March 20, 2024 3:35pm ET
Applying:
Columbia,
Dartmouth / Tuck,
Harvard Business School,
MIT Sloan,
Stanford GSB,
UPenn / Wharton
Intake Year:
2025
Pre-MBA Career:
2 yrs BigLaw paralegal --> 2 yrs legal team @ top Secondaries PE firm
Post-MBA Target Industry:
Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Asset Management, inc. HF
Companies:
Bank of America
, Goldman Sachs
, JP Morgan
, Morgan Stanley
, Accell Partners
, Andressen Horowitz
, Battery Ventures
, Charles River
, Draper Fisher
, First Round Capital
, Kleiner Perkins
, NEA
, Sequoia Capital
, Other
, Bain Capital
, Blackstone
, Carlyle Group
, Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Group
, TPG
, KKR
, Other
, Blackrock
, Fidelity
, Goldman Sachs
, JP Morgan Asset Management
GRE:
334
GPA:
3.83
Years of Work Experience:
4
Location:
New York, NY
Post MBA Location:
New York or Boston
Notes:
Extracurriculars
Average ECs: President of a large/fairly active fraternity, now sitting on the Alumni Advisory Board; some volunteer work with Minds Matter in New York (mock college interviews), but nothing consistent; FWIW, took a gap year after high school and worked fairly extensively in winemaking/sustainable agriculture.
Post-MBA
Hoping to use my MBA to pivot to the investment-side of a secondaries PE or Buyout PE climate/sustainability-focused firm. Really unsure at this point how feasible it is to make this pivot, given my non-technical background. Otherwise, will likely recruit for IB.
I obviously have some time to strengthen my profile, though not enough to make much of a difference in the lackluster extra curriculars. I’m wondering what people think I might do to most strengthen my application. I’d also be interested to hear opinions on the feasibility of recruiting into PE/growth investing in some manner, or whether that’s more or less out of the question.
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With that said, your GPA is a bit of a red flag and will fall well below the mark at your target schools. While your GMAT quantitative score is very solid (just one raw point shy of a 99th percentile), the verbal definitely has room to run. As a result, the overall score (720) isn't going to jump off the page at anyone - nor will it compensate for the GPA. MBA Math will help a bit, as will a brief explanation of the loss you experienced (which is very much fair to comment on - we're all human).
My thinking is that if you are applying next season (which I'm guessing must be the case at this stage), you should think about a GMAT retake; moving the bar a few ticks on verbal could result in a really stellar overall result.
And finally, have you determined where (geographically) you might want to land post-MBA? Midwest? Somewhere else? That may help you narrow this list a bit.
Best of luck and thanks for your post!
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