Profile Review

Hello Admissions Experts. I'm crossposting this from /r/MBA since there appears to be far more traffic on GMAT Club than Reddit.

My background and goals - I've been working in Houston in the Big 4 in their audit practice working primarily on a F200 upstream oil and gas client. I want to pursue an MBA with the hopes of leveraging the skills I've learned here into a career in energy focused investment banking in Houston.

Background

Work experience: 4 years Big 4 audit

Extra curriculars: Licensed CPA in the state of Texas in addition to being a member of several CPA societies like the AICPA (which my employers forces me to be a member of, so I'm not sure it carries much if any weight). I think this may be a major weak point in my application. I was really involved with several social and charitable organizations while in undergrad, but I think this really only gives me an advantage in my UT app. Any thoughts here?

Undergrad school/major: Two degrees - UT Austin 5 year integrated masters in professional accounting program - BBA Accounting and a Masters in Accounting (MAcc) - both of which are consistently ranked #1 in the nation/world, but accounting is a technical discipline, so I'm not sure if that means much.

Other education/coursework: N/A

Race/nationality: White American

Sex: Male

Stats

GMAT Score: 710 Q48 V39 - AWA: TBD - IR7 - I think I can improve on this if I have to. My GMATPrep scores leading up to test day were 710, 750, 710, 740. Not sure if the incremental return I'd get from this would justify the incremental time/effort involved that I could be putting into my application. Thoughts on this?

Undergrad GPA: 3.27

MBA Info

Target schools: Rice (safety), Mccombs (target), NYU (target), Yale SOM (reach), Columbia (reach)

Goal of MBA: Transition into an energy-focused (preference towards upstream since I think this is where my experience helps me the most. However, I'm confident I can succeed in a shop that is more midstream or OFS focused) investment bank in Texas. I think many of the skills I've learned in the Big 4 will help me transition (will elaborate further in the comments if anybody cares).

At the end of the day, I see this MBA application process as largely a marketing exercise (e.g. where I have to market myself in the best way possible to the admissions committees). I think the best way of doing this is posing myself as a high ROI candidate. I have a specialized knowledge base (accounting knowledge within a dominant industry in-state in addition to experience working closely with reservoir engineers which is something that I'll have to do on a daily basis if I end up at an upstream, A&D shop in town) and have dealt with the stress and long hours that I plan to see in IB (albeit certainly not to the extent that bankers see since our busy season is only around three months long). I think the best route to go is to put myself out there as the "Oil and Gas Finance Guy" who wants to further my career in the industry (eventually, I'd like to start my own E&P operation with many of my petroleum engineering friends from undergrad, but that's something else I can elaborate on further in the comments. I think it also makes for something I can talk about at length during an interview if I'm lucky enough to have one extended to me).

That being said, I think UT aligns most with my short term and long term goals. However, I do think that there is some value in going out of state, expanding my network, and getting two years of interesting, fulfilling, and fun life experience on the east coast. In addition, the value you get per tuition dollar spent at McCombs is hard to beat (I'm an in-state resident).


Thank you all for your feedback! It's very much appreciated!