Ask August Academy

Hey August Academy ,
Can you please help me in evaluating my profile :

Indian female

Grades :
Xth - 91%
XIIth - 88% ( Have been on scholarship since class 8th in school)
Undergrad ( NIT kurukshetra ) - 7.93/10 (2008-2012)
GMAT - 720 (Q50, V38, IR5)

Work experience -
* Have been working in Samsung from the past 3 years
Have had 2 promotions in 3 years
First as a software developer, then moved into Pre-sales consulting owing to my interest in Marketing.
In that I worked with Samsung Sales division in APAC regions, assisted clients and partners in Dubai, SA, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singlehandedly set up a whole Enterprise business conclave in India marketing Regional HQ, Worked with directors of engineering of Hyatt, Oberoi, and Taj hotels.
Demonstrated Samsung solutions in events, conclaves, summits to CXO's of different verticals.

* Member of cultural commitee in Samsung, Won the best innovative project of the Quarter for a project, Winner of many cultural competitions held in Office.

Extra Curriculars -
* Won accolades for Dance from age 6, Working as a dance instructor in a Dance studio.
* 2 District level prizes in Arts, College level athlete( won 10 medals ) in NIT sports meet' 09, '10, '11
* Head of 3 committees in tech and cultural national level fests in NIT.
* Started a society for teaching Underprivileged children of College's workers. This has been published in a local newspaper of Kurukshetra.
* Working as a UN online volunteer for a research project on Women Situation in Thailand.
* Represented North Zone ( 4 states ) In a national level General knowledge Quiz held in Hyd.
* 1 district level prize in Analytical ability (scholarship given).

Working on my startup idea as well ( It would be completed by the end of the year )

Post Mba goal - I want to enter into Brand management or marketing.

My target schools are - Kellogg 1 year program, ISB, Insead, HEC paris, NUS, NTU.
I even want a partial scholarship for these programs.

Can you please tell me about the shortcomings in my profile and how can I be the good fit for these above schools?

Do I need to hire consultant for the essays or should I try writing them on your own?

Pria,

You should be fine for most of these schools - except maybe for Kellogg, which will be difficult and not a given (though I would still encourage you to apply and give it your best shot.)

Thing about marketing is - schools typically do not encourage non-local people to take up marketing, because finding a job for them out of college will be difficult. So ISB is the only school you can go to with a marketing story.

You will need to re-think your goals for the other programs in order to expect success. What you do when you actually finish school is, of course, dependent on the actual job situation at that point. If you get into P&G - more power to you.

About hiring a consultant - you are the best judge at the end of the day. Please understand that a good essay is not something that Arundhati Roy will be proud of. A good essay is just a water-tight presentation of your goals and aspirations, set against your background. What schools look for is a logical progression from your background to your long term goals, through your MBA and short term goals. If you can identify the storyline then you should be good.

If you want more information - do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Wish you the very best.

Regards,
Karthik

Hello August Academy,

Can you please evaluate my profile. Main point are :

Indian male

GMAT Score 710 Q49V38 IR 7, AWA awaited.

X th : 81% out of 100%
XIIth : 76% out of 100%

Undergraduated ( NIT Hamirpur) : 7.66 out of 10 on CGPA scale.

Work Experience : 6 years approx.

Worked in Product company Fibcom India Ltd. (10 month as Engineer).
Worked with VNL India Pvt Ltd ( Product company) for 26 month as a NPI engineer with basic responsibility of product design and Life cycle management.
Now working with a Start-up for last 24 months approx , which include international Work Experience of working with Sagem ( Saffron Group company ) for almost 15 month
My basic concern is my work experience as i have worked with Indian Industry ( except for international assignment) and all small or mid level company.
Can you please suggest some school I can target.
I am interested in General Management or Product Management.

Best Regards,
Pankaj Vashist

Pankaj,

The nature and quality of your work experience is not clear. What industry are these companies in?

If you wish, you can set up an appointment with us through the link below - it's free, and we are happy to discuss this in detail with you.

