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Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance

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sliu
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Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 07 Jun 2016, 02:02
Hey there! I want to ask for you guys' 2-cents on if I should retake my GMAT to be more competitive for the top MBA program. Thanks in advance!

Goal: Applying to top programs this coming fall (R1) & changing from FP&A function to strategy in entertainment post-MBA

Age/Ethnicity: 25 yrs old Asian male (Immigrant- came here as a teenager)

GMAT: 710 (48Q, 40V)

GPA: 3.44 Econ/Accounting from UCLA

Work Experience
Since college, I've been working at Disney (3 years). I first started off as an analyst at Corporate FP&A supporting CFO and Board of Directors with company-wide financial updates and business decisions. I was promoted to senior analyst shortly after 2 years in the group. I had multiple leadership experiences: I onboarded new hires and led new group projects. Recently, I joined our startup-equivalent group doing more strategy-related work like deal analyses for the Mobile Games group

Extracurricular
Back in college, I was the program lead with a community service organization that helps low income families to file their tax returns. During the time, I oversaw 100+ volunteers and was able to help out over 700 low-income individuals filing their taxes

After college, I volunteer with my alumni group as a mentor to college students, helping them with classes, resume writing, interviewing. I also volunteer (semi-regularly) with my company's volunteer group to Boys & Girls Club and local food banks.

I am also an avid cyclist and backpacker

Originally posted by sliu on 07 Jun 2016, 00:39.
Last edited by sliu on 07 Jun 2016, 02:02, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2016, 01:35
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Hi there,

I see that you have an impressive 40 on the verbal side. Do you think you could raise your Quant score to 49/50? If you are confident about that, then go ahead for a retake. It will help you get noticed.

Having said that, I also want to emphasise that a better GMAT score will not necessarily lead to an admission. I have evaluated several students who had scores of 740, 760 getting dinged by Stanford, Wharton, and other top schools. You will need to present an overall strong application.

Hope this helped.

Good luck!


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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2016, 06:16
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sliu wrote:
Hey there! I want to ask for you guys' 2-cents on if I should retake my GMAT to be more competitive for the top MBA program. Thanks in advance!

Goal: Applying to top programs this coming fall (R1) & changing from FP&A function to strategy in entertainment post-MBA

Age/Ethnicity: 25 yrs old Asian male (Immigrant- came here as a teenager)

GMAT: 710 (48Q, 40V)

GPA: 3.44 Econ/Accounting from UCLA

Work Experience
Since college, I've been working at Disney (3 years). I first started off as an analyst at Corporate FP&A supporting CFO and Board of Directors with company-wide financial updates and business decisions. I was promoted to senior analyst shortly after 2 years in the group. I had multiple leadership experiences: I onboarded new hires and led new group projects. Recently, I joined our startup-equivalent group doing more strategy-related work like deal analyses for the Mobile Games group

Extracurricular
Back in college, I was the program lead with a community service organization that helps low income families to file their tax returns. During the time, I oversaw 100+ volunteers and was able to help out over 700 low-income individuals filing their taxes

After college, I volunteer with my alumni group as a mentor to college students, helping them with classes, resume writing, interviewing. I also volunteer (semi-regularly) with my company's volunteer group to Boys & Girls Club and local food banks.

I am also an avid cyclist and backpacker


Hey there,
Well it's all a matter of your personal limit, the effort it will require for you to get a higher score, and your priorities. So basically, if it would be relatively easy for you to get a higher score, and you are relatively sure of it, then sure why not? If you think a 710 is close to your limit, then I think you can skip it - you come from a strong school with a very good GPA with a fantastic brand name company on your CV, and volunteer work in a very well known organization. So you're pretty solid there.

Will a higher GMAT help? Always. But if you know your limits, it will help you too. Because now that questions have been released for schools, it might be more worth your while to concentrate on your applications and get things in Round 1.

Best,
Jon
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2016, 07:06
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A few thoughts for you to ponder on sliu:
  1. The nature of your work is pretty interesting and fairly unique. The fact that you are not changing your industry can be good but can also play the other way round. Strategy roles in the entertainment industry are not very many - so make sure you know your way around and convince the adcom that you will be able to find the right employment opportunity.
  2. The GPA while good, is not really excellent isn't it? So if you are aiming for the top schools, the GMAT may come under a bit of scanner. It is definitely not a deal breaker, but currently more a hygiene. If you think you can boost the score by 20+ points, it is certainly worth the pain of another shot at it.
  3. The ECs are pretty interesting too and should hold you in good stead. Overall, go for it either ways!

Cheers,
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2016, 17:13
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sliu wrote:
Hey there! I want to ask for you guys' 2-cents on if I should retake my GMAT to be more competitive for the top MBA program. Thanks in advance!

Goal: Applying to top programs this coming fall (R1) & changing from FP&A function to strategy in entertainment post-MBA

Age/Ethnicity: 25 yrs old Asian male (Immigrant- came here as a teenager)

GMAT: 710 (48Q, 40V)

GPA: 3.44 Econ/Accounting from UCLA

Work Experience
Since college, I've been working at Disney (3 years). I first started off as an analyst at Corporate FP&A supporting CFO and Board of Directors with company-wide financial updates and business decisions. I was promoted to senior analyst shortly after 2 years in the group. I had multiple leadership experiences: I onboarded new hires and led new group projects. Recently, I joined our startup-equivalent group doing more strategy-related work like deal analyses for the Mobile Games group

Extracurricular
Back in college, I was the program lead with a community service organization that helps low income families to file their tax returns. During the time, I oversaw 100+ volunteers and was able to help out over 700 low-income individuals filing their taxes

After college, I volunteer with my alumni group as a mentor to college students, helping them with classes, resume writing, interviewing. I also volunteer (semi-regularly) with my company's volunteer group to Boys & Girls Club and local food banks.

