Profile Evaluation (Trying to overcome low GPA)

Bryant,

I really appreciate your detailed response.

Late Start- You are right on, typically analysts go to B-School after about 3 years, I wasn't able to get an analyst position right out of undergrad, I started at the bottom I was answering phones as a retail trader for my company, primarily a customer service role. I was able to quickly move to the international trading team where the best 6 traders in the department were. I started the CFA program and MSF at BC (part time) around this time and I was able to get a promotion to a research support role. From there I built contacts with portfolio managers and landed the analyst role. I reached out to a managing director of research when I first started in the customer service role telling him I wanted to be an analyst and his response was basically "good luck, we hire 6-7 analysts a year from over 1000 applicants typically from top undergrads, our customer service center isn't a feeder for us." I am hoping I can tell a compelling story about career progression in a competitive industry at one of the top names.

Why haven’t I risen to an associate level yet?- Analysts are promoted to an associate level after 3-4 years at my firm, I only have been in the role for 2 years, by the time I will be eligible for associate promotion is when I would like to start matriculating. To go from associate to portfolio manager (my ultimate goal) my company requires an MBA. The biggest drivers for me getting my MSF were an opportunity to create an alternate transcript and my company paid for it, so worst case scenario it was a fall back if I couldn’t get in to research.

Expanding school list- Unfortunately my company recruits from only Harvard, Wharton, Booth, Columbia, Sloan, and Tuck. Majority of the portfolio managers are HBS, Wharton, and Chicago graduates. I know I am not going to be the ideal candidate for any of these schools; H/W/MIT are probably even DOA but I am thinking I at least have a shot at Booth, CBS, and Tuck if everything else is great (GMAT, Essays, Recommendations, and Interviews). I have read Booth may be one of the more forgiving top schools on undergrad grades, do you have any experience with that?

Don’t worry about discouraging me or keeping it too real. I am looking for your expert opinion which you’ve given and I greatly appreciate it. Do you think my answers to your concerns of being too late and why I am not an associate yet, discussed in my essays/interviews(if granted) would relieve adcoms concerns in those 2 areas? Not that I am close to writing essays yet just concentrating on the GMAT but I was banking on the career story of going from customer service to an analyst would be a powerful one.

Let me know your thoughts to this follow up when you get a chance.

Thanks,
Galan