Current Student
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 370
Given Kudos: 2
Location: New York, Paris
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools:Wharton '11
Profile Review Finance/Research + volunteer work
[#permalink]
12 Mar 2008, 14:21
Thanks for taking the time to evaluate my profile. I am trying to understand if I have a good chance to get into a top MBA program. If anyone has feedback , that would be great!
I would like to enroll in Sept 09. Not settled on schools yet Tier 1 choice (Wharton, HBS, Stanford), Tier 2 choice (Chicago, Columbia, MIT)
General Profile --
Male, 27 years old. French, Muslim
Education --
BS in Computer Science (Illinois Institute of Technology) 3.96 GPA
MS in Computer Science (Cornell University) 3.83 GPA
CFA Charterholder
GRE (old 2001) Q 98% , A 96%, V 68%
GMAT 710 , Q 44 , V 42 - Quant is on the low side, not sure why but I took one month to prepare.
Work Experience --
5 years of experience. Now a Vice President working within Fixed Income Research doing quant modeling/software development at an investment bank. Manages 2 people and promoted everytime the firm's policy allowed it.
Volunteer work --
2003 - Taught religious education class (6 hours/week)
Taught GED classes to new immigrants (3 hours/week)
2004 - Financial and management auditing for a non profit organization ( 10-15 hours/week)
2005-Present Chairman of Education Board (30+ hours/week) . Manage multiple projects (SAT classes, College Preparation workshops...) and teams.
Why B-School --
Two main reasons.
Professional - I am extremely interested in company valuation and the fundamental aspect of finance. I really want to get a strong background in fundamental analysis and business development. Ideally, I would like to work in Venture Capital or Long term value investing. B-School will help me get a great understand of business in general, which will be key to make investment decisions. I am on the Quant side right now but I love to delve on financial statements and analyze business strategies. The fundamental side is what I love.
Community - I have been extremely involved and I have taken many leadership roles. I have learned tremendously on the job but there are times when I felt stuck, lacking knowledge about organization dynamic, team building, strategy. I am reinventing the wheel every time and I learn through trial and error. Not great when you are dealing with Youth issues like depression and suicide. I know that I will serve the community my whole life in one way or another and I want to have the most impact. I have great strengths, especially in managing people but I need to refine them and build on them. That's why I want to purse my education. It is as important as my professional goals, may be even more.