swadpat18
Hello,
I hope you are well.
Would you be able to spend some time evaluating my profile and recommending some top schools that I should focus on?
GPA: 3.5 (from a business school in Hong Kong; majored in Finance; graduated in 2012)
Citizenship: India but have been living in Hong Kong for ~9 years now
Work: 6 Years (by the time I enroll) of institutional business development for a top investment bank (MS/GS/JP)
GMAT: 710 (Q48/V38/IR3/AW5); this is my biggest worry.
Other points to note:
- Have shown a 'habit of leadership' throughout life (high school, university, and work); see below.
- School Captain
- Overall Student Life Award at university for leadership and community integration
- Officially recognized as one of the most promising juniors in Asia (elected to sit on multiple leadership committees)
- Became responsible to cover the largest institutional clients in Asia just after 2 years at work (based on performance); our coverage even got recognized with a "best client service" award by the client directly.
- Specially selected by our international CEO of our business to lead a project based out of Asia
- Have gone through exceptional circumstances back home to reach where I am (none of my parents are educated, extremely poor background but went to one of the best high schools in Delhi, Dad passed away at an early age)
- Worked part time during university to support myself
- Don't have exceptional community service but actively mentor students at my secondary school back home and juniors at university)
- Trained for and ran a marathon
- LGBTQ
Would appreciate your thoughts on (apologies, in advance, for the long list of questions):
1) I have taken the GMAT multiple times but I am unable to do better under time constraints (and historically, this has been the case too). Is there a way I could address this? I am confident that I have the intellectual horsepower (at least for business school) when time is not a constraint.
2) What would be the ideal short-term goal for me to highlight? I am afraid that my real goal is too...different from what my current background would permit. Should I stick to a goal in the investment management industry alone? I understand that AdComs think carefully about whether a candidate will be able to achieve their immediate goal.
3) Given the Indian citizenship (Hong Kong resident for 9 years) and a relatively low GMAT, should I even target the top 10 schools? Ideally, I would really like to make it to a top 10 US school - don't want to spend USD 250k(!!) anywhere else, really - but I am conscious of the competition from Indian male candidates.
4) Should I have one recommender from London and one from Hong Kong? Or do you think it would be better to have both from Hong Kong (since AdComs prefer to have people working close to you)?
5) Any 10 US-based school that you would recommend for someone who wants to return to Asia? I don't want to work in the US.
Thank you your thoughts, in advance!
Hey dude,
Good to hear from you. Lemme jump into your questions first:
1) I have taken the GMAT multiple times but I am unable to do better under time constraints (and historically, this has been the case too). Is there a way I could address this? I am confident that I have the intellectual horsepower (at least for business school) when time is not a constraint.
Not really. It is what it is. You either try again, or accept your score.
2) What would be the ideal short-term goal for me to highlight? I am afraid that my real goal is too...different from what my current background would permit. Should I stick to a goal in the investment management industry alone? I understand that AdComs think carefully about whether a candidate will be able to achieve their immediate goal.
Best would be to stick to an investment goal, unless you have another goal that you are not only pasionate about, but can back up. (Like say you wanted to switch to NMGO work and had been volunteering for 10 years....)
3) Given the Indian citizenship (Hong Kong resident for 9 years) and a relatively low GMAT, should I even target the top 10 schools? Ideally, I would really like to make it to a top 10 US school - don't want to spend USD 250k(!!) anywhere else, really - but I am conscious of the competition from Indian male candidates.
You can try. But really, don't underestimate how hard it is. Esp. for Indians. A wiser strategy would be to apply to mostly schools in the 10-30 range and then 1-2 Top 10 schools. OF course it's up to you to decide which schools would be worth the investment or not. And this requires thought and discussion.
4) Should I have one recommender from London and one from Hong Kong? Or do you think it would be better to have both from Hong Kong (since AdComs prefer to have people working close to you)?
I wouldn't say that location is the first consideration, but rather who would write you the best and most exciting recommendations.
5) Any 10 US-based school that you would recommend for someone who wants to return to Asia? I don't want to work in the US.
Any would be good. But you should really then be looking into Asian schools - your GMAT will be better. You will network better in your target area. There's no reason not to.
I hope you have found these comments helpful,
Best,
JF