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Help Profile Evaluation

by ramirezyunque » Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:13 am
I am currently in the middle of planning for a future MBA most likely entering in fall 2012 and wanted to know what my current odds at my target schools and what could I do to improve my standing.

Educational Background:

I went to a middle tier Undergrad my first year was horrible I ended up with a 2.5 average for that year (which included introductory stat courses), I regained momentum and be raised my GPA to a 3.2 overall and Finance Major GPA 3.8, I also passed the first level of the CFA during my first semester senior year. I also recently sat down for the Level 2 CFA exam, and think I did fairly well (we'll see in august), I am only 22.

Experience:

My work experience is not what you call ordinary, when I graduated from undergrad I decided to go back home to Puerto Rico, and began working as an unpaid intern in August at the islands pension system which manages around 8B in gross assets, I quickly excelled among my peers and was offered what they call a "political position" as executive assistant to the Pension fund Administrator (comparable to the CEO) and to the Chief Investment Officer.

The pension system I am working in is currently the worst funded pension system in the united states, 9.8% funding, and it has an estimated life of five more years and a total obligation between all the funds of about 30 Billion, It is been called the Islands Achilles heel. The administration I am currently working with was brought in to try to salvage and restructure the system; we are dealing with a very demanding, dynamic, and challenging situation.

I know that I will be able to get excellent recommendations from both the Administrator and the plans CIO.

GMAT:

I am currently planning to take the GMAT in October, now that I have time to study since a just took the CFA level 2 exam which was pretty grueling and gave me no time for anything else.

Targets:

I would like to enter a MBA program at a top tier school I am currently looking at
Harvard, Columbia, Wharton

The Question:

Assuming I am able to achieve a GMAT score around 720 and I pass the Level II I recently sat for and the Level III CFA Exam.

What are my prospects for getting into one of these schools and more importantly what other recommendations do you have for improving my candidacy?

Thank you for your help,

D.R.
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

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by Cindy Tokumitsu » Sun Jun 20, 2010 7:00 am
Hello,

You have an interesting profile with some clear strengths and differentiating factors, and also some clear weaknesses.

Your CFA efforts are admirable and will help offset the low GPA. So will a stellar GMAT - to be a viable candidate to top programs, you would need a strong GMAT because of the quite low GPA, even with the CFA. The one additional thing you can do to address this issue, and which you have time to do, is to take a couple of classes in relevant courses and earn A's - this step would provide proof that you can excel in an academic environment. Top MBA adcoms will look for evidence of this ability.

Aside from that, continued leadership and outstanding impact on the job relative to accomplished peers will improve your candidacy for top programs. So will establishing a track record of initiative and leadership in an extracurricular area or community service. Lack of evidence of such dimension would be a drawback, as top adcoms look for it. Finally, well considered, researched, and articulated goals will be an essential component.

Even with all the above steps, the schools you mention would be real reaches because of the GPA. Still, if you did everything I mentioned well, I would consider those schools high but possibly reasonable reaches. Since you would still be relatively young when you plan to apply, you could reapply if you aren't admitted, perhaps considering other excellent programs. If you definitely want to be admitted in that admissions cycle, then I suggest applying to a couple of other slightly less competitive programs that still meet your needs.

Best regards,
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com