leadership skills, proactive nature, and broadened perspective, you can indulge in NGO activities as schools tend to favor candidates who are socially responsible. You can also take up a few certifications in your related field like CFA, FRM, etc. MOOCs to stage constant growth in your profile.

Moving on to your practical experience, you have pursued two internships in the field of finance which is an impressive feat, but lacks big brand names. That said, a well-reputed organization plays a significant role in making one eligible for a top B-school as you will be competing with candidates from Big 4 firms or other big brands. Thus to stand at par with the applicant pool and differentiate yourself, you ought to highlight why you chose these firms, what projects you’ve taken up so far, how you have gone beyond your designated role, and the kind of impacts created to establish a connection with your goals, and portray the knowledge gained from these experiences.

Speaking of your GMAT score, a 710 is pretty competitive and should most certainly allow you to apply to your target schools. Coming to your school choices, HEC and LBS comes under the dream category whereas ESSEC, IE, and Bocconi come under the competitive category. The dream schools have a stringent acceptance rate with your chances of getting admitted at 40-50% whereas, for the competitive category, your chances of acceptance will be around 70%.

All said and done, you need to be targeting the upcoming deadlines in January (Round 2) to ensure a higher chance of acceptance. Moreover, you need to be aware that you will be facing competition from equally good or even better profiles, which is why, you need to complement your profile with a strong application that includes essays, letter of recommendation, statement of purpose, and resume that highlights all your strong suits, gives reasoning for the weaknesses and displays how you’d be a good addition to the cohort. As a matter of fact, your application can boost your chances of acceptance by 3x!

Wondering how to build a winning strategy to meet the upcoming deadlines? You can take up a FREE consulting call from one of our consultants who will give you expert suggestions on how to go about crafting a pitch-perfect application within the limited time at hand.

Link for the FREE Consultation call-

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hey parantap,

Academically, you have a great GPA, which showcases your academic prowess and the brand of your undergraduate college is good as well.  However, while your grades and brand do play an important part, you should highlight your extracurricular activities and other endeavours because AdComs are looking for applicants with holistically developed profiles.

As for your GMAT, your overall score of 730 is great and stands as a testament to your analytic ability. However, since you have not provided a breakup of the score I would like to remind you that for finance programs your Quant score is one of the referencing points and a Quant score of 49 or above would increase your chances at the top business schools.

Talking about the extracurriculars, I would like to inform you that apart from sports any endeavours you have taken up at any clubs, associations, sports, fest or events you managed or participated in during the course of the program, certifications or internships undertaken during the course of your study would also count towards your extracurricular initiatives. Thus your formation of the Book Club on Investing showcases your ability to take initiative and your interest in the field finance and the passion to develop it further, while youre participations in toastmasters and as president of the international student chapter showcase your proactiveness to develop your skillset holistically. Thus, you should dig deeper into this aspect and bring out varied skills in your profile or seek to build in this area if the need be.

Coming to your volunteering role, it showcases your strong interest in developing your profile holistically, while your fundraising experience showcases your ability to take up initiatives, impact others and to empathize with other people. Adding quantifications of the fundraising initiatives would add weight to your experience since B-schools are looking for applicants that are future leaders and such experiences and qualities strengthen your application.

As far as your work experience is concerned, while you have 3 years of work experience as a data scientist since MS in Finance is a specialized masters, AdComs, are looking for applicants with relevant experience in the field of finance. Thus you would need to highlight your interest in the field of finance by taking up an additional internship in the field. Moreover, your initiative to manage your family’s portfolio shows your interest in the field and which along with your MOOCs showcase your proactiveness and ability to take initiative. Moreover, since most of these certifications are in the field of finance they showcase your passion for the field and how you have taken steps to develop it further, which is what most B-schools are looking for in applicants.

To further improve your profile you could take up certifications like CFA or FRM, which are core financial certifications and would show your passion for the field of finance.

Coming to shortlisting the right schools for your profile, dream schools have a very stringent acceptance rate of 12-15%.  Hence, whenever you are applying to schools abroad, it is always better to target a mix of dream, competitive, and safe schools. To help you understand better, I’ve suggested a few schools that you could be targeting along with your chances of getting admitted according to the different categories.

Dream (40-50%) : HEC, LBS, LSE, Duke, Vanderbilt

Competitive (60-70%) : ESSEC, ESCP, USC: Marshall, TexasMcCombs, FSFM, IE

Safe (80-90%) : EDHEC, Grenoble, Skema 


Thus, to summarize, while you have a competitive profile, you need to be aware that you will face competition from applicants having similar or maybe even better profiles, thus, to increase your chances of getting admitted to these schools and bagging a scholarship, you would need to ensure that you have a very strong application (consisting of - Essays, LORs and Resume) to back your profile. You need to showcase your journey, highlight your interest in finance and the initiative you took to build it further and how you are a great value addition to the school.  A strong application increases your chances of acceptance by up to 30%.

