Improve MBA Chances
Hi All,
I finished my undergrad last December and am currently considering a career change. My undergrad is from a school nobody has heard of and I ended up with a 3.0 in accounting and a 700 GMAT. I'm currently interning with PwC and have a full time offer on the table. I recently found this forum and have read tons from it in the last few weeks and am kicking myself now for how my undergrad ended up and not doing anything earlier as far as fixing my gpa, internships etc.
Now that the past is in the past, what can I do over the next few years to get into the best MBA program I could feasibly get into. Should I stay with PwC and get my CPA or look for experience elsewhere? I could potentially retake the GMAT and do better, as my practice tests were all around 750 and I felt like I choked on test day. GPA obviously can't be fixed now, so what's my next move? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
You can make up for the low GPA. I'd say you should stay at PwC and get CPA (assuming you can tolerate the work for a few years and grind through the tests). Aside from that, find some charity/community service work to strengthen other parts of your application. Start lining up your recos. Keep in contact with any profs who would remember you.
Make sure your application is linear.
Narrow down where you want to go. Banking? Research? Pick one
Start networking NOW. 70% of jobs don't get posted, that number is far higher for finance. Type "neworking mergers and inquisitions" into google and read the articles.
Try and get to valuations, corporate finance, or any other "advisory" (TAS) work in PWC. The work is close to finance work and lots of people transfer out to IBD and ER. Make sure that whatever work your doing, you do it well so that you get good reviews. Banks don't give two shits what some corny performance HR review thingy says, but it WILL make it easier to maneuver within PWC and position yourself the way you want if you don't have the performance harpies nipping at your heels.
Consider lateralling to another big4 advisory. Plenty of people do audit work and then lateral over to valuations/consulting/risk or M&A proper at a big4. There are plenty of people trying to do this, but these organizations are also HUGE and there's lots of less motivated people for you to compete against (and hopefully beat out)
Forget about your GPA. Or rather, find a very very very good way to sell yourself and steamroll the GPA speed bump. Example: I'm the oldest son and had to take over a lot when my father died, so school suffered as a result. I worked hard to bring money into the family and pay for school. I had to focus on bringing in money and getting work experience as opposed to sitting around cranking out perfect grades like I did in high school, and my strenght is in my work ethic, adaptability, and wide array of experience in numerous settings....often holding more than one job and excelling at all of them.
If you don't have a "story", then craft one, get it straight, and get VERY good at selling it in under 30 seconds.
While you're at PWC get your CPA. Make the best of what job you have, and mind you that plenty of CPAs go to MBA programs. I met a global head of M&A at a huge bank who was a CPA for years before going into finance....but he was very good at his job and took full advantage of his position there to better himself. His CPA is also a good backup plan.
Retake the GMAT. If you can break into the 720+ range, then combining that with good work experience wil offset your GPA. The longer you are out of college, the less they look at your ugrad grades. They want to know what you did since....and that will carry more weight as time goes on. FORGET ABOUT YOUR GPA, you can't change it, you now have to build on things you can actually control.
Take CFA level 1 if you're trying to get into research. Just 1 though, you should continue to spend your time on...
NETWORKING. It saved my ass, it will save yours. If someone likes you, they will help you and guide you, maybe even hire you, but you have to get out and meet people. You might even make some friends.
Stay positive: PWC is a great place to start your career and it's STABLE. DB just fired 2,400 people this morning, and banks are still bleeding people. Thank your lucky stars that you know you will have a paycheck coming in while you figure out your life. This peace of mind frees you up to chase what you really want. Don't get complacent, just realize that you're not struggling to keep your job, and that your free time can be spent looking for a better one.
Last, reach out to people. Bschools, industry professionals, professors, people on this site....broaden yourself.
You can do it.
Good luck.
Thanks guys, great advice. Quick question about the CPA, I don't meet the 150 hour requirement right now. PwC will pay for a masters of accounting, but again, will that look bad trying to apply to an MBA program?
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