Profile Evaluation Request : Ask mbaMission

Hello everyone!

Thanks for taking the time to review my profile. I will be applying in R2 and am targeting the following schools: Columbia (my dream school and number one choice), Dartmouth Tuck, Duke Fuqua, UVA Darden, UNC KF, and Cornell Johnson.

I was born in Korea, but am a naturalized citizen (M). I moved to the US when I was 8 years old, and am a first generation college graduate.

I graduated with a degree in Political science from a top ranked state school back in 2017, and will have about 5.5 years of work experience going into school.

My cumulative GPA from my undergraduate years will be about a 3.15. I have great grades in math/business related courses however struggled immensely in high level Spanish courses as I decided to minor in Spanish as a non-native speaker. Unfortunately, this did impact my GPA quite negatively.

My GMAT score is 750 with a 48Q/45V, and thought that the Quant score would be important to highlight as I know my major was not mathematically intensive.

I worked in a wealth management support role for about a year at a large asset manager, then in private banking for a bulge bracket bank (JPM, GS). I'm now currently working in an operations role at a fintech company.

My volunteering experience is focused around Junior Achievement where I taught underprivileged kids in both in person classrooms as well in virtual sessions. The alternate curriculum was focused on the importance of money and financial literacy which is something I am passionate about.

My short term is to work in consulting, and more specifically focused on the financial services sector. My ideal post MBA city is New York.

Long term would like to work in an operator capacity for a fintech company (either as founder, or in c-suite) focused on bridging the knowledge gap around investing, and making long term investment vehicles more widely available and known around the world.

I would love to hear if the schools that I am targeting are realistic based on my academic and professional profile. Thank you!

With a GMAT 750 score, you are in a perfect position to apply for these schools. All the Best.

Hello jjyoon36, and thanks for your post.
The application process is truly holistic, and committees will look at your stats (GPA and GMAT), work experience, and extracurriculars.

You are right that your GPA is a bit below the average of your target schools in general, but it does slightly help that you did better in your quant courses, which is something to mention in your Optional Essay. Your GMAT is quite strong, and that does help to compensate for your GPA.

It is hard to gauge your work experience without knowing your accomplishments and impact you have made there. But it seems like you have diverse experiences. It’s important to show you have made an impact and demonstrated leadership in each role, especially your current role. Ideally this will be supported by strong recommendation letters as well. It will also be important to explain why you want your MBA, and to also illustrate the skills you already have which are transferable to your goal of consulting. Be sure your story makes sense, and is realistic and specific.
Regarding extracurriculars, make sure to really emphasize your leadership roles you have taken on. Your Junior Achievement certainly sounds impressive; that is one aspect of your profile on which you can elaborate.

I really like your list of schools that you mentioned. Mainly because they are a range of schools. You do have a chance at even the most competitive ones such as Columbia, and while I wouldn’t call any of them actual “safety” schools, you definitely have a couple that are less competitive than others. And they are all great schools with global recognition. So I think you have a good list. Hopefully you have made great progress on some of them already, since the deadlines are approaching.
Good luck!