On this note,  if you are looking to target the top B-schools and want to create a strong application and win a scholarship, you can follow the link below to Book a Free Consulting call to connect with one of our founders to gain in-depth knowledge of the application process and create a winning strategy.

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hi bhatiarohan4,

To begin with, firstly, you have pursued a BMS from University of Delhi with a 7.9 GPA which is decent enough and showcases your academic prowess. In addition to this you have 750 GMAT score with a perfect quant score which further vouches for your academic capabilities and your capability to succeed in the field of finance.

Talking about your work experience, you have been working at D.E Shaw for a period of 2.5 years which is a pretty good brand on your CV. However to further differentiate yourself from your competitors you can highlight the intensity of your work experience, impacts created, what kind of projects you undertook and your major takeaways.

Coming on to your achievements, you have bagged 3 to 4 top positions in the University and National level Trading Simulations and case competitions supplemented by a pretty good amount of extracurricular participations and volunteering activities under your belt. All these achievements and activities showcase a holistically developed profile by highlighting how you are proactive in your endeavours and socially responsible which is a trait these B-schools are looking for. Furthermore you have also cleared two levels of CFA which is quite an impressive feat that again showcases your strong inclination towards finance.

Speaking of the school that you will be targeting, MIT, LBS and PRINCETON comes under the dream category (where your chances of acceptance is 40-50%) while COLUMBIA comes under the Upper competitive category (where your chances of acceptance is 50-60%) provided you back your profile with a very strong application.
Moreover, you need to hedge your bets wisely by targeting a good mix of 6-8 schools.
Henceforth, I would suggest you to target some Competitive schools (where your chances of acceptance is 70%) such as USC MARSHALL, FORDHAM and MACKENS in the USA while IMPERIAL and WARWICK in the UK.

Thus, you need to back your profile with a very strong application which consists of your Essay, Lor and Resume as they carry 30% of an impact on your chances of bagging an admit in any of these top B-schools. Having said that, we suggest you to Book a Free consulting session with one of our consultants who will help you plan a winning strategy on how to justify your inclination towards finance and how to highlight your strengths and overshadow the particular weaknesses in your profile through tried and tested methods that have helped over hundreds of similar applicants win an admit from the top ranked B-schools worldwide!

Below you will find the link to book a 20-minute FREE consulting call with our expert consultants.

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hi Olayn,

First and foremost your academic background showcases your strong inclination and prowess in the field of finance which is evident through your 75.8 score from the top business school in the UK. Further, you have mentioned your GRE score of 317 which is pretty competitive, but I would suggest you retake your exam to further upscale your score by 4-5 points. Since you are applying for a masters in finance to all the top-tier schools, you need to ensure that your quant score is as high as possible as it poses as a base for evaluating your ability to succeed in finance. Thus targeting a minimum of 165 in your quant section will surely highlight your stronghold in the field of finance.

Moving on, you have mentioned quite a few finance related internships that work in your favour as schools tend to prefer candidates with relevant experience in the field. However, the one thing that is lacking in your profile is big brand names since you will be facing competition from applicants who have worked in the big four companies such as KPMG, EY, DELOITTE and PWC. Having said that you can definitely set yourself at par with them by talking about why you chose these companies, what kind of projects you undertook, what were your inputs and what skills you developed. This will also showcase how you are voyaging on a path towards your goal while portraying your dedication and consistency.

Talking about your extracurricular participation, you have been a part of volunteering and community services which is quite impressive as it showcases that you are socially empathetic, a trait held in high regard by every b-school. However you need to add more diverse activities in your profile for an all-round representation. Here, you can elaborate on the clubs and associations you were involved in, the teams you led, highlighting the kind of events you organized, duties you performed and your major takeaways. Furthermore, you can also take up certain finance certification such as CFA OR FRM to showcase your proactiveness and passion for finance. All in all, varied skills can contribute towards you being a great future leader which would automatically impress the adcoms.

Coming to the schools you are targeting, LBS and HEC would come under the dream category (where your chances of acceptance is 50%) while ESSEC comes under the competitive category (where your chances of acceptance is 70%). While these schools are great, you would still need to broaden your options by targeting a good mix of 6-8 schools in order to hedge your bets wisely. Thus, you can further look into school such as ESCP, MANNHEIM, FSFM and ESADE in the competitive category while in the dream category you can be looking at school like LSE, IMPERIAL, Duke, UC SAN DIEGO and USC MARSHALL.

Lastly, while you have a good profile, you need to pay extra attention to your application which consists of your Essay, Lor and Resume as they carry 30% of an impact on your chances of bagging an admit as your application alone poses as a major profile differentiator.

