Profile evaluation MFinance in European BS

Question

Hi there!

First of all, I have no clue of whether I'm in the right section as the other ones looked more MBA or only US-oriented. If not, i'm sorry!

My name is Vincent and after 2 disappointing experiences with the GMAT exam, I'm turning to you in an act of despair to know what strategy do I have to adopt. You'll find below my profile description. The main question I have is obviously "Do I have a chance of breaking into the following master's with such a low GMAT score" and the reasons why I'm not planning to retake are a) because I won't have any extra time to study it, so it will be a retake without any additional study time b) I want to apply for the early admissions (Round 1 or equivalent) and c) I'm getting crazy like many of my fellow gmat candidates with thinking about GMAT again.

The schools and programs I'd like to join (by order of preference) are:

HEC Paris - Msc International Finance
London School of Economics - MSc Finance and Private Equity
EDHEC Business School - MSc in Corporate Finance & Banking 
ESCP Europe- "Mastère Spécialisé® Finance"
IE Business School - Master In Finance
ESSEC Business School - Master in Finance
ESADE Business School - Msc Finance

Now, let's have a look at my profile:

GMAT Score : 650 Q48 V32 IR 4 Essay: I'll probably get an average score as I performed poorly. 
Overall, It's the second time I take it (first score was 590 cancelled) and I had a very disappoiting score. On average, I used to score 670 during my mocks on the official prep software with scores being: 650-680-680-690-660-660. I performed very poorly during my second attempt on the verbal and essay parts (more around 35 verbal normally).

The question: Is it high enough or possible to compensate my low score with the following CV // Is it possible to tell the schools (or the schools to tell me) "we recruit you only if you retake the test and get, say 690"?

Academics : I have a double international BBA from both NEOMA Business School in France and the Pontificia Comillas University (ICADE), which is a top-notch spanish university. I spent 2 years in each country, which makes me a very international profile. My  GPA  is, according to the conversion my school gave me  3.4/4.0  with a major in finance, good grades in finance and a bachelor thesis on Private Equity

Additionnally, I'm planning to take the Bloomberg Test (BAT, if i remember well) to strenghten my application. I also undertook some courses in a french general accounting degree and have a certified level in Business Law, Accounting, Economics, English and Spanish thanks to this degree.

Finally, I'm currently registered for a Certification in Banking and Financial Expertise online (for internship agreement purposes mainly but it sounds interesting and I'm planning to pass it (the results will be obtained after the application deadline anyway).

Working Experience : So far, I've done 4 internships in SMEs all related to the financial ecosystem:

- France Summer Internship-like in accounting 2 months
- France 6 months Internship in Financial advisory in a chartered working accountant company
- Spain 6 months in an M&A boutique specialized in advising companies and PE funds on fundraisings mainly midcap
- France 6 months in an M&A tech speciliazed boutique as again an M&A analyst focus on tech small cap and midcap (currently undertaking)

--> So I don't have any "big names" on my CV: Is it a big issue?

Others : I speak 3 languages so far French being my mother tongue, English fluent certified with a 7.5 IELTS Score and Spanish bilingual
I'm a professional user of the office suite, intermediate level in FactSet, Quadratus (accounting software), Gretl (econometric software) and SPSS
I have a financial blog (under construction but already well advanced)
I'm passionate about finance and mostly about PE (I do read a lot of books on the matter ranging from Warren Buffet to Michael Lewis passing by Barbarians at the gates, etc)
I used to give private lessons in Corporate Finance, Financial markets, management accounting, econometrics and fiscal law in my school.

I truely hope you'll be able to answer my request and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance!

Vincent

billionaire · Answer

Hello Vincentltl Lets first take a look at some pertinent facts : For HEC Paris Msc International Finance program the median GMAT score is 710. LSE MSc Finance and Private Equity does not specify target score for this particular program, so those are good news, moreover I know from my previous research that when they do, they mention 650 score, so you do have shot there. https://gmatclub.com/forum/lse-finance- ... 78201.html For EDHEC Business School - MSc in Corporate Finance & Banking news are even better, they want GMAT ≥ 600. Def apply there.

