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Apr 3010:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
Applying to business school from a finance background? Personal MBA Coach is here to help with this quick tips video on how to set yourself apart during the MBA application process!
Apr 3010:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions Founder Susan Berishaj will walk through why reach/target/safety produces the wrong list for many specific profiles, how admissions committees at different programs read the same background differently, and more...
Apr 3012:00 PM EDT
-01:00 PM EDT
Starting at $975 and offering up to $545 of savings, our new Amplify Hourly Packages offer structure and support in certain high-value areas (story development, resume, essays, interviewing) to help get your applications across the finish line.
Apr 3009:00 PM IST
-10:00 PM IST
Thinking about PE/VC? Most consultants are. Few actually make it. Learn how to position your profile, build the right skills, and break into Private Equity & Venture Capital.
May 0108:30 AM EDT
-09:15 AM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great, learn how you can present a strong MBA application, and connect with an Admissions Director to get your questions answered.- May 01
08:30 AM EDT
-09:30 AM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great and how you can present a strong MBA application. Explore the difference between our One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs, talk to our admissions team, and meet students. 
May 0108:00 PM PDT
-09:00 PM PDT
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!
May 0507:00 PM EDT
-08:00 PM EDT
In this live 60-minute masterclass, How to Get Ahead of MBA Recruiting Now, we’ll walk through the four biggest mistakes incoming MBAs make and how to avoid them so you’re not scrambling to catch up once recruiting begins.
09 Aug 2009, 08:16
Kudos
Bookmarks
My profile:
I prefer to apply to MBA school for 2012. I would like to go to a top 20 university that is well known for finance. My ultimate goal is portfolio management (value investing), venture capital or private equity.
26 / Male / American / Caucasian (I will be 29 when hoping to get accepted)
Languages: English
Undergrad: Bachelor of Science in Finance and Minor in Information Technology, 2006
Top 40 regional state school
Cumulative GPA: 3.8/4.0
Advanced classes: I have taken advanced math classes, above the business school requirements (Calculus 1 & Calculus 2) and scored well in both.
Committees: Was on the executive board for an investment committee at my undergrad school
International Experience: Backpacked Europe for 1 month and Australia for one month. Have been to 13 different countries.
GMAT: 620, Q44, V31, TBD (First attempt)
Work Experience:
2006-Present (expected employer until 2012) - Middle-market financial consulting firm doing business valuations.
2008-Present - Started and own a real estate investment company
Summer 2005 - Project manager assistant internship for a large bank working on a large technology project
Previous: Network & IT Administrator for a small business in high school and part of college
Future:
Planning on starting and owning a website for advanced stock investing (relevant to value investing, PE, VC)
Attending Toastmasters classes
Participating in volunteer work
Target Schools: 2 year FT program
Columbia
Wharton
Chicago
Northwestern
Any other top 20 I would be happy with as long as known for finance and I would be a good candidate to get the jobs I prefer (listed above).
What are your feelings about each of the schools and likelihood of admission? Also please list other top 20 schools I could get in at this point. I feel like my age, experience, job history, and future plans will help my chances (even though my GMAT currently is a little weak).
I'm planning on taking the GMAT one more time. What would my score have to be to have a good shot of getting into Columbia, Wharton, Chicago, etc?
I prefer to apply to MBA school for 2012. I would like to go to a top 20 university that is well known for finance. My ultimate goal is portfolio management (value investing), venture capital or private equity.
26 / Male / American / Caucasian (I will be 29 when hoping to get accepted)
Languages: English
Undergrad: Bachelor of Science in Finance and Minor in Information Technology, 2006
Top 40 regional state school
Cumulative GPA: 3.8/4.0
Advanced classes: I have taken advanced math classes, above the business school requirements (Calculus 1 & Calculus 2) and scored well in both.
Committees: Was on the executive board for an investment committee at my undergrad school
International Experience: Backpacked Europe for 1 month and Australia for one month. Have been to 13 different countries.
GMAT: 620, Q44, V31, TBD (First attempt)
Work Experience:
2006-Present (expected employer until 2012) - Middle-market financial consulting firm doing business valuations.
2008-Present - Started and own a real estate investment company
Summer 2005 - Project manager assistant internship for a large bank working on a large technology project
Previous: Network & IT Administrator for a small business in high school and part of college
Future:
Planning on starting and owning a website for advanced stock investing (relevant to value investing, PE, VC)
Attending Toastmasters classes
Participating in volunteer work
Target Schools: 2 year FT program
Columbia
Wharton
Chicago
Northwestern
Any other top 20 I would be happy with as long as known for finance and I would be a good candidate to get the jobs I prefer (listed above).
What are your feelings about each of the schools and likelihood of admission? Also please list other top 20 schools I could get in at this point. I feel like my age, experience, job history, and future plans will help my chances (even though my GMAT currently is a little weak).
I'm planning on taking the GMAT one more time. What would my score have to be to have a good shot of getting into Columbia, Wharton, Chicago, etc?
17 Aug 2009, 22:40
Kudos
Bookmarks
To be blunt, your chances at the schools you listed are basically nil with that GMAT score. You realistically need at least a 680 to stay afloat (what saves you is your high GPA). Do whatever you can to boost that GMAT on the retake.
Other top schools with a strong alumni base in finance are Yale, Cornell, NYU.