Thus, if you are looking for a comprehensive and personalised analysis of your application, you can Book a Free consulting session with one of our consultants who through their expertise can help you plan a winning strategy to highlight your strengths and overshadow the weaknesses in your profile through tried and tested methods that have helped over hundreds of similar applicants win an admit from top ranked B-schools worldwide!

Below you will find the link to book a 20-minute FREE consulting call with our expert consultants.

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hey MtsChn,

You seem ambitious about pursuing a career in finance, which can be seen from your internships, certifications and courses you have taken up during your undergrad. If you properly portray your passion for finance in your application, schools will be interested in this.

Academically, your undergraduate degree being in the field of finance works in your favour, since MFin is a specialised masters program and most schools prefer applicants with a relevant academic background or work experience in finance, additionally, you have an impressive GPA, which showcases your academic prowess and the brand of your undergraduate college is good as well. Furthermore, all your diplomas and certifications supplement this drive for academic excellence by showcasing how you have been a great student throughout. However, while your grades do play an important part, you should highlight your extracurricular activities and other endeavours because AdComs are looking for applicants with holistically developed profiles.

As far as the GRE goes, a score of 327 with a perfect 170 in the Quant section would allow you to target the finance programs in top schools since a strong GRE score would bolster the AdComs confidence in your academic abilities and improve your acceptance chances. Additionally you a great TOEFEL score as well.
As you have not mentioned a lot of details about your extracurricular activities, I’d like to let you know that Extracurricular participation plays an important role in strengthening your applications as B-schools are on the hunt for all-rounder profiles. Hence, it is essential to shed some light on the endeavours you have taken up at any clubs, associations, sports, fest or events you managed or participated in during your undergrad. Thus, you should dig deeper into your experiences with TEDx and other organizations and bring out varied skills in your profile or seek to build in this area if the need be. Furthermore, you could take up Volunteering initiatives with NGOs to build in this area if the need be.

As for your internship and work experience, you would need to provide more details about the same to allow me to evaluate it better. However, you do have relevant experience in the field of finance which definitely acts in your favour, since Masters in Finance is a specialized masters and AdComs are looking for applicants with relevant experience in the field of finance. You ought to explain and highlight the major projects of your work and how these experiences helped to develop and further groom your skills and knowledge. Highlight why you chose these firms, how you have gone beyond the role, any initiatives you took and any kind of impact created to establish a connection with your goals and portray the knowledge gained from these experiences. Properly highlighting this would allow you to stand par with candidates having more extensive work experience hailing from big 4 brands. That said, connecting your work experience and your decision to pursue a masters is very important.

Of the schools you are targeting, St. Gallen comes under the ultra dream category, since it has a very stringent acceptance rate and admits candidates with extremely strong profiles. Furthermore, as a matter of fact, to maintain the diversity of its cohort it only admits 2 candidates from each country, which would convert your chance of acceptance to be very bleak. Now of the other school you have shortlisted Bacconi falls under the competitive category. Dream schools have a very stringent acceptance rate of 12-15%, while competitive schools have an acceptance rate of 60-70%. Hence, it is always better to target a mix of dream, competitive and safe schools.To help you understand better below is the category wise school list:

Dream (40-50%) : HEC, LBS, LSE, Duke, Vanderbilt

Competitive (60-70%) : ESSEC, ESCP, USC: Marshall, TexasMcCombs, FSFM, IE

Safe (80-90%) : EDHEC, Grenoble, Skema 

A strong application increases your chances of getting admitted by upto 30%. Apart from that well-crafted application essays help you stand out from the crowd by defining your journey and what you hope to do in the future.

Hence, since you’re planning to apply for the 2021 intake, you can check our flagship service- All-In-One Solution to see how we could assist you in preparing a polished application and highlighting your strengths so that you have a shot at these schools.

Link to our All-In-One Solution-

https://www.mim-essay.com/mim-all-in-one

Here, you can even Book a Free Consulting call to connect with one of our consultants.

Hello everyone!! This is my first post on this forum. So, please excuse me for any mistakes or errors.
I have a great interest in the Finance field though my background does not tell this story. I also looked for many programs that interest me, but not sure about my chances for these programs.
Any help in recommendations for Business Schools and profile evaluation based on my score, for MS in Finance from US, would be appreciated.

My Profile:

Nationality: Indian

My GRE Score: 305 (166Q and 139V); AWA score yet to come

Under-Graduation: BE Computer Engineering (Pune University)

GPA: 3.4/4.0

Work Experience: 13 months (Group IT team, as Technical Analyst and SAP Basis team)

Extra-Curricular:
Captain of the college cricket team in Engineering
Goalkeeper of Handball
Event Coordinator in college events
Part of Art Circle team in college

No. of Research Papers: 2 (One in IEEE and second in IJCA both international)

I have a couple of questions in my mind. Please help.
1) Is my GRE score enough to get admission into a decent business school or should I retake the exam?
2) Which one is preferable TOEFL or IELTS?


