APM wrote:
Hello,
I was wondering if someone could provide some input regarding my chances of gaining admission into the following schools: Cornell, Georgetown, UNC, Duke, and Washington U. My profile is as follows:
Education:
-Finance Undergrad-University of Central Missouri 4.0 finance GPA, 3.65 Cumulative GPA
-Held presidency of several student organizations, scholarships, etc
-Could obtain recommendation from Econ & Finance Dept. Chair
Work Experience:
-4 years with Bank of America, Private Wealth Mang. Division
-1st 10 Months, worked as an analyst
-remainder, was promoted early to Assistant VP and made Portfolio Manager, managing $100million+ investment portfolios
-Excellent Reviews, etc
GMAT: 650
Additional:
-Passed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst exam (CFA) and will receive charter shortly.
-Member of the CFA Institute and the Kansas City CFA society
Long-term Goals:
Plan on leveraging my MBA to gain management/Director positions with Bank of America or similiar companies.
Any input would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance
Maybe I'm seeing something here that other people aren't, but I see
a lot of potential in this profile. Spun properly, I see a young aggressive and dedicated analyst who distinguished himself in a large multi national corporation and quickly rose to Assistant VP and wealth manager. I see a focused passion as identified by a CFA exam, solid GPA, etc.
The only thing holding you back would be the GMAT and a more well developed "why mba". It isn't sufficient to merely say you want to become a Director, I think you need to develop a more deep reason you want an MBA - say "a better understanding of operations, economics and strategy so that I can better understand the strategic moves made by the companies I cover and recommend to my clients". Even something as "basic" as that is already a substantial step in the right direction.
If you can bump the GMAT, I'd probably be suggesting you give Wharton, Chicago, etc a shot. Heck, I'd suggest you toss in an app into one of these top schools anyway, but certainly, if you can bump that GMAT, refine the "story" and why mba a bit, I imagine you would do just fine...