Regards,
Karthik

Hello,

Please have a look at my profile

I am planning to write GMAT early next month(I know it may be slightly late).
I have 40 months of workex till now, working in a fortune 500 French Energy major.
I am into IT Infrastructure Operations

Personal : Indian/Male/25

My scores are :

10th - 92.8% (ICSE)

12th - 92.5% (ICSE)

B.Tech (CSE) - 8.36/10 from VIT University, Vellore

My GMAT practice tests scores are:

Princeton Review Test 1 - 650 (Q47,V34)

Princeton Review Test 2 - 720 (Q48,V42)

GMAT Prep Test 1 - 700 (Q49,V36)

Kaplan CAT-1 - 740 (Q50,V42)

I am hoping to improve my score and score above 710 in the actual GMAT

April 2014 - Present : Senior Functional Analyst
April 2013 - March 2014 : Technical Analyst
July 2012-March-2013 : Graduate Engineer Trainee

I have received 2 promotions in 3 years and have participated and won in several company wide competitions.
I have been actively involved in debates and public speaking competitions both at school and university level.

I have completed Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification and ITIL Certification

I have also published 5 research papers which include 4 publications in International Conferences archived by IEEE
and 1 publication in a peer reviewed journal on topics like Knowledge Discovery, Data Mining, Network Security,
Supply Chain and Sustainable IT.

I have also worked in a startup as an intern during the final semester(Jan-May) of my college studies where I worked with product development
and testing and had another stint as an intern at HCL Infosystems for 2 months during which I worked on sales and tendering process
with Goverment agencies

I am interested in knowing about colleges that I should apply to given my profile as I have started my GMAT preparation quite recently and have
not been able to gain much insights about colleges that would suit me best.

Thanks

Hi,

A 700, nowadays, is becoming essential for Indian candidates looking to get in anywhere in the top 50 - 60 colleges.

Without knowing too much about your background, I'm going to have to say that your application might be difficult to a top 35. You chances improve as you move lower down the ranking list. Please get in touch with us if you need more fine-tuned help - will be happy to help you with the same.

Regards,
Karthik

Hello All,

I am looking to apply for part-time MBA programs.

profile: Indian male currently working in USA.

1) Undergrad: Engineering (First Class with distinction, 75.22/100)
2) Masters : USA, Electrical & Computer (GPA= 4.0/4.0)
3) Total 7 years of professional experience - 4 Years as Lead.
4) topper in maths in high school, topper in Masters - got full tuition waiver for my master program.
5) NGO work - 6 years (thou, I stared at the young age fo 14 years and was part of high school & undergrad activities as part of Bharat scouts & NCC, companies NGO participation)
6) achievements at work, NGO and sports activities

I am looking for the following schools in order of priority - specialization in Technology Consulting.
1) Foster evening MBA UWashington Seattle -
2) EMBA Broad MSU - ( can apply for GMAT waiver based on my Masters GPA)
3) Gonzueita evening MBA -
4) Schellar, Georgia Tech evening mba

Can someone please let me know which colleges I can get an admit. if not, my weak areas in the profile

Thank you in Advance.

You should be in line for most of the programs that you mention, provided you get a 700+.

Be sure to explain your achievements clearly. Also make sure your goals match up with the rest of your profile.

Regards,
Karthik

Age : 25
Educational Qualifications : Bachelors in Applied Petroleum Engineering
CGPA : 2.97, Equivalent percentage : 79.40%
Year of passing : 2012
Location :India

GMAT:710
10th: 89.8%
12th: 86.4%
TOEFL: 115


Work Experience
4 Years (By the time I will start applying it will be 5 yrs) in Reliance Industries Ltd. (India's largest private company with more than 40000 employees)
- Working as Workover Engineer (planning, executing and managing drilling and workover operations of oil and gas wells)
- Managing a team of 20+ engineers directly and more than 200 employees indirectly.
- Managing 200+ sites and 10+ Rigs (In-charge of all rigs).
- Revised and implemented operations procedures that led to reduction in down time from 15%(approx) to <2% effectively saving more than $5,000,000
- Take mentoring classes for new recruits (fresh graduates) and provide training to them about different oil and gas field operations.

Extracurriculars
- Teaching orphans, underprivileged children and illiterate adults via NGO subjects like Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Computers( More than 3 yrs now.)
- Team member of project's Table Tennis and Badminton team.
- Organized Free Health and Eye checkup camps, and Blood donation camps in various villages in India since 2013 , held half yearly. (Through company's CSR policy)

Target 1 : Full time MBA 2 years at a leading college
Target 2 : M Finance at a leading college

My questions :

1. An honest opinion about where I stand
2. What could I do to improve my case ?
3. As per my case, which are the schools that I should be looking at ?