Please let me know which programs would be best suitable based on my profile and my score.

Thanks and regards!

Hello everyone!
Could You please take a look at my profile as well

Background and nationality: I am 23, female, kyrgyz.
Undergrad Information: I graduated from American University in Central Asia with Bachelors in Economics (one of my biggest concerns is that my university is not recognized globally).
GMAT: 700
GPA: 3.77
Work experience and leadership: 2.4 years in Audit Department, KPMG Kazakhstan and Central Asia (I currently work there). Summer internship in local USAID Economic Development Office. During my Senior year in college I had part-time work as an administrative assistant at US Embassy.
Community and others: Mostly small charity clubs Unfortunately due to several family issues during my high-school and undergraduate studies I didn't have free time for social activities.
I speak Russian and English.
Post Master goals: I would like to work as financial analyst/join a consulting company.

I'm not sure if I can consider myself a competitive applicant considering ranking of my undergraduate college. I am also very confused about rankings of colleges that I have chances to get into.

What do you think are my chances of getting in each of these: RSM, WHU Otto Beishem, St Gallen? Should I focus at lower ranking colleges or look for others in this range?

Thank you a lot!!!

Hey Louis14,

Before I begin answering your queries, I’d like to tell you that you have missed out on a lot of crucial information like your extracurriculars, your internships, and the names of the companies you worked in.

That said, you have provided limited information for me to give you an accurate estimation of your chances in schools like the London School of Economics, Imperial, and the National University of Singapore. Having said that, let’s begin with your profile evaluation.

Academically, your undergraduate degree being in Bachelors of Business Administration with dual majors in Finance and Marketing, works in your favor since MFin is a specialized masters program and most top schools prefer applicants with a relevant academic background or work experience in finance. In addition, a CGPA of 3.56 showcases your academic prowess, and the brand of your undergraduate college - ranking 3rd in Pakistan gives your profile a boost as schools tend to pick out applicants from the top schools of each country. However, while your grades and brands do play an important part, you should highlight your extracurricular activities and other endeavors because AdComs are looking for applicants with holistically developed profiles.

Thus, it is essential to shed light on the endeavors you’ve taken up at the clubs, associations, fest, and events you managed or participated in during your undergrad. Thus, you should dig deeper into this aspect and bring out varied skills in your profile. Hence, try to highlight such traits through some of the initiatives you undertook in college regarding the field of Finance.

Since the top B schools are always on the lookout for candidates who are constantly on the path of upskilling themselves, you can take certain certifications like CFA or FRM, which are core financial certifications and would also show your passion for the field of finance.

Coming to your work experience, you need to highlight any activities that you undertook related to the field of Finance and elaborate on the exposure gained through it. Since you lack big brands in your professional career, you ought to explain and highlight the major projects of your work and how these experiences helped to develop and further groom your skills and knowledge. Highlight why you chose to move to your family business, how you have gone beyond the role, any initiatives you took, and any kind of impact created to establish a connection with your goals and portray the knowledge gained from these experiences.

As far as the GMAT goes, a 680 is a pretty competitive score and would allow you to target the schools on your list. However, keeping in mind the average scores required by these schools (690 - Q49), you ought to draw attention towards the finance aspects in your profile to mark the extent of your ability to succeed in the field of finance.

As for your target schools, i.e., the London School of Economics, Imperial, and the National University of Singapore - all three fall under the dream category. Dream schools have a very stringent acceptance rate of 12-15%.

That said, to increase your chances of getting admitted to these schools, you would need to ensure that you have a very strong application consisting of well-drafted Essays, LORs, and a resume to back your profile. As a matter of fact, your application aids in setting you apart from the other applicants and has a 30% impact on your acceptance chances. You thus need to showcase your journey, what makes you different from your peers, and how you will be a great value addition to the school. Complying with all the above will grant you a chance acceptance of 50%.

To get a clear idea of how to go about drafting an impactful application, you can take up a free consulting call with one of our expert consultants who can help you chalk out a winning strategy to bag an admit from your target schools. We’ve helped thousands of applicants so far, we’d love for you to be next!

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hey ineedtoremember,

Commencing your profile evaluation, I would say that your academic background is quite strong. Your GPA of 3.5/4 not only displays your academic prowess but also opens a door to most of the top business schools in the world. Your undergraduate in Economics further goes on to complement your inclination towards the field of finance, which in turn poses as a strong suit in your profile. Moreover, 720 in GMAT being a competitive score, highlights your excellent analytical aptitude.

