Hi, I would love to have your feedback on my profile!

Background:
Nationality Italian/Male, almost 30 years old
GMAT: 730 (Q49, V40)

Education:
B.Sc. in Economics - Graduate of the year (1st / with award) from a local state university (no tier)
M.Sc. in Banking and Finance - Graduate of the year (1st / with award) from a local state university (no tier) [same uni as above]

Work experience:
almost 6 year of experience working for an Italian Investment bank (one of the biggest in the country but unknown abroad): 3years as Analyst and 3 years as Trader
Experience: No international experience

Achievements at work:
1 promotion/after 3 yea
I lead a team of colleagues for an internal innovation competition in front of the company Board of Director. We advocated to teach coding skills to all the emplyoees who wanted
to learn coding. The pitch was successful and the project approved with €50k investment in courses.

Co-curriculars:
I achieved the CFA passed all the three levels on the first attempt within three consecutive years
I was selected by Bain & Company for a "Business Courses" reserved for the top 20 graduate students in Italy in 2014
I volunteered as canteen assistant during university
I am volunteering as "CFA Society Italy" member to promote the study of the CFA program with briefing about the exams to candidates.
I practise calisthenics

Post MBA goals:
I would love to work in the investment industry, targeting Hedge Funds or PE/VC.
Other options include IB and Consulting. I am also fascinated by technology but, unfortunately, I do not think to have the proper background.

Target Schools: HBS, Stanford, Wharton, LBS, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi (as last option)

PS: I need a good scholarship (as most of us I guess...)

Questions:
Do you think my achievements will be not so strong since gained in a "local" environment (just Italy)?
I don't have any international exposure, will it be critical for the application?
Do you think my profile has more chance in a particular Bschool?
Where are the best scholarships in Europe and US?

PS 2: Would it be better to go to Bocconi with full-tuition scholarship or to INSEAD/LBS with no scholarships?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Regards!
thank

Take a look at The sad facts about scholarships http://www.find-mba.com/board/37055

Given your goal, I think it would be mistaken to focus on scholarships.

You look like you can apply to the best schools out there with a good shot. Very strong GMAT, good experience, great academics etc.
In my opinion, it would be a shame to end up outside the M7 or LBS.
Aim for the absolute best schools, and they usually have enough money to give some scholarship, but first and foremost, focus on the schools that will help you achieve your goals, not the money.

Take a look at The sad facts about scholarships http://www.find-mba.com/board/37055

Given your goal, I think it would be mistaken to focus on scholarships.

Study the facts. Make rational choices. Don't be led by fear and gossip.

All the people who are speaking to need to look at the FT MBA ranking. It shows that graduates of European MBA programmes have substantial increases in salary and career progression. Those are quite unlike the outcomes from the CFA. The data are available to you. Look at rankings from previous years and see how the earnings are increasing for MBAs at the top schools.

Attending SDA on a scholarship is a false economy *IF* you can attend a better school. The higher lifetime earnings from a better school are much higher than the value of the scholarship.

MBAs are not shrinking in terms of applications. There are simply more ways to take the MBA, and the good schools are taking market share from the small ones.

PS For example, my brother is starting the Cranfield MBA. They have something like 1,000 part-time MBA students. Ten years ago, maybe they had 100. Look at the way all the big business schools are growing like crazy, with more online degrees and more specialized masters.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 13, 2020]

I don't know that payback periods are increasing (https://www.ft.com/content/4b971088-b261-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399) but I do know that it doesn't matter. What matters is the NPV of the MBA. Sure, an SDA MBA takes less time to pay back than one from LBS. But the LBS MBA leaves you earning a quarter more. When you add that up over 30 years or 40 years, it's worth much more over your working life.

PS I threw out a pair of cheap shoes today, less than two years old. I am still wearing a 20-year old pair, much better made. It's the same with education.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 13, 2020]

I don't know that payback periods are increasing (https://www.ft.com/content/4b971088-b261-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399) but I do know that it doesn't matter. What matters is the NPV of the MBA. Sure, an Imperial MBA takes less time to pay back than one from LBS. But the LBS MBA leaves you earning much, much more over your working life. I threw out a pair of cheap shoes today, less than two years old. I am still wearing a 20-year old pair, much better made. It's the same with education.

I don't know that payback periods are increasing (https://www.ft.com/content/4b971088-b261-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399) but I do know that it doesn't matter. What matters is the NPV of the MBA. Sure, an SDA MBA takes less time to pay back than one from LBS. But the LBS MBA leaves you earning a quarter more. When you add that up over 30 years or 40 years, it's worth much more over your working life.

PS I threw out a pair of cheap shoes today, less than two years old. I am still wearing a 20-year old pair, much better made. It's the same with education.

The FT certainly has a bias to sell newspapers. But the data in the rankings are not produced by the FT using ten-sided dice. They come from statistically-significant survey data audited by KMPG.

You have missed my point, and misunderstood the context for those articles. Applications for full-time MBAs are falling because more people are taking part-time MBAs. The MBA is not falling in importance.

The FT certainly has a bias to sell newspapers. But the data in the rankings are not produced by the FT using ten-sided dice. They come from statistically-significant survey data audited by KMPG.

You have missed my point and misunderstood the context for those articles. Applications for full-time MBAs are falling because more people are taking part-time MBAs. The MBA is not falling in importance.

Full time MBAs are loss making and part time and online ones are not. What's alarming?

Are there any any schools that are actually out of the MBA market? Surely all business schools are larger but have more diverse portfolios.

Change in Visa policies in UK and US the last few years, and the rise of some decent universities in 3rd countries, contribute to a fall in MBA demand in the US and UK.

Also, record low unemployment with many good jobs available for grabs, increased the opportunity cost for many locals.

If there was a fall in demand then it would be reflected by lower salaries and lower employment rates. Restrictions on hiring certainly distort the market but, broadly speaking, I am not sure the evidence shows a falling demand for the top schools' graduates.

What I do see is that MBA students have different interests. More are taking entrepreneurial options. So many things are at work.