Hi,

You have a good work profile, and decent extra curriculars (the strength of which can be understood only after an extended discussion).

Your GPA is on the lower side - however, I don't understand this part clearly. While 79.4 is good, 2.97 is not. Are you converting this yourself? If so, please don't. There is no straightforward formula for conversion.

GMAT is decent - won't put you in the top ranked school zone (so no Harvard or Stanford). However, you should be able to target a decent mid-range school.

It is not possible to come up with a school shortlist without getting to know the candidate's biography and aspirations in detail - however, at this point you should be looking at schools ranked 30+ as per us news.

Regards,
Karthik

Hi August Academy

Please review my profile and help me decide whether it is fit for a second MBA in the schools I'm targetting. Targetted schools are only the top 20 in the US / INSEAD / top 10-15 European schools.

Age : 29 years

Work Exp: Would be ~4.5 years at the time of joining
Have been working in the asset management domain as a credit research associate in (arguably) the best US Investment Bank (offshore unit in India) for the past 3 years.

Educational Background:
B.Tech: from a very average institute institute in Electronics & instrumentation (average acads)
PGDM: MBA equivalent from a top 10 Indian B School in Finance & strategy (average acads).

Expected GMAT Score: I'm appearing for the GMAT in July but have been scoring 700+ in practice tests

Reason for 2nd MBA: Very happy with great reviews in my current job (which is very sought after in India). However, offers limited scope for career growth in the current role and I think an international degree,experience and network is essential for being effective and successful in the field I am in. Also, I have entrepreneureal aspirations in the Fintech space so an international degree and network base would be extremely important.

Others
Won a lot of National level finance competitions in B School
Member of student Investment club in the B School with AUM of > Rs. 20 Lakhs
Lots of volunteering experience with various NGOs

Hi abso44,

Thanks for writing to us. You seem to have had fun at work, and the accomplishments to show for it. No questions there!

An international MBA will help, but the fact that it is a second MBA will make your application difficult. Schools will not question the fact that you are good at what you do. They will, however, want to dig deep into whether "they think you need another MBA". At some level, it becomes a judgement call at the top schools.

Lower ranked schools will jump at the chance to get someone like you into their class.

As for the top ranked schools - get a very good GMAT, make an extremely convincing case for why you should have another go at an MBA, (especially given that you've done well in your career), close your eyes, and then hope that it works out ok!

Best,
Karthik

Hello August Academy
And HOWDIEEEE.. to anyone who reads this...!!


Now I have a very specific situation (thats what i think ) so i am submitting my info to which i would love to hear from anyone who has the adequate knowledge to address my concerns
Heres my BACKGROUND

10th grade=> 73%
12th grade => 74% (a science student)

Then i took an year off as i did not get into the a decent engineering college..Trust me here- i got into many colleges but all of them were Pretty much CRAP (sorry for the curse but i am being bluntly honest here)
In the mean time I assisted my father during the day and studied during night..I am not sure that experience will count for business schools nevertheless i am very proud that i did that as at an early age i got to understand as to how someone who runs an industry actually functions..
The Gap year proved fruitful as i got into GGSIPU Delhi plus i got a pretty good and a decorated college in the Capital city..
Engineering was Good in fact great ..

Aggregate=> 71%(B.Tech In Information tech)
Now to be honest with you guys i was working with my father during my engineering years as well ..I would literally pick up documents and do other chores for him (Yes He Paid Me too)

Here is the real problem why i wrote this piece =>
My age is 23 years and 330 days
I will be 24 next month..!!


I graduated in June 2015..
And from DAY 1 i have been working with my father in our Family business..
Initially i was hesitant to join him as i was an IT engineer and my family is into Footwear business. Then I started to love my job [Common we make shoes and other footwear's for a living. Who would not love that right ]
Now almost an year later i feel like i need to grow my business outreach..
Trust me when i say this - Work is Fine..But the glitch is => "i want to take my family Business to places" Actually i want that to be Awesome instead of just Fine (sorry for the choice of words )
Hence i need an MBA..
And to much of my surprise my father stands right by me in this decision..! In fact He told me that its a very mature move..!!

