Hi,
I would to get an evaluation of my profile in reference to my MBA (Finance) application. I am a 27 male living & working in the DC area. I grew up in India, finished high school there and immigrated to the US about 10 years ago. Please see below a snapshot of my profile:
- Undergraduate degree with a double major in Accounting and Management Information Systems. I graduated with a 3.9/4.0 overall GPA (while working full-time 3 out of the 4 years). Juggled work with heavy courseload and also participated in co-curricular activities on campus. I worked as a Resident Assistant and also as a Student Teacher in Accounting for Undergraduate and MBA students. Also had an internship with a Big-4 Accounting firm the summer of my Junior year.
- I have been working with a big-4 accounting firm since obtaining my undergraduate degree (4.5 years ago). I'm currently working as a Corporate Tax Manager and have a CPA as well. Work responsibilities include heavy involvement with financial statement audits/preparation, corporate tax consulting and corporate tax return preparation. That said I possess decent knowledge of how the financials of a Company work with most of my clients being publicly traded companies. Obtained CPA license within 2 years of my undergraduate degree, while working full time in a challenging work environment. From a recommendations perspective, I can manage good recommendations from partners/senior managers.
- Scored a 680 (Q44/V39) on the GMAT while maintaining a full-time work schedule. I do realize that i'm of Asian descent, however my verbal percentile (87%) was higher than my quant. I would say that having studied at a boarding school in India I have a much stronger grasp over my verbal skills than quant (I'm assuming this is not typical of candidates of Asian background). Would it help to highlight this?
- I have also worked overseas while doing 2 expat rotations with the firm's India operations whereby I was involved in building the practice in the country, managing and mentoring professionals as well as providing relevant training.
I would like to get some expert feedback on my profile. I am aiming for the following schools - Wharton, Yale, NYU, London School of Business, Dartmouth, Duke, Cornell, Oxford. I do realize that my GMAT score might be 10-20 odd points off but I believe that I have a decent profile with international work experience.
The reason I want to pursue an MBA (Finance) is to develop a skillset towards the M&A/Private Equity sectors. I have a solid Accounting background (and have taken Finance and Econ. classes), but I feel that an MBA will help me brush up my finance and management skills. With my current job I definitely get to see how a Company's financials work but i'm really interested in the investing side of things i.e. what makes a business viable, evaluating long-term growth prospects etc. Basically looking beyond numbers. I am very interested in the emerging markets arena and am an avid follower of the developments there especially my home country India. Long term, I would definitely like to move back and be a part of the private equity/M&A activity in that country.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
-Rav
I would to get an evaluation of my profile in reference to my MBA (Finance) application. I am a 27 male living & working in the DC area. I grew up in India, finished high school there and immigrated to the US about 10 years ago. Please see below a snapshot of my profile:
- Undergraduate degree with a double major in Accounting and Management Information Systems. I graduated with a 3.9/4.0 overall GPA (while working full-time 3 out of the 4 years). Juggled work with heavy courseload and also participated in co-curricular activities on campus. I worked as a Resident Assistant and also as a Student Teacher in Accounting for Undergraduate and MBA students. Also had an internship with a Big-4 Accounting firm the summer of my Junior year.
- I have been working with a big-4 accounting firm since obtaining my undergraduate degree (4.5 years ago). I'm currently working as a Corporate Tax Manager and have a CPA as well. Work responsibilities include heavy involvement with financial statement audits/preparation, corporate tax consulting and corporate tax return preparation. That said I possess decent knowledge of how the financials of a Company work with most of my clients being publicly traded companies. Obtained CPA license within 2 years of my undergraduate degree, while working full time in a challenging work environment. From a recommendations perspective, I can manage good recommendations from partners/senior managers.
- Scored a 680 (Q44/V39) on the GMAT while maintaining a full-time work schedule. I do realize that i'm of Asian descent, however my verbal percentile (87%) was higher than my quant. I would say that having studied at a boarding school in India I have a much stronger grasp over my verbal skills than quant (I'm assuming this is not typical of candidates of Asian background). Would it help to highlight this?
- I have also worked overseas while doing 2 expat rotations with the firm's India operations whereby I was involved in building the practice in the country, managing and mentoring professionals as well as providing relevant training.
I would like to get some expert feedback on my profile. I am aiming for the following schools - Wharton, Yale, NYU, London School of Business, Dartmouth, Duke, Cornell, Oxford. I do realize that my GMAT score might be 10-20 odd points off but I believe that I have a decent profile with international work experience.
The reason I want to pursue an MBA (Finance) is to develop a skillset towards the M&A/Private Equity sectors. I have a solid Accounting background (and have taken Finance and Econ. classes), but I feel that an MBA will help me brush up my finance and management skills. With my current job I definitely get to see how a Company's financials work but i'm really interested in the investing side of things i.e. what makes a business viable, evaluating long-term growth prospects etc. Basically looking beyond numbers. I am very interested in the emerging markets arena and am an avid follower of the developments there especially my home country India. Long term, I would definitely like to move back and be a part of the private equity/M&A activity in that country.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
-Rav
