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Confused and worried about MS/MBA apps.

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Confused and worried about MS/MBA apps.

by samhere321 » Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:37 am
Hello,

Please bear with me and help me out. I am very worried and looking to meet the Jan 4 deadlines for B-schools. I can't figure out whether to apply to any top-tier school or not. The app fees are so high and I do not want to waste money unless I have a chance.

Salient features of my profile are:

1- Graduated from NUST Business School (NBS - One of the top B-Schools in Pakistan) with a degree of BBA Honors, specializing in Finance and Investment.

2- CGPA 3.64

3- GMAT scores: 1st attempt (Q43, V38) ... total score = 660 and AWA 5.5 ... 2nd attempt (Q48,V33) ... 660. Yes, thats a pretty sad combination. I am too exhausted to take another try and aim to combine the high scores into one. Plus I dont have time anymore.

4- 6 months of internship experience. Currently working as an analyst-in-training (since 2 months) at SNL Financial. By the time I join a class in September, my total work exp should be a little more than a year (Around 14 months).

5- Participated in the prestigious CFA's Global Investment Research Challenge. Member of the team that won the national round in Pakistan. Went on to the regional round at Bali, Indonesia, and was one of the 6 (out of 15 teams) finalist teams. (Beating teams from renowned universities in Asia-Pacific e.g. NUS, HKUST, Peking uni etc.) ... This is basically a security valuation challenge involving financial modelling, research report writing and presentation to a panel of industry experts.

6- Academic scholarship holder for 6 semesters in undergrad.

7- VP sports and hiking society at NBS (and a few other extra-curricular activities)

8- Recommendation letters from the faculty only. One from the HoD finance.

Reason for MS/MBA at this point in time: I want to get into investment banking or join a research house. The problem is, all the I-banks in Pakistan are based in Karachi. The city is kinda unstable due to political unrest with peaking crime rates and it is not advisable for an outside to move there. There basically are no opportunities in the field of my interest here for now. I believe getting an MBA/MS in finance from a good uni will help open global avenues for me and help me have the career I want.

I was looking at these unis:

1- Stern NYU
2- Tuck, Dartmouth
3- Sloan MIT
4- Haas, Berkeley
5- Stanford
6- Ross-Ann Arbor
7- Tepper, Carnegie
8- NUS
9- Nanyang
10- Tulane
11- Simon, Uni of Rochester

Can you help me pick the ones in which I actually have a chance?

If these are too high up then I have been suggested these options as well:

1- Mcdonough, Georgtown
2- Smith, Uni of Maryland

I'd be grateful for a feedback on this.

Regards,
Samra
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by Jon@Admissionado » Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:52 am
Samra,
You have overall lots of promising things in your profile, but with deadlines 3 days away it's probably too late to start writing essays now. At any rate the single thing that your profile could most benefit from is a boost in your GMAT, so why not take the next few months to aim for a higher GMAT and do some of that research about those schools you are interested in?

I know you may not want to take it again, but if you want to get those admits to those top programs.. you might have to
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by Darren-KD » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:35 pm
Hi Samra,

You mentioned that you are interested in both an MBA and an MS in Finance. Have you considered Kelley Direct Programs from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business? We offer a dual degree in which you can earn an MBA and an MS in Finance in 63 credit hours. The application deadline for the Spring term is January 17.

Kelley Direct is the online arm of the Kelley School. About 10% of our students do the dual degree MBA/MSF. If you are interested in discussing further, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

Darren Klein
Kelley Direct Programs
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by FutureWorks » Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:07 pm
Hi,

Given the schools have good mba programs now it's your decision on which schools fit your parameters better. We can help you with what these parameters should be. The best way to choose a B school is based on career goals. You need to see if the schools will help you realizing those goals. Apart from that factors like what the school specializes in, geography location including urban/rural factor, size of classes in school (big class or small class), alumni success rate. Also you need to keep in consideration what recruiters tend to come on campus. You can talk to alumni's and career center wings to know further the opportunities the school provides you.
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by samhere321 » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:45 am
Thank you all for your feedback.

Jon, I had already written my essays and since I've used the same basic structure for most of them, they just needed a little tweaking. I feel that I managed to do justice to them and I applied to most of these programs. I've recently heard from Tulane and they have accepted me with a tuition fee waiver of 80%. Even if I get accepted anywhere else, I'm sure it won't be with as much financial assistance and considering Tulane's reputation in finance, I am very happy with this offer. Even though I will wait for the other decisions but I am quite confident I will accept this eventually.

Thank you for your time.
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