Hello, I am planning to apply to MBA programs in the US (think M7) this fall for entry fall 2022. I will have 3 years of experience trading at a Canadian Bank, have some decent volunteer experience and have passed level 2 of the CFA. My GMAT is in the 720-740 range, and undergrad GPA is ~3.3 (but there was some extenuating circumstances in my 2nd/3rd year weighing it down and my 4th year GPA was more like 3.6). I am wondering, is 3 years of experience too soon? How will the trading experience be regarded? Thanks for any advice.
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I would highly advise you to cast a broader net when it comes to where you apply. M7 is extremely competitive and you will be bucketed against people that worked at Citadel, Blackstone, GS.
Your GMAT is good, not crazy special. That doesn't mean you won't get in but just try and compare yourself to some of the people you are going up against and you wil see what I mean
Are the buckets solely based off of career background?
There are baseline buckets like GMAT & GPA that everyone needs to meet & then work experience. Because you are in S&T you will be compared to the cream of the crop s&t people applying because they only want to admit a certain amount of people in your industry. So, yes you will be compared to people doing S&T at Goldman, Citadel, Jane Street seeking an MBA.
Which is why I'm saying, consider applying to T15's aswell.
lol at the idea that traders at citadel and jane street are applying for MBAs
Higher gmat will be helpful for M7. shoot for that 740+. Do you have any extracurriculars?
Yes, I am the treasurer of a young professionals organization for a charity. Do you think the work experience is okay or should I continue working for another year prior to applying?
I guess it depends on how much you think you can improve your profile within a year. If you can get a lot of good experience, wait. If your resume is going to look the same as it does now in a year, just apply now. The number of years isnt as much of a factor for you as 3-5 years is all pretty much considered the same these days, that is more of a question when you are going from 2 years of WE to 3 when applying or going from 5 years to 5+ years.
I got in off the waitlist at 1 M7, admit R1 at yale (both in the pre-covid round) with basically the same profile. Rejected at HSW, 1 M7, Haas. I think if you apply to all 4 non-HSW you have a solid chance of getting 1, altho more likely kellogg or sloan than booth or CBS (kellogg is trying to beef up finance representation).
One thing I regret is not applying to one of the 10-15 rank schools with hopes of getting a scholarship to have some negotiating leverage. Maybe pick 1 from that range that fits your interest (i.e. cornell for IB, darden for consulting)
Thank you, what are your thoughts on how the trading experience was viewed through your application? I think my biggest risk is that it would make me less competitive if compared to people with an IB background. Also the amount of comments I've seen on here about S&T background to MBA makes it seem like its definitely a tough sell...
The two risks to a trading background in my opinion are 1. viewed as not a leader/not a team player/too individualistic and 2. experience is too quanty/not strategic
I basically focused my app on point 1. My essays were all about leadership experiences I'd had during college and through extracurriculars. For my work experience, I had cross the aisle on projects that were more "sales" for part of my career, as well as focusing on trading. So I had some bullet points to point to where I e.g. worked with a large cross functional team to pitch a client and landed a large mandate, as well as more straightforward trading bullet points where I did an analysis, proposed a trade, and it made money. But even there, you can emphasize how this involved more than quant skills - sure, I did an analysis to find a good trade. But then I had to convince my superiors why it was valuable.. etc.
The part where this gets tricky is almost more the job application process in my opinion. Most companies recruiting MBAs are looking for people who can demonstrate they are well prepared for strategic work, and those from IB/consulting have a more straightforward time demonstrating this, so if you are trying to recruit for something other than IB/consulting it can be difficult (read: I barely got any interview from traditional companies, only really from IB).
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