Latam to top business school
Hi guys, I was hoping to get some advice. This is my first post, but I've been reading this website a lot. I'm a New York born and raised guy that went to a liberal arts college and played top 20 division I lacrosse (earning a 3.4 GPA). My international family background made me become fascinated by Latam. After graduation, I moved to Chile (without fully speaking Spanish and knowing absolutely no one) to start a position as an intern at a boutique M&A focused investment bank based here in Chile. My company's partners took a risk in giving me an opportunity to intern, but after 2 months they saw my learning curve progression and work ethic and they offered me a full-time position. (I've also interned at smaller hedge funds and a short 2 weeks at a MM IB (REIT group) in NYC)
I've been working here about a year and a half now and have been thinking about my next step. I most definitely want to move back to the states, but I am in no rush to do so. My end goal is to work in private equity at a top shop in NYC (but I know the competition is tough and I might have to do a number of other jobs to earn my way there). I was hoping to get your advice on what steps to take to best position myself moving forward. I have also been studying for the GMAT and plan to take that soon. My recent practice scores (730, 750, 760) seem to be good enough to qualify me for a top school (HBS, Stanford, Wharton - all have a 730 median).
With my end goal in mind, what would you suggest I should be most focused on:
- Staying where I currently am and applying to business school with 3 or 4 years experience (ie this apply September of this year or next year)
- Looking to lateral to a BB bank either in NYC or here in Santiago (seems unlikely/tough to do at most BB banks)
- Looking for small private equity companies that have invested in latam (I have yet to come across companies that exclusively invest in Latam, but would love to hear some names) and applying/cold calling there
- I have a connection at McKinsey consulting that says my background/resume would 100% get me an interview- applying there and ideally working 1/2 yrs then applying to business school.
Any advice is VERY WELCOME.
You seem to have wonderful work experience, initiative, a competitive GPA, international experience, and probably a great story. You also are anticipating a competitive or better GMAT score.
I would encourage you to pursue parrallel tracks for this upcoming cycle. Complete your GMAT prep and take the exam. If you get what you think you'll get, then plan to apply R1 of this year to programs that feed into top PE shops, like HBS, CBS, Wharton, and Stanford. If you get accepted, I'd suggest you go now so that you start earning your post-MBA salary earlier.
At the same time, explore one of the other opportunities you have. Either at McKinsey or in finance. They would all be impressive from an admissions perspective. if you were to start a new job in let's say May or June, you would have more than one year at that position before you start your MBA. The questions, which others here can better answer than I can, is which of them will better prepare you for a NY PE career post-MBA.
If you pursue both a 2020 MBA and a new position, you can't lose. You'll either start your MBA in 2020, or you will be positioned better for a 2021 or 2022 app.
Best, Linda
Thank you so much for the advice Linda! One more quick question. My worry is that because I don't have a prestigious school name (like an IVY or Williams/Amherst) nor a prestigious job like a (Goldman Sachs or Blackstone) on my resume, I could get dinged because admissions officers would not be able to gage my success/impact/leadership etc. Would I still have good chances of being accepted to a Harvard or Stanford without the well recognized academic/professional experience? The time required to apply to 5-6 business schools definitely makes it a a big commitment (that I am most definitely willing to make, but only if I have a reasonable chance of acceptance).
Yes, but the people that have those names on their resume may not have the Latam experience or be able to show your initiative or multi-cultural perspective.
You, like most applicants, do have to show impact. It's your job to help them see that success and leadership... really all the qualities they are looking for. The point you're raising is not a reason to refrain from aiming high, but a reason to 1) Make sure your application does what it needs to do and does so with excellence, and 2) Don't aim exclusively at the elite programs.
Your GPA is OK, but nothing spectacular. However you did play lacrosse. You are anticipating an above average GMAT. They shouldn't really worry about your ability to handle the academics.
Basically what I'm saying is that what you did in college and what you are doing since college is going to be more important than the school's pedigree. Same with your employers. Yes. Blue chip employers make life easy for adcoms, but if you can show the qualities they are looking for, then the distinctiveness of your professional experience will be a plus.
I can think of several cases where clients were aiming too low because they didn't go to a big name school and we pushed them to aim higher and they are either attending or about to attend MBA business schools">M7 programs that they woudn't even have applied to.
My $.02. Go for it! Don't sell yourself short.
I know one specific BB in NYC that has a specific Latam product group (not entirely sure about what the work entails, but there were MBA's bucketed into it as summer associates, so I can only assume they need analysts as well). This might be a possibility if you want to lateral to NYC. Might leverage your college network, especially since you were an athlete.
We probably know a couple of the same people. The world gets smaller all the time.
Honest question, asked with all respect: Why would you give up your niche advantages (LATAM exposure, Chilean network, path to partnership) for the NYC sellside?
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