Some background

One thing that has always seemed strange to me is how rarely anyone asks the question of "why should I trust you?" when on the internet. I'm not going to get into that discussion :) but here's a bit of background to set the stage on why it may be at least interesting, and hopefully helpful, to listen to me ramble:

• Years of experience: 5 years at time of matriculation (Fall 2010) excluding internships. Assuming the next 16 months go well this time will all have been within the same group at the same company. I've worked here since undergrad pretty much with the same 5-10 people. That's got to be rare in this day & age, and hopefully my managers can translate the process of having seen me develop over 4 years into writing some good recommendations
• Profession: financial services - sales & relationship management. Although it's a sales role a large component is analytical in nature
• Education: undergraduate at a top U.S. university with a B.A. in economics with a heavy dose of math. My GPA sucked - in terms of being an applicant it's my biggest weakness by far and doesn't reflect my (now demonstrated?) ability today to excel. Passed CFA Level I and plan to pass Level II next summer (eg. after admit/deny decisions are made)
• Extracurricular: During college - almost nothing, same as my GPA. Post-graduate very strong. I'm very involved with significant leadership experiences at my main volunteer organization. Additionally I'm on the local alumni board of my alma-mater despite not being involved much during my undergrad time. I'm also deeply involved in a pretty intense individual sport as well as the local club which adds a bit more leadership & team component. I've been a member of one of my company's diversity groups since I started work and am on the volunteer leadership team for my city.
• My chances: I honestly think my chances of getting into my top schools this year are fairly slim. I worry my one big weakness (GPA), especially in light of my targeted focus of study, may not have been sufficiently offset yet. I want an Adcom to feel confident fighting for me over someone else. That said I know I'm 100% ready and able to succeed - hopefully that will shine through in my application. If not... some things I'm planning to do in the next 12 months regardless will fix it for next year.
  

I'll do a post on each of Strengths and Weaknesses at some point in the coming weeks. I've done some thinking on both but never sat down and put thoughts on paper. Once I've had a chance to do that I'll post the results here as a way to hopefully flesh them out even further and maybe get some feedback when (if?) people start reading this blog.

A brief "Why MBA":

• Primary driver is Career Change: I want to remain in financial services but sales is not where I want to be long term. This Career Change requires a largely different skillset than I am able to develop in my current position, and I believe the best way to demonstratively develop that skillset and get hired into the position I want, is a full time MBA program
• The Brand. Maybe this speaks more to the Why "Here" question, but for the career change I want to make the Brand is an important and legitimate factor
• The Network. Being part of a top BSchool network is invaluable in my proposed line of work. Ideally it will also help contribute finding great hires of my own down the road