Columbia - 03-23-2022 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

March 23, 2022 12:06pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Georgetown / McDonough, NYU Stern, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2023

Pre-MBA Career: Military

Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking Companies: Bank of America , Barclays , Capital One , Citibank , Credit Suisse , Deutsche Bank , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan , Merrill Lynch , Morgan Stanley

GPA: 3.42

Years of Work Experience: 3

Location: Mission Viejo, California

Post MBA Location: New York

Notes:

Hi Graham and Alex! I've been listening to the Clear Admit podcast for the past year and it has been extremely helpful. I am a 25 year old Asian male. I am a first generation college graduate and graduated from Columbia University where I studied history. I joined the Marines after college and will have 4 years of work experience by the time I matriculate into business school. I currently work in operations and logistics as a Marine Officer. I have not taken the GRE officially yet, but on my diagnostic test I scored a 321 (163 V, 158 Q). I am currently studying to get my quant score into the 160s and plan on taking MBA Math. For extracurriculars, I did a lot of teaching and tutoring in undergrad and in my free time now I interview undergrad applicants to Columbia and participate in fund drives for my local charity. I want to go back to Columbia for my MBA and plan to apply ED when the application opens. I want to pivot into investment banking, specifically a product group like M&A, and want to stay in NYC. I do not have much finance experience besides investing in my Roth IRA and brokerage account and teaching my Marines about the importance of personal finance so I am concerned about schools questioning why I want to do investment banking. Thank you for all the advice and hopefully I can be featured on the podcast one day!

Like (1)

Show Comments (6) Last: April 5, 2022

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1576 Good decision to target Columbia ED. It will be really important to ace the GRE, especially the quant score, taking MBA Math is smart, too. Especially with a history degree. What are your long term goals? Reach out to the veterans’ clubs of the programs you apply. Showing impact, in the military, and outside of work will be good. Very glad you’re enjoying the podcast. (0)

anon91925 Likes Earned: 18 My long term goals is to become a Managing Director at bulge bracket firm. I enjoy teaching so coming back to a business school and teaching students and sharing my experience in the industry would be another long term goal (over 10 years in the future). (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1576 I’m curious, why IB, post MBA, this is not that obvious pathway for a military candidate who studied history? (0)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1149 Thanks for posting your profile here! So glad to learn that the podcast has been helpful too! As far as your candidacy is concerned, I love the raw materials here: Columbia ugrad with a decent GPA, 4 years in the Marines, some solid ECs and interests and a well articulated career plan. In short, you bring a lot to the table. I will say that since your GPA isn't above average for the top schools, it would be ideal to hit a home run with the GRE (or GMAT). This means 325+ or 730+. That should be your focus for the near term. List of schools looks pretty solid in light of your career plans. Applying ED to Columbia makes sense in terms of maximizing your odds. With that said, I would rarely tell anyone to double-up on a single institution for both ugrad and grad degrees. You already have access to the Columbia network, so adding a Wharton (or even a Chicago Booth, which isn't on your list) to your rolodex would seem to have more value. Best of luck and keep us posted!
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anon91925 Likes Earned: 18 Thanks for the insight Graham and Alex! I was pre-med for my first 2 years in undergrad and decided to switch majors since I decided that medicine was not for me anymore so that's why my GPA is on the lower end. As for why I want to do IB. I have always been interested in finance. I religiously follow the markets and invest in my brokerage account and teach my Marines about the importance of personal finances. Talking with my friends who work in the industry I was very impressed with the work they were doing and the clients they were helping out. Coming from the military where I work in a constantly changing environment and advise multiple people on different actions to take I believe I can translate that experience into IB. (2)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1576 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2022/04/wire-taps-227/ (0)