Candidate:

Mr. M&A + Education

About Me:

Investment banker with 5 years of work experience at a top M&A boutique in Spain. Current VP role (got promoted twice – fast track vs. peers) includes leading the project execution and teams of associates and analysts. Founder of a non-profit with the aim of helping small businesses and entrepreneurs to understand and take decisions based on financials. Free available resources from materials to videos explaining how to use the financial statements. Visiting teacher at one of the top universities in Spain. Undergrad in Business Administration + Law.

Schools:

Target School: Harvard

Considering: Columbia

See More Profiles For: Harvard

Application Status: Open

Details:

Undergrad School: Spanish University

Undergrad Major: Business

GPA: 3.9

GMAT: 710

Age: 30, Ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino

Extracurriculars: Non-profit founder. Sports lover.

Work History:

Title: VP

Industry: Banking & Finance

Company: Boutique Firm

Length of Employment: 6 yrs

Big Life Wins:

From work: Got into investment banking from a non-target school due to a high GPA (ranked top 1%) and network. When joined the boutique, we were less than 10 employees (all former leading bulge-bracket) and during this period the firm has become the top M&A boutique in Spain (50 employees now), and ranked recurrently among top5 M&A advisor in Spain. Under this challenging opportunity, I stepped up and took the leadership role to lead different teams on several projects, and got promoted twice with fast track vs. peers. In charge of the formation course within the firm and the mentoring project (I did configure and create both programs). Outside of work: Foundation of the non-profit project and helping other to better understand and manage based on financial statements.

Post MBA Goal:

My short-term goal is to gain experience in Direct Investment through relevant experience in PE in Spain / Europe. Thanks to my investment banking career I do have the proper network (advise some of the major P.E.s recurrently) but an MBA would enable to enter into the industry to win the relevant experience, My long-term goal is to push the long-term investment vehicle within my company to invest and boost family-owned businesses. Within my company, we started to analyse the option to raise money to deploy in some very specific and well-known assets. The proposal is a Long-term investment vehicle in family-owned companies (niche vs. PE firms). There are some similar vehicles, specially in UK / US and consider is the proper approach in Spain to fill an existent gap. In parallel, I would like to continue improving financial education in Spain both in the university classes and with the non-profit

Odds:

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The Experts Rate The Odds At: 20%

See what the industry experts have to say:

John A. Byrne, P&Q Founder & Editor-In-Chief | Odds Assessment: 20%

Your record of accomplishments at a leading boutique firm in Spain is indeed impressive. The fact you were able to do that from a “non-target” school thanks to being in the top 1% of your graduating class is huge. Your impact at the firm in leading different teams on several projects and earning two promotions in the process is what makes you stand out. You need to smartly leverage that story in applying to HBS without coming off as bragging because your work experience is the most compelling part of your application. That story has to offset the fact that you did not graduate from an elite undergraduate school, that you didn’t go to work for a well-known investment bank and your GMAT score is …

Your record of accomplishments at a leading boutique firm in Spain is indeed impressive. The fact you were able to do that from a “non-target” school thanks to being in the top 1% of your graduating class is huge. Your impact at the firm in leading different teams on several projects and earning two promotions in the process is what makes you stand out. You need to smartly leverage that story in applying to HBS without coming off as bragging because your work experience is the most compelling part of your application. That story has to offset the fact that you did not graduate from an elite undergraduate school, that you didn’t go to work for a well-known investment bank and your GMAT score is 20 points below the HBS class median. On the plus side, you come from Spain and U.S. schools have had difficulty getting Europeans to come here for their MBA programs in recent years. So you would bring valuable global perspective to a class. HBS will be difficult for the reasons stated above. Your essay has to do a lot of work for you. Obviously, your odds at Columbia are much better. You should also consider INSEAD or London Business School. If you really want to study in the U.S., I would add Chicago Booth, NYU Stern and UCLA to your mix.

4 years ago Read the full review