camilakelly wrote:
Hi guys !
I'm applying to a few schools for a Master in Finance and I was hoping I could get an idea of what my chances are
Schools: ESSEC, Bocconi, LSE, maybe skema and edhec
Profile:
- 24 year old brazilian girl with an industrial engineering degree. Graduated in july 2020 from one of the top schools in the country.
- CGPA: 8.2/10.0
- GMAT: 700 (Q47/V39)
- IELTS : 8.5/9.0
- TOEFL : 113/120 (not sure if these english tests are relevant but the applications ask for them so..)
- Internships: Marketing at British american tobacco (10 months), local Asset management firm (7 months), Management consulting at Accenture (4 months)
- 6 month Business and Marketing exchange program at Université Paris Dauphine
- Extracurriculars: 6 week volunteer program in Peru (AIESEC) Sports as extracurriculars aren't really a common thing here..
Goals: asset management , portfolio management
- Do you guys think I stand a chance at getting a scholarship for LSE? Because honestly I'm considering not even applying because even if I get in no way I can afford it without the scholarship.. I was hoping I could stand a chance for one of those "women in finance" scholarships
- Also, how hard do you think it is to get employed in London as a non EU? This is what im worrying about if i dont go to a UK bs
Thanks in advance!
Hey
camilakelly,
You have a pretty good profile
Academically you have a pretty great undergraduate GPA that showcases your academic prowess which coupled with your nationality 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 value addition to their program. While your grades do play an important part, your extracurricular activities and your other endeavors matter as well because AdComs are looking for applicants with holistically developed profiles.
For your extracurricular activities, your 6 weeks in Peru showcases how you went above and beyond to broaden your horizons. Highlighting how the role has helped you grow and influenced your life would help portray a strong application. Apart from that, your participation in sports showcases your teamwork, leadership, and initiative-taking skills.
As for your GMAT, while you have a pretty great overall score of 700, your Quant is slightly on the lower end for Masters in Finance. However, you can always compensate for this by drawing attention to other finance-related aspects in your profile
Coming to your English language tests, your scores in both IELTS and TOEFL are competitive. However, I would like to inform you that most top B-schools offer a waiver for these tests in case your language of instruction during your undergraduate was English, so you might want to look into that.
As far as your internship experience goes, you have various sets of roles in marketing, consulting, and finance respectively. Since Masters in Finance is a specialized master’s program and most schools prefer applicants with some experience in the field of finance, thus your internship at the local asset management firm would be a great value addition to your application. However, you would be competing against applicants with relevant experience in the field of finance from the big 4 firms. Hence, highlighting 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 would help you put forth a strong application pitch and bring you at par with your competition.
Apart from this, you could take up certifications in the field of finance like CFA or FRM to showcase your undying interest in the field of finance.
Coming to your international experiences, the 6 months degree program in France, and the internship experience in Peru is a great addition to your application as it showcases your adaptability. Ensure you highlight what kind of learnings you derived and how it helped you to grow and develop a broader perspective.
Speaking of scholarships, you have two types of scholarships - merit-based and need-based scholarships. So you can be targeting either of the two. The primary difference between these two types of financial aid is that merit-based scholarships, unlike need-based financial aid, are awarded to students based on academic or other merits rather than demonstrated financial need. That said your scholarship application would consist of an essay, through which you would need to justify why you are worthy of the scholarship and why you need the scholarship. Making the essay convincing and highlighting your needs would increase your chances of getting a scholarship.
A few things that they take into consideration for scholarship applications are your GMAT, GPA, endeavors, extracurricular activities, and how you would add value to the school. So keeping the following points in mind while drafting your application can definitely help you secure the scholarship you are applying for.
Since the schools you are applying to are all the top schools of the respective country, you would have no problems in terms of employment as all the big companies including the big four frequently hire graduates from these schools.
Coming to shortlisting the right schools for your profile, whenever you are applying to schools abroad, it is always better to target a mix of dream, competitive, and safe schools. That said, from the schools, you’re targeting I would like to define your chances of acceptance as per 3 categories:
Dream (40-50%): LSE, Bocconi
Competitive (60-70%): ESSEC
Safe (80-90%): EDHEC, Skema
Additionally, here are a few more schools that you can consider:
Dream (40-50%) : HEC , LBS
Competitive (60-70%) : ESCP, ESADE, FSFM, IE
Safe (80-90%) :, Grenoble, IESEG
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 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, you should definitely try to apply during Round 1 as it would increase your chances of securing an admit and allow you to secure scholarships too. That said, you should start preparing your applications to these schools in parallel since round one deadlines are just around the corner and each application takes 10-15 days to be perfected. On this note, if you are looking to target the top B-schools and want to prepare a strong application to meet the Round 1 deadlines right on time, you can check our comprehensive all in one solution that has helped thousands of applicants get into their dream schools including schools like HEC, LSE and LBS!
Link to our All-In-One Solution-
https://www.mim-essay.com/mim-all-in-oneHere, you can even Book a Free Consulting call to connect with one of our consultants
Hope this helped!
_________________
Abhyank Srinet
Founder & CEO
(MiM-Essay)