Decent GPA in engineering from target, Decent GMAT, Help!

dqope21 wrote:Hi all,

I've recently quit my job and was invited to work on a startup with a friend in Asia. We raised over 100k in VC funding and were about to start but my partner had a family emergency and our investor pulled out because I can't do it alone for reasons I won't go into here.

After graduating from my target school (Duke) with a 3.6 in the hardest engineering at our school, I took a job as a consultant at a small software company that specializes in business software. My role involved traveling to big firms such as GS and KKR and implementing technical solutions that they request. However, I quickly got bored of the job and the people I was around and knew I wanted to leave 2 months in. I stayed for one year in order to keep my signing bonus.

Now, I'm faced with a dilemma. I've always respected the culture and ideas that flow through this website. I know that my aggressive personality belongs in finance and the reason I didn't go straight out of undergrad was because I wanted to do something different and was afraid of the long hours. Now, I'm more confident in myself and am having second thoughts but I'm no longer in undergrad and do not have OCR to help me land a job. I have plenty of friends in IBD and even some in PE but I'm not sure what type of industry I should enter. I interviewed at MBB in my last year but didn't land a single offer from any.

I'd like some advice to help me figure out my options and determine which roles are even feasible for me to enter at this point. If I were to do IBD, wouldn't I be a year behind my peers? I also hold a 750 GMAT so numbers wise, I think I am alright. I graduated in 2015 (last year). In terms of goals, I'd like to work in a high pace field and attend a top business school.

Thanks!!!

Thanks for writing! So your engineering degree from Duke will serve you well. And I'd hold that 750 GMAT in my back pocket- and that will be great- but to really be a top candidate you need to demonstrate professional success- and while you have some interesting moments so far- you would benefit from working for a few more years and building a track record with a promotion or two first. Who cares if you are behind your peers in I-Banking? If you want to do I-banking post MBA better to find an analyst role now. Duke's career management center could help you with at least names and you would work your network to get some leads- formal hiring for the year is mostly done but maybe there would be a situation where someone is needed. Have you considered getting some extra training at a place like "training the street?" where you could build some confidence and skills so that you will be easier to hire off cycle? Also consider working in something like fintech area or looking to gain some expertise in understanding regulatory issues facing financial institutions at a firm like Promontory https://www.promontory.com/Firm/Overview/ Don't limit yourself to just looking at the big name IB firms- anything where you are doing some financial modeling would be valuable. And for your next job- try to be more patient- NO JOB is perfect... some of success is making the best of every opportunity given to you and to find a way to become so good at your regular job that you can make the space to also work on your interests and keep growing. Sometimes you have to shovel some ___ so you can take the horse for a ride.... you know what I'm saying? It is the people who understand the value in doing the mundane well... and can see beyond that to find new opportunities no matter where they are. So try to adopt that attitude of how can I help the company- and how can I always look for the best of whatever situation you are in-- trust me- those are the people that do the best in life. You still have time to go to a top notch MBA program- and another thing you can do is to work with a firm like ours to prepare for how to be ready for b school in a few years- we can do an audit on all the areas where you will be evaluated and make a plan for how to be your best in each area. To learn more, get a free consult here: https://stratusprep.com/free-consult/

This topic has expert replies