THE Low gmat finance professional

Overview: 

Our client had a very standard experience in the financial markets. As an entry-level employee, she had little experience to demonstrate leadership capabilities and needed to find some way to stand out.

Strategy:

We advised this candidate to use her exceptional extracurricular activities to highlight her leadership skills, as her current position did not give her the chance to prove herself. Since she was targeting London Business School, we guided her to focus on stories that showed her extensive experience working with international cultures and on international business deals. We also used her extensive financial modeling knowledge to overcome her low GMAT score. Positioning herself as a more complete candidate, she was able to gain admission Round 2.

THE reapplicant engineer

Overview: 

After a disappointing result the previous year, this client turned to us to help him shine as a reapplicant. His lack of traditional business experience and shy personality made it difficult for him to highlight the unique stories that made him shine, especially in the interview process.

Strategy:

After disappointing results working with a different top MBA consultant the year before, this candidate turned to us to help make his second shot at an MBA a success. His previous applications focused a great deal on his technical skills, which made it seem that he had little experience to help him succeed in an MBA. We advised him to refocus his application, and use his unique experience as a jumping off point to highlight his vast experience with leadership, management, and the real economy. After being invited for numerous interviews, we also helped this extremely reserved candidate feel more confident with his speaking skills and his story and helped him shine in his interviews, leading to several offers of admission.

Recent Career Switcher

Overview: 

Just months before the Round 1 deadline, our client decided to capitalize on an opportunity to switch from traditional investment banking to fintech. Our challenge was to show he had built enough of a track record in his chosen industry by the deadline.

Strategy:

Given Fernando’s exceptional academic record and GMAT score, applying Round 1 made sense from a numbers perspective. However, with just a few months between starting a new job and applying, we knew we needed to focus on “quick win” projects to build strong connections with his organization’s superiors and to establish himself as an excellent professional in fintech. By capitalizing on his programming skills, he was able to pitch and lead the creation of a new fraud strategy under the close direction of the company’s CEO. By the time Round 1 deadlines rolled around, we had accumulated great stories that mixed leadership, initiative, and success as a fintech professional, using these and strong recommendation letters to justify his goals of remaining in the fintech segment.