Mr. Investment Finance

I am sure that GPA can’t be right, especially given your very impressive GMAT score. Clearly, you are accomplished. Three promotions in three years at a boutique investment firm is evidence of that. Your hurdle at London Business School relates to whether you have overcome a few things: The fact you are a male engineer from India (only because there are so many male engineers from India in the applicant pool so it makes for fierce competition); the fact that you work for a boutique investment firm (if it is not well known it will not help you compete with people who are applying from Goldman, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Barclays, Blackstone, etc.), and whether you will be competing with others in the pool who earned their undergraduate degree from an IIT. In other words, to use Sandy’s words, there may be too much silver and not enough gold in your profile to get you an admit.

Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. A lot of good advice from the experts here so am going to try to offer something new. If your GPA numbers are actually high and not 2.2, then you will need a few things to be 100% efficient for you to have a shot at LBS 1) Show some skills you have developed in extra curricular work 2) Show you have an international orientation as LBS likes that. 3) Have recommenders talk about your ability to add value and in process add real credibility to your profile. 4) If you don’t have real private investment experience a move to VC and PE is really difficult. LBS will reject you straight away if you go with this hope for your short term career. Hope this helps .

Hi Mr. Investment Finance! Thanks for posting. Kate Richardson, Senior Admissions Consultant here. The three promotions in three years is impressive! As it sounds like you’ve experienced, one of the benefits of a boutique firm is that roles and promotion guidelines are more flexible, and I’m assuming you’ve had more autonomy or exposure than your peers at bigger firms. That said, depending on how “boutique” your firm is, the prestige factor could come into play when competing against applicants from Goldman, etc. Your details are a little sparse here, I’d love to know more about the extracurricular roles you’ve held, and examples of how you’ve stood out in the workplace. Lastly, your GPA concerns me — maybe you’re converting that to a US scale? If so, you don’t need to. As reported, it’s quite low. You do have a great GMAT, so I think you have a shot at LBS, but it will be tough depending on the context of your GPA and the other areas I mentioned.

Mr. Investment Finance, it’s Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. I see potential here but not a lot of substance. Yet. I realize this is just a quick blurb so I have some suggestions on how to flesh this out so LBS and other schools can have a better sense of who you are. Others have mentioned your GPA, is that 2.2 correct? IF so that’s going to be a hurdle for you. Have you already applied or are you thinking to apply in fall 2020? If you have time, you may want to consider taking a quant course to show LBS that you have the academic chops to be successful in their classes. There is really nothing else you can do to overcome that GPA. Your strong GMAT will certainly help but many candidates have solid numbers for both. I love that you are curious – how have you used this to your advantage? You may have some great stores around that . Flexibility is a good thing too but you need to also be sure to convey that you can stand up for your opinions when necessary. I want to know more details about your work. How small is your boutique firm? What is your role there. Ditto for your extracurriculars – and what and where did you teach? Are you still involved? That can be a big benefit. You got 3 promotions and “stand out” at work? How? There is a lot of potential here so be sure to give details.