Veritas Prep Admissions Consultant
Joined: 25 Jul 2010
Affiliations: Veritas Prep
Posts: 1910
Given Kudos: 3
Re: Profile Evaluation
[#permalink]
29 Oct 2012, 12:25
Investment banks actually like new hires without prior banking experience. You would get everything you would need to become an IB associate in b-school. THey do like super smart folks, so your GMAT would help as would getting good grades in grad school (your ug scores will likely not matter as much). One key thing will be having the HB-1 visa squared away, since US ibanking firms need you to be legally able to work here. If your goal is to work in London, for example, this obviously would not apply. I think you have a shot at a to p 20 school for sure and getting a higher GMAT score will likely not improve your chances, since your current score is really good. There is a point of diminishing returns on studying for the GMAT, as you will get just marginally more attention with a higher score once you surpass the 730 level. What you should do is to focus on schools in the top 20 who have a tradition of feeding the bulge bracket banks with associate hires. Columbia, NYU, Tuck, Duke, Virginia, Chicago, all come to mind. I think the same applies for the target schools you mention in Canada, Europe and Asia as well. One tip: try to matriculate at a school which is geographically within the financial region in which you plan to work after school. This will help you leverage your network and also receive a regionally biased banking preparation, which is what you want.