Also, the three career paths you mentioned (porfolio mgmt, private equity, venture capital) require not only completely different skill sets, but attract completely different kinds of personalities. The only thing these paths have in common is that there is the potential to make a lot of money.
Portfolio mgmt attracts those who love following the financial markets, picking stocks, and so forth. Their work is primarily in publicly traded securities as passive investors - which is why they attract those who love financial markets moreso than the nitty gritty operations within a company. It's a "finance geek" job, so to speak - those who love to run numbers. People who love to trade, buy and sell, etc.
Private equity is deal driven. It attracts people who are deal junkies - who love putting together deals. They sit on boards, and take an active approach to managing their portfolio companies. If you've got a short attention span, then this job isn't for you - because you (or your underlings if you're the partner) will probably evaluate 20 or 30 potential deals in a year, and maybe do 1-2 deals a year (and sometimes zero). And once you do the deal, you take an active role on the board and hope to sell the company 5-10 years down the road (usually M&A, not an IPO or follow on offering). This is a job built on patience, and really understanding how to work with C-level executives at the Board level - dealing with politics, mgmt recruiting, and so forth. It's not really a "finance" job -- the only "finance" is structuring the deal itself - the rest is more mgmt oriented and FUNDRAISING (going hat in hand to your LPs and asking for money -- and having to answer to the LPs). As a result, it's a job built for those who are connected and enjoy a career that is built on relationships.
Venture capital is even less "finance" than the other two. It has nothing to do with picking stocks, financial markets, or finance. You're investing in startup companies - where their financials are so simple even a high school kid can understand it (and if a 10-person startup has a complicated balance sheet with deferred pension/tax liabilities, a complicated depreciation schedule for its hard assets, etc. - there's something wrong). Since VC invests primarily in software/hardware technology startups or biotech firms (in fact, 95%+ are in either of these categories, and once in a while they may invest in some "startup" clothing line or a microbrewery - but probably for the free beer) -- these companies literally consist of 5-20 guys/gals in an office with computers/phones (i.e. all of which is leased). Their financials aren't complicated, and the VCs sell out long before they get super complicated (even a 300-1,000 person software company isn't that complicated financially - their balance sheet consists of cash, invoices to customers, bills they owe to vendors, and maybe some computers or servers they actually bought - it's hardly GE, AT&T, or some big industrial company). As such, VC is about recruiting execs to these startups, sitting on the board, and understanding the overall technology trends and what business models work (i.e. it's not about finance, it's about understanding the *business* of technology). That's why a lot of the *successful* VCs tend to have been ex-entrepreneurs and ex-execs at large tech firms or those who have been in VC since the early 1990s or earlier. And yes, many of them happen to have technical or engineering educational backgrounds.
Other top schools with a strong alumni base in finance are Yale, Cornell, NYU.
Also, the three career paths you mentioned (porfolio mgmt, private equity, venture capital) require not only completely different skill sets, but attract completely different kinds of personalities. The only thing these paths have in common is that there is the potential to make a lot of money.
Portfolio mgmt attracts those who love following the financial markets, picking stocks, and so forth. Their work is primarily in publicly traded securities as passive investors - which is why they attract those who love financial markets moreso than the nitty gritty operations within a company. It's a "finance geek" job, so to speak - those who love to run numbers. People who love to trade, buy and sell, etc.
Private equity is deal driven. It attracts people who are deal junkies - who love putting together deals. They sit on boards, and take an active approach to managing their portfolio companies. If you've got a short attention span, then this job isn't for you - because you (or your underlings if you're the partner) will probably evaluate 20 or 30 potential deals in a year, and maybe do 1-2 deals a year (and sometimes zero). And once you do the deal, you take an active role on the board and hope to sell the company 5-10 years down the road (usually M&A, not an IPO or follow on offering). This is a job built on patience, and really understanding how to work with C-level executives at the Board level - dealing with politics, mgmt recruiting, and so forth. It's not really a "finance" job -- the only "finance" is structuring the deal itself - the rest is more mgmt oriented and FUNDRAISING (going hat in hand to your LPs and asking for money -- and having to answer to the LPs). As a result, it's a job built for those who are connected and enjoy a career that is built on relationships.
Venture capital is even less "finance" than the other two. It has nothing to do with picking stocks, financial markets, or finance. You're investing in startup companies - where their financials are so simple even a high school kid can understand it (and if a 10-person startup has a complicated balance sheet with deferred pension/tax liabilities, a complicated depreciation schedule for its hard assets, etc. - there's something wrong). Since VC invests primarily in software/hardware technology startups or biotech firms (in fact, 95%+ are in either of these categories, and once in a while they may invest in some "startup" clothing line or a microbrewery - but probably for the free beer) -- these companies literally consist of 5-20 guys/gals in an office with computers/phones (i.e. all of which is leased). Their financials aren't complicated, and the VCs sell out long before they get super complicated (even a 300-1,000 person software company isn't that complicated financially - their balance sheet consists of cash, invoices to customers, bills they owe to vendors, and maybe some computers or servers they actually bought - it's hardly GE, AT&T, or some big industrial company). As such, VC is about recruiting execs to these startups, sitting on the board, and understanding the overall technology trends and what business models work (i.e. it's not about finance, it's about understanding the *business* of technology). That's why a lot of the *successful* VCs tend to have been ex-entrepreneurs and ex-execs at large tech firms or those who have been in VC since the early 1990s or earlier. And yes, many of them happen to have technical or engineering educational backgrounds.
