Hi zzzzzssss
Thanks for sharing your profile and MBA aspirations
My name is Shimri Winters, I head the strategy here at
ARINGO You have a very interesting profile! From what I can see:
Origin – I know you said Middle Eastern, but I am wondering which country you come from. some of the ME countries (or most of them) are underrepresented in terms of MBA candidates, and this may work in your advantage!
Academics – happy you studied in a top US university. Your GPA is a bit low, but we can explain the fact that your English level was low when you arrived… (plus culture shock and other reasons why your GPA was not high like not liking civil engineering… )
GMAT - Well, 710 is a good score – around the average of your chosen schools
School wishes list – good list, al achievable and reachable! All strong finance MBA programs
Extracurricular activities – I love both your hobbies and your volunteering. And CFA is great too!
Work Experience – so, you have done very well. Although 3 jobs in 4 years sound a lot. You have progressed very nicely and working for a VC is the dream of many post-MBA grads, and you did it before!
Your career goals – as long as they are related to what you do today, they are fine! Plus be ambitious about y future. Perhaps found your own VC? Perhaps, long term, bring back the US knowledge, to the Middle East with some sort of investment fund?
All in all, sounds like you have a solid profile! and if you write amazing applications, you will get into a top business school! I have no doubt…
Still missing some details like international experience, managerial experience, origin, family story etc. but, happy to help further with a detailed review and perhaps work together on some amazing apps if you send me your CV and any other info to
Shimriw@ARINGO.comGOOD LUCK!
zzzzzssss wrote:
Nationality: Middle eastern
Sex: Male
Age: 27
Languages: Arabic (Native), English (Fluent)
Education: Bachelors in Finance from a well respected (Top 50) private school in the US.
GPA: 2.8/4.0
I initially majored in civil engineering. Absolutely hated it. I barely studied and I did not attend most of my classes. I was immature and irresponsible and that hurt my GPA a lot. I got high grades only on classes that I liked and bothered studying for. I thankfully decided to do something that I like. I switched my major to finance. I think I was still a bit irresponsible, but I started studying and attending my classes. I went from a 2.0 in one semester to a 4.0 in the next and that helped me secure a scholarship and I never went below a 3.4 after that.
GMAT : 710
Working experience:
14 months finance & operations analyst at a fintech startup, 7 months as a senior analyst working on a blockchain-based project, 25 months as a principal at a venture capital firm.
Will have about 5 years of experience by matriculation.
International exposure:
Rotating between 3-4 countries in the Middle East and North Africa but most of the time is spent in 2 countries.
Extra- Curricular & Volunteering:
Boxing, Chess, hiking
Orphans care program, probono startup mentoring, and finance tutoring (mainly CFA related)
Achievements:
CFA charter holder
Post-MBA goals:
Work in the United States.
Management consulting is the first option and the second would be corporate development.
Something that I truly love about my current job is that I get my hands wet helping our portfolio companies with operations, strategy, and fund raising, so a lot of parallels can be drawn between management consulting and the work that I'm currently doing. I also love the investment/financial analysis part which is something that is heavily utilized in corporate development.
Schools that I'm applying for:
NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, UVA Darden, Cornell Johnson, Duke Fuqua, USC Marshall, Toronto Rotman.