ESCP Europe- "Mastère Spécialisé® Finance" does not specify desired GMAT score, again opportunity for you. At IE Business School Master In Finance program 80% of their admitted students have GMAT 650-770, you may apply there but they are more competitive. Since you have been educated in that country you probably know that already. ESSEC Business School - Master in Finance program does not set minimum entrance or expected GMAT score, so again you should apply there. ESADE Business School - Msc Finance has average GMAT of 670, meaning you can apply, people with your score or lower were accepted in past. To summarize you should apply to LSE, EDHEC, ESCP Europe, ESSEC and ESADE . You may apply to at IE, but look at other Spanish schools also, if that market is strategically important toward your career goals and fact that you are bilingual. Your working experience is relevant to your educational goals, Gretl and SPSS will be plus. Your language proficiency really improves your application and would be beneficial tomorrow on market

Keep reading about private equity, Buffett and Michael Lewis books. Good Luck with application

and keep us posted !

Vincentltl · Answer

Hey Billionaire!

First of all, many thanks for your answer!

I don't know if I'm overestimating these programs but, to me, the GMAT score indication (unless it's clearly written "no application will be accepted under eg. 650 GMAT") is mainly to generate some fees. In the reality, I believed that only the best GMAT scores will break into the program (the rest of the application being important too of course). To take a concrete example, EDHEC may say 600 GMAT score min but I was expecting that nobody under 650 can get in.

For HEC, I noticed that the stats you mention are stats for the 2014 promotion, which might be inaccurate as of today.

Finally, I was wondering if you had some info about the lenght of the process (time between application and result) once the application submitted for LSE and ESSEC as they don't proceed to an interview round.

Thank you!

billionaire · Answer

Hi Vincentltl Those faculties or any for that matter, do not accept applications to generate fees

That is for sure. They generate fees when you pay them for program you will start at their institution. Some schools don't even have application fees. Purpose of application fees is to pay people who do administrative job, discourage people who are not seriously certain they will attend that institution from applying and pay third party credential evaluation agencies like WES (for international applicants) if that job is not done internally. Application fees are literally peanuts as vehicle/source of income compared to tuition fees. I have seen some schools who literally put in description that people with highest GMAT will not necessary get in into the program, moreover that they have rejected multiple times people with excellent scores in favor people who had lower score but better essays etc. GMAT score is not holly cow and I don't know why we even debate that since it is clear you are not retaking it and should focus on other aspects of application, equally important. To be precise EDHEC did not say that their minimum requirement is 600, but that they want to see GMAT ≥ 600, equal or higher !

If you are so sceptical about your profile for EDHEC you can evaluate it here : https://master.edhec.edu/evaluate-your-profile HEC statistics remain there for a reason, they are relevant today as they were in 2014. If you doubt that, you can always check with them, the same way as you can check when admission decision will be declared for LSE/ESSEC, if that is not already stated on website, as it should be. Finally, why you even asking me those additional questions about application list ? You don't plan to apply to all 5 schools I suggested from your favorite list of 6 ? You are trying to save some money on applications ? You are trying to make sure you have 5 "safe" choices on list ? If you want to play safe, you can find good schools across Europe with even lower GMAT requirements. Point is that you want to go at one of schools mentioned above, or at least this is how I understood you initial post. My prediction is that you will be accepted at least at one of them, if not more. Seems like you think for whatever reason, that rest of application besides GMAT score doesn't count and it is pro form.

Bonne chance dans votre processus décisionnel or should I say Buena suerte en su proceso de toma de decisiones !

Vincentltl · Answer

Well, nothing to do with saving money. The main reason that I'm doubting a lot is because I DO want to break into one of those schools (no school is of my interest out of this list)! And I also have to say that I'm a very nervous kind of person always wondering about dumb things haha. Anyway, thank you so much for your answer that tranquilized me in one sense! I'll keep you posted!

Profile evaluation MFinance in European BS

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