Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Nickhil, I apologyse for the lenght of the post, I got bit carried away jejej would you please give me your honest opinion on what are my chances to getting into a top mba?

I'm planning on applying on the 1st round of 2009 so I still have some time to work on things that may improve my chances and I would like to take advantage of it.

They main weakness I see in a future application would be my academic history. I went to the public school here in Argentina for 2 years (I worked for a while during those years) didn’t even completed the 1st year (one subject short).
Switched to a private school which is considered one of the best in Argentina and graduated with a 6/10 average (4 is passing and its suppose to be about 60-70%... but even considering this is pretty low) and it took me a while to graduate. (about 2 and half extra years).
There are two reasons for this 1) I didn’t put the necessary effort as I really didn’t mind about the grades (did care about learning though) 2) I used to work to the US during my summers which meant I would leave school early and come in late so I had to retake some classes or take make up tests; in some of this cases a few professors wont let get more than a certain grade (in my transcript you can see a subject where my grade is 5/10 when I aced the exam). The first I regret, the second I don’t, I think it was an amazing experience.

I got a scholarship from my school to take part of an "executive program" in finance base on my finance grades (they show up as a 6 because of some of the reasons I just stated, but it was much better). I'm thinking about either enrolling into a finance master's here in Argentina or trying to get the CFA level one before the application to show I can cut it academically.

I've only started studying for the GMAT last week, but I'm confident I can do well in it and I will definitely put in the effort.

I had a lot of extracurricular in high school. I was school captain, rugby captain, I was in the track team and in the math Olympics jejej I did a bit of everything and did fairly well. During college I only did some teaching helping poor kids with school. One of my jobs during the first 2 years of school was basically a volunteer job at a children’s hospital. I would very much like to get involve in something again, the truth is I miss it.
Besides some minor jobs those two years, working as a ski instructor and other jobs of the sort I've only had two jobs. the first was writing a manual about reading financial charts which was a joint project between my school and the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.
The other one (my current job) I got after graduating. I'm a Sr. Analyst at a small investment banking firm. I mainly value companies, but my bosses seem to be really happy with me (I’m not trying to seem full of my self) and I continue to get more and more responsibilities. I am now leading an M&A deal for the first time, I trained the other two analysts working at the company, Some reports I've done were picked up and are now the model we use to report all new M&A deals to the clients. When our main costumer (a foreign investment fund) said that he wanted us to value financial companies because they were planning on switching to that industry, which was something non of the partners had any experience doing, I was put in charge of it and the client seemed very happy with the results. Being a small place they allow us to innovate so I have been able to impact the company in different ways which I think will be good for the application.

I will get good recommendations from my bosses and they will be willing to work on them with me, but none of them have masters from American schools (only one has a masters) and the place is not well known. I had the opportunity to work at Lehman but I chose the smaller firm cause I figured it would give me a greater chance of taking on responsibilities and learning rather than just looking at my little piece of the puzzle, and I believe I made the right choice.

Anyway.. that's pretty much it. I apologize again for the length of the post and I hope you are will give me your opinion. Like probably everyone else here, I’m hoping to apply to a top B-School, but I know that the process is extremely competitive. Keeping in mind that there are still ways to improve certain things for the application and assuming I do well on the GMAT; I would like to have an idea of whether a top school is a real possibility or merely a dream. Also your thoughts on the masters in financer vs the CFA (or either) to improve the academic history, as I see pros and cons on both...

thanks a lot for your help,

Sincerely,

Hi MTRH,

Thanks for your post. I hate to say it, but yes, you are facing an uphill battle. As you know, this year is going to be very competitive for admissions into a top MBA program. Since your undergrad scores are low, you really need to pull a high GMAT score (at least 700) and have strong essays and LORs.

Its seems like you have a unique and diverse background - which could work to your advantage. Make sure you tie all of these experiences into a story that makes logical sense and how it would impact your post-MBA career. If you read my posts, you know I dont plug Admission Consulting services, but in your case, I think it might make sense to help you tie all of your experiences and develop an interesting application.

But overall, if you are not able to score at least upper 600s on the GMAT, it will be difficult for you to get into a top school this year.

Regards,

NP

Nick,
Thanks for replying so quick, I’m actually planning to apply next year which I’m not sure that it will be as crazy as this one, but I do still expect it to be more competitive than usual (you are the expert though, so you tell me jejej).
As far as the GMAT I think I could do well in it. I took a practice test a few years ago miss 2 questions in the quant and about 5 or 6 in the verbal… I hadn’t studied for it, but it wasn’t a CAT and it was a long time ago! I took the quant diagnostic test in the official guide and didn’t do anywhere near this time… but I think I can pull off a good score if I put in the time (which I am doing).
As far as the master in finance or a CFA level one, do you think they would help to compensate a bit the low GPA? Or do you think it really wont have a real impact… which would you recommend? (do you have a better idea?)
Finally, do you think if I can pull off a good enough GMAT score I have a real shot at a top MBA next year, or will the GPA weight in too much and I’m just kidding myself…

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it

Hi M,
Thanks for your reply - its hard to gauge what next year will look like. But I agree it will be more competitive than usual (my guess is many people that dont get in this year, will apply next year).

A higher GMAT will definitely help you offset your lower GPA. By how much, its hard to say. And yes, you might want to consider taking post-undergrad classes (stats, acct, calculus) that would give you the opportunity to prove your ability to handle the academic rigor of a top MBA program.

Good luck!

NP

Thanks a lot

Glad to help. Let us know if you have any other questions.