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Devon
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Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Last visit: 26 Jan 2016
Posts: 182
Own Kudos:
41
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V46
GPA: 3.02
WE:Engineering (Other)
Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V46
Posts: 182
Kudos: 41
Some input on my updated profile please? Last time hopefull 19 May 2014, 08:02
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I'm back for another edition of "what are my odds". Hopefully this will be the last, given that several schools have released their essay questions and so over the next couple of weeks I'll start to put together my story and a plan of attack.

Quote:
26 year old male (will be 27 when I apply in Fall 2014). I was previously an engineer and just got hired on as an Associate at a PE firm three months ago.

Prior to College
-I've been doing volunteer work since around 12 years old, when I started participating in an org to get a skatepark built, which succeeded when I was I believe 19 or 20. I worked with the city engineer and one other person to design what was actually built. I was active with this org the entire time.
-I did a variety of volunteer work, from being an assistant to a Village Board member to helping the local historical society relocate a log cabin and volunteering at a local dance held for people with mental disabilities

College Information
-Graduated from an average public university with a BS Civil Engineering and Economics in 2010
-3.0 GPA
-For a time was in the honors college and for the first 1-2 semesters was on the dean's honor roll
-Participated in a few non-political orgs but, aside from a regional engineering competition we did well in, not really to any meaningful extent
-Politically I was very active:
We founded our own student anti-war organization that gained popularity extremely fast, I was pivotal in this
We organized a student contingent to a city-wide march that was bigger than the whole rest of the march
Staged one of the largest rallies in the university's history, at which I spoke
Held ongoing smaller events such as film showings and speakers
Via a different student org, were able to influence our city to establish a sister-city relationship with a South-American city and organized trips to the city
Worked closely with other student and non-student orgs to build coalitions around certain issues

After College Employment
-Worked in a call center, which required FINRA licensing (obtained Series 6 and 63)
-Worked in technical support for a small local software company, at which I was the best employee and obtained all certifications possible in the given software
-Worked for the past almost two years as a mechanical engineer at a small (~20 person) manufacturing firm:
Not in a leadership position but I had been very proactive in working on resolving business problems and taking initiative
Had been placed as project lead on a few projects, and attempted to get more leadership roles
Worked on improving our products to reduce manfacturing cost by 50%, which I believe would have significantly improved our business prospects
Hoped to have a significant impact on top-line growth of the business

Current Job
-Just started at a small private equity firm. It's myself and the two partners of the firm currently, and they have me involved in everything they do. Been here for three months so far and they're planning on writing me a glowing LOR.
• Redesigned firm leveraged buyout valuation model
• Review deals as a team to decide whether or not to submit indications of interest letters
• Prepare deal process documentation/correspondence
• Meet with management teams to discuss potential acquisitions
• Attend quarterly board meetings of all eight portfolio companies on behalf of PS Capital
• Run valuation models based on historic and pro forma company financials to determine eligibility and projected return on prospective acquisitions
• Work with firm partners on acquisition deal structures and proposals
• Prepare quarterly statements from portfolio company financials
• Currently working with the firm partners to set up a mezzanine debt fund. Worked with them to draft the LP agreement and met with some of our biggest investors to discuss. Will be involved in all aspects of this process going forward (expected to close the fund by end of June).


After College Other Stuff
-Passed the CFA Level 1 exam
-I participated in an investment banking/private equity case competition, and made it to the finals.
-I took one high-level graduate finance course (received an A) and got a 750 on the GMAT, which these combined with passing level 1 of CFA will hopefully offset my ugrad GPA.
-I'm a board director for a city-wide organization that has just under $1m in assets. We're a fundraising organization with 50 member organizations, some of which are prominent.
-I'm the chair of the event committee for the same organization. Under my leadership we planned an event this week that surpassed our attendance/donation expectations. I'm now working with a prominent city institution on another, larger event that should be a smash (hoping to have several hundred people attend this event).
- On the leadership council of a prominent young professionals organization. Member of two business-related networking groups. Working on getting on the board of directors of a prominent city arts organization.
Show more

In terms of crafting a story, I think there's a few possibilities. The first, and most obvious, would be a traditional "transition to PE" story where I discuss my desire to move into this field (and my actual accomplishment in doing so), and my desire to use my MBA to get further up in the field.

Another story I was considering was the idea of creating a private investment partnership like a private equity fund whose focus is in investing in companies from an environmental perspective. My firm has a unique business model that I think could be adapted to something like that, and that sort of "activist" investing is pretty popular right now, ties in with my past environmental/activist work, and would set me apart from other traditional PE people who just want to move up in the field.

Anyways, ideas always welcome. Love hearing the feedback on here; it's been really helpful.
User avatar
Devon
User avatar
Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Last visit: 26 Jan 2016
Posts: 182
Own Kudos:
41
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V46
GPA: 3.02
WE:Engineering (Other)
Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V46
Posts: 182
Kudos: 41
Some input on my updated profile please? Last time hopefull 27 May 2014, 06:46
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Anyone?