Profile Evaluation - interesting case!

[KaranTiwari]

Hello,

I am a recent grad from Murray State University with BS in Finance and a CGPA of 3.54/4. I also hold an Associates degree in Hotel Management from India (not a top school) and also have around 2.5 years work experience in the field of hospitality in India. I have worked with J W Marriott hotels and Jet Airways. I have not taken my GMAT yet but expect to score between 550-600 in the exam. I have also been volunteering at a non-profit organisation for a few months now. I have also been briefly involved with some other associations in undergrad school.

I have not followed a traditional academic or professional path so far (Associates degree followed by 2.5 yrs of work ex followed by BS degree) which makes my case different and complicated. I am now looking to pursue MBA in the field of Finance. Any idea what kind of MBA schools am I likely to get accepted in (with examples)? Your inputs will be much appreciated.

[Bryant@VeritasPrep]

When someone targets a career shift, it's important to demonstrate a good amount of potential and aptitude to undergird the change. For example, if your background is in hotel management and customer service and you are targeting finance as a post MBA field, you will need to have in an ideal world an undergrad degree in finance (check), a top score on the quant section on the GMAT (possilbly not a check) and/or work experience in the finance field. In your case, you have the degree, but since it's from a regional public university, it may be discounted. Murray State is ranked in the top 20 among its peers, but not in the top 20 of all universities, so you won't score any extra points there. Also, it's great to be an Indian applicant with experience and education from the West--makes you more interesting and more competitive applicant against your peers, but you are going to need to demonstrate some real passion for finance and why you have pursued hotel and hospitality management if it's not your passion. Ultimately, you should line up your credentials and goals with various school curricula and cultures and see what matches up. You don't have to hit the average GMAT score, but the 80% range is a good rule of thumb to see if you are in the ballpark. also where you plan to work after b-school can play well into the decision process, since it makes sense for some reasons to reamain close to your school after graduation (for networking reasons and reputation in the marketplace, for example).