Help with Business School, Careers in Finance, etc.

[CnCGOD]

Been a long time, I basicly winged it but it had to do with breaking down words based on endings and the latin root (most have one). Many of the words in the answer choices are not of the right "type" as they might be nouns based on the ending or root when the choice describes a verb etc.

Been 8-9years now so its hard to perfectly remember the strat... but it was very repeatably working on the practice tests.

[Snugglebear]

Originally Posted by Dumar

there is no value in a phd in terms of money / time. it's useless for making money. you would make more money using that time to move into management within your organization. that's why every parrot gets an mba or law degree.

I gotta say that economics Ph.Ds are kind of rare. Maybe this is a fluke, but I used to do volunteer work with this guy who had a phd in economics and worked specifically with wood. He would get flown out to California, Switzerland, etc. just to give presentations on how the wood market is doing. He made mad money.

[r3probate]

Originally Posted by Silence

IIRC, my friend studied vocab pretty hardcore for the GMAT.

Vocab is 90% worthless on the GMAT; you must be thinking of the GRE. GMAT verbal is reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence construction/correction. No analogies, antonyms, synonyms, etc. The best way to study vocab for the GMAT is to read the WSJ and NYT to become more familiar with written business English.

[Fog]

Originally Posted by CnCGOD

I used a special vocab method on the SAT in that I knew a basic set of Latin words than used test taking methodology to break down the word lists to a 1-2 possible answers thus making me get words correct I wouldn't know otherwise. (740 was the result). Which surprised me as I expected my Math (710) to be higher and vocab lower lol.

You mean you used your brain? Isn't that the whole point?

They wouldn't make it multiple choice unless they wanted you to be able to solve the questions via elimination.

[Phoenix]

https://webapp.asu.edu/eadvisor/Majo...00&sp=SBAACCBS

Yay or Nay?

[Tyreny]

Looks like undergrad? If so, sure if you like accounting.

[Snagglepuss]

i've taken the GMAT once (710, 91st percentile overall, 92nd percentile verbal, 77th percentile quant) and i'm retaking. here's my strategy:

general - i use ONLY the "official" gmat books. after taking the test once, i feel like that's all that's really important. unofficial materials can get questions that are sort of veering off into non-test territory.

verbal - i'm already naturally pretty good at this, so it's just a matter of brushing up by doing a couple hundred questions.

quant - this is my weak area. not that i'm necessarily bad at math, but i dropped out of hs and only took 2 math classes in college, so i have a bit of a knowledge gap here. i will do every single question in both the overall official book and the quant official book. if i get a problem wrong, i will focus on the answer part of it and try to understand why i got it wrong.

after going through every question of these two books twice, i will look at problems i got wrong twice. i'll re-read the explanation of how to do this type of problem and really focus on it, and then do a retake test of only questions that i've missed.

hopefully that'll get me a 760 or better! heh.

edit: also, semi-obvious tips to actually taking the test: be patient and relaxed. take your time and read everything and be meticulous.

[Tyreny]

My impression of the GMAT is that once you've broken 700 you are pretty much done.

I also scored a 710 and do not plan to retake it.

The test will not open any doors for you but will close some.

[r3probate]

I fail to see how re-taking (or even taking?) the GMAT will close any doors, but whatever.

From my reading and other research I do agree though that once you break a certain threshold you're really better served by keeping your $250 and beefing up your other admissions materials - get someone professional to proof your essays / resume. A 90+ percentile score should be enough to secure a spot, provided the rest of your application is similarly strong.

See :

Class Profiles - MBA - Harvard Business School - most recent entering class had middle 50% range 700-760.

Admission: MBA Program: Stanford GSB - median GMAT of 730.

[Tyreny]

Originally Posted by r3probate

I fail to see how re-taking (or even taking?) the GMAT will close any doors, but whatever.

I meant that if you don't score high enough you will be precluded from some schools, but scoring in the 99th percentile doesn't mean you will get into every school you apply to.

The loose "cutoff" so that no school will reject you based on a low GMAT is about 700, as you can gather from the links you provided.

[Cheers]

I have a friend doing a PhD in Financial Planning. Never understood a PhD in financial planning, there are a million different certifications to get. I assume it's for academia though. I've looked at a lot of the stuff and it isn't business related, more people and financial counseling related. I originally assumed it was a lot of accounting, etc..

Looks good though. Since this recession a lot of folks are looking for financial guidance. Too many sharks out there though.

-Cheers

[r3probate]

Sounds weird. That seems like getting a PhD in "Tax Preparation" or some nonsense. Is that shit AACSB accredited?

[Etruscus]

Originally Posted by Snagglepuss

i've taken the GMAT once (710, 91st percentile overall, 92nd percentile verbal, 77th percentile quant) and i'm retaking. here's my strategy:
.

Have you done any work on the CFA thus far? I've been studying for level 1 myself.

I've been applying to positions like crazy lately. I've been employed now for going on two years in a middle office / front office position (I have two rolls, one being middle, the other being front). I've had a few interviews so far, but nothing has stuck. That and I won't take just any position that comes down the pike. Needless to say, I'm trying to get a permanent front office roll located in New York. If you hear of anyone hiring trading assistants or junior analysts, I would greatly appreciate a PM.

[Snagglepuss]

Originally Posted by Etruscus

Have you done any work on the CFA thus far? I've been studying for level 1 myself.

I've been applying to positions like crazy lately. I've been employed now for going on two years in a middle office / front office position (I have two rolls, one being middle, the other being front). I've had a few interviews so far, but nothing has stuck. That and I won't take just any position that comes down the pike. Needless to say, I'm trying to get a permanent front office roll located in New York. If you hear of anyone hiring trading assistants or junior analysts, I would greatly appreciate a PM.

I haven't really considered the CFA. From what I gather, it's a title that will assist you most in security analysis and valuation roles. I'm (so far) way more macro, so the concepts won't really apply. I'm not looking to become an analyst or an investment banker, and I am planning on b-school, so it doesn't really seem worth it for me. But it certainly can not hurt at all. it'd be great to have. it's just a lot of time spent studying.

yeah, i have applied to stuff here and there. I just think that due to the shape of the industry and also the more broad economic trend, jobs are not plenty and employers are very selective.

Do you have access to a bloomberg terminal? JOBS is a good source. I see a lot of junior roles on there.

[Tyreny]

I am gearing up for the application process for BSchool as we speak. Anyone else applying this fall (to attend Fall 2010)?

My list is as follows, in order of preference:

1) Chicago (Booth)
2) Columbia (re-app)
3) NYU
4) Duke
5) Cornell
6) UNC

I got outright rejected from Columbia last year (ouch) with a 710 GMAT, 3.5 GPA and 3 years FT experience at matriculation. In the one year since then I have passed Level 1 of the CFA, head coached and assistant coached a 14-15 and 15 y/o baseball teams, and hopefully will seal a promotion/raise in the next couple months. I think my spread of schools should land me in at least one of them.

If people are interested I will update as things progress. I should get my first round of results in December.