Profile Eval pls

[stl]

Hi Jon,

Hoping for a bit of direction here. Deets as follows:

Male
30 y.o.
Canadian
GMAT 730 (Q49 V41 IR8 AWA awaiting score)

I have 5 years experience trading commodities with a Japanese trading house in both London and NY. Good career progression from sales to option trader currently.

LBS is really my one and only, obviously I will apply to others but that is far and away my first choice. I wrote the GMAT last week and I'm currently leaning towards a rewrite as I'm confident I could add 20 points. I guess my first question is is it worth it (since I plan on applying round 2 it's a bit of a tradeoff between working on essays for application and a rewrite)? And second just an idea of what my overall profile looks like as I know its a bit of a non traditional background for biz school.

Many thanks

[stl]

Sorry 3.4 GPA from top 10 US college

[Jon@Admissionado]

Your deets are looking miiighty fine. As fine as your GMAT, which if you retake, is a bit nutty if you ask me. Your GMAT is higher than ALL SCHOOLS' AVERAGES!!! To me, that means, don't retake, and instead use your precious precious time to devote yourself to your applications.

I don't have enough detail from you to tell exactly, but I like your profile dude...

[stl]

Haha thanks man - honestly I just wanted to hear someone say it. Picked up 5.5 on AWA yesterday so hopefully that helps.

In terms of other details I have played semi pro hockey back in the day - have been told to highlight that. Into travelling, cooking, book learning etc but who isn't these days. It's a bit difficult to talk in quantifiables about the job because we are very small w/ not much hierarchy or much to show in terms of titles. Salary has doubled over 5 yrs but feels weird to mention in an app. Also feels weird to talk about PnL on CV/in an app. I have some good community service on my record but not so much over the last year. I would like to move into a job that is more about value creation, so trying to figure out how to express that in my app. It seems like I need to present a pretty clear picture of my intended career path, am I correct in saying that?

Thanks

[Jon@Admissionado]

Haha thanks man - honestly I just wanted to hear someone say it. Picked up 5.5 on AWA yesterday so hopefully that helps.

In terms of other details I have played semi pro hockey back in the day - have been told to highlight that. Into travelling, cooking, book learning etc but who isn't these days. It's a bit difficult to talk in quantifiables about the job because we are very small w/ not much hierarchy or much to show in terms of titles. Salary has doubled over 5 yrs but feels weird to mention in an app. Also feels weird to talk about PnL on CV/in an app. I have some good community service on my record but not so much over the last year. I would like to move into a job that is more about value creation, so trying to figure out how to express that in my app. It seems like I need to present a pretty clear picture of my intended career path, am I correct in saying that?

Thanks

Semi-pro sports is a nice extra. That, plus your GMAT and one or two good other volunteer/extra currics (even "normal" stuff works, and you seem to have that) and you are good.

And yes, of course you have to be precise about your goals - aim for a good mix between "probable" and "very ambitious". Schools like to see that.

Best,
JF