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I’m a small-town kid from Western Pennsylvania who started moving East in increasingly larger increments after high school – first to Penn State, then to Manhattan, and now to Singapore. I’m currently working for a large American bank – and after a long time of being a “quiet” user of P&Q – I’m excited to finally kick off the MBA process!
Target School: Yale
Considering: Duke Fuqua, UCLA Anderson, Georgetown McDonough
See More Profiles For: Yale
Application Status: Open
Undergrad School: Penn State
Undergrad Major: Finance
GPA: 3.7
GMAT: Not yet taken - testing @ 700
Age: 24, Ethnicity: White
Extracurriculars: Singapore Chapter Lead Contact - IIRR (Int'l Institute of Rural Reconstruction) Young Professionals Network, IRONMAN finisher, Eagle Scout
Title: Associate - Asia Pacific Strategy (Singapore)
Industry: Banking & Finance
Company: Top Firm
Length of Employment: 1 yr, 2 mos
Title: Analyst - Strategy (New York)
Length of Employment: 1 yr, 6 mos
The “big life win” of my short professional career thus far has been making a move from New York to Singapore last year within my group at the bank. After completing the 18-month analyst program that all fresh grads take on – I networked into and took a new role working directly for the head of Asia Pacific, and was promoted.
I plan to use an MBA to deepen my education in business/finance while expanding on new interests since undergrad – in the realm of policy, int’l relations, sustainability and development. Ideally, I’ll look to move into a position that uses these ideas to address the “larger” issues facing our planet and global community – beyond just banking.
Join in! Click here to assess the odds of Mr. Small Towner
Mr. Small Towner, I’m glad you decided to end your quiet phase. At such a young age, you’ve accomplished a great deal from your days at Penn State, with a 3.7 GPA, then landing your job as an analyst at a big bank in New York, and finally your move to Singapore and promotion to an associate. I’m also super impressed with your Eagle Scout status and your finish in an Ironman competition. You’ve chosen a great group of schools with world class MBA programs. Any one of them will allow you to fulfill your career dreams. Your chances at Yale are obviously highly dependent on your standardized test score because everything else about your candidacy rings the right bells. If you are testing at …
Mr. Small Towner, I’m glad you decided to end your quiet phase. At such a young age, you’ve accomplished a great deal from your days at Penn State, with a 3.7 GPA, then landing your job as an analyst at a big bank in New York, and finally your move to Singapore and promotion to an associate. I’m also super impressed with your Eagle Scout status and your finish in an Ironman competition. You’ve chosen a great group of schools with world class MBA programs. Any one of them will allow you to fulfill your career dreams. Your chances at Yale are obviously highly dependent on your standardized test score because everything else about your candidacy rings the right bells. If you are testing at 700, you can generally expect to score slightly below that level when you finally sit for the exam. I have a suspicious that GMAC makes its practice test slightly easier than the real thing to convince users to stay with GMAT and not switch to the GRE. No matter. You’ll need at least a 700 as a white male to be competitive at Yale and should probably work for a score that is equal to the class average or ten points higher. For the newest cohort at SOM, which entered this fall, the average was 720. For the purpose of this analysis, I’m going to give you odds for a 700 score which I still think are pretty good for you but if you have your heart set on Yale, I would retake the test as many times as you need to to hit the average or get slightly above it. A 700 at your other targets, should put you in a good place. Duke walks the talk of a holistic review so a 700 GMAT is ideal there. Ditto for Georgetown, and a 700 should be good for UCLA as well, given your progress at a big bank and your international experience. Good luck! We’re rooting for you.
Hi Mr. Small Towner, Western Pennsylvania to Singapore! That’s got to be quite a story. This is Debbie Choy from mbaMission. I hope Singapore is treating you well! I grew up in Singapore, so I always love to hear about others’ experiences with the city. I think you have a lot of strengths in your profile – robust career trajectory (promotion, getting a coveted international transfer), good extracurriculars. Your GPA is strong and if you can get a solid GMAT score as well, that will give you a good shot at Yale. Like John mentioned, for Yale, where their average GMAT score is around 720, you’d want to get as close to their average as you can. Apart from that, consider how you can weave in …
Hi Mr. Small Towner, Western Pennsylvania to Singapore! That’s got to be quite a story. This is Debbie Choy from mbaMission. I hope Singapore is treating you well! I grew up in Singapore, so I always love to hear about others’ experiences with the city. I think you have a lot of strengths in your profile – robust career trajectory (promotion, getting a coveted international transfer), good extracurriculars. Your GPA is strong and if you can get a solid GMAT score as well, that will give you a good shot at Yale. Like John mentioned, for Yale, where their average GMAT score is around 720, you’d want to get as close to their average as you can. Apart from that, consider how you can weave in your personal stories. For example, how did your experiences in Singapore shape your leadership / teamwork style? These stories can help your application stand out from the crowd. Wishing you the best in your MBA journey!
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