Hi Hjort,
First of all, thanks a lot for taking time to look at all our profiles, it’s very much appreciated. Here’s mine, if you could help me out that would be great.
Belgian / Romanian, 28 year-old male.
No GMAT yet, but aiming to get at least 700 (otherwise I will not send any acceptance request)
Master of Science in Management at Solvay Business School (Brussels, Belgium – 14th European undergrad school), graduated cum laude.
CFA Level II candidate.
I worked 2 years for the Belgian Post Group at cost controller, where I quickly acquired supervision functions.
Then moved to Fortis Bank in Brussels as a corporate finance trainee beginning 2006 – been there since then, work there as a junior associate.
Languages
Romanian is my mother tongue. I’m also fluent in French, Dutch and English.
Extracurriculars
- I’m born in Romania, and I lived in Venezuela, South Africa, New Zealand and Belgium, country where I’m currently based. I travelled a lot since my parents are musicians and my dad got contracts in all these places. I also studied 6 months in Lausanne (Switzerland)
- Like any other self-respecting Romanian, I’m football-mad
(soccer in the US). I play football in a British expat football club in Brussels. The club is very international with more than 50 nationalities represented. I’ve captained one of the teams for 2 years.
- Generally speaking I’ve always been involved in the exat / international community in my personal life (the presence of the European Commission attracts a lot of nationalities in Brussels), although I’m considered as a “local” (I’ve been living in Brussels for almost 20 years).
- I also organised trips in Budapest (Hungary) and the Venice region (Italy) for the football club, where we played against several regional teams, combining culture, leisure and sports.
- Music / painting: I organised logistics for classical orchestras staying in Brussels (hotel, transport, etc) – my mom organises concerts, and I was in charge of the logistical part. I also organised a painting expo in Brussels for a famous Romanian painter, within the framework of Romania’s integration in the EU.
- I tutored a lot of kids when I was in university (not original I know, but still quite a challenge!
). I coached one of those kids almost full time for every aspect of his schoolwork.
- I love travelling, and spend a lot of money on that I love visiting friends all over in Europe, or city-tripping. Living in Belgium, I’m close to almost every major city in Europe. There aren’t a lot of countries in Europe that I haven’t been to yet.
I’m aiming for top schools – otherwise I’d rather not do an MBA at all.
I think my profile is pretty decent on the international aspect – lived in several countries, speak several languages, in contact with people from very different backgrounds. However, I reckon that my “leadership” and “extracurricular” profiles aren’t that strong (compared to some of the stuff I read here anyway). I could get some good recommendation letters.
Considering that my objective is the financial world - investment banking, private equity, or even hedge funds since I'll have the CFA accreditation also - I've determined a couple of schools that would suit me.
I was thinking about Wharton, Stern, Sloan, HBS, Stanford, LBS, University of Chicago.
Considering my profile above, am I aiming too high? Which of these schools should I eliminate / keep? Do you see any other schools I could go to? (European schools are good too). Considering that I already have an undergraduate degree in finance and that I'll get my CFA accreditation soon, are there any good 1Y programs for me?
Thanks a lot for your precious help Hjort!