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

Hi everyone,
Could you please evaluate my profile? (any advice is really appreciated too)

Nationality and background: 20 years old Italian male (I will be 21 at the time of graduation next July)
Undergrad Information: Economics and Finance major from non-target school in Italy - GPA: 3.91
GMAT: 730 (Q49, V40)
Work experience and leadership: I will do an 8-10 week curricular internship next spring (still don't know where but probably in a financial institution). Used forms of arbitrage betting to cover personal expenses in 2019.
Community and others: Co-founded a student-NGO to renovate the school building, help the local community, and promote cultural events; recruited and coordinated over 100 students as the secretary of the association (2016-2018).
Currently volunteering at Caritas. Member of the Italian Hereditary Angioedema association.
Post Master goals: I'd love working in banking, preferably away from Italy.


Master program(s) targets: HEC, St. Gallen, Bocconi, LSE, SSE (open to any other suggestion)

Thank you in advance for your time

Hey there,

Starting with your profile evaluation with your academics, your GPA 7.4/10 is decent enough as it showcases your academic prowess and strong technical skills. To complement this further, you can draw attention to academic projects or research papers to showcase how you’ve gone above and beyond to implement your theoretical knowledge practically.

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 endeavours taken up at any clubs, associations, sports, fest, or events you managed or participated in during your undergraduation. Volunteering initiatives, certifications, or internships undertaken during the course of your study would also count towards your extracurricular initiatives. Here I can see that you have been the head of your College’s finance club, which is impressive as it showcases your strong inclination towards the field of finance and also vouches for your leadership abilities. You have also been involved in the social service club of your college which portrays the socially responsible side of your personality, a trait adcoms tend to favour.

Coming to your GMAT score, 730 is very competitive and opens the door to not only LBS but all the top business schools in the world. You have also cleared your CFA level 2, which is splendid as it again shows your keen interest towards finance.

Since you wish to target LBS, a school that favors international experience, your international exposure of leading teams at tMUNs in Indonesia, sets you within the radar of impressing the adcoms through with your broadened perspective.

Overall, you have a well-rounded profile but the major aspect that is lacking is any internships or practical experience in the field of finance. I would suggest building on the same to come across as a holistically developed applicant and also stand at par with the competition you’d be facing.

Talking about LBS, the school comes under the dream category which would translate your chances of acceptance to about 50% as the adcom picks out the cream out of the applicant pool. To boost your chances of acceptance, 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!

Lastly, while applying to schools abroad, as the competition is definitely intense, I’d recommend hedging your bets and targeting a good mix of 6-8 schools.

That said, to discover schools that fit your profile and gauge the competitiveness of your profile, I’d suggest you take our FREE profile evaluation to get access to a list of personalized schools that you can target and expert suggestions on how to upgrade your current profile.

Click the link below to get your free profile evaluation:

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

Hope this helped!

Hello Everyone,

My background:

GMAT 710
65% Average at a top UK university (Finance Major)
2 Internships in Private Equity and M&A Boutiques
Treasurer in a society
No voluntary experience
I speak 3 European Languages

I will be Applying to:

HEC MSc International Finance
LBS Master in Financial Analysis
ESSEC Master in Finance
IE Master in Finance
Bocconi MSc Finance

What do you think are my chances of getting in each of these?

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!!!

Hi. I recently took my first GMAT and scored a 680 (Q48;V34). I plan to pursue MSc in Finance at a highly reputed school such as London School of Economics, Imperial, National University of Singapore, etc. However, I am not sure whether my score gives me a decent chance at most of these schools. I'm particularly interested in LSE MSc in Finance (full-time).

To give you a brief overview. I did my Bachelors in Business Administration with double majors in Finance and Marketing from Lahore School of Economics (3rd best business school in Pakistan). I graduated with a CGPA of 3.56 out 4. Since graduating, I've been working in my family's construction business. I always wanted to create a career in finance, but at the time of my graduating, I had to let go my plans to work in finance to assist in my family's business. Last year, I decided that I wanted to pursue a Masters program in Finance, and give my dreams another shot.

I know that just this information won't be sufficient to make the best projection about my prospects at these schools, but I hope it can help the experts in having an idea of where I'm coming from, and whether my GMAT score would be decent enough for me to have a shot at some of these programs.

I shall truly appreciate your taking the time out to read and respond to my query. I really need your guidance!

Thanks.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Everyone!

Nationality and background: 22 Year old Male American (USA)

Undergrad Information: Economics Major from large (probably unknown in EU) public school GPA: 3.5/4.0

GMAT: 720 (Q48, V41)

Work experience and leadership: Currently working as an analyst in a specialty lending group at a Top 5 NA bank. Handling PE/VC backed tech company debt. Have underwritten approximately 150MM in loans in my time here for the purposes of div recaps/acquisition financing/share repurchases/etc.

Community and others: Co-founded an on-campus LGBT professional organization focused on providing networking and recruiting opportunities for LGBTQ+ identifying individuals.

Post Master goals: Investment banking, preferably in Levfin or DCM as thats where my current experience applies, but not married to those groups.

I have already gotten into one of the top US MSF programs for IB so my list is limited only to London schools with fantastic placement. I realize these are not schools I have amazing odds at but considering I already have an alternative there's not much else I'd be interested in. Definitely looking for feedback though!

