tigerlilly wrote:
Hi, I would like to seek your advice on my target school choices. Would love to hear your comments!
My profile:
28 year old Asian female
GMAT: 700
GPA: 3.4 BS in Biochemistry, University in the Pac-Northwest;
- International background (grew up in Canada, Hong Kong and US) and a Canadian Citizen
Work Experience:
4 years (US) – global pharmaceutical company as a Research Scientist in drug discovery; published one peer-reviewed scientific journal
1 year (US) – a career change to a boutique investment bank as an Analyst – main responsibilities included evaluating life sciences/medical devices startups for a VC client as well as M&A research work for a wide range of industries. Also time of financial crisis in 2008 and therefore fell into a new opportunity at:
2.5 years (1.5 yrs in US & 1 yr in HK)– Compliance Research role at Big 4 accounting firm. Internally transferred to Hong Kong in the same role and promoted to Assistant Director within a year.
Present to matriculation will be 1 year (HK) – recently joined a Bulge Bracket Investment bank as a Compliance Associate.
Extracurriculars:
Undergrad: International students orientation leader and volunteered at local food banks and soup kitchens,
Post undergrad: Professional women’s network and YWCA (also to promote women in the workplace)
Target schools –
Columbia
Booth
Haas
Kellogg
Yale
Career Goals:
I currently work in the compliance side of an investment bank and am looking to transition to the IBD side. My interests have always been combining my scientific background with finance. Specifically, I want to focus in the bio-pharmaceutical sector for the rapidly growing market in China. I will need a program strong in finance (and even better if it has a pharma/healthcare focus).
Please evaluate my profile and let me know if I am concentrating at the right schools or should I consider another set of schools. Thanks for all your help in advance!
I would recommend you look into Vanderbilt as well because of its strength in health care. My biggest concern when I look at your profile is the compliance side of what you do currently. The onus is on you to prove that you are more than just a person who limits risk and instead show the sides of you that take risks and lead others in doing so. Statistically you are within the right range for the program you mentioned, but you must t show this risk-taking side of yourself to round out those stats. This can be at work or in YWCA/women's network activities (or both!).