I am also an avid cyclist and backpacker


Thank you for your detailed post. It really depends on the schools you are targeting. To get into a top tier school (top 10) you should target 730+ but your overall story could impact the score you need as well. Send me an email if you would like to discuss how I can help you craft your story to get into a top school. scott@personalmbacoach.com

Best,
Scott
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2016, 17:16
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Thanks for sharing.

Agree with the advices above, go for a higher GMAT if you believe this would be easy for you to do so. If not, focus on the applications.

You would need to convince the admissions committee that you will be able to achieve your post-MBA goal. Presenting clearly that you possess the skills, background, and/or network to do so would help. Strong recommendations letters supporting your post-MBA goals would also help.

Wish you all the best!
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   07 Jun 2016, 18:38
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Sliu,
If you are aiming Top 10, then, yes, I would try to raise your GMAT score and in particular you quant subscore, if you have some evidence that you can. You have good leadership and branding and an interesting job, but your overall score is somewhat below the averages of most of the top 10-15 programs and it's ideal to clear the 80th percentile in Quant. If by Asian you mean non-Indian, non-Chinese, or non-Korean then you may get a bit of a diversity bump that might help offset the GMAT, but I would raise it if you can. Happy to give your profile a closer look if you send me your resume: paul@admitify.com.
--Paul Bodine, Great Applications for Business School, www.admitify.com/outcomes


sliu wrote:
Hey there! I want to ask for you guys' 2-cents on if I should retake my GMAT to be more competitive for the top MBA program. Thanks in advance!

Goal: Applying to top programs this coming fall (R1) & changing from FP&A function to strategy in entertainment post-MBA

Age/Ethnicity: 25 yrs old Asian male (Immigrant- came here as a teenager)

GMAT: 710 (48Q, 40V)

GPA: 3.44 Econ/Accounting from UCLA

Work Experience
Since college, I've been working at Disney (3 years). I first started off as an analyst at Corporate FP&A supporting CFO and Board of Directors with company-wide financial updates and business decisions. I was promoted to senior analyst shortly after 2 years in the group. I had multiple leadership experiences: I onboarded new hires and led new group projects. Recently, I joined our startup-equivalent group doing more strategy-related work like deal analyses for the Mobile Games group

Extracurricular
Back in college, I was the program lead with a community service organization that helps low income families to file their tax returns. During the time, I oversaw 100+ volunteers and was able to help out over 700 low-income individuals filing their taxes

After college, I volunteer with my alumni group as a mentor to college students, helping them with classes, resume writing, interviewing. I also volunteer (semi-regularly) with my company's volunteer group to Boys & Girls Club and local food banks.

I am also an avid cyclist and backpacker
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   14 Jun 2016, 11:08
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Hi sliu!
I would agree that it is not just the GMAT but certainly if you could boost your score even 20 points you may find yourself well served. You still have time before the upcoming season to do that so I'd say it is certainly worth a shot.
sliu wrote:
Hey there! I want to ask for you guys' 2-cents on if I should retake my GMAT to be more competitive for the top MBA program. Thanks in advance!

Goal: Applying to top programs this coming fall (R1) & changing from FP&A function to strategy in entertainment post-MBA Helpful that you at least have the Disney work experience so while changing fields- not necessarily changing industries.

Age/Ethnicity: 25 yrs old Asian male (Immigrant- came here as a teenager) You will be a little on young side for most competitive programs.

GMAT: 710 (48Q, 40V)

GPA: 3.44 Econ/Accounting from UCLAFor top programs your GPA is just a hair under the avgs

Work Experience
Since college, I've been working at Disney (3 years). I first started off as an analyst at Corporate FP&A supporting CFO and Board of Directors with company-wide financial updates and business decisions. I was promoted to senior analyst shortly after 2 years in the group. I had multiple leadership experiences: I onboarded new hires and led new group projects. Recently, I joined our startup-equivalent group doing more strategy-related work like deal analyses for the Mobile Games groupVery helpful that you've already got work experience at Disney. This is impressive and helpful to your post MBA goals.

Extracurricular
Back in college, I was the program lead with a community service organization that helps low income families to file their tax returns. During the time, I oversaw 100+ volunteers and was able to help out over 700 low-income individuals filing their taxesYou can leverage this in involvement. Like how you've mentioned specific numbers.

After college, I volunteer with my alumni group as a mentor to college students, helping them with classes, resume writing, interviewing. I also volunteer (semi-regularly) with my company's volunteer group to Boys & Girls Club and local food banks.
Overall what I see here is someone just under the bar in most of the major categories of evaluation but in the realm of the possible. HOW you tell your story could make a big difference and you would benefit from working with a consultant to polish how you present yourself. If you want to get in touch with us for a consult you can do so from our website linked below. Regardless, you should be proud of all that you've accomplished. But to answer your question from the start- yes I think since I see nothing that over indexes for admission to the very top programs, it would be worth a shot to see if you can get your GMAT above the avg for the schools you are targeting which will help since GPA and work experience not over the bar for those programs. Best of luck to you and always remember- you have a lot to be proud of!!
I am also an avid cyclist and backpacker
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sliu
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink] New post   14 Jun 2016, 21:49
Thank you guys for all the advice- They are invaluable! I decided to study and retake the GMAT again in a month before jumping into the applications. Thanks again!
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Re: Profile Review Request - 25 yrs old entertainment finance [#permalink]
14 Jun 2016, 21:49

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