bianalyst wrote:
JonAdmissionado wrote:
Hello there good sir!
First of all, very good to hear from you!
I like your internationalism! Which should work in your favor. It is however a bit hard for me to evaluate your profile, as I don't yet have a clear understand of the strength of your work experience. How much leadership do you have? What achievements? How fast have you advanced?
Overall, your 3.0 GPA, plus the fact that you aren't coming from a Top employer, will likely make Top10 schools hard to reach, even if you get a 730+. Of course that doesn't mean you shouldn't apply! (always try, if you have the GMAT), but assuming such a GMAT I would suggest a target school list in Top 20.
Anyhow it might be a biiiiit too early for all that, since your score is still but a hypothetical one.
I wish you the best of luck on your test!
Cheers,
Jon Frank
Thanks Jon, this is useful insight. 2 questions before I head back to the drawing board and get the GMAT sorted (I will also need to have a think about your questions regarding work experience) -
1. Is a B- grade (at Singaporean universities) considered a 3.0 GPA in the US system?
2. Are most acceptances at top 10 from top tier universities and firms? I know someone from my university and my major who ended up in Columbia despite not working at MBB/investment bank. Although he definitely had a better GPA.
Excellent questions my fried!
1. That sounds about right. There are equivlency sits online. But overall that makes sense, and they will look at your original grades.
2. This is a tougher question to answer. The first thing to look at is your GPA. At 3.0 it makes things tougher (thought not impossible). I mean looking at HBS a few years back, I think out of the class of 1000 they accepted about 10 with a GPA under 3.0. So just put things into perspective. And since pretty much the GPA average is about 3.6-3.7 in Top 10 it will make things harder. For your second question, you are right. Coming from a top firm + top uni is not necessarily the most important (although I would say top uni is more important than top firm, because people can do amazing stuff at not so famous firms). In fact this is looked at holistically. But let's say that it's less so when you are looking at "Finance guy from Bangladesh/India/Pakistan" (Sorry to group all you folks together, but the adcoms look at your profiles regionally), and you have 100 guys from Top firms and top universities, and then another 500 from mid-range firms and universities.... well you get my point. But still you can make it in from non-top places, just your performance and achievements and extra curriculars then have to make up for that.
I hope this is all clear and makes sense and helps you define your strategy moving forward.
Best,
JF
close
07 Apr 2017, 04:07
