Applying to graduate finance programs: a guide

Today, I’m publicly sharing a 58-page guide to graduate finance applications that I believe will be useful to Chinese students who are planning to pursue overseas studies in finance. If this is of immediate interest to you, feel free to skip to the bottom of this post where there are instructions on how to download the document for free.

I kept the document focused on one major (finance) to keep the length manageable. That said, I’m currently co-authoring a similar guide for business analytics applications that will be released in the next month, and will also release guides for other majors if we receive a positive response. Please stay tuned (and subscribe) if you’re interested in guides to applications for other majors.

Beginnings

I started teaching the GMAT part-time in Vancouver around late 2008, and over the course of a few years, I had more and more students ask me to help them revise their application essays for their graduate business applications. I found that I was quite good at it after many were admitted to top Canadian schools (Rotman, Ivey). One was even admitted to Harvard Business School.

In late 2014, I decided to make applications consulting my full-time career when I accepted an offer from New Oriental (新东方前途出国) in Shanghai to oversee and develop their MBA applications business (with the scope expanded in 2016 to graduate business applications).

What followed was an educational and deeply fulfilling journey. Over the past seven years, I have directly mentored dozens of Chinese students who have been admitted to nearly every top business school in the world (though HBS and Tuck have continued to be elusive).

As a mentor to others, I have always told myself to be an educator first, and a businessperson second. This principle is part of what drove me to start this blog; it will not only serve as a place for me to document and share my thoughts and findings from my personal growth journey, but also allow me to share my knowledge in graduate business applications, which is an area where I am confident in my expertise.

So there you have it! Please use the information I have shared in good faith, and remember to pass it on to anyone whom you think will find it useful.

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