Schools: LBS MFA, LSE MSF, Ox MFE

Hi there,

To begin with, your GPA of 3.91 and GMAT score of 730 with a quant score of 49, definitely showcases your stronghold in the field of finance and an overall academic prowess that would allow you to target most of the top-notch B-schools especially the ones you have mentioned here.

Coming to your practical experience, I would suggest you direct your upcoming endeavor towards working in a financial institution since it will help to showcase relevant experience and consistency in your choices from your undergraduate major to your professional experiences. Since you haven’t mentioned any details with respect to your practical experiences, you ought to begin building on this end, in case you lack relevant experiences. Thus, you can maybe take up a few more internships as well as you can work in your family business or any acquaintances business to get a more personalized experience and opportunity to explore the financial domain. This will basically portray your dedication and consistency in the field of finance which is where you are most likely to build your career in.

Talking about your extracurricular activities, you have got quite a few experiences in the community and volunteering services. Along with this, you have also held positions of responsibility under these endeavors which is undoubtedly impressive as it vouches for the budding leader within you. In addition to this, you can elaborate on the clubs and associations you were involved in and the teams you led by further highlighting the kind of events you organized, duties you performed, and your major takeaways. Furthermore, you can also take up a few certifications in the field of finance such as CFA and FRM to showcase your proactiveness and penchant towards the field of finance. All in all, varied skills can contribute towards you being a great future leader which would automatically impress the adcoms.

Lastly, speaking of your rare disability, while it will not be considered as a factor of diversity, you can most certainly mould this aspect to draw insights into your competitive and persistent attitude, traits that are desired by every b-school.

Coming to the schools you are targeting, HEC, BOCCONI, ST GALLEN, and LSE come under the dream category (where your chances of acceptance is 40-50%) while SSE comes under the competitive category (where your chances of acceptance are 50-60%).

To boost your chances of acceptance, I would suggest you apply as early as possible which in your case would be round 2. Most importantly, you should focus on the kind of application you are submitting. Your application is basically what differentiates you by highlighting your strengths and overshadowing your weaknesses. Additionally, it also carries a 30% impact on your admission prospects which is why I would stress you to pay more attention to the same.

Additionally, I would suggest you broaden your options by considering some more competitive schools such as ESSEC, ESCP, ESADE, FSFM, and MANNHEIM to hedge your bets wisely.

All things considered, to gain clarity on how you can get into these particular schools, you can Book a Free consulting session with one of our expert consultants who through their expertise can gauge the competitiveness of your profile and help you plan a winning strategy to bag an admit from your target schools!

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 all, getting a bit lost in application and would greatly appreciate if you could shed some light on what went wrong:

Background and nationality
22y/o Hong Kong, graduating Jan 2021

Undergrad Information
Double major in Global Business and Finance in best business school in Hong Kong
GPA: 2.8 (expected; 2:1 class)
Bad GPA: got distracted from school work in my freshman and sophomore years; wasn't studying what I like until I took finance as my major (drastic improvements in junior and senior years: 3.5-3.8/4.3 in final two years; better grades in finance courses)
Did my exchange in HEC Montreal (GPA: 3.5/4.3)

GMAT/GRE
740 (Q:49; V:41)

Work experience and leadership
Interned with 2 European asset managers (both AUM >$500bn) with their sales teams
Interned with the largest vendor in AM industry (just to explore the latest developments in AM industry)
6-month placement with HSBC
small consulting project to raise fund for PE (did financial modeling)
Vice President in a student club in college
Debating team captain in high school

Community and others
chief student ambassador in my college

Post Master goals
Portfolio manager in ESG in the future, immediately investment analyst in AM (asset owners/managers)

Master Program targets
Yale MAM (really long shot I know); Rotman MFRM; UIUC MSF; LBS MFA; LSE MSF; HEC Paris MiF; Bocconi MSF; Imperial MSc in Finance (open to other options too)

Anything else?
Got rejected by Vanderbilt MSF and waitlisted by WUSTL. Getting really anxious now. I feel like my undergraduate GPA has really dragged me down a lot. Wondering what to do to boost my chances.
Speak French if that helps
Thanks a lot for your input, really appreciate that! Stay safe!

Hi there! Below is my profile. Please give me any feedback and it will be helpful to me a lot

1. Background and nationality
- Korean female

2. Undergrad Information
- One of the top 10 university in Korea, double major in business and economics
- GPA 3.8/4.3 (Higher 2:1 I guess)
- GPA for finance is 4.3/4.3, for accounting 4.2/4.3

3. GMAT/GRE
- 660 (Q49/V31)..This score is fron my second exam. The first was 640. Since I'm considering to apply within December, I don't think I will take GMAT again.

4. Work experience and leadership
- Korean CPA, CFA level 1
- 4 years in big4 (including cross-border M&A team)
- currently in the investment team in biotech
- 4.5 years in total. My entire career has been accounting and finance

5. Community and others
- nothing for this

6. Post Master goals
- working at London IB or accounting Big4

7. Anything else?
- goal: LSE MiF or Finance&accounting / imperial MiF
- IELTs: 7 overall
- expecting an academic reference from professor who is a council member of IAAER (International Association for Accounting Education and Research)
- I think my problems are low GMAT exam and lack of international exposure. I’ve been working in cross-border field, but still I found that there are so many global applicants here who actually lived and experienced various countries

Posted from my mobile device

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!