Applicant:
HS
Pre-MBA Industry:
Finance (Chartered Accountant)
From:
India
Years of Experience at the Time of Application:
5 years in investment banking
GMAT/GRE SCORE:
760
Undergraduate GPA:
7/7
Admitted to:
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School Admission: Building A Career In Impact Investing
Background
HS was a driven applicant from Mumbai who aimed to apply for an MBA at leading business schools in the US. She came from a traditional family where her father was the head of the household. Despite both parents being chartered accountants, observing differences in their income and risk-taking ability around how they made investments and built their savings profoundly influenced the applicant.
The applicant realized early on that her mother, like many other working Indian women, prioritized wealth creation to build a financial foundation for her children. This perspective differed from a male-centric perspective, which focused on wealth creation for its own sake.
Wanting to support women across various income groups to make more holistic financial decisions, HS decided to switch from investment banking to impact investing, aspiring to establish a financial management system for women in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India.
After delving into her profile, we identified a few challenges. HS needed more industry experience in impact investing. Furthermore, she had worked for a small organization, and to apply to leading business schools, a certain degree of brand exposure would have been a significant advantage. Finally, while their school research was exhaustive, they struggled with essay articulation, which impacted the overall clarity of their pitch.
Approach
We helped HS craft a compelling pitch for business schools by refining her profile and highlighting how her shift from investment banking to impact investing aligns with her overarching goal of empowering women.
The primary focus of this approach was to demonstrate that HS had spent time and effort developing her plan of action. We helped her explore career options, facilitated connections with admissions officers, and assisted in crafting a compelling narrative that articulates her experiences and underscores the importance of her goals.
Her ambition to empower women, rooted in personal experience, added authenticity to her essays and effectively showcased her problem-solving and decision-making skills. We helped her choose dream, target, and safety schools, with Columbia Business School and Chicago Booth as top choices and NYU Stern as a target. HS’s proactive approach resulted in her admission to Columbia Business School.
Key Takeaway
HS elucidates how presenting the right experiences that feed into her goals in an MBA application can help secure admission to one’s dream business school. Despite needing more industry experience and brand exposure, highlighting relevant skill sets boosted her confidence and secured her admission to Columbia Business School. Throughout this journey, we supported someone poised to create equal opportunities for working women.