Hi
Vantage Point team, was hoping to get some feedback on my profile. Any input is appreciated!
GMAT: 750 (Q49, V42, 8 IR, 6 AWA)
GPA: 3.5/4 in Materials Science & Engineering at a Southern Ivy (Rice/Vanderbilt/Duke), awarded MSCI department's award for leadership as a senior.
Passed levels CFA levels 1 and 2
Extracurriculars during undergrad:
- Organizer of largest on-campus event, responsible for coordinating a week's worth of activities for a group of 300+ students. Worked with local businesses to sponsor the event, had 5-figure budget to work with, led team of 5 organizers
- Founder and president of club sports team
- Orientation advisor junior and senior years (highly competitive, ~10% of applicants are chosen to advise)
- Worked ~20 hours per week in nanotech research lab for 2.5 years on campus
Extracurriculars after graduation:
- Mentor for an inner-city youth baseball program
- Alumni admissions interviewer for alma mater
- Organizer of alumni affairs for the largest on-campus event mentioned above
- Play in amateur baseball league
- Occasionally foster for animal shelter (work hours permitting)
Work experience at time of application: (most recent first):
-1.5 years at boutique RIA in Texas ($6B AUM). Not much history of sending people to B-school, though almost all of senior mangement/C-Suite has MBA from top-10 schools. Started as an analyst on fixed income desk, after 9 months was promoted to associate and given PM-like responsibility for management of a $300M strategy (though no official PM or junior PM title). Expect to have responsibility for another strategy by the time I apply, bringing total AUM I am responsible for to ~$400M. Still have large analytical role with other fixed income strategies, use engineering background for coding & data analysis.
- 6 months as financial advisor with F100 insurance firm. Started here because I wanted to transition into investment management, left because role was more focused on sales than making investment decisions. Concerned this is a very weak part of my application.
- 1.5 years as management consultant in energy department for bronze-tier consulting firm with tech focus (think Quorum, Infosys, etc). Had projects on O&G supermajor & international government client, led offshore teams of 5-10 people on each project.
- Internship with NASA in R&D group as an undergrad. Worked with materials engineers to develop a prototype which was approved for further testing by management.
MBA goal: want to get MBA from top finance program to gain a formal finance education. Currently have very strong analytical skills stemming from engineering background but lack understanding of what makes a successful business tick, which I believe is of utmost importance for investment management. CFA curriculum has filled some of this gap, but is mainly focused on valuation. Also believe I need to improve soft skills to one day lead a team of analysts.
Post MBA goal: Junior PM or similar type role at major asset management firm, preferably one with fixed income focus (PIMCO/DoubleLine/TCW). Long-term goal is to become Chief Investment Officer of an AM firm.
Applying to HBS, Wharton, Columbia, NYU, Sloan, Booth, Kellogg.