Ask mbaMission

Hi Everyone,
I would like an evaluation of my profile if possible.

I am a 28 Italian male, currently living in London.
GMAT: I will sit the exam on monday the 22/09/2014 and the second (I am aiming to 700) in december 2014.
GPA: 3.3 (i worked and studied full time)
Language skills: I speak English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian of course.

My backgound if definitely my strenght (I believe), I finished high school in 2005 (GPA 3.9) but I was not ready to go to university, I indeed started to work in the travel industry for a top italian tour operator (I was guest relations manager).
During my 4 years in the business I worked (and lived) in kenya, tanzania, madagascar, brazil, egypt, tunisia, caribbean and cape verde, then as a consequence of the financial crisis the company filed for bankrupcy and I moved to London (in 2009).

In London I was hired as operations manager for a small retail buiness and I was put in charge of its expansion in the UK (they are danish); after two years and 3 sites opened I decided that I was finally ready to go to uni.
In 2011 i joined Westminster University, but since I could not afford to be only a student, I was required to work as well an therefore I worked and studied full time (my employer has been extremely flexible and I was doing coursework in the evenings and weekend = no social life for 3 years) showing dedication, commitment and excellent time management skills (I indeed graduated with GPA of 3.3).

During the last year of my degree I switched career from operations to finance (i was promoted to finance associate) and I have established the finance office in the UK taking over all the accounting responsibilities (before all this was done in Denmark).

Upon graduation I had enough experience to be confident to apply for more senior roles, indeed two days after my degree was awarded I signed a contract as UK Finance Controller for one of my employer's competitor and to date I am still holding the position.

Long story short I am applying for NYU and Harvard (although my first choice is NYU), I will have 1 year of work experience after graduation (but 4 since I staterd my undergrad and 8/9 overall) I intend to take advantage of what a Top academic experience will build on my numeracy skills, my multicultural and multilingual background to pursue a career in investment banking and more precisely in Sales and Trading (although after talking to some Stern alumni I have understood that I should go for IB or M&A because banks do not hire S&T Associates anymore).

In terms of community as explained earlier, I started my career in Kenya, and living there for 2 years have made me realize that the local population lived in severe conditions; therefore with the help of friends, colleagues and clients of my hotel I have raised funds to build the Marafiki Primary School. The aim of the project was to provide Kenyan children with better education and to give them a brighter future.

In the last years I have been pretty busy with uni and work and I hope they will understand this... however because I am a sport person, I sometimes run marathons in London to raise funds for cancer research UK. (That's all I can do at the moment)

What else, I have been the captain of the football (soccer) team at my university, I have travelled to 24 countries, I do scuba diving (I am a PADI rescue diver) and I intend to take the CFA level one once I am done with the GMAT....

One more thing I am totally obsessed with NYU there is only one place where I want to go.

Please let me know if I am wasting my time dreaming about getting into NYU and Harvard.

Thanks

Hello

You have a very uncommon profile and I think that that will be your greatest USB in applying to business schools. There are many elements in your profile that will be of great interest to admission committees provided you write your essays well.

You GPA is fine. Close to the average, slightly on the lower side. Your profile will make up for it to an extent but you can offset it better with a high GMAT score. If you can score close to 710 or 720, you will greatly improve your chances of making it to NYU.

You have more than enough work experience full with quality and quantity. Keep in mind that you will have to explain it to the admission committees why you did not pursue college education after school. It is okay to have a short gap after school but six years is a pretty long time. Despite a good GPA in school, why did you not pursue college? Can you tell me more about it?

The sort of international exposure that your job has given you is substantial and will be taken into consideration by adcoms. I am sure you will have many interesting stories to tell. Choose wisely when you discuss them in your essays. You should definitely discuss your experiences from Kenya.

In the first four years of your job, were you promoted? Other than your travels, what were your roles and responsibilities as guest relations manager and how did you deliver them? You have mentioned that in your second job, you were in-charge of the expansion of the business. How was your overall performance at this job and to what extent you were responsible for the 3 new sites in UK? It is good that you were promoted at your third job, part of important projects and you went up the ladder while joining the fourth firm. You must highlight these in your essays.

Coming to your extracurricular activities, I think you have a variety of valuable experiences to discuss. You should begin with your initiative to build a school for Kenyan children and how successful you were in securing funds for it. How has the school been doing since it started? You should also discuss your participation in fund - raising marathons. Did you win any of these? As soccer captain how many matches you played and won and at what level? Address all of these questions if you can in your essays. You can also discuss your experiences as a rescue diver, if any.

CFA certifications would add make your profile better still. It is very good that you are talking to alumni, stay in touch with them and find out how well you would fit in NYU - what clubs you could join at NYU and how you can contribute to the NYU community. You can discuss these communications in your essays. If it is possible, visit the campus.

I think you have a satisfactory answer for why you want to pursue an MBA. You will also have to answer - why IB? What drives you towards it? Do you have any experience in the field? Any interaction with bankers? In short, you will have to discuss any encounter or experience in the past that moves you towards this field. The more specific and lucid you can be, the better.

You have a good profile but much depends on your GMAT and how you portray yourself in the essays.

All the best
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