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

Hello,


There is my profile:

Background and nationality : Male, 22 yo, French and Vietnamese.

Undergrad Information : Actually in my last year of Master in a MiM of a french business school (not well renowned). I made 2 Student exchanges: in UK and USA.
GPA : 2.5/4

GMAT : 680 (Q47;V36)

Work experience Few internships in selling and real estate but none related with finance yet.

Master aimed :
Warwick Business School - Msc Finance or MSc Business Accounting & Finance
ESCP - Msc Finance
Manchester Alliance - Msc Finance.
UCD - Msc Finance.


Thank you if you leave any feedback!
Cheers, David.

Hi all, here is my profile.
28 Chinese male;
Undergraduate: 2010-2014, accounting, GPA 2.52/4 China;
Graduate: 2017-2018, finance, GPA 3.42/4 UCSC, US;
GMAT 720 (2016);
GMAT 790 (2021);
AICPA licensed; (average score: 95.5; passing score is 75);
CFA III candidate; (top 10% in I and II);
1 year in the US as a corporate accountant;
1 year in the US as a quantitative analyst; both from small companies.
Do I have a chance for the top MFIN programs? If yes, how could I improve my profile to compensate for the low GPA?
Also, does a 115+ TOEFL score help while it COULD be waived(since I got my first master's from a US university)?
Any insights are appreciated.

Profile Evaluation for Masters in LSE accounting and Finance, Imperial MSC finance and Accounting, Durham MSC finance and other good masters like Kings/Bristol/Edinburgh
Background: British Citizen living in England
Undergrad Info: At a unknown/non-target University in England. Predicted (70%+) 1st class for degree in Accounting and Finance with International year
Undergrad: 1 year Study Abroad placement in Canada
GMAT: Pending- planning to do the test in summer.
Extra-curricular and Leadership: Treasurer of University Hindu Society, stock research analyst in University Trading and Investment Society
Work Experience: Several Insight days in firms such as BDO, BNY mellon and work experience in a small Local Accounting firm for 2 weeks during summer.
Voluntary experience: Cancer research Charity shop assistant, Library assistant
Special Achievements : Selected for Cheshire County Badminton Squad and Manchester/Lancashire chess Squad
Target Masters: London school of Economics for MSC Accounting and Finance, Imperial College London for MSC Finance and Accounting, UCL for MSC finance and Durham MSC finance as well as other good masters in finance such as Bristol or Kings MSc finance. Open to further suggestions on finance master's universities.
Post master goals: Into Investment Banking/ Big 4 Corporate Finance

Hey you all!

I'd like to share my profile here with you and hear your thoughts! A quick summary of my profile:

Background: 22 years old, Swiss
Undergrad Information: BSc in International Management (Penultimate Year) at a mid-tier Swiss university (good rankings for my particular major), study focus Finance/Economics & Machine Learning/AI applications in business. Current GPA: 3.6
GMAT/GRE: GMAT 710
Work experience: 1.5-year internship for one of the largest international investment banks + Summer Analyst Internship for a similar firm
Extracurriculars: Decent extracurriculars -> 3rd prize winner in an international finance competition, project team leader for a volunteering project assisting young startups
Others: International background, lived in Asia for >7 years. Fluent in English, German, and French, B2 Level in Mandarin Chinese

I plan to apply for a Master in Finance, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on what is achievable with my profile. I plan to apply for business schools in Europe (preferably UK / France) and in Asia. I guess info on the requirements of schools in Asia is quite limited, but maybe someone has some experience no matter what. My dream schools are:

UK: LSE, Imperial, Oxford Said
FR: HEC, ESSEC
China: SAIF, Tsinghua

Happy to get any thoughts on the weaknesses and strengths of my profile!


Thanks a lot and stay safe!

Dear all,

I would be very grateful for some feedback on my potential chances regarding applications to M.Sc. programmes in Finance or Investment Management.