Moving on to your professional front, you have undertaken extensive projects which showcase the quality of your work experience which goes on to authenticate your ability to succeed in the field of finance. In addition to this, the presence of a big brand name certainly plays a part in bolstering your profile, as you’d be facing competition from applicants from big4 companies. Thus, effectively showcasing your work ex can help you differentiate yourself in front of the admission's committee.

Moving on, extracurricular participation plays an important role in strengthening your applications as B-schools are on the hunt for all-rounder profiles. Evaluating your extra-curricular activities, I’d say being a co-founder for an on-campus LGBT professional organization shows the extent of your entrepreneurial skills. You have directed your skills and efforts towards bettering society by providing opportunities to the ones who are deprived which goes on to highlight your go-getter attitude and how you have the ability to create impacts in society. This is something that the B-schools strongly look for in every candidate. In addition to this, you can also showcase extracurricular activities that align with your interest in getting into a Mfin program. You can take up some courses or certifications like CFA or FRM, or talk about any clubs/associations you were involved in. All in all, you need to dig deep into every aspect and bring out varied skills in your profile.

Given your target schools, LBS, LSE, Oxford all three come under the dream category. Since these schools have a stringent acceptance rate, your chances of getting there will be around 50%. However, to boost your chances of acceptance you can focus on the kind of application you are submitting. A strong application holds 30% of weightage in the entire admission process and is also the way through which you can highlight your strengths and give apt justifications for your weaknesses to smooth over any flaws in your profile. Moreover, a strong application sets you apart from the rest of the competition and hence it is imperative that you use this tool in your arsenal to the best of your advantage.

To get an idea on how to go about the same, I’d suggest you to BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION CALL with our expert consultants who guide you on how to array your profile as finance-oriented and would help you chalk out a winning strategy that would definitely earn you an admit from your dream schools.

Link is provided below:

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Thanks so much for such an elaborate and thoughtful response. I truly appreciate it. I'm most certainly going to book an appointment with you guys very soon. Thanks again.

Hi, I would really appreciate if you could evaluate my profile:

Profile
22 years old from Italy
Bachelor's Degree in Economics and Finance at Bocconi University
GPA: 95/110 (3.3/4)
GMAT: 710 (Q50, V34)

Work Experience
3-months internship at a local medium-size company (total revenue of more than €100 million), with a role regarding finance and administration. Worked closely with the CFO of the company.

Targets:
St. Gallen-Master Banking and Finance (MBF)
Nova Lisboa BS-Master Finance
HEC Paris-Master International Finance
ESSEC BS-Master Finance (MIF)
ESCP BS-Master Finance
Skema BS-Master Finance

Awards
National finalist of International Games of Math at Bocconi University for two times (2011,2012) after winning regional selection.

Language skills
Italian: native
English: fluent. Certification level C1 (IELTS:7.5/9)
Spanish: intermediate. Certification level B1

IT skills
ECDL certification for Microsoft Office (excellent level)
Certification of "Data analysis and reporting with Excel" (Bocconi University)
Python: intermediate level after Bocconi course

Other information
Certification "Private Equity and Venture Capital" after the course authoried by Bocconi University and offered by Coursera.
Virtual Internship (open-access) with BCG: strategy consulting program
Certification "Bloomberg Market Concepts"
School tutor during the year 2016

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

Hey flippingpancakes!

Commencing your profile evaluation with the strong suits in your profile, your academic background consists of a great brand name which will definitely work in your favor as schools tend to favor students from the top 10 universities of a country. Your GPA, however, falls on the shorter end, but it can definitely be overshadowed by diverting the attention towards the stronger, more favourable aspects of your profile.

Moreover, your exchange program at HEC Montreal not only adds the international dimension to your profile but your excellence at the program showcases that you have the academic calibre to excel at rigorous quantitative programs, a fact further authenticated by your excellent GMAT score. Your quant score does fall on the lower end especially when contrasted with the fact that you are applying to some of the most competitive programs in the world, but your cumulative score does make up for it.

Coming onto your work experience, you have quality work experience with high stakes projects. However, there is one major factor that is missing here and it is the lack of huge brand names. The brand name definitely plays a major role in an application as you’d be competing with applicants from the top schools and big4 companies. To negate the lack of big brand names, talking about the kind of projects you have undertaken, the impact you created and your career progression with major learning takeaways would definitely showcase the quality of your work and establish you as no less than a big4 candidate.

Further, on the note of extracurriculars, you must be cognizant of the fact that schools seek applicants having a holistic profile. hence accounting for the same, your experience as the VP of the student club in your college showcases your leadership skills. Moreover, being the chief student ambassador of your college further highlights your excellent communication skills. Another important aspect that top b-schools tend to favour is active community involvement and your position as the student ambassador aids in ticking this off the list of desirable traits.

