Mr. Break Into Buy-Side

Hi Mr. Break into Buy-Side, this is Kristen from MBA Prep School. Right off the bat, that 780 GMAT should leap right off the application screen for admissions readers! Even better, you have set yourself up for success throughout the other aspects of your profile. You achieved academic success with a balance of STEM and social science majors with a solid GPA at a top US school. I like that you have made some progressive moves in your finance career, which shows you have awareness of your needs to achieve your goals. It’s also great to see you striving for your CFA and CAIA. What’s more challenging for me to deduce from your profile is what your big professional wins are and who you are as a person aside from checking the various boxes of “raw strengths” required to be considered at a top MBA program. You meet the criteria on paper, but you will need to differentiate yourself using other aspects of your story beyond that impressive 780, at least in the case of Stanford where they are looking for applicants who intend to change the world. As the most competitive program in terms of applications per seat, you will need to showcase a deeper side of yourself. Do you have any community engagement or volunteer work? Do you have personal passions you participate in? Is there something about your story that is unique? These are important questions to answer and can make or break your chances at Stanford. I do think your odds are very strong at your other target schools with this background, however! I would be happy to offer you a complimentary consultation if you would like to chat more about bringing out your differentiators in your application!