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EdwardKim85
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:33 pm
- Location: toronto
- Followed by:1 members
- GMAT Score:710
Hi
Here's my story.
First things first, my undegrad GPA is horrendous. I failed my first year because I focused all of my time trying to become a professional rugby player and focused all of my time and effort in sports rather than academics. I was on academic suspension for one year and during this time, my parents decided not to support me any longer financially. I worked at a sporting good store while bartending and made enough money to return to college full time.
I returned to college in what should have been my third year had I not failed and began fresh. I completed my economics major degree in 2.5 years and graduated with a Bachelor Arts Honors economics. My mark, however, suffered because I tried to cram a 4 year program into 2.5 while taking various business courses.(My GPA would be about 2.7-3.2 range; however, I failed one course in statistics) I also worked a full time job during this time as the college's main newspaper's business manager.
I graduated in 2009. Here's where things took an interesting turn of events.
I wrote my GMAT right after graduation and received a 710(92%) - 35(74%) verbal, 50(94%) math, 6.0(87%) writing
I applied to a few out-of-reach schools but haven't heard back from most. I also applied in round 3 last minute so I didn't expect much(I was young).
On hindsight I didn't have a clear goal or reason to go to an MBA then and didn't deserve to get an interview.
I always wanted to be a trader so I grinded my way into a FX trading firm as a junior trader/intern soon after graduation and worked there for half a year. It was mostly physical trading with some flow trading and I soon got bored of it. It's not what I thought it would be.
This is when I decided to play poker.
Poker, more specifically texas holdem, was getting bigger and bigger then. It was televised on ESPN nationally and the Chris Moneymaker boom was still in full effect. I heard of people making millions playing poker and one day decided, ' hey if they can do it, I can too'. My journey began.
I read numerous books, practiced for thousands of hours, and began logging a profit. I took a statistical and analytical approach to online poker and began crushing the games. Luck factor was but a minor one and when the sample size was large, it was negligible. I made a comfortable 6 figure salary grinding mid stakes for a couple of years but that wasn't enough.
I moved onto bigger stakes. I began playing live tournaments. 2012 was a dream year for me. I had several large six figure scores every couple months and I became well-known in the circuit of live pros.
2013, however, was not a good year. I realized that playing live tournaments and travelling is not sustainable long term due to the variance and it is nothing like online poker. I also realized then that the gaming/poker industry is too unregulated and there are many things that need to be fixed. I want to change this. I want to make the online poker/casino industry more transparent and turn it into a more legitimate business like the Casinos in Vegas.
I want to do a one-year MBA, preferribly, that would help me with the development of my entrepreneurial skills. I need a program that would give me good structure and basis.
I am currently looking into Cambridge, Oxford, INSEAD.
I am not certain about the schools in the US.
In order to strengthen my application and to show that I have the academic skills in order to complete a rigorous MBA program, should I take further finance/accounting courses?
Do I even have a chance at those schools I mentioned? I am not sure where I stand and where to apply.
Here's my story.
First things first, my undegrad GPA is horrendous. I failed my first year because I focused all of my time trying to become a professional rugby player and focused all of my time and effort in sports rather than academics. I was on academic suspension for one year and during this time, my parents decided not to support me any longer financially. I worked at a sporting good store while bartending and made enough money to return to college full time.
I returned to college in what should have been my third year had I not failed and began fresh. I completed my economics major degree in 2.5 years and graduated with a Bachelor Arts Honors economics. My mark, however, suffered because I tried to cram a 4 year program into 2.5 while taking various business courses.(My GPA would be about 2.7-3.2 range; however, I failed one course in statistics) I also worked a full time job during this time as the college's main newspaper's business manager.
I graduated in 2009. Here's where things took an interesting turn of events.
I wrote my GMAT right after graduation and received a 710(92%) - 35(74%) verbal, 50(94%) math, 6.0(87%) writing
I applied to a few out-of-reach schools but haven't heard back from most. I also applied in round 3 last minute so I didn't expect much(I was young).
On hindsight I didn't have a clear goal or reason to go to an MBA then and didn't deserve to get an interview.
I always wanted to be a trader so I grinded my way into a FX trading firm as a junior trader/intern soon after graduation and worked there for half a year. It was mostly physical trading with some flow trading and I soon got bored of it. It's not what I thought it would be.
This is when I decided to play poker.
Poker, more specifically texas holdem, was getting bigger and bigger then. It was televised on ESPN nationally and the Chris Moneymaker boom was still in full effect. I heard of people making millions playing poker and one day decided, ' hey if they can do it, I can too'. My journey began.
I read numerous books, practiced for thousands of hours, and began logging a profit. I took a statistical and analytical approach to online poker and began crushing the games. Luck factor was but a minor one and when the sample size was large, it was negligible. I made a comfortable 6 figure salary grinding mid stakes for a couple of years but that wasn't enough.
I moved onto bigger stakes. I began playing live tournaments. 2012 was a dream year for me. I had several large six figure scores every couple months and I became well-known in the circuit of live pros.
2013, however, was not a good year. I realized that playing live tournaments and travelling is not sustainable long term due to the variance and it is nothing like online poker. I also realized then that the gaming/poker industry is too unregulated and there are many things that need to be fixed. I want to change this. I want to make the online poker/casino industry more transparent and turn it into a more legitimate business like the Casinos in Vegas.
I want to do a one-year MBA, preferribly, that would help me with the development of my entrepreneurial skills. I need a program that would give me good structure and basis.
I am currently looking into Cambridge, Oxford, INSEAD.
I am not certain about the schools in the US.
In order to strengthen my application and to show that I have the academic skills in order to complete a rigorous MBA program, should I take further finance/accounting courses?
Do I even have a chance at those schools I mentioned? I am not sure where I stand and where to apply.
Rollpound!
