what do you think?

Question

Hi ,

Profile:
Age 35
Engineer MS. 12 years exp.
GMAT: 710
FT MBA admit at Ohio State– non-finance school – Full free ride – graduate in 2010 at age 37.5.

Desire: Goldman Sachs like company in Investment mgt or hedge fund 
 
 I know you must be saying “in your dreams”.

I know I messed up. My profile is not good right now for Elite schools where GS goes.

I have two options

Option A: Just sit it out for this year – work on CFA – finish it in a year – gain critical mass in Finance – work on finance soft skills groom myself and improve the GMAT score to 750 – all while maintaining a full time engineering job. And then take a chance with Elite schools – Pessimistic scenario - I am confident I will atleast get in to Simon – University of Rochester with ¼ tuition waiver. 
Age 38 – by the time I start my dream job.

Option B: Complete Ohio state Fischer MBA – take up a job in Invest mgt at a much lower level company ($60000/year). Start getting some background in handling money. Complete CFA in one year. Then complete MSCF from a top school – this time surely from a top Elite program. And then shoot for GS like companies – age 37 + 1 +2 = 40

My question is would a top MS in Computational Finance. After my MBA at Ohio give me a shot at GS like companies?
Does GS even look at 35 plus candidates for their MBA level jobs?

Please read GS as Top Finance bank/hedge fund – If you are not much impressed with GS.

sudden · Answer

i don't know anything about ohio state's MBA program, but one thing you might do is check with the school's career office if anyone has ever gotten a job at goldman coming out of the program. i work with a guy who attended a similarly ranked program and tried to get a job on the Street after graduation. he said he was the first person in the history of his school to get an interview at Bear Stearns, although he did not get the job (probably a good thing lol). if no one from ohio state has ever made it to goldman, what do you think your chances would be?

you might be better off going for an MFE or other quant type degree since you have a heavy quant background. i think the MBA route will be pretty disappointing for you because you will not be able to compete with the younger, more experienced MBAs coming out of top programs. the unfortunate fact is that wall street is a pretty unforgiving place. if you do not get on the "right" track nearly immediately, it is very difficult to break in. heck, it's difficult to break into goldman even if you ARE on the right track. your best would likely be to leverage your quant skills into some kind of financial engineering or programming role. just my 0.02. best of luck to you.

3underscore · Answer

Depends a lot on what you want to do in the GS / HF that you are targeting.

I doubt there is much gain from improving your GMAT.

Also, I do have some concerns of your projections. Finishing your CFA in a year if you haven't started it is impossible (and there is no mention you have), and a lot harder than you may care to imagine.

pelihu · Answer

I think you are confusing a few issues here. In option B you say that you'll go for a CFA, another degree, a job in investment management and then try for a job at Goldman down the road. Generally speaking, Goldman is not an investment management firm (unless you're targeting their global alpha fund or something, and in that case, good luck if you're not from Harvard). They do investment banking and brokerage. A CFA is doing to have little impact for banking and trading jobs, and places like Goldman don't care about how many degrees and certifications you've accumulated.

I don't really have advice regarding your situation, but I'll offer a few observations. Goldman does consider people who are 35+, but you have to overcome the presumption that people at that stage of their lives won't be as likely to sacrifice and kill themselves for a job because they have family and other concerns; there will also be a question of whether you'd be willing to take orders from people 10 years younger than you, and why you haven't achieved more by this stage of your career. Older candidates generally have really good reasons why they are seeking a starting level job at this stage - military or people with success in other professions.

I do believe that a 750+ GMAT can help. It may help you get into a better business school if you apply again next year, and investment bank recruiters definitely look at GMAT scores. Even if you decide to go to Ohio State, a 750 GMAT could help you gain traction with IB recruiters. That said, it's not going to be a deciding factor. You'll need some other exciting stuff in your profile as well.

I'm just going to generalize, but GS and other top IBs recruit top 25-50% students at ultra-elite schools, top 10-20% students at elite schools, and rarely anywhere else. People from other schools have specific skills or backgrounds that they are looking for. Based on where you stand right now, your goal of getting a job at GS or a top Hedge will be tough to achieve. I encourage you to check out the profiles of people in such jobs so you can get an idea of what it will take to get there yourself.

togafoot · Answer

Just to ad my two pennies worth, in Tokyo, a lot of people switch between the finance companies, from small to big, big to small etc. and it`s not as MBA driven as it is in the USA. So the alternative is to look outside of the USA. (I have a few friends working in IB in Tokyo without MBA`s and regularly play football with finance recruiters in Tokyo)

hemantS · Answer

Thank you all for your views.

I think I should do some more research on tier 2 and 3 Invst mgt firms/companies.

I will post my decision and rationale just in case anyone wants to know.

what do you think?

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards