Schools Applying To: JHU SAIS, Georgetown MSFS, Tufts MALD, Columbia SIPA, Penn Lauder JD/MA
Interests: Lobbying/strategy consulting/buy-side
Undergrad Institution: a UC not named UCLA or Berkeley
Undergraduate GPA: 3.54
Years since Undergrad: 1
Undergraduate Major: International Studies
GRE: V 170 / Q 163 / AW 5.0
Quantitative Courses: Macro/micro econ, did pretty garbage but had a pretty major virus thing that took out 4 weeks of a quarter that I'm not sure whether is worth talking about
Age: 22
Languages: English, Mandarin
Work Experience: Currently full time at an investment bank doing equity research.
Past summer internships during undergrad:
International Law in Taipei
Investment bank in HK
PE shop in Taipei
LORs: Professor for my senior capstone in my major. Not sure how good it'll be but it got me into LBS MiM last year with a 30k GBP scholarship; MD at my current job. Should be a good one, he understand what I want to do with my life and what value I bring to the table.
SOPs: Struggling with this right now. Not sure how much to include from my past. I have a decent personal statement that I can draw inspiration from that talked about working through a speech impediment and how it contributed to my passion for the subject, but I think that's too far in the past. More recently, I worked nearly full time through college and couch surfed for a year to save money and I want to be able to express that in a productive manner. I have a pretty good applicable experience from my current position that really links up finance and IR pretty practically that I will talk about as well.
Concerns: Too soon out of undergrad. Ho-hum GPA, bad in econ courses. Work experiences don't really demonstrate desire for an IR degree. Also SFS wants 3 LORs and I don't have a third that I'm comfortable with.