Thanks a lot for your reply. I have a question. You said the avg work experience of the class is 5 years. But if I gather more work experience in technology consulting, won't it make my jump (to finance domain) harder? Or, should I shift to finance domain now? In that case, it may be the situation that I get a finance job in a company which is of lower stature compared to Big 4. Won't that affect also? Please help.
essaysnark wrote:
Hi naivelearner - thanks for asking for our input on your profile! As you know, you're coming from an oversubscribed pool of candidates, with the "Indian in IT" thing going on - however, it's clear that you're a strong performer and that is going to count for a LOT in this process. Your academics are solid and it looks like you landed a plum position after finishing your undergrad. This can help put you in a good starting position. The GMAT will matter too and a 740 would be a great help.
None of these things will guarantee you'll get in though; it will all depend on your pitch, the essays and goals and why you want an MBA, as well as your recommendations and how many examples of achievement you'll be able to present in the application.
You're definitely on the young side for many of the best-known finance MBAs. When people talk about the strongest schools for finance they typically are thinking of Columbia, Wharton, Booth, and LBS. All of those schools prefer more work experience, and especially because of your candidate pool, it's usually better to be hitting the school averages, which in this case is 5 years. You'll have to really impress the adcom if you're going to have a shot of getting in with less experience. Often these schools will reject a candidate on this issue alone and invite them to reapply when they have accrued more experience. So that's your biggest obstacle, probably.
Some other programs might be worth exploring, such as the Master's in Finance at MIT Sloan - it's designed for early-career professionals like yourself and might be the best way to make this transition. (The LBS MFin wouldn't be a fit, just FYI - each of these programs is designed differently so you'll need to research them specifically if you decide to pursue that option.)
We do see plenty of people using graduate school to go from an engineering role to a finance role, however it's a pretty big jump and you'll need to do all that you can to show how you're working towards it already. In that regard, your CFA Level I is definitely impressive and super helpful - that's going to be a major advantage for you in this process. We wrote about the CFA and the MBA on our blahg recently - apologies that these posts are behind the paywall but we're citing them here for anyone who's already a subscriber over on essaysnark:
...
From your brief sketch it appears that you've got a lot going for you and we're encouraged. If you have other questions don't hesitate to ask - we hope to see you around here more!
EssaySnark
None of these things will guarantee you'll get in though; it will all depend on your pitch, the essays and goals and why you want an MBA, as well as your recommendations and how many examples of achievement you'll be able to present in the application.
You're definitely on the young side for many of the best-known finance MBAs. When people talk about the strongest schools for finance they typically are thinking of Columbia, Wharton, Booth, and LBS. All of those schools prefer more work experience, and especially because of your candidate pool, it's usually better to be hitting the school averages, which in this case is 5 years. You'll have to really impress the adcom if you're going to have a shot of getting in with less experience. Often these schools will reject a candidate on this issue alone and invite them to reapply when they have accrued more experience. So that's your biggest obstacle, probably.
Some other programs might be worth exploring, such as the Master's in Finance at MIT Sloan - it's designed for early-career professionals like yourself and might be the best way to make this transition. (The LBS MFin wouldn't be a fit, just FYI - each of these programs is designed differently so you'll need to research them specifically if you decide to pursue that option.)
We do see plenty of people using graduate school to go from an engineering role to a finance role, however it's a pretty big jump and you'll need to do all that you can to show how you're working towards it already. In that regard, your CFA Level I is definitely impressive and super helpful - that's going to be a major advantage for you in this process. We wrote about the CFA and the MBA on our blahg recently - apologies that these posts are behind the paywall but we're citing them here for anyone who's already a subscriber over on essaysnark:
...
From your brief sketch it appears that you've got a lot going for you and we're encouraged. If you have other questions don't hesitate to ask - we hope to see you around here more!
EssaySnark