Given your school choices, LBS, HEC Paris, Yale and LSE fall under the dream category, meaning they have an acceptance rate of 8-12% which converts your chances of acceptance to around 40-50%. Out of these schools, LBS and LSE put a lot of emphasis on the GPA, which may further lower your chances of acceptance in their programs. The remaining schools under your rader fall under the competitive category and hence your chances of acceptance in those schools are anywhere between 60-70%.

Now, coming on to your concern with your applications, I would say that having a good profile is not the only parameter that is taken into consideration by the admissions committee while making the decision. A strong application holds 30% weightage in your entire admission process and I am assuming that you may have fallen short in that aspect which led to your rejection at Vanderbilt. Your admission application acts as the window through which the admission committee can peer into your skills, calibre and your personality. But simultaneously, it is also the way through which you can highlight your strengths and give apt justifications for your weaknesses to smooth over any flaws in your profile. Moreover, a strong application sets you apart from the rest of the competition and hence it is imperative that you use this tool in your arsenal to the best of your advantage. Having said this, you must act on drafting an impactful application to boost your chances of acceptance.

Since you are facing troubles showcasing the worthiness of your candidature at these schools despite having a good enough profile, I’d suggest you to book a free consulting call with our expert consultants who would not only help you figure out how to craft a strong application fit for these highly competitive schools but also help you chalk out a winning strategy that will definitely earn you an admit from your dream school.

Link for the FREE Consultation Call:

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hey DenizDzhan,

First and foremost, since you are from Kyrgyzstan, it adds an ethnicity factor to your profile which can further add a lot of diversity to the cohort and in turn work in your favor as schools are very particular about breeding diversity in their cohort. Additionally, you come across as an academically strong candidate owing to your GPA of 3.77 that highlights your academic prowess. Furthermore, you have mentioned that you have scored a 700 in your GMAT exam which is pretty competitive when compared to your target schools.

In regards to your query, you can tackle the lack of a renowned brand name by diverting attention towards other aspects of your profile such as projects, internships, extra-curricular activities, certifications, and GMAT scores.

Talking about your extracurricular activities, it is often one of the most important factors in a profile as it showcases a holistically developed profile. However, given your undergrad circumstances, while you highlight the social work you’d taken up, be sure to shed light on the other endeavours you had your plate full with. Narrow your experiences down to showcase varied skills in your profile to stand at par with the expectations of the school. Moreover, you can also take up a few certifications or courses related to the field of finance like CFA, FRM. All in all, varied skills can contribute towards you being a great future leader which would automatically impress the adcoms.

Now coming on to your work experience, 2.5 years with a brand like KPMG certainly plays a part in bolstering your profile. While you stand at par with the competition faced, you ought to differentiate yourself by highlighting the major projects of your work and how these experiences helped develop and further groomed your skills and knowledge

Given your school choices, St. Gallen comes under the dream category, which means that you have around 40% of acceptance in this school. Meanwhile, RSM, WHU Otto Beishem falls under the upper competitive category, which means they have an acceptance rate of 60%. To boost your chances of acceptance, I’d suggest you lay emphasis on your admission application as a strong application holds 30% of weightage in the entire admission process and is also the way through which you can highlight your strengths and give apt justifications for your weaknesses to smooth over any flaws in your profile.

Moreover, to hedge your bets wisely, here are some school suggestions that you can be looking at:

DREAM: HEC Paris, LBS, LSE, INSEAD

COMPETITIVE: ESSEC, ESCP, IE

Lastly, since it seems like you are still in the early stages of your application, you must be looking for some professional help to guide you through the application process of top business schools in the world. Hence, I’d suggest you to BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION CALL with our expert consultants who would clear any doubts you may have regarding the admission process and would help you chalk out a winning strategy that would definitely get you an admit in your dream school.

Link is provided below:

https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/

Hope this helped!

Hi,

Would someone mind reviewing my profile and providing some guidance?

- Female, 24 yo, British / Swiss
- First Class Honours in Economics from top 10 UK uni
- CFA Level 1 completed - Passed in top 10% of candidates
- Two years front office experience in leading UK bank, specifically DCM (will have three by matriculation)
- Racing to get the GMAT done with test date January 11th. Worried about my chances of getting accepted to schools in the third round. Current practice scores around 730
- Applied to Cambridge without GMAT and have been offered an interview, LSE waiting list. Still want to apply to the top European names, Oxford and Imperial once I have my GMAT

I am interested in people's opinions on whether i should apply to Imperial without the GMAT just to be in earlier.

