Mr. Bank AVP

Hi Mr. Bank AVP, Kristen from MBA Prep School here. While I think you have some solid work experiences that would set you up for an MBA, you will have obstacles to overcome. On the plus side, it sounds like you’ve had great career progression in finance and have made an impact within your bank. Obviously when you put your essays together you will want to go into the details of those “big life wins” to show the scope and scale of your contributions. I like that you are a professional mentor and also engage in volunteer work outside of your job. Your progress towards achieving your CFA is also a positive and proves your quantitative ability and desire to strive for more. I do think your academics may hold you back in achieving acceptance to a school like Booth. Your GPA is on the lower end of the pool, you are coming from a less competitive undergraduate institution, and your GRE is also on the lower end of the typical MBA admit. I do think in some ways this makes your career success stand out more, given you are at a Fortune Top 10 that likely doesn’t recruit from UCF, but the next challenge if to make yourself stand out as an applicant. Given the limited information provided, it is hard for me to make a case for how you would be different than other finance applicants. I think it would be wise for you to consider other programs that would still enable you to make the pivot to IBD. I would be happy to offer you a complimentary consultation to talk through how MBA Prep School might be able to help you strengthen your candidacy and stand out in the pool!

Right off the bat, I need to tell you that you need to apply to more than two business schools. You and every other applicant needs to hedge his or her bets. I know some people get their hearts set on a specific school and that it can be hard to open up your mind to other possibilties, but at highly ranked MBA programs the competition is stiff, you are competing in a self-selecting pool of highly qualified candidates, and the vast majority of applicants are turned away. Chicago Booth, which routinely rejects more than 75% of its candidates, will be tough for you. Here’s why: 1) You are coming from a non-feeder undergraduate institution that is not known as a highly selective school, 2) Your GPA of 3.2 at a less selective school is below the Booth class average of 3.6, 3) You are applying to Booth with a GRE score of 322 which is pretty good but probably below the Booth class average (Booth has been a laggard at accepting GRE scores and has yet to publish its class averages), 4) While you have a job that has provided several promotions and therefore evidence of your performance, you’ve been at the same place for six years. That isn’t a disqualifer at all but many MBA applicants to schools as highly ranked as Booth have two prestige jobs under their belt. Of course, it’s a big positive that you are working for a Fortune Top 10 company, just as it is a real positive that you’ve received several promotions. I don’t want to discourage you from applying to Booth because there always is a chance, however slim. What I do want to encourage you to do is to select a wider range of schools. Cornell has an excellent program for future i-bankers, one of the best in the world. NYU Stern should be on your list. UCLA would certainly be a possibility. Even Fordham Gabelli should be in the mix. Don’t sabotage your professional dreams. Have the patience and invest the time to understand what schools might be a better fit, given your background, your stats and your goals. Good luck to you!