Nationality Dilemma and Post MBA Goals

Question

So i got three questions for fellow MBA aspirants and Admission Gurus

I am an Indian Citizen and Canadian Permanent Resident. I will have Canadian Under grad in Human Computer Interface and Mobile Development. Will i be pooled in Indian Male IT pool or will i be considered Canadian.I'll be applying R1 next year 2017 and also be applying for Canadian Citizenship before that. I will be eligible mid summer next year for citizenship but itll take 6-9 months before i get it and by that time R1 results will be out.

Second question - My post MBA goals are Private Equity but having no real life experience is an issue. Do you guys have any suggestion as to what i can do to learn as much as possible about PE ?

Third Question - I am finishing my bachelors this fall (one course and final project remains) . I have been studying part time for 4 years and working full time. Is part time undergrad bad or have you come across anyone who did their bachelors part time and gotten into Top 10 B School ?

Thanks

julia1029 · Answer

For PE, I'd start off with understanding the basics and terminology. There's a lot of finance books with a dedicated chapter or two to Private Equity. I think the textbook I had was Introduction to Private Equity, which was very helpful in learning the basic structure etc., so when it came time to talk to PE firms, I could comfortably discuss what I knew about the industry.

mbsingh · Answer

Thanks julia. I am gonna look for that book

99Colleges · Answer

Hi mbsingh,

Here are my answers:

First, schools don’t just club applicants into a bracket by their nationality and industry. They also look at the underlying details. In your case, your work in Canada will form the part of that ‘detail’. It’ll tell them that you’ve worked in different geographies and you’ve worked with people from different nationalities. So, your current work, in my words, gives more color to your profile, adds to the diversity quotient.

Second, private equity is a tough nut to crack even with relevant experience (PE, IB, consulting). There are few on-campus placements, and that too goes to the top B-schools. For the class of 2014, for example, 15% of the class at HBS, 17% at Stanford, 10% at Wharton, and 8% at Booth joined PE industry. In most schools, including top-10, this percent is 1-2% and less. And, like I said before, those who get into these industries invariably have prior experience in the feeder industries. So, in order to have a realistic crack at PE, you need to be in top3-4 schools and have relevant workex.

If you mention your post-MBA career goal as working in PE, the adcoms will have serious doubt about your ability to pull it off. They’ll get the impression that you haven’t shown enough diligence in finalizing your post-MBA career goals.

Third, although it’s nice to have a degree from a reputed, competitive, full-time program, a part-time degree on its own won’t hurt you. If you end up with a good GPA, have great performance in Quant courses, and, very important, if you can get 700+ in GMAT, then you would be fine even with a part-time program.

Nationality Dilemma and Post MBA Goals

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