<p>I have an interesting situation. During my senior year of high school I won DECA state champion in SEM and competed internationally in Orlando. After high school I went to a CC, but was offered at assistant store manager job at Wal-mart, helping run $80+ million supercenters. I finished Wal-Mart university and started the job at 19 years old. I went on to do it for 2 years making $45k+ a year but I stepped down to finish my education. I have a 3.7 gpa from my CC and a 3.5 at Gonzaga University. I want to master in finance and pursue a career in IB. My major is a BA with concentrations in finance, Econ.</p>
<p>Bumpbumpbump</p>
<p>Your BA in finance and economics will help your chances to get admissions to finance programs. I have not heard of Gonzaga university so can’t say how it will be perceived by bschool adcoms. Reputation and competitiveness of undergrad matters in b school admissions. However, your work experience is quite interesting and can add a lot to the application. Bear in mind though, top schools like H, S, W will look for things far beyond quantifiable attributes.</p>
<p>@jmkhan my work experience is what puzzles me to see how it is perceived as I did it at such a young age. I haven’t read of anyone else going my route so it’s tough to gauge. Gonzaga is a private liberal arts university, ranked #2 regional university in the west by US news.</p>
<p>Gonzaga is a good college, I have family in Spokane area so I know it well. I also went to Xavier University, which is in the same family of schools.</p>
<p>Personally, I think the work experience is more of an education for you. Your take away from that work experience is a good work ethic, desire to do your best, and an introduction to leadership skills. If I were interviewing you i wouldn’t give you a leg up for it. However, I would expect your communication skills and dedication to achieve to be higher than other candidates right out of school.</p>
<p>This is similar to how I think of most people I meet who tried a career path and then changed their way a few years down the road. The clarity of direction that comes with the experience and time spent studying the options generally results in a great magnitude of success.</p>
<p>@Japher thank you! That means a lot. I am very clear and determined in my future goals. You are very correct in the way you analyzed me as an applicant and an individual. Hopefully it goes well.</p>
<p>pesevic, Your age is certainly going to be an solid advantage for you as top schools favor young(er) applicants. This is despite what school adcom will tell you. Also, you seem to have a gpa representative of applicants to top schools. A lot will depend on how you execute the entire application process as their are numerous components to the whole application. The whole b school admission process at top schools is also somewhat of a crapshoot and hard to predict for most individuals.</p>
<p>If you can work out a great story to tell based on your unique work experience then that will certainly boost your chances.</p>