Ms. 2+2 Trader

Hi Ms. 2+2 Trader,
Congrats on your offer to return to a bulge bracket bank as a trader! This is Debbie Choy from mbaMission. Even though “Finance” candidates are plentiful in the b-school application process, “Sales and Trading” is an under-represented area. Your differentiated background can help you in the application process. I also like that you have outstanding academics (GPA, GMAT) and is a woman with a Comp Sci background. Importantly, you have strong leadership experience at your school’s impact investing fund, leading classmates in investing. As well, you’re very engaged with your community through volunteering at the hospital. As you put your HBS app together, try to weave in these stories to articulate what drives you to do these activities. The more you can peel back the layers to share with the reader who you are, the more memorable your application. If you wish to discuss your profile in further detail, feel free to schedule a consultation with us. Wishing you the best in your MBA journey!

Hi Ms. 2+2 Trader, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. You check many of the boxes that deferred programs like 2+2 look for: strong academics/test score, community involvement and clear and logical career goals. Your stats stand for themselves – and even taller as a STEM female. It sounds like your involvement at your local hospital has been for a longer duration, which is great. HBS will value the leadership you have shown through your community involvement – make sure you highlight what you have led through your time at the hospital – maybe the expansion of the fundraising? Have you been involved extracurricularly at university? Leadership at school is a good indication that you will be an involved student when you return – so make sure you highlight university experiences too. It sounds like you’ve had some interesting experiences in finance in both big banks and on the non-profit side. I’d encourage you to talk about how these experiences have shaped your goal of impact investing. What skills do you hope to build as a trader that will help you work towards impact investing. And where would you like to be long term? What big problem would you like to solve? While not all of this will fit into your HBS essay, you want to have these pieces worked out for an interview where you will be asked to go deeper into your leadership and experiences. Happy to talk further about your profile if you want to sign up for a consult. Best of luck!