Background: German citizen, studied in the UK for 3 years (GSCE, then International Baccalaureate).
Undergrad Info: GPA of 3.0/4.0 at a technical university consistently ranked as the best German university. My programme is a combination of Management (60%) and Computer Science (40%). I spent two months abroad in South Africa on a study project. My thesis was at the Chair for Capital Markets.
GMAT: Planning to do the test in summer, aiming and preparing for >720.
Extra-curricular: Very active member in a student consultancy and the investment club at my university.
Work Experience: Internships at Allianz (Digital Factory) and Deutsche Bank (Asset Management), both 4 months.
Voluntary work: Business plan consultant for inmates aiming to become entrepreneurs after their release.
Special Achievements: Elected Head of House & Head of Sixth Form in my high school.

Target Masters: LBS, Bocconi, LSE, Imperial, HEC

Thank you & kind regards

Hey kevinlin478,

First and foremost, given the fact that you hail from Taiwan,your ethnicity would work in your favour as schools are very particular about breeding diversity in their cohort.

Coming to your academics, your undergrad degree in the field of Finance & Technology Management works in your favour while targeting a specialised master’s program as most schools prefer applicants with relevant knowledge and experience in the field of finance. Besides, you come off as an academically strong candidate due to your impressive undergraduate GPA of 3.3, which highlights your academic prowess and should allow you to target top b-schools. The brand of your undergraduate college - the IU Kelley School of Business, one of the top 10 undergrad schools in the US, adds brand value to your application and boosts your profile as schools tend to pick out applicants from the top schools of each country. Furthermore, you have mentioned that you have scored 680 in your GMAT exam, which is competitive but falls a bit short when compared to your target schools Kellogg, Cornell or Fuqua. However, since you plan to retake your GMAT exam, I’d recommend you target a score of 700+ with at least 49+ in the Quant section to target most of the top-notch B-schools.

As far as your work experience goes, your three internships in Corporate Finance, Digital marketing and Equity based firms showcases that you possess relevant pragmatic exposure in the field of Finance, which will provide crucial value-addition to your application. Since you haven’t mentioned the firms’ name/brand, I’d like to tell you that you will be competing against applicants who have worked in the big four firms like KPMG, PWC, and EY. To set yourself at par with them you can talk about why you chose these companies, what kind of projects you undertook, your inputs and what skills you developed. This will also showcase how you are chalking out a path towards your goal while portraying your dedication and consistency.

Talking about your extracurricular activities, which is equally essential as it showcases a holistically developed profile, unfortunately, you have not mentioned any details. However, to give you a brief idea of how to go about this, you can elaborate on the clubs and associations you were involved in, the teams you led, certifications you undertook and most importantly, your volunteering activities along with NGOs. Here you can further talk about the initiatives you undertook in college regarding finance, the kind of events you organised, duties you performed, and most importantly, highlight what were your major takeaways. All in all, varied skills can contribute towards you being a great future leader which would automatically impress the AdComs.

Coming to the schools that you are targeting –
Cornel, UCLA, Kellogg, DUKE, NYU, CMU all fall under the dream category. Therefore, based on your profile, you would have a 40-50% chance of getting accepted into these schools.
UT Austin, Kelly, ASU all fall under the competitive category, wherein you would have 60% - 70% chance of getting accepted in these schools.


On this note, while you have a competitive profile, to increase your chances of getting admitted to these schools, you would need to ensure that you have a very strong application (consisting of - Essays, LORs, and Resume) that highlights your strengths and overshadows your weaknesses to differentiate 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.

Therefore, in lieu of that, I would recommend you to check out our flagship ALL-IN-ONE service, which has helped 3500+ applicants to get into their dream schools. As you are still in the early process of your application, it would provide you with end-to-end consulting and unlimited edits on your application documents. Not only that, you’d be connected with B-school alumni who’d be helping you directly with your application process, right from shortlisting the right schools to submitting the application to the school.

Link to our All-In-One Solution-

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

Hope this helped!

Hi quant1997. My name is Jamie and I'm a consultant with Accepted and previously led Early Career admissions at LBS. Thanks for sharing your profile information.

Coming from a German university, these schools will generally be looking for an overall grade of between 1.0-2.5. With the conversion you've done to the GPA system I'm guessing that you may fall slightly below that (though, please correct me if I'm wrong!) so you'll definitely want to shoot for that 720+ GMAT, which will be seen as a competitive score.

