Kindly evaluate profile . Thank you :)

Question

Hey there ,

Following is my profile . I am a 26year old Indian male .
-Did my B.com
- Have a NCFM certificate in Fundamental Analysis and Financial markets issued by National Stock exchange (NSE)
-GMAT - 700

-worked at a shared service centre of mckinsey&co for 7months . 
 where for 3months I was the point of contact for their oracle r12 testing .

- after that I left cause I thought i was not really learing anything of use other than MSexcel .
 So I joined my dad in his business (small iron sheets trading business and an agency) ; we were able to increase our turnover by 5% from the previous year and we were able to bring in 3 new clients in our agency . Worked for 1.2years and left cause of family problems .in that time I gained intrest in stock markets and started studying it online through sites and investing small amounts.

- Then joined a small PE firm as a Research Analyst . Worked there for 3 years . Was promoted to Senior Research analyst during my second year .Basically my job is to look at PE firms activities , M&A activities and analyse them and produce reports (rather help produce reports)

Extra-Curricular :
- volunteer at a charitable trust for 2.5years .
- published papers on stock market in a few journals.

Goals:
- I intend to get into investment banking for the short term (5-10years)
- intend to have my own venture capital firm (10+years)

It would be very helpful if you could evaluate my profie and let me know if my profile is apt for the following programs :
1. Warwick Business school
2. ISB
3. Oxford 
4. Cambridge .

Thanking and Regards,
Raj

Admissionado · Answer

Hey there Raj!
Thanks for dropping by.
I'm missing a wee bit of info on your profile (like undergrad, volunteer work, extra currics) to give you the in-depth deal, but let me try with what I have. Overall, things look pretty good. If you are working for a brand name PE firm, then even better. I think all of the schools on your list are schools at which you would be more or less competitive. What's missing for me though in your strategy is a bit of breadth- esp. on the "Safer" side of things. What I mean is that I'd say your four schools lie somewhere in the competitive to stretch range, but you don't yet have any on your list that are really that "safe" (Warwick comes closest), so if possible, think about another one or two schools that are ranked just a bit lower than what you have here and you should be good. (Are you thinking ONLY about India and UK??? Any reason?)

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate....

Rockstaaa · Answer

Hey there , Well I dont have many extra-curs . I generally spend time with frds at movies or at a bar to break the stress . My under graduation was done at a recognized college in my city but its not so recognized nation wide (made a mistake to join it cause of low fee) . , I have a CGPA of 6.2 out of 10 , and my grades have been increasing from 4.66 in the first year to 5.09 in the second and then 6.2 in third . I was goofing about in college and never attended class and all ,and was also helping out my dad with his business part time . And I am working in a small PE/VC firm , has about 30 employees max . We are more of a branding for the PE's . As I said our job is to look at M&A deals and PE activities and rate them at the end of the year and draw reports on which one performed better or which company had the max activities and draw reports based on that . And at the end of the year we have like an awarding ceremony or more of a corporate event where we hand over a piece of paper to the PE's who toped the list . Side by side we also analyse companies for M&A activities of our firm and also analyse stock markets . My volunteer work is basically a mix of volunteering at UNICEF (providing food , teaching etc... anything they need help with ) and Teach for India (Teaching). Although by the next year I plan to join a college or some community where I can teach people or students from a poor background to analyze stocks and invest and how to plan their financial future , so that they atleast get a good size capital before 35 if they start from scratch with just an undergraduate degree.(thought I have not decided on this reason being lack of time ). and regarding the programs I have selected . The US programs are all 2 year programs so the opportunity cost of that 1 extra year plus the extra fee and living would cost me all my savings . (hence the opportunity cost of that one extra year would include the compound interest on my savings too

and i wouldnt need to take a huge loan on it ) and I was guessing Warwick to be a "safe" bet . Would me getting another year or 2 years experience be a good idea for Cambridge ? And is there anything else I can do in that time that would increase my chances ?

Admissionado · Answer

Hey dude,
I think experiencewise you are pretty fine, and if you are ready to go for it, then go for it now. Another two years might add something, but only if it adds something (meaning you get a fantastic promotion or something).

Warwick should be safish for you, but ISB and Oxford will be quite tough. Cambridge is likely in the middle. But it's a bit unbalanced towards the tough side, and I especially advice my male Indian clients to aim for more schools when possible, because unfortunately it's very easy to get unlucky even with a good profile, because of sheer numbers of the applicant pool. So you do want to hedge your bets a bit.

Your volunteer work, as you present it is not a starry sky, but it's good and solid, so I don't think you need to worry about anything there.

I understand your bit about 1 year programs... and if that's the case then sure go for it.... think about also maybe HEC PAris, Manchester, ESADE.... they could also be good choices for you.

Good luck!!!

Rockstaaa · Answer

Ah thank you Jon for your profile evaluation . I had just realised that I hadnt provided my grades in the previous post , so I was editing it and by the time I posted , you had replied .
So , just for a small review , I have a CGPA of 6.2 out of 10 , and my grades have been increasing from 4.66 in the first year to 5.09 in the second and then 6.2 in third . I was goofing about in college and never attended class and all ,and was also helping out my dad with his business part time . So my grades arent so good either I guess .

and yes I understand what your saying , I'll add in Manchester and ESADE to the list . Although if I want to get employed in spain I would need to learn Spanish and for Paris I would need French . I guess I'll have to apply in other places too for jobs .

Thanking ,

Raj

Admissionado · Answer

Raj,
That IS true, but lots of people do go then work in other markets.

Good luck with your apps! And if you need anything else, just stop on by...

Kindly evaluate profile . Thank you :)

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