Chances for an UK Master?
Hello everyone,
I would like to kindly ask for fair opinions on chances of getting into a decent UK programme.
My profile:
Female, 3rd year undergraduate at #1 B-school in the country (CEE Europe)
GMAT: hjust started the preparations, practice test are around 700 & taking the actual test in November so that I could pull up my score
Experience:
3 month summer internship - ECM/DCM division at a local financial advisory company
3 month internship at local bank's IBD (one of major players on the local market)
9 month (ongoing) internship/junior analyst at Big4 Transaction Advisory Department (valuations& financial modelling) - beside being involved in various projects i developed a comprehensive tool used as a starting point for banks financial modelling and valuation and should get partner's recommendation
Other:
CFA RC EMEA finalist (country winner)
several Big4 national m&a-related contests' finalist
acted as school's finance club head of knowledge (organising trainings for students introducing to databases like bloomberg, emis, how to prepare for an interview etc)
co-coordinated the largest investment banking and private equity related event in the country
CFA scholarship recipient (taking the CFA level 1 in 2019)
selected for Big4 mentoring programme and Big3 high potential list
received scholarship for the future regional capital market leaders granted by fund supported by our local exchange
offered a position of teaching assistant at postgraduate programme at our school (valuation & business modelling programme) as the only undergraduate student
I spoke to a top European B-school recruiter recently - she really liked my profile and encouraged me to apply to their Msc Finance. I wouldn't be extremely anxious regarding my applications if it wasn't for my grades - an issue which I haven't mentioned to her and which keeps me awake at night. Due to insufficient presence during some classes I scored lower than I should (i.e. missing points from group exercises counted into overall grade, or missed midterm paper etc) and therefore my GPA converted to US scale is around 3.0/4.0 (3.75/5) with weird spread like C/B- (3 out of 5) in mathematics and A (5/5) in mathematics for finance. I predict my final GPA (including the thesis grade) to be 3.4 (4.2/5), translating to overall 2:1 (4.5/5).
Lower grades occurred mainly during my freshman year when my family was going through a really hard time and all the circumstances caused me to go through social anxiety disorder/depression phase. Not going into much details, I was literally panicked when I had to go to school or had to involve in social interactions and after I started getting hysterias in public I refused to go out of home almost at all, fearing that everyone will notice there's something wrong with me. Due to that I missed few exams and had to retake the subjects next year. I know that low grades are the material for the additional essay, however I'm not quite sure if I should disclose such things.
My dream was to get into LBS. Is there even a possibility of receiving an (conditional?) offer with 3.0/4.0 GPA at the moment of submitting the application (January 2019)? MFA programme content sounds perfect for me but given my grades and classes of 80/90 students I'm almost 100% sure there's no chance of getting an offer, but maybe MiM? Does it make sense to apply?
I was also considering submitting applications to LSE, Imperial, UCL, Cass. Among non-UK: HEC MIF. I'm freaking out that they will reject me everywhere (esp. LSE which I have read is extremely strict in terms of grades and extremely competitive, was thinking about a less competitive majors like Law & Accounting though).
Recently I declined a M&A offer from French MM bank and stated i'm not available until Feb in elite boutique very active on our market. Knowing their hours, I know I couldn't handle the job, GMAT and school at once, but I started to think that the first option could strenghten application to HEC.
Career goals: M&A London
The most academically intense unis, such as LSE and Oxford, may be hard to break into as the first thing they look at is GPA.
Other unis, such as LBS, should be really accessible - provided that you obtain >700 on your GMAT. Your profile can easily be one of the best among many masters programs, and unis like LBS or HEC, those who focus more on experiences and extracurriculars, won't miss the opportunity of having you on campus.
Best of luck for your applications.
Ace your GMAT. LBS isn't that selective. The more your GMAT score's high, the more they will be willing to blink on your cGPA. Good luck ++
Getting CFA scholarship doesn't mean shit. It solely depends on your personal statement. I wouldn't list it under my achievements.
I'll give a personal example. I applied for a scholarship in 2015 and got it. I didn't even upload my final transcripts or list my grades and they never even contacted my recommendation contacts. And in November, 2015, boom, I got an email that I was awarded scholarship.
So it certainly isn't an achievement unless you got a merit scholarship in school. Even need based isn't an achievement.
Alright, however I never applied for one - the whole team was granted scholarships for winning the local CFA Research Challenge.
Much thanks for the replies, I feel a bit relieved.
PM'd you.
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Did you already previously share your profile on the forum? Could you possibly do so. As a prospective applicant, would highly appreciate it. Thank you.
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