Intern
Joined: 29 Jun 2012
Posts: 7
Given Kudos: 0
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Sustainability
GPA: 3.63
WE:Research (Other)
Profile Evaluation
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29 Jun 2012, 16:30
Hi, thank you very much for taking the time to review my profile.
Turkish male, 26
Studied International Business/Economics double major in a top, but not elite liberal arts college in the US.
GPA: 3.6, Major GPA: 3.8 for both. Did my best to learn Russian when I was in college, but ended up hurting my GPA.
Graduated Magna cum laude with Honors in IB&M and won the Departmental Award for "Excellence in International Business"
Wrote two independent research papers while in college, one on commodity bubbles in Latin America and the other on similar patterns between 1980s HY market and '00s ABS market.
Joined a boutique global distressed debt fund (about 150MM under management, 12 people in total) for an internship after junior year, which turned into a full job and a promotion to VP and a 6-figure salary after 2 years on the job.
Job duties included analyzing companies in different regions and sectors (mostly EM, asset intensive sectors such as agriculture, shipping, manufacturing), sourcing investment ideas, working through bankruptcy situations (represented the Fund in two creditor committees, one situation in Indonesia, the other in Norway, also involved in situations in Argentina, Mexico, Greece, Japan, Australia, Turkey, Brazil etc) and presenting investment ideas to the PM. Returns have been very strong but the fund is having difficulty raising money, so it's quite possible that I might switch to a similar job in another firm in HK within the next 6 months.
GMAT:750
Recommendations from my two PMs should be stellar, I have a good start on my essays and fairly optimistic on how they will turn. I will try to position myself as an internationalist since I do have a natural curiosity towards the world, which helped me a lot in my job.
Traveled extensively both for work and pleasure, worked on investments all around the globe. I have a number of cases I have been involved that I take pride in, both in terms of successful returns and social contribution. Thinking of ways to incorporate them in my essay but might be better suited for the interview.
Extracurriculars are probably my biggest weakness, I was the President of the Finance Club for a year, helped starting a Socially Responsible Investing committee and was involved in the Greek Life back in college. I have been boxing for four years, I play a Turkish musical instrument since high school days and love traveling/trekking/wwoofing, which is what I do with my vacation time basically. That being said, I don't have any "impactful" community involvement since my college days. I do provide financial advice to farmers in my hometown in Turkey pro bono, but it's nothing I can put on the application, since it's mostly our family friends.
My immediate goal after-MBA is to either continue distressed investing in a PE/HF or join one of the global commodity trading houses e.g. Cargill/Glencore. Eventually I want to get into sustainable agriculture.
I think my top choices are HBS, INSEAD and Columbia, but I'm also considering applying to Wharton, Booth and LBS, all for Fall 2013. I think INSEAD would be a great fit for me, but I am worried about the post-MBA opportunities in finance.
I would greatly appreciate if you can give me some advice on the EC front and also comment on my admission chances to the school I mentioned above.
Once again, thank you very much for your time!