Profile Evaluation Please

[sumedh.lal]

Profile:

Age and Nationality: 27, Indian --- but I've been living in the U.S. since I was 4 and have all American education and job experience...

Sex: Male

Undergraduate School: NYU College of Arts and Science

Undergrad Major: Economics, minor in Business

GPA: 3.4 / 4

Work Experience: Interned for two years at premier bank wall street doing private banking during undergrad. Worked for two and a half years at a premier wall street bank under a financial adviser in wealth management. Most recent job is at a mid-sized premier investment consulting firm as a hedge fund analyst - producing performance reports and hedge fund research reports for internal and external stakeholders (been here for two years as well).

GMAT: 690 first test, 710 second test...71st percentile math and 90th percentile verbal...90th percentile in writing AWA and 65th percentile in IR.

Certifications: I had passed the series 7 and series 66 at my first full-time job though these licenses are no longer valid...I don't know if that means anything.

Strengths: I have worked for three firms whose names carry weight. My internship and my first job were finance jobs in NYC which I think would carry some weight. The brand behind my education and job experience is strong.

Weaknesses: I don't have an internal job promotion at any of my jobs, however between jobs there is a clear step up in role and responsibility. Also, I don't have much in the realm of outside extracurriculars: I volunteered at a nursing home for two months, I donated blood once, I volunteered at a homeless shelter once. I have a personal blog on philosophy and spirituality since February. I also don't have much leadership experience but I have tons of working-in-a-team experience at my jobs.

Short-term and long-term goals: I am still working out the details of my long-term and short-term plans. My dad had cancer for 10 years. My mom has worked in science her whole life. I want to take my finance knowledge and find a way to apply it to the healthcare industry. I also want to use my MBA to learn about business and finance specific to the healthcare industry. In the short-term I'd like to do healthcare consulting. I'd like this to lead me to become the CFO of a hospital in the long-term.

These are the schools I am currently thinking of applying to: UC Berkeley, UCLA, McCombs, UNC Kenan-Flager, Duke Fuqua, and Georgetown. What do you think?

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your profile! As you mentioned yourself, it sounds like your work experience is very solid and with reputable organizations, and the progression between roles is fine... you'll want to dig in to what you've achieved/accomplished in your roles but overall sounds good. Solid GMAT, acceptable academics.

Don't stress too much over the extracurriculars though certainly more would help (and note, sadly donating blood and a one-time volunteering, and the blog are not exactly what they are looking for in that category). As for the goals-- healthcare consulting and goals in that industry are a bit less common and might get noticed if you can support them well, so I encourage you to solidify your goals, and to invest a lot of time and effort into your application essays and how you tell your story.

Your school list is fairly reasonable, a few of the higher ranked programs might be a bit of a reach, but you may want to add another program or two ranked 15-30 as more of a back-up. You might want to look at Ross and/or Johns Hopkins with the healthcare interests too and continue to do some research.

Let us know what other q's you have and good luck!