Mr. Investment Banking

Hi Mr. Investment Banker! This is Talon Rindels, Sr. Admissions Consultant at The MBA Exchange. You have some intriguing/unique aspects to your profile, including being a published sports author and your success with the CFA! That said, Wharton has one of the lower acceptance rates at just 9% and I am rating you at their average acceptance rate due to a couple aspects of your profile: (1) At 29 years old, you are above their average student age and thus, they’ll expect that you bring some pretty compelling work experience into the program. However, I am confused with your 4+ years of experience at that age. Are the few years missing between undergrad and age 29 because of the time you took to get your masters in management? If not and you have some gap in work experience, we’ll need to explain that. And, they’ll also want to understand your progression – hopefully you have been promoted, advanced quicker than your peers, and/or your recommenders can speak to why you are so much more awesome than others. 🙂 (2) Extracurricular involvement is very important to Wharton because they want to know that you will contribute meaningfully to their program and past is the best predictor of the future. If you don’t already have involvement in the community, I suggest you find a way to make an impact outside work before applying, as this will really improve your candidacy. (3) Your Undergrad GPA is well below the average at Wharton and that’s with you being stacked up against a more competitive Indian set. I’m happy to see your GMAT is comfortably above the average, but you’ll still need a very compelling story around your career goals and why Wharton to offset it. Dig deep for an underlying experience you had that made you say “Yes! This is what I have to do for the rest of my life!” as your story must be authentic and real.

I also hope that you have other schools on your list – both in and outside the top 10. There’s subjectivity to admissions, so make sure you aren’t putting all your eggs in one basket!

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission. It sounds like you’ve had a productive career in banking so far – in order to fully evaluate this part of your profile, I’d have to know more about your progression in responsibility/roles/compensation over the past 4 years. Additionally, how confident are you that your recommenders will give you the highest ratings in terms of performance/potential/growth?

Regarding academics – your GPA is on the lower side. Since you’re applying from a very competitive demographic, I’m concerned that your high GMAT and CFA designation won’t offset it as much as it otherwise would. What was your Master’s GPA, though? If it was above 3.7, it will also go a ways towards mitigating your undergrad performance as well.

I’m intrigued that you’re a published author on sports websites/portals. Definitely make sure to describe the impact you’ve made (number of articles, # of article views, etc.) on your resume and application – this will help set you apart. Additionally, see if there’s a way to expand your community involvement, perhaps in the area of writing or sports for sake of continuity – in my experience, the strongest candidates are those who’ve made meaningful impact outside of work.

In sum, I’d have to know a bit more about you to truly assess your odds at Wharton, but a couple other things you’ll definitely need to do: 1. thoroughly research the school so you can communicate your fit – this is very important to Wharton 2. apply in R1 – it gets much tougher for Indian applicants in Round 2. Hope that helps!

Hello Mr. Investment Banking, it’s Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. Your background is interesting and it sounds as if you have had some nice career progression but I agree with Nisha that I will need to know more. Committees will want to see leadership roles – either with or without title- as well as the impact you have had in your various projects. Have you established good relationships with a few managers who will be willing and able to write you a good letter of recommendation? If you haven’t yet applied, you can start working on those relationships now to ensure that you get solid letters. Those carry a lot of weight and can make or break a candidate’s application.

It is good that you have a specific post MBA goal in mind but it may also be helpful to have a Plan B just in case. As I am sure you know, PE/VC are among the most sought after and difficult to obtain post MBA roles out there. Not to say you won’t be able to achieve that, but you may want to have an idea for an interim role that will help you build your skills and experience so you can then move into VC. In an interview situation you may be asked for a backup plan, they may just want to know that you are realistic. Finally, what other schools are you considering? There are a lot of great schools out there -have you considered Duke, UNC or Cornell? Best of luck!