antapple wrote:
Paul,
I'm 28y old portuguese male with 42 months exp. (I know it isn't that much for someone my age) by the time a 2007 programme starts.
My GPA is quite poor (12 out of 20), but in portugal this is slightly below average only.
I worked in 4 diverse sectors most of them for less than a year each, furthermore, one of the places was a family firm in which I worked all my way trhough college and in 2 separate times afterwards. My main reason to pursue an MBA is to remove a career advance capping factor that are the points stated above (here family firm work is usually not well regarded). While at this firm (a civil engeneering projects one) I had responsb. that were so diverse as projects management, to human resources or financial analysis.
Extracurriculars are mostly sports, college rugby champion, national rugby 2nd division champion, judo national teams runner up. Apart from these and other sports I've also been investing in the NASDAQ and NYSE since 2000 on a daily basis.
I have 280 Toefl (though I'll have to take it again soon for it will be out of date tomorrow --> fourtunatly I already applied to 3 schools) and 700 (45Q,40V) GMAT
Do I stand a chance at top US or European schools?
Which ones? I wish probably to change industries (I'm relationship manager at non performing loan company, but probably changing to an analyst role) and I want to move to management consulting or IB.
Thank you.
antapple,
Your career progress seems spotty and incoherent, so you will want to work out a "narrative" that helps the adcoms make sense of it and you will want to identify all your high-impact leadership experiences so you can discuss them in your essays. You will also need to explain why you have only 3-plus years of work experience at age 28--maybe you did something else with that time that would make for a good essay. It would also help if you could show some community or extracurricular leadership since college. The fact that you are Portuguese helps you stand out from the crowd--make the most of it.
As for U.S. schools, you have a chance at Emory, USC, Florida (Warrington), North Carolina, Virginia, and/or Notre Dame--all strong schools. Outside the U.S., perhaps schools at the level of Manchester, Toronto Rotman, ESADE, and Western Ontario would be your best bets.
Good luck,
close
19 Jan 2007, 04:21