Thanks

Hey purveshshende31,

To commence your profile evaluation, I would say that your academic background is quite strong. Your GPA of 3.4 not only displays your academic prowess but also opens a lot of opportunities and doors to top business schools for you. Additionally, the research papers published by you not only showcase your depth of knowledge in the domain but also highlights your academic achievements and calibre. Considering your aspiration for M.Fin, your Quant score in GRE is impressive but alongside this, the overall score is also taken into consideration by top schools. Hence, I would suggest you to go for a retake, and given the fact that you want to target US schools, I’d recommend aiming for a score of at least 320 (with quant score 165+).

Further, on the note of extracurriculars, you must be cognizant of the fact that schools seek applicants having a holistic profile. Herein, you have a fair share of extra-curricular activities that you can highlight in your profile. Being an event coordinator showcases your leadership skills, being a part of the Art Circle team shows your creative side, and your sports contributions portray your sportsman spirit. In addition to it, you can take up some volunteering activities or join a business/ finance club. You can also draw attention to other financial aspects of your profile by taking up certifications like CFA, FRM, and some online courses from sites like Udemy, EDX, and Coursera to depict your strong inclination towards finance.

Moving on to your professional front, your experience of 13 months is decent however it is mainly technical based, a factor that may pose as a hindrance in your application for a finance program. That said, you ought to focus on highlighting relevant finance experiences throughout your journey to link your past experiences with your aspirations.

Another major factor that is missing throughout your profile is the lack of huge brand names. The brand name plays a major role in an application as you’d be competing with applicants from the top schools and big4 companies. So to overshadow these loopholes, you can talk about the kind of projects you have undertaken, the impact you created, and your career progression with major learning takeaways that would definitely showcase the quality of your work and establish you as no less than a big4 candidate.

As you are willing to target schools in the US for the MFin programme, here are some suggestions that you can take into consideration:

DREAM: Duke, Michigan, UVA
COMPETITIVE: Babson, UT Dallas, University of Buffalo
SAFE: Northeastern, Boston

Alternatively, you can also be looking at a master's in management where you can make a better pitch in your applications. Moreover, after MIM you have all sorts of career opportunities available for you (including finance).

That said, for MIM these are some school that you can look forward to:

DREAM: Duke, Cornell, Michigan
COMPETITIVE: Babson, Georgetown, UTD
SAFE: Hult, Thunderbird, George Mason

Lastly, no matter what schools or programs you are targeting, you need to back your profile with a very strong application. The application acts as the window through which the admission committee can peer into your skills calibre and personality. But simultaneously, it is also the way through which you can highlight your strengths and give apt justifications for your weaknesses to smooth over any flaws in your profile. Moreover, a strong application sets you apart from the rest of the competition and hence it is imperative that you use this tool in your arsenal to the best of your advantage.

Since the major chances of your admission depend on the quality of your application, you might want to seek professional help to secure your spot in your target schools. You can check our, All-in-One Solution, to gain insights into how we can assist in creating a strong application. A good GMAT coupled with strong essays and an early application should help you get into your target schools.

Link for the ALL-IN-ONE solutions-

https://www.mim-essay.com/mim-all-in-one

Hope this helped!

Hey Mayjin,

Academically, your undergraduate GPA with a perfect 4.3 is pretty impressive and showcases your academic prowess in the field. Furthermore, your undergraduate degree being in the field of finance supplemented by your double major in business and economics adds further weight to your profile, since MiF is a specialized masters program and most schools prefer applicants with a relevant academic background or work experience in finance.

Coming to your GMAT score, your overall score of 660 from your second attempt is a bit on the lower end but your score of 49 in the Quants section acts as a testament to your analytical abilities, which is a crucial requirement for a MiF degree. For the schools that you are targeting like LSE and Imperial, the average is around 680. However, if a retake is not feasible, as GMAT holds only 20% of a weightage on your chances of getting accepted, this can be countered by shining on other financial aspects of your profile that can further bolster your chance of acceptance into these schools.

As far as your work experience is concerned, you have a big brand on your CV as well as an extensive experience of 4.5 years in varied roles in the field of finance which definitely acts in your favour, since MiF is a specialized masters and AdComs are looking for applicants with relevant experience in the field of finance. Do note that you ought to explain and highlight the major projects of your work and how these experiences helped to develop and further groom your skills and knowledge. To further strengthen and differentiate your profile, highlight how you have gone beyond your role, any initiatives you took and any kind of impact created to establish a connection with your goals and thus portray the knowledge gained from these experiences.

As the top B schools are always looking for candidates who are constantly on the path of upskilling themselves, your certifications like CFA and CPA would prove to be a major value addition to your profile.

Since you lack any sort of voluntary participation in extracurriculars, I’d like to let you know that Extracurricular participation plays an important role in strengthening your application as B-schools are on the hunt for all-rounder profiles. Hence, it is essential for you to build the relevant proficiencies in this area to show that you strive on your overall development.