While all these programmes will be looking for candidates with solid quant skills, LSE, LBS and Imperial place an emphasis on quantitative undergraduate studies (or, potentially, A-level equivalent) and expect students to come from highly numerate backgrounds. The CS portion of your degree will help to meet this requirement as will any finance, accounting, and stats courses from the Management part of your degree. Ad coms will of course be looking for solid results in these relevant courses. If you feel there are some modules where you could have done better you can always take some top-up MOOCs to demonstrate not only your quant capabilities, but also your motivation to deepen your knowledge in finance/accounting/coding/etc. The HEC International Finance MSc is a generalist programme so you will see a wider range of degrees here and a larger proportion of students coming from business/management backgrounds.

Allianz and Deutsche Bank are great brands to have on your CV and with four months at each, ad coms will expect you to be able to provide deep insights about learning outcomes in relation to your finance ambitions and about the transferrable skills, both hard/technical and soft, you've developed. Are you planning to pursue another internship prior to beginning your studies? If so, try to stay in a finance role; finance is one of those industries where to get experience you need experience, so continue working on building your profile with relevant industry internship(s).

Finally, your extracurricular and voluntary engagements suggest you'll be an active member in the graduate school community. This is important to all these programmes, which are seeking students who want to contribute to their environment and collaborate with their peers.

I hope this is helpful but please don't hesitate to PM me if you want to speak about anything 1:1. Best of luck!

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Hi quant1997,

As the first step towards your profile evaluation, I would like to point out that you have got a decent profile with room for further development. First and foremost, your GPA of 3.0 is pretty decent, however, you may fall a bit short on this for the simple fact that you are targeting GPA centric schools such as LSE and Imperial. Hence, I would suggest that you drop in a mail to these schools to confirm your eligibility. Moving on, you are aiming for a 720+ in your upcoming GMAT test which is quite an ambitious score and would definitely allow you to target most of the top-notch B-schools.

Coming to your work experience, you have had internship experience at Allianz and Deutsche Bank which are both good brand names under your CV. Having said that, you can enhance your profile further by highlighting the other important aspects of your internship experiences such as the kind of projects you handled or worked on, the impacts you created and the relevant skills you gained from the same. Most importantly, you can shed light on any endeavourrelevant to the program you are applying for.

Talking about the extracurricular activities, it is mainly pushed to the forefront along with other parameters as it showcases a holistically developed profile which is something that is equally valued by these B-schools. That said, you definitely possess an impressive line of extracurricular activities under your belt as evident from the information that you have provided wherein you have been an active member of the investment club, consulting club and voluntary work as a business plan consultant. All these cumulatively vouch for your candidature which can be taken a notch up if you take up finance-related certifications to showcase your learning curve.

Speaking of the schools that you are targeting, LBS, LSE and HEC fall under the dream category (where you have a 50% chance of acceptance) whereas Bocconi and Imperial fall under the Upper Competitive category (where you have a 60% chance of acceptance). In addition to these schools, I would suggest that you take a look at some more top B-schools in order to stay in the game to win.

With this in mind, I would recommend you to consider Competitive schools such as Essec, ESCP, FSFM, IE, Warick and ESADE (where your chances of acceptance are between 60-70%). You can also boost your chances of acceptance by drawing attention to the stronger aspects of your profile which can be achieved through your application. Your application is basically what can differentiate you by highlighting your strengths and overshadowing your weaknesses. You also need to showcase your journey and how you are a great value addition to the school. Additionally, it also carries a 30% impact on your admission prospects which is why I would urge you to pay more attention to the same.

That said, if you are contemplating on how to draft an impactful application, you can check out our All-in-one service which is a complete end-to-end consulting process aimed at providing personalised application suggestions, unlimited edits, and expert consultants who would constantly be there to help you throughout your application journey! We have helped 3500+ applicants get into the top B-schools with a 95% success rate. So what are you waiting for? Just click on the link below and start your admission journey with us!

Below is the link to our All-in-One service:

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

Hope this helped!

