Hi,
My background is a bit unique compared to most b-school aspirants. After graduating high school, I enrolled at a middle-tier city college and ended up with dismal grades before calling quits after five years with a GPA slightly below 2.0 (120 credits). Since I knew school wasn't for me, I decided to work full-time in my family-owned business. After about a year, I had a revelation and found my passion in finance, which led me to enroll in a community college and eventually graduate in the top of my program (designed as a 2-year program) after one year (by taking a combination of day-time, evening and weekend classes), while attaining a 4.0 GPA (60 credits).
After graduation, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to a top-50 undergraduate business program, a dream come true considering my circumstances. As a full-time student taking either 5 or 6 courses per semester, I was also interning every semester for various front-office positions as an intern analyst: asset management, investment banking and commercial banking. My GPA will be roughly 3.6 by graduation (would have been higher if I didn't intern 20+ hours while taking a full-course load) and I will be working in corporate finance as a full-time analyst in syndications. In terms of extracurricular activities, I joined a finance club at school (non-leadership role) and volunteered sparingly for various institutions during my time-off.
Currently I'm in the process of preparing for my GMATs and my practice exams scores are about 690-710, but I still have a few months to go, so hopefully I can push my score towards 720-740. I'm not sure how B-Schools view an applicant's age, but I will be 29 by the time I start my full-time analyst program with the hopes of attending B-school by the age of 31-32.
What type of schools will take an applicant with my background? I know the best and brightest students apply for the best schools in the country, but what are my chances? What are the reach schools and realistic schools at this point? Thank you for your time.
My background is a bit unique compared to most b-school aspirants. After graduating high school, I enrolled at a middle-tier city college and ended up with dismal grades before calling quits after five years with a GPA slightly below 2.0 (120 credits). Since I knew school wasn't for me, I decided to work full-time in my family-owned business. After about a year, I had a revelation and found my passion in finance, which led me to enroll in a community college and eventually graduate in the top of my program (designed as a 2-year program) after one year (by taking a combination of day-time, evening and weekend classes), while attaining a 4.0 GPA (60 credits).
After graduation, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to a top-50 undergraduate business program, a dream come true considering my circumstances. As a full-time student taking either 5 or 6 courses per semester, I was also interning every semester for various front-office positions as an intern analyst: asset management, investment banking and commercial banking. My GPA will be roughly 3.6 by graduation (would have been higher if I didn't intern 20+ hours while taking a full-course load) and I will be working in corporate finance as a full-time analyst in syndications. In terms of extracurricular activities, I joined a finance club at school (non-leadership role) and volunteered sparingly for various institutions during my time-off.
Currently I'm in the process of preparing for my GMATs and my practice exams scores are about 690-710, but I still have a few months to go, so hopefully I can push my score towards 720-740. I'm not sure how B-Schools view an applicant's age, but I will be 29 by the time I start my full-time analyst program with the hopes of attending B-school by the age of 31-32.
What type of schools will take an applicant with my background? I know the best and brightest students apply for the best schools in the country, but what are my chances? What are the reach schools and realistic schools at this point? Thank you for your time.