Coming to the schools that you are targeting, LSE falls in the dream category while Imperial falls in the upper-competitive category. Thus speaking of your chances of getting accepted, you stand around 50% for LSE while a chance acceptance of around 60% for Imperial. In order to further improve your chances, you would need to ensure that you have a very strong application (consisting of - Essays, LORs, and Resume) to back your profile. You need to showcase your journey, what makes you different from your peers, and how you are a great value addition to the school. A strong application increases your chances of acceptance by up to 30%!

Moreover, when applying abroad, in order to hedge your bets wisely, it is always better to target a good mix of 6-7 schools in the dream, competitive, and safe category. Having said that, if you want to know more about other top B-schools that you can be targeting, you can take up a FREE Profile Evaluation that will give you more accurate and personalized suggestions based on your inputs.

Click on the link below to avail your free evaluation:

https://www.mim-essay.com/profile-evaluation

Here, you can also Book a Free consulting session with one of our consultants who through their expertise can gauge the competitiveness of your profile and help you chalk out a winning strategy to bag an admit from your target schools and programs.

Hope this helped!

Hey all. I am applying for Master of Finance/Financial Engineering for Fall 2021, and recently I just got really frustrated with application. I feel like I am not good enough to go into any top programs. Just want to hear some second opinions here.

Background and nationality
- Chinese male

Undergrad Info
- Top 30 US school economics major, minor in math and cs
- GPA 3.75/4.0, Major GPA: 3.85/4.0

GMAT
- 750 (Q50/V40). only took GMAT once

Work experience and leadership
- Big 4 Summer Intern
- A boutique IB in US Spring Intern
- Venture capital Summer Intern

Community and others
- student ambassador for a semester

Post Master goals
- Not sure yet

Target Master programs
- Oxford MFE, LBS MFA, LSE MFin, Toronto MFE, McGill MFin, Princeton MFin, MIT MFin, Columbia MFE/Math in Finance, Yale Silver Scholar, Baruch MFE, ETH Zurich MQF

Would prefer any advice on application in general or analysis about the programs I choose here. Other suggestions on programs to apply to are also welcome

Hey aledetti98!

I would like to start off by saying that you have a pretty competitive profile.

To commence your profile evaluation, I would say that your academic background is quite strong. Your GPA of 3.34 not only displays your academic prowess but also opens a lot of opportunities and doors to top business schools for you. The brand name of Bocconi further aids in strengthening your profile as B-schools across the world tend to favor candidates from top schools of each country.

Your academic background coupled with your excellent GMAT scores definitely showcases your high academic potential. Moreover, achieving 50 in your Quants sections vouches for the worthiness of your candidature in the Mfin Programmes.

Coming on to your work experience, you have 3 months of relevant work experience in the field of finance, a trait well appreciated by the admissions committee. However, you should be mindful of the fact that you’d be competing with applicants from the top schools and big4 companies. Hence, to negate the lack of big brand names, talking about the kind of projects you have undertaken, the impact you created, and your career progression with major learning takeaways would definitely showcase the quality of your work and establish you as no less than a big4 candidate.

Further, on the note of extracurriculars, you must be cognizant of the fact that schools seek applicants having a holistic profile. It is great to see that you have several certifications in your profile which definitely showcase your constant desire to upskill yourself and also your proactive attitude. However, to build a strong profile in all aspects, I would suggest you to take up some volunteering activities or join a business/ finance club. Extracurriculars are a great way to showcase your skills like leadership, networking, communication skills, etc. Thus, you must get your hands on some extracurricular engagements/initiatives to strengthen your profile.

Given your school choices, St. Gallen and HEC Paris fall under the dream category which means that they have an acceptance rate of only 8-12%, thus translating your chances of acceptance to around 30-40%. ESSEC, NOVA and ESCP fall under the competitive category which means your chances of acceptance to their program is 60-70% while skema is a safe school according to your profile and hence you have 80-90% chance of acceptance to its MFin Program.

Another aspect that I would like to draw your attention towards is the importance of the application. A strong application holds 30% of weightage in the entire admission process and as you would be competing with other candidates with similar strong profiles, it becomes imperative that you craft an application that successfully highlights not only your calibre but also your potential to add value to the school. Hence, to boost your chances of acceptance by 3x and ensure you get an admit from your dream school, focusing on the application is an imperative step.

Lastly, I’d suggest you to apply to your target schools in the upcoming Round 2 so as to avail the early bird advantage. With the round 2 deadlines fast approaching, you might want to seek professional help to secure your spot in your target schools. You can check our, All-in-One Solution, to gain insights into how we can assist in creating a strong application. A strong profile coupled with strong essays and an early application should help you get into your target schools.

Link for the ALL-IN-ONE solutions-

https://www.mim-essay.com/mim-all-in-one

Hope this helped!