Profile

French Citizen, 24, male
School: Top 10 french business school, master in management
Internships : Research in a french bank in the UK, M&A in real estate
Work experience: 3 years in 2022 (targeted master year) in a real estate debt team with good growth where I have been implicated in investment/fundraising
EC: President finance club at school, some volunteering, some Moocs in sciences
Grade: Not really great but ok / around 2.1
GMAT: TBD (would not apply if not 730+ score)

Targeted Schools: LBS (master), LSE (master), St Gallen

Which other shcools should I add to this list? IE Business School? I would prefer 1 year programs

What are my chances at theses schools?

Thanks a lot,

Hello everyone,

I am working with Big4 as any analyst and finished my undergrad in Bachelors in Technology and am now looking at Master of Finance programs. I am confused between how should I choose college and program.

Profile:
Work Experience: 1 Year Consulting Experience with one of the Big4.
Undergrad: 7.74/10 CGPA (BTech in Mechanical Engineering from one of top 10 colleges in India (IIT BHU))
GRE: 317 (Q 167, V 150
Big4 Consulting Internship
One Research Internship on Mutual Funds with one of the top B-School in India.
Done Multiple projects on Equity research.
Active participation in college co-circular activities and co-founded an NGO for empowering education and development of students

What do you guys think? Should I retake my GRE or should I take GMAT?
I don't have a particular interest in any specific thing in finance and would prefer a program which is more practical and give a exposure to different sector.

Thank you guys so much! I appreciate the help!

Hey eldadou,

Before I begin with your evaluation, I’d like to clarify that there are lots of factors, other than the ones you have provided, like your extracurriculars, your key highlights/achievements, and the brand names of the college/companies that play an important role in your chance acceptance and thus in getting an admit from the top business schools.

That said, you have provided limited information for me to give you an accurate estimation of your chances in schools like Warwick, ESCP, UCD, and Manchester Alliance. Having said that, let’s begin with your profile evaluation on the basis of the information provided above.

To begin with, your GMAT score of 680 is pretty competitive and would allow you to target most of the top B schools.

Coming to your academics, an undergraduate GPA of 2.5 on 4 is a bit on the lower end especially since you’re inclined on seeking an admit from the top UK schools. Therefore, drop in a mail to the respective schools to confirm your eligibility.

Furthermore, the international exposure that you gained through the 2 foreign exchange programs will help differentiate you from the crowd. Most schools are looking to add diversity to their cohort and your background gives you a unique perspective which definitely provides a valuable addition to their program.

As you have not mentioned your extracurricular activities - during or after your undergrad, 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 to shed some light on the endeavors you took up in any club, association, sports, fest, or event you managed or volunteered in during your undergrad. Thus, you should dig deeper into this aspect and bring out varied skills in your profile in order to showcase a holistically developed profile.

Moving forward, since you do not have relevant work experience/internships in the field of finance, it may pose a hindrance to your chance of acceptance in your preferred list of schools. In order to counter this, I would advise you to target some roles related to the field of finance, and if possible, from some big firms. This will allow you to add further weight to your profile, since MiF is a specialized masters program and most schools prefer applicants with relevant academic background or work experience in finance.

Coming to the schools that you can be targeting with your current profile are-:

Upper-Competitive (60% chance of acceptance): ESCP

Competitive (70% chance of acceptance): Warwick, Manchester, UCD, FSFM, IESEG, ESSEC, IE

Safe (80-90% chance of acceptance): SKEMA, Grenoble, EDHEC

On this note, to strengthen your profile and increase your chances of getting admitted to these schools you would need to ensure that you have a very strong application (consisting of - Essays, LORs, and Resume) that highlights your strengths and overshadows your weaknesses in order to differentiate 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.

Therefore, in lieu of that, I would recommend you to check out our flagship ALL-IN-ONE service, that has helped 3500+ applicants get into their dream schools. You would also be entitled to end-to-end consulting combined with unlimited edits on your application documents. Not only this, you’d be consulted by a B-school alumnus who’d be helping you directly with your application process, right from finalizing the right schools and submitting an impactful application to the school to preparing you for the interview and bagging scholarships!

Link to our All-In-One Solution-

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

Hope this helped!

Hello Everyone, I request the experts to evaluate and predict the chances I have for an MSc Finance program in HEC Paris, ESSEC, Fuqua, Cornell, ESCP, Bocconi, basically any of the top 15 Msc Finance programs.

