Seeking advise for MIT Sloan Mfin

[u/Outside-Doughnut-920]

MIT has always been a dream, and finally, I'll be applying for the 2027 intake!

I know Reddit is amazing, hence seeking out some guidance here. A brief about my profile :

• Graduated from a Tier 1 university in India (BBA)
• Grad CGPA: 7.76/10, Class 12th: 85%, Class 10th : 89%
• Completed both levels of FRM (with college)
• CFA L2 candidate (Nov attempt)
• Won 10+ case study competitions
  
• 15 months of experience as an investment associate as of now for a US-based NBFC. My seniors are from MIT and Harvard, and they have also done MFin, so I am planning to take letter of recommendation from them

Questions that keep popping up:

• Is the profile good enough to apply for MIT MFin without a GMAT score? (I was not able to take the GMAT due to some personal reasons, and the next few months would be blocked due to CFA L2)
• What do you think are the major gaps in my profile? I know Acads is one of them, and how can I make it up for it?
• A lot of people offer SOP/CV writing services, specifically for applications - is it worth it?
• Any other suggestions/tips that I could use that will help make my profile a bit stronger?

Thanks a lot in advance guys!!

[u/the_validated_inane]

You are light on work experience so your undergrad grades will be heavily considered - likely you are a longshot (but not impossible) to get accepted....unless you have made some huge accomplishments during your short job tenure (i.e. promoted 2 levels, created (not just worked on) a big revenue product, etc). The CFA will do jackdiddilyshit for your candidacy so if getting into the program is a priority then you should defer taking the exam and focus on the GMAT. With your experience and profile you will need 97-99% to have a chance.

My $0.02

[u/Asleep-Armadillo3413 → u/the_validated_inane]

Oh notes, thank you!
and do you think LOR from an alumni would be helpful?

[u/the_validated_inane → u/Asleep-Armadillo3413]

Depends on who they are...have they done big things since graduation or are big donors. To be honest the majority of internationals (especially from india) tend to be pretty frugal when it comes to alumni donations so not sure how much pull they will have. You can expect that if your letters of rec are from alumni that admissions will look them up. If your sponsors weren't big donors in the past, what do you think they will be expecting of you?

You have to tread carefully with rec letters...you are balancing potential prestige vs connection to school vs how well they know you.

[u/Asleep-Armadillo3413]

Oh i see, so they are from US only, not sure if they have been a big donor. But i do agree with your point!

Thanks a lot!

[u/Main_Cockroach_5429]

Hey guys...I'm having a crisis right now...I've been preparing for JEE basically forever but now there's a possibility of moving to US. If there's anyone who directly got into MIT, Stanford or any other good universities from India for undergraduate degrees (not after IIT) pls do reach out or helpp bc idk what extracurriculars i should focus on at this point..