In his early 30’s 760 Gmat CFA charterholder and CFP certificant Pretty solid resume Major setback: 2.2 GPA from UCLA ( major changed from math to CS to Econ) Straight A’s on six CFP curriculum courses, that only count towards continuing education thou. What do you think of his chances being admit to one of these program? 10%? 30%?
Work experience?
extracurricular?
If work Ex is 10+ years that’s a huge plus. Adcoms are not going to care about the CFP courses. A 760 GMAT is a stellar score, obviously this guy/you is very smart albeit potentially lazy from a GPA standpoint even though CS is hard as sh!t, I’ve been there. Some b schools weight the final 2 years of UG much more heavily than the first two. If the GPA trend is positive, which it sounds like it is, then that will also be a plus. Chances for a Top 10 are going to be low unless this person has some outstanding extracurriculars. Chances at a 10-20 ranked school should be pretty decent. The only deal breaker is going to be the GPA.
If he’s White, probably a 50-50 chance with this garbage GPA. If he’s Black or Hispanic, then probably 80-90% probability. If he’s Indian or Chinese, no way.
For MFE programs, he will need to have a strong math background to get in regardless of everything else. Not talking about GMAT/GRE math, but rather differential equations, matrix algebra, calculus based statistics/probability, etc. Also, some programming experience is typically necessary as well. For Top 20 MBA, really depends on quality of work experience, but GMAT and CFA Charterholder should be good enough for #15-20 by themselves.
did you just mention straigh A’s on the CFP modules??? !LMAO!!! HA HAHA AHAHA HAAHAHAHAH ROTFL
I think he has pretty good chance, if he can work a little bit on alternate transcript. But again his GMAT score already shows that his analytical skills are great, still alternate transcript might help because that will show he can survive academic BS this time… but, given his age, that plan might not be as attractive, still you can research more about it. H/W/C are complete grade wh0res, but NYU I’ve heard is comparatively more friendly, I don’t know if that’s the case with 2.2 too. It’s worth researching which top schools place comparatively more emphasis on work experience, and some research on developing an alternate transcript too.
Bernanke Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > if he can work > a little bit on alternate transcript. What does that mean ? Can you help me get an alternate transcript ?
I think he means you should forge your application.
ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think he means you should forge your > application. Do you mean you can actually pay-off someone at the registrar’s office at UCLA to send out forged sealed transcripts?
^ No way! Maybe he meant taking some college courses or getting another master degree.
Alt transcript = take some online classes at a reasonable university (his alma mater UCLA actually has a pretty well-known online system), taking rigorous courses and get As in them. You don’t have to take too many – sometimes between 1-4 classes – to simply show that you can handle classwork and aren’t going to be falling behind. If he were to take a couple of quanty classes or even just classes that mirror core B-school classes and ace them, he’ll pretty well demostrate with the GMAT and professional designations that he can handle the rigors of studying for and taking tests. That being said he’s probably a lock at any school ranked 11-20 on USNWR with the GMAT alone.
mo34 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If he’s White, probably a 50-50 chance with this > garbage GPA. > > If he’s Black or Hispanic, then probably 80-90% > probability. > > If he’s Indian or Chinese, no way. Sadly, this is probably correct. It also depends on what he intends to study (the goals portion of the essays). If he is a white male with finance experience trying to get in with those scores so he can study more finance, top 10 is out of the question. A name school is not going to give up one of its finance seats for an old guy with a 2.2 when they can get the same profile without the crappy GPA from a younger applicant (who companies would likely prefer to hire).
mossy695 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Alt transcript = take some online classes at a > reasonable university (his alma mater UCLA > actually has a pretty well-known online system), > taking rigorous courses and get As in them. You > don’t have to take too many – sometimes between > 1-4 classes – to simply show that you can handle > classwork and aren’t going to be falling behind. > If he were to take a couple of quanty classes or > even just classes that mirror core B-school > classes and ace them, he’ll pretty well demostrate > with the GMAT and professional designations that > he can handle the rigors of studying for and > taking tests. > > That being said he’s probably a lock at any school > ranked 11-20 on USNWR with the GMAT alone. Yups!
bromion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- A name school is not going > to give up one of its finance seats for an old guy > with a 2.2 when they can get the same profile > without the crappy GPA from a younger applicant > (who companies would likely prefer to hire). True. The way these top MBA programs see it: if you get the degree earlier in the career, you’ll attribute more of your success to the MBA program and higher chances you’ll give back to the school. They know people who have much experience and are older really just want to be branded with an MBA.
Why do you want to go to b-school? I’m guessing not to make more money given you’re have the CFA, which means you work in AM, which means you should be doing alright. What does “pretty solid resume” mean? As noted above, you can almost definitely get into a top 20 school, despite the atrocious GPA. What I don’t get is why you want to?
He can definitely try at Hass MFE too, there he will find people like him (i.e. 10-12 years of exp) and more relevant opportunities and network. Moreover, Hass would love someone with strong AM experience in their course and can probably waive the GPA criteria for him, given his GMAT score. Alternate transcript with As in 3-4 solid math classes (linear algebra, stochastic calc etc) will definitely help him there. Solid Math GRE will seal the deal too, but it’s very difficult to ace Math GRE. Everywhere else MFE class will be much much younger then him, and I think that will not be good for immediate as well as long term opportunities for him.
^ Although, the Hass or Berkley admission in general use holistic approach, it seems that MFE is more of an academic oriented, and Berkley is known to be a GPA whore. I think he has better shot at an MBA than MFE. Nonetheless, I greed with you, I would apply for it anyway. What has he got to lose? Application fee?
mo34 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If he’s White, probably a 50-50 chance with this > garbage GPA. > > If he’s Black or Hispanic, then probably 80-90% > probability. > > If he’s Indian or Chinese, no way. Is it harder for Asian/Indian students to get into American bschools than for white males?