23 years old, Indian National, Male.
I graduated in 2018 with Bachelor of Commerce Honors, with a 3.05 GPA out of 4 from a state university.

A GMAT score of 720, Q49 V40.

I currently have 3 Internship experiences,
1) Indian FMCG Company as a Finance Intern,
2) Research Associate at Kolkata Based Research Firm,
3) Teaching Faculty at Boddhi Tree Foundation (NGO).

I have worked for about a year in my father's company, where I managed Finance to logistics to compliances. Currently, I am working in the FMCG Company, where I interned, and volunteering in an NGO.

10th standard Score- 8.4 CGPA out of 10, 12th (Majored in Commerce)- 75%.

Hi Everyone,

My information is as follows, I'm planning to apply to top MSF programs in the USA. MIT and Vanderbilt being my top choices.

International Student.

Undergrad Information: Top 5 Business School, BSc in Finance, GPA 2.95, Last Year GPA 3.72

TOEFL: 108

GMAT: 740 Q50, V37

GRE: 334, Q168, V163

CFA: Level 1 Passed (Above 90th Percentile), Registered for level 2

FRM: Cleared both levels (Both in 1st Quartile)

Cleared FMVA (Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst) certification by CFI Institute.

Completed courses in Python and MATLAB

Planning on completing MBA Math Program

Work experience:
2 Internships (1 Month in Wealth Management, 3 Months in a Boutique Asset Management Co)
Associate, Hedge Fund Operations, 1 Year, Very Large Org

Community: Helped two startups in their early days, multiple clubs at college level (1 relevant to finance)

On a personal level, I read a lot. I'm great at networking and have superb oratory skills. My interview skills are excellent (I got my current job with low grades).

I would really appreciate if someone could evaluate my profile. Also, will gaining another year of work experience help my in my case.

Thank You

That lower GPA is really going to hurt you with MIT. I think you'd have a really good shot at Vanderbilt though.

I would suggest looking at MFE or Business Analytic programs. Right now the university of MSF programs is pretty limited when it comes to "top" programs. MIT, Vanderbilt, USC, UT Austin, maybe WUSTL. UCLA just started a business analytics program that is going to be pretty close to an MSF. Tons of MFE programs from top schools. Just more options at this point.

I would work on a story for your lower GPA and just emphasize everything else with your profile. You have strong attributes and I am sure you can more than handle whatever program you get into. Good luck.

MSF

Honestly, your story confuses me. 4 years at Elon with a C average and no degree? Then you transfer to a culinary institute and now want to work in finance?

You need a GMAT score. And a damn good story why a chef who didn't want a marketing degree now wants to work in finance. Frankly, assuming you get a decent GMAT, you will probably get into JHU and possibly Indiana. Marquette has an online degree now. Getting the MSF won't be your biggest hurdle as schools want students and you have enough of a business background to do well enough in the program. The issue is employers will be confused and possible turned off from this random walk experience.

Like if you wanted a MSF after years of working as a chef and other roles within the restaurant business and your goal was to move into the office and say run the finances for a larger restaurant group, then the MSF would make total sense. But you are just graduating and looking to do an MSF to change careers. Something doesn't add up.

Hello Everyone, I request the experts to evaluate and predict the chances I have for an MSc Finance program in HEC Paris, ESSEC, Fuqua, Cornell, ESCP, Bocconi, basically any of the top 15 Msc Finance programs.

23 years old, Indian National, Male.
I graduated in 2018 with Bachelor of Commerce Honors, with a 4 GPA out of 4 from a state university.

A GMAT score of 720, Q49 V40.

I currently have 3 Internship experiences,
1) Indian FMCG Company as a Finance Intern,
2) Research Associate at Kolkata Based Research Firm,
3) Teaching Faculty at Boddhi Tree Foundation (NGO).

I have worked for about a year in my father's company, where I managed Finance to logistics to compliances. Currently, I am working in the FMCG Company, where I interned, and volunteering in an NGO.

10th standard Score- 8.4 CGPA out of 10, 12th (Majored in Commerce)- 75%.