Profile Evaluation

Question

Hi Veritas Team,

Here's my profile,

1. GMAT : 750 (Q51, V40, AWA 5)

2. Under-graduate : B.S Financial Engineering from Shandong University in China . GPA 84.53/100.
 Master: M.S Finance from West Virginia University. 3.9/4.0

3. Work Experience : 2 years work experience as investment analyst and Strategy Head of Emerging Markets at the Wealth Management of a Nasdaq listed Bank. 2 years work experience as a financial analyst for cross cultural Merger & Acquisitions. Have work with various business leaders and government officials, and gained cross cultural business negotiation skills.

4. Significant Activities/Experiences : Chair of English Debate and Speech Association in Shandong University. Voluntary Teaching Program to help disable kids in Shandong University. Board member and member of finance committee for a local non-profit organization that offers counselling services to abused children and adults.

5. Certifications : Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Level I Candidate

6. Target Program : Full Time MBA in tier 1 schools of the USA. Preferred MBA in Investment management / Private Equity and Venture Capital. Few schools in which I will apply :
1.Columbia
2.Wharton
3. Berkeley Hass
4. Chicago Booth
5. NYU Stern
(not in any order)
I am willing to add or remove schools from the list as per your evaluation.

7. When Planning to apply : will start applying in R1 this year for fall'16 programs, and ED for Columbia

8. Post MBA Goals : I am a re-applicant to the MBA programs listed above, except for Berkeley Hass and NYU Stern. I got the interview for Wharton and Chicago last year in Round 2, but was not admitted. Last year, I stated my goal as going to work for a prestigious financial firm - Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley in Investment Management. And I want to change the career goal this year to PE/VC firms in China. Entrepreneurial firms are growing strongly in China and need more financial support from PE/VC firms.

Thanks in advance for taking time to go through my profile. Besides the profile evaluation, I would like to get some suggestions on my new career goal as well. Thank you a lot!

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Thanks for sharing your profile. You have a strong background and on paper will come across as competitive. I think the fact you received interview invites from two strong programs last year speak to this. So you should be in line to be similarly competitive this year. With the two programs you have applied to in the past, the key here is identifying whats different in your application this year. Particularly since you applied R2 last year which is pretty recent. Your switch on the career side is a big enough difference but now it is critical to rationalize this new career path and make the connection for the AdComm. I would lean heavily on what you recently stated as well as your strong connection in the region. PE/VC is very competitive in every region and school look closely at their ability to get you hired so make specific references to how you will achieve this and personalize it if possible.

You should be competitive based on your profile but it is up to you to sell your story this year to gain admission. Let us know if we can help you craft this story.

Hope this helps!

You should be competitive based on your profile but it is up to you to sell your story this year to gain admission. Let us know if we can help you craft this story.

Hope this helps!

salad1989 · Answer

Thank you very much!

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