David

My name is David and I am a senior year student at The University of Bath where I am completing a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance. I am of mixed heritage with French and American background. In addition to my studies, I am involved in various activities like the Students of Bath Investment Club as Portfolio Manager, the University of Bath Jewish Society as Treasurer, the chess club, the football club etc.

Unlike many students that I have met who have applied to a MIM program to conduct a career in management or consulting in a company, my real interest in life as you can see from my interests in the University lies in the financial sector and a MIF is a way for me to deepen my knowledge and gain credibility to become a finance professional.

My career goals are heavily tied to finance. In the short run, after a Master’s in Management from LBS, I aim to get a position as an Analyst or as an Associate in Investment Banking at a Bulge Bracket bank. This position would be my first major stepping stone into the area of Investment Banking. As an Analyst my role would be to build financial valuation models to analyze potential investments in companies and to work on the presentations that will be delivered to clients; enhancing my financial analysis skills, and improving my experience of handling a client, and delivering presentations, amongst others.

In the long run, I aim to create a fund. In order to successfully achieve this, I will need to exploit all my previous experiences, skills acquired, and network gained. In this stage of my career, I will be focusing on managing a team, focusing on clients as well as running the fund simultaneously. Hence, my function would consist of a condensed fusion of the activity at the previous positions mentioned: financial analysis and modelling of Analyst/Associate, combined with the managerial and networking aspects of the VP/Director.

I got accepted to the MIF programs at ESSEC as well as LBS. Both the programs are outstanding ones. Both schools are ranked high in The Financial Times rankings. Even though both the schools have an excellent reputation, both academically as well as among finance professionals, I chose LBS for multiple reasons. The first reason is that having been based in Bath for the past three years, I find that I have a good network built in London, which I hope to capitalize on in the coming years. LBS being based in London is quite easily my first choice as I want to work in London after the MIF. Secondly, being of French and American descent, I want to continue my personal and professional development in an English speaking environment and nothing can get more English than London, can it?

I am not a natural writer, as I have been more of a technical writer rather than someone who enjoys writing the type of essays that the applications seek. Even so, it was not that difficult a process. In fact, the most difficult part of the entire process was combining my studies, GMAT preparations, social activities and applications. Ensuring that I gave an ample amount of time to all of these activities was quite taxing.

I somehow regret that I did my internship in the summer before applying for the program as the internship took up most of my time and when September rolled in, I found that I had not had the time to prepare anything at all.

What I recommend is that students spend a summer studying for the GMAT and preparing the application. This is probably the best path forward. In addition to that, you have to understand that MIF is quite a selective program and they require a GMAT score in the range of 700. Given the workload the I had it was quite difficult for me to get the 700 I needed.

Unlike MIMs the rankings of MIF is the most important thing as investment banks focus on the rankings of the schools a lot. You need to be in a program that is well ranked if you want your MIF to be of value. You cannot target a second-tier program if you want to work in a bulge bracket bank. So focus on rankings quite a bit and aim to get into the best schools. You should also enquire about the post-MIF professional prospects and I believe that in that respect, career services have such information available. Almost all students who do a MIF want a career in investment banking. Speak to recruiters and find out if what they are looking for and what you aim to do align with each other.

Finally, get in touch with professionals like Reussir le GMAT and Dr Hubert Silly and his team at MBA Center. Their services are quite helpful for students who would like to get a good score in the GMAT and also prepare a good application.