Getting Ready for a Top MBA Program

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>I have recently set the goal of getting into a top MBA program in the next ~5 years (top 20, or even top 10 if possible), and I was hoping to get some advice on how to prepare myself for it. </p>

<p>Some background(I apologize if this is too much to read):</p>

<p>I graduated last May from Tulane. I graduated a year early with a finance degree and cum laude with departmental honors (GPA: 3.55). My grades are not the best but throughout the three years it had gradually increased from a 2.9 to a 3.8. </p>

<p>During my sophomore year, I thought about going to grad school right after graduating from college so I signed up to take the GMAT. However, I decided a few months before my scheduled test date that I would rather work first after having an internship opportunity. I didn't prepare much, but still took the test. (math/verbal 670, analytical writing 6, integrated reasoning 8) Since I didn't prepare much, I believe that I still have much room to improve.</p>

<p>I started a job in a top performing group in one of the largest financial institutions two months after graduation. (I don't want to name it for privacy reasons). I am in the private wealth management division, and I would say that I am doing well so far. I have been told that my title as "client associate" will not change much in the first 5 years or so, but I would be taking on more responsibilities as I progress. I am going to (hopefully) pass the series 7 and 66 in the next couple of months and become a licensed broker.</p>

<p>I am also thinking about starting the CFA in December once I am finished with my registration exams. I am hoping to spend the next 3-3.5 years to complete the three levels before applying to an MBA program. </p>

<p>Right now, the "what I want to be when I grow up" is becoming a financial adviser with management responsibilities or a portfolio manager at a VC/PE/hedge/mutual fund. I love the market and want to spend the rest of my life following it and learning more about it.</p>

<p>I know i am not ready right now, and it is going to be a while before I actually apply, but I want to start preparing early as I did not do that in high school or even college. Is there anything else that I could do to improve my resume/application? I appreciate any advice/input. </p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>Look make Harvard MBA admission requirements your benchmarks and then take it up from there. Look at this link <a href=“Class Profile - MBA - Harvard Business School”>http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/admission-requirements/Pages/class-profile.aspx&lt;/a&gt; It is the class profile of their incoming class in 2015. This should give you a fairly good idea of who is getting in and who is not. Average incoming age is 27. That tells me that people with 5 years of work experience (on average) are getting in.
Making Harvard your target school wouldn’t necessarily get you into Harvard (I hope you get into HBS or whatever your dream school is) but it will prepare you well for other top business schools.
Hope it helped. </p>

3

<p>If you have a good job in a large financial institution in wealth management and will have a CFA, there may be very little value in an MBA.</p>

4

<p>Personal wealth management and VC/PE are very different things. Narrow down more and then see if an MBA makes sense.</p>