Profile Evaluation Please

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Profile Evaluation Please

by gauravku » Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:34 am
Hi,

Kindly Review my profile.

GMAT - 700 (Verbal - 34, Quant - 50). Was expecting more as I got 770 and 760 in the 2 GMATprep tests on first attempt and was getting 750+ generally.
Nationality - Indian
Age - 25
GPA - 3.2
Undergraduate School - Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Passed three years of CFA exam in minimum time possible i.e. 1.5 years. Waiting for charter next year (after completing 4 years of work ex)

Number of years of work experience - 3 years 2 months.

18 months in India with a Knowledge Process Outsourcing Firm, working for technology ventures group of GE in Princeton. For the last 18 months have been in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. From March 2009 to November 2010 as equity research analyst with a boutique, but known in the region.

Joined Al Rajhi Capital, investment banking subsidiary of Al Rajhi Bank, largest Islamic Bank in the World in December 2009. Joined as Associate with Private Equity team, worked on the development and structuring of Real Estate Private Equity Fund. Worked closely with the MD in preparing presentations for three other PE funds, however, they didn't get approved by the board. Recently the company had restructuring and the real estate fund was moved to asset management division and I moved to Investment Banking / Corporate Finance division. Pitched three deals, two of which got converted into mandates.

Leadership - Was involved in several team building exercises as leader and won first positions.

Recommendations - From MD of Investment Banking and PE (harvard alumni), colleague admitted into Stanford GSB this year, may be CEO of the company and my current direct supervisor (director)

Extra curricular - Not much. However, have plans in future. Have put in some money in my home village in India.

Target Schools - Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Chicago Booth, Columbia

Reasons for MBA - To get exposure (in terms of knowledge of businesses (though case studies) and leadership skills) and interact with the best to be managers in the world. Short term goal to land in a global PE firm (blackstone may be with their investment team), stay with them for a long time and by 45 start investing on my own through a investment vehicle.

Please let me know your feedback. Should I retake GMAT exam?

Thanks and regards.
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

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by cindytokumitsu » Sat Aug 28, 2010 6:16 am
Hello,

Your GMAT will not cause adcoms to worry about your academic ability, but for your demographic and industry groups it's a little low, so if you believe that with reasonable effort you can improve it, I suggest retaking.

Lack of extracurriculars will be a drawback to the programs you mention, even with all your strengths. And it will matter more to some than others. Providing funding to your home village, even though commendable, won't fill that slot. The nature of your work may prevent you from committing substantial time, and adcoms will understand that fact. Still, it means you should strive to make all the other aspects of your applications as strong as possible - hence the value of a higher GMAT.

Your target programs are all high reaches - and that may make perfect sense for you at this point in your career. I'd say they're probably reasonable reaches, but you might consider widening the list to include schools such as NYU, Cornell, LBS.

Best regards,
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com