GMAT, CFA or new Work Experience

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GMAT, CFA or new Work Experience

by thepoet » Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:39 am
My Stats are 25 year old minority female.


2.9 GPA from University of Toronto (Economics)
- took 5.5 years to complete
- death of a close relative/best friend - followed by a couple years of depression
- there is no real trend, but upward, Transcript: 50% A's, 40% B's, a few C's and D's - Just did extremely well in classes I liked, and not so well in others. a handful of A+'s
- Parents had some financial hardship, supported myself last 2 years financially

-1.5 Work Experience in Financial Service Industry - IR for a Hedge Fund Administrator
- Founded two NGO's - One dealing with Food Sustainability, the other focuses on social/economic issues in Kashmir
-Active Volunteer/Tutor - Just generally like to provide mentorship to young kids, help them understand different career paths, something I didn't have myself
-Mensa Member (not something I would put on any application)
-Did some freelance modelling - turned down being signed by some top modeling agencies
-CFA Level 2 candidate

I know I eventually want to get an MBA, because my interest in strategy and problem solving is something I haven't been able to shake. Since I was all over the place in University, mentally and emotionally, I didn't get the chance to give academics and networking my 100%. I have a strong, amiable personality, and find myself assuming leadership roles in work/extra currics (thought my work is not very "prestigious").

I would like to know whether it's better for me to take the GMAT right now (November), and do the CFA level 2 (June) and apply for BSchool in September. Or whether it's more practical for me to look for another job that I enjoy more, building up my work experience, do the CFA, and then apply next year.

Really appreciate your help.

Thank you,

Ps. The reason I'm thepoet is because of my strong interest in Eastern Poetry - I'm working on some creative side projects of translating my favorite works to English.
Pps. I scored a 680 on my GMAT diagnostic test (I feel I could hit a 720+ with some effort, and even higher with a lot of effort)
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