I know most of you might think its too early for an MBA
But honestly guys Waiting for another 2 or 3 years will not take my business anywhere .It will be in a stand still.

Plus i think i have the added advantage of working with my father in my initial GAP year where i assisted him if it counts.

So it goes without saying => I DON'T ONLY WANT AN MBA ; I NEED AN MBA..!!

secondly i am a bit confused about this work experience thing ..!!
Most of the business schools require 2 years of work experience in there applicants ..
What does 2 years mean?
till the program actually starts or till the time you fill out your application
If i apply in 2016 for fall 2017 admissions then by the time i actually start my school in September i will be having 2 years and 2 months of experience.. I guess that would do..???

WHAT ARE THE SCHOOLS I CAN TARGET ???

Top 20 can i get in ?
Okay Top30?
Top40?
i am flexible as long as it in the Top 40-45
Common Guys Help me get into top 40 at-least..!!!! I don't want to wait ..!!
I am into manufacturing shoes and other footwear so anything related to marketing and advertising would be Fabulous ..Plus i like Advertising.
Now if (only if) i wait another year( which probably would not do any good to my industry ) then will it increase my chances of getting admitted..

GMAT => Appearing this October..I think i can get a good score..i will try for 700 maybe ..I will Dig that (i have started preparing)

now to the most important part=>

Community services => I am an active part of an Organisation which rescues street dogs and treats them until they are healthy..I have been a part of this organisation from my engineering days ..the reason i do it it i honestly believe in the work we do..We organise dog shows too..

Positions held => "I am not given any designations actually .. I am responsible for marketing and supply ..Plus sometimes manufacturing too. Family business comes with several added responsibilities too
The Post MBA goals => " I WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO MY HOME COUNTRY THE DAY AFTER I GET AN MBA . Off course i would like to do an internship however..But apart from that i have one any only one vision that is to Do Justice to my family business and take it to a level it deserves"

ANYONE WHO READS THIS Please Feel free TO POST any suggestions You guys Have for me... It will be really helpful..



Love and respect to everyone
Stone Cold

Hi,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

As far as we have observed, having about 4 - 5 years at the time of matriculation (enrollment) is the sweet spot. For lower ranked programs, 2 years of work experience might be ok.

Schools will give you due credit for working during your gap year - but whether they count that against the requirements they have is an internal policy decision that only they can make. Your GMAT is another variable.

I would advise you to take your time, do well on the GMAT and apply after two years - if that seems like it is really far out, then apply next year.

Regards,
Karthik

Hi,

I will try to keep it short.
Xth : 96.8% (Zone Topper)
XII: 92.8%
B.Tech in Mining Engineering: 8.73/10 ( Gold Medalist and Institute medal for exceptional academic record ) from IIT, Varanasi
GMAT 740 (Q50, V39, AWA:6, IR:6)
3 papers (2 National conference, 1 International Conference) , 1 Book Chapter (Springer, Introduction chapter)

Have held some good position of responsibility during my college time such as Placement Representative, Departmental Undergrad committee Senior Representative and have also participated and led my team in some National level competitions such as CIMA Global Business competition, PDMA design and innovation contest etc.

I had my startup during my final year but sadly it could not take off and I ended up joining TATA STEEL.

I am currently working in TATA STEEL India as a Manager, Mining Operations and have about 1 year of work expn. During my time here, I have undertaken about 3 improvement projects (on critical issues of Mining). I will be having two when I will join a MBA Program next year and am thinking of applying in R1 this year.

I have some good amount of voluntary experience, not just normal contributing stuff but some real projects ( 2 ) and participatory rural appraisals.

My question is should I be actually thinking of applying this year in schools such as Sloan,Booth, Yale, Columbia? Do I have a chance or should I bide my time and apply next year that is in 2017.

Please do tell if you need some additional info to comment on my question!

You have a lot fo things going for you - 1 year of work experience now (2 years at Matriculation) is on the lower side. While I won't dissuade you from giving it a shot this year, I will advise you that it is a risk that you should take a call on.

Waiting another year (or two) will definitely help you get to where you want to.

Regards,
Karthik

Thanks Karthik!

Do you think these schools will be in my achievable zone next year or will they be a stretch for me?