If I can't get into a Top MBA, Top PhD instead?

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Here's my story:
Born in India, raised in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Dad lost his job when I was 18, so we turned down other schools for college and I ended up going to a small liberal arts school in Ohio. Majored in Economics, graduated with a 3.75. May 2010 graduate, and couldn't get a job no matter how hard I tried, ended up going to Notre Dame (GMAT score of 660, and yes I'm going to retake and shoot for 700+) for a Master's in Accountancy. Got a job at PwC, in the audit practice of private equity shops and their portfolio companies. After getting an above average rating, partners started sending me out to clients on my own to run an audit. I was excited at first, got bored with the repetitiveness of the work. I wanted to advise companies in some manner. So I quit just a few weeks ago, and now I'm starting a new job with Ernst and Young, in its Accounting Advisory practice. I'm not exactly sure what my work is going to be like, but it's more on the consulting side of things.

So, I want a MBA. From Columbia, specifically. The reason why, is it's value investing program. I absolutely love reading about value investing and successful investors who have employed that investment philosophy.

Currently preparing for the CFA, level 1 (December 2013).

Now, if I don't get into a top MBA, I will refuse to settle for anything outside the Ivy League. There are other ways I can still achieve my career goals (and that is to become a portfolio manager) and am considering going to get a PhD from an ivy league school in Finance/Econ, something related to figuring out the right businesses for investment.

What are your thoughts?
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by Jon@Admissionado » Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:27 am
Well, you have a very nice story, and I think that if you can pull that GMAT score you will have a shot at top programs.

I don't however know that your logic of getting into Top PhD programs is right. It's probably not easier but harder to get into PhD programs, plus you have to have the requisite profile (with as much teaching, publication, research and other academically useful experience as you can get)

Hope this helps,
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by mungerisms » Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:57 pm
Thank you for your response. What is your experience, specifically, with guys who have accounting/audit/big 4 experience in the US? Do guys like us place well into the top mba programs? My guess is no, and I say this because, when I do a linkedin search for people in Ivy league mba programs, I can't find guys with past experiences as an auditor at a big 4 firm or anything of that sort. I feel that I can obtain the numbers to qualify for a top mba (GMAT >700, GPA >3.5), but my worry is that my work experience isn't valued by these schools. This leads me to thinking that I am stuck down the path I am in.

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by Jon@Admissionado » Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:39 pm
I do understand your issue. Actually people do get into the best programs from audit, but only the best of the people from audit (It is along with IT, one of the more over-represented industries that applicants come from). So, if you can be one of the best in what you do, you will always have options open to you.
"Hands down the best MBA admissions consulting firm of all-time, and boy, what an incredible founder!" -- Raj Patil, Founder of Admissionado

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https://admissionado.lpages.co/admissio ... nter-2018/
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https://admissionado.com/mba/reviews/
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Admis ... 700945.htm

Reach out, and let's gab. Our only requirement is that you don't prefer warm milk over cold milk. Everyone else, 100% welcome.
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Ping our satellite: 0884#&@-2#101101
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