Mr. Post-PE MBA

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission. It sounds like you’ve had an impactful and progressive finance career, and have attained a coveted position in VC. It’s great to see your non-profit board memberships as well, and admissions officers do value this type of community leadership. What I’d like to better understand: what drives your interest in Private Equity / Venture Capital? In particular, why are you attracted to the middle market space? Any particular industries in this space you’d want to focus on – and if so, why, based on your professional or personal experiences to date? Admissions committees always want to know the WHY behind your goals, so reflect on this interest, your desired impact post-MBA, and how each program will give you the skills and experiences you need to make this impact.

Regarding your profile – having worked with many finance candidates, I’ve seen that schools are used to seeing particularly high metrics from this heavy part of the applicant pool. Therefore, I’d give GMAT another shot and strive for a 730+ (and, if you think you’d fare better on the GRE, you can switch to that exam instead). In general, what will lead to your success is conveying fully your accomplishments within and outside of work and crafting a compelling story about what change you want to drive in your career. Hope that helps – best of luck!

Hi Mr. Post PE MBA, This is Donna Bauman and your profile reminds is one that I am very familiar with. I have worked with many clients with IB and then PE backgrounds with test scores and academic profiles similar to your profile. To break through the crowd, it helps to understand your story and then share it with admissions in a most compelling way. If I were working with you, I would be spending this spring asking you a lot more questions—what drives your interest in PE? Is there a particular industry you care most about? Why? What problem do you most want to solve – or help get solved in your work? It is in telling adcom more about WHY you are driven to invest in certain kinds of companies solving certain kinds of problems that can help humanize you and make you stand out as not just another PE/VC guy…. I have found that doing some storytelling exercises with my clients ahead of essay writing can be very useful in helping you understand and articulate your story. Please reach out for a free consult with me if you would like to talk further. I do think you have a shot at Wharton—you have some time so if you are willing to take the GMAT again and see if you can’t jump up to 720 I think your odds go way up there—but I also encourage you to look at CBS and apply ED if would be happy going there if admitted. Other programs to look at would be Booth, Kellogg, Tuck and Fuqua.