Background and nationality - Indian male candidate
Undergrad - B. Com with 57.5% (63.5% in the final year)
Postgrad - Post Graduate Diploma in Forest Management (Majors in Development Management) NOTE: Only the institute's name has Forest in it; I studied nothing related to it!
GMAT - 710 (Q-49 V-38)
Work experience and leadership -
Total of 3.5 years of work experience in lending space. I have worked for two financial institutions during this period, both of which were into impact investment. I assessed companies which had either social or environmental impact, and were from either financial inclusion, food and agri, affordable healthcare, affordable education, or clean energy sector. There were all early-stage companies with little to no access to formal sources of financing before my company lent to them. I individually did credit and operational analysis of the companies. I was assigned a new vertical in the first organization (I was assigned the role over my more senior colleagues) and was assigned as the lead member of one of the sectors in the second company.
The "story" - I was pursuing CA during my graduation, and had successfully cleared the intermediate examination. But something felt amiss and the only reason I was pursuing CA was because everybody around me was doing the same and I knew for a fact that there was good money at the end of the tunnel. But something felt amiss and I quit CA following my level II examination and instead decided to do PG. In PG, my course focused on community development and development management in general. I wanted to combine my PG study to what I did prior to that, and hence I got in the impact investment space.
Community and others -
1. Participated in multiple CSR events during PG
2. Ran numerous campaigns during PG, both for the upliftment of the underprivileged as well as for environmental conservation.
3. Active member of Blue Cross
4. Fitness enthusiast and I do work as a fitness instructor
Recommendations - I am sure I can get pretty strong recommendations
Post MBA goals -
Staying in the impact investment space, first by taking some international exposure with the larger donor organizations and then by eventually setting up my own investment fund.
Additional thoughts - I guess my work-ex is on the lower side, but I can show steady increase in responsibilities during this period. Also, I know that my undergrad score is miserable. Nothing really that I can do about it now, but will asking the AdCom to focus on my better-than-average Quant score in GMAT help?
Thanks for the help!