Ask MBA Admit - Dr. Shel Watts

Hi Dr Shel,

I was placed in top 15% of my class

-

Hello,
I would like you to evaluate my profile and provide me a list of b-schools that will be suitable for my profile.

Profile:
Gender - Male
Age - 27
Nationality - Indian

Educational Qualification:
Bachelor's Degree in Production & Industrial Engineering from one of the Top ten colleges of the country
Year of Graduation: 2011
GPA - 70.18%

Work Experience:
Jul 2011 - till date

After completing college I joined the Steam Turbine Design team of Siemens Limited. My role and responsibilities include :

1. Modernization of major steam turbine components for power plants in the US.
2. Interaction and coordination with international colleagues from around the globe.
3. Completed two cost optimization programs till date reducing the cost of a product by thousands of USD.

Achievements & Extra-Curricular Activities:
• Certificates of Merit at senior and senior secondary levels
• Participated and won numerous quizzes and competitions throughout academic carrier

GMAT Score: 720 ( IR:8, AW:4.5, Q:50, V:39)

Post MBA : I want to get into Supply Chain Management for a major firm.

Hi,

Firstly, thanks for your reply.
Secondly, I would request a more detailed solution. I have given GMAT thrice over the duration of 2 years and despite all my efforts could improve my score- (Q50,V27). I have no idea about GRE. I aspire to go to ISB-hyderabad, but am not sure weather I will be able to make it through looking my GMAT. Therefore, began to think about NUS, Rottman. I request you to evaluate my profile for the admission in above schools and further, suggest some other good schools which I can apply. Also let me know some stuff that I should Highlight and stress in my application.

Hello,

I intend to apply to ISB in R2 this year. Please evaluate my profile for the same. The details are as mentioned below.

I have taken the GMAT thrice, last in Dec’15 when I scored 680 [Q 47, V 37, IR 6, AWA 5.5]. In my previous two attempts in Sep’15 and Nov’14 I had scored 600 [Q 49, V 23, IR 5, AWA 5] and 610 [Q 45, V 28, IR 5, AWA 5] respectively.

I will have completed 7 years [2009 – 16] of work experience in Mar’16. Throughout these 7 yrs I have worked in two infrastructure development companies in a project management role for construction projects. For the first two years I was in a hydro electric power plant construction project in Sikkim and for the remaining period I worked in a metro railway viaduct & stations construction project in Kolkata.

My academic qualifications are briefly mentioned below

Class X - ICSE 2000 - 89.83%

Class XII - ISC 2002 - 81.33%

B. Tech (Civil Engg.) – NIT Surat [2003 – 07]– CGPA 8.16 / 10

PGPACM – NICMAR, Pune [2007 – 09] – CPI 8.16 / 10

Right after my graduation, I have done post graduation in Advanced Construction Management, which is a course especially designed for project management in the construction industry and is not comparable to any other MBA course.

Also, I was the lead author (there were 2 co-authors) of an article regarding application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in construction project selection that was published in ‘DECISION’ the IIMC Journal (Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta) in 2011.

I presented technical papers in some Technical Festivals during at IIT Roorkee, NIT Trichy, and in my own college NIT Surat.

Also I was event coordinator in one of the events during our college Techfest.

During my tenure in my first company, I had taken up a few CSR initiatives for the company.

Apart from this I was enthusiastic in playing cricket and football and represented my hostel / class / company in some small tournaments.

As is obvious from the above, I don’t have much ECA to speak of. Also, there is a one year gap after my Class XII boards, when I prepared for competitive examinations. Will these two factors be a major drawback in my application? Will the article that I published work as an advantage ?

Also, please give your views on my overall profile.

Also, please suggest which other B-schools may be targeted with this GMAT score and profile.

Hello Dr. Watts,

this year I will be applying to MiM programmes at several universities in Europe. I have a question regarding my cv and mentioning my high school diplomas.

I graduated from high school in Germany with the normal Abitur like everyone else. Additionally, at my school we were given the opportunity to do the international baccalaureate on the side.
So I did that as well. The thing is, on the one hand this is quite rare so it might help me differentiate myself a bit and it shows that I am willing to work hard. On the other hand my IB is pretty mediocre with 34 points. That's not terrible, but my Abitur is a bit better and my Bachelor's degree will be significantly better. My GMAT score is 750.

So no now the question is whether I should mention my IB in addition to my Abitur. I feel that if grades are very important I'd better leave it out, but I am not sure on how important they are to application commities.

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice.

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 ?

Hello All!

I know many of you received some good news in the past couple of months and are admitted at one of your target schools. Congratulations! I will post a blog or two soon about how to choose between your schools if you have more than one admission.

REAPPLYING
For those of you who were not successful this past admissions cycle, don't give up! I will post some blogs here about reapplying best practices.

DING ANALYSIS
Don't forget also that a Ding Analysis can help you to identify the weaknesses of your candidacy or application that should be strengthened. Feel free to reach out to us if you would like a Ding Analysis. There is information about that service here: https://mbaadmit.com/category/ding-analysis/



7 Best Practices for Reapplicants


At many of the top MBA programs, admission rates are as low as 7-13%. Significantly, this means that 87-93% of all applicants in a given year are rejected! So if you received a rejection letter from one of your top-choice MBA programs, you are not alone. You may find yourself doubting whether you put your best application forward and whether it is possible to have a better outcome if you correct weaknesses in your candidacy or in your application. But you may also be wondering, “If I was rejected once by my target MBA program, is there any hope of success on a second try?”

You will be happy to know that most MBA programs will look at a candidate with fresh eyes if the candidate fixes whatever served as the main reason(s) for the rejection. We have seen many candidates succeed in gaining admission to schools – the very schools from which they were rejected in the past (even when they had applied just the year before), including schools such as Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, Wharton, Columbia Business School, Booth, Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua, Haas and MIT, among others. Success in achieving a better outcome with a reapplication is not a matter of mere luck. Improving the application alone can have magnificent results. The actual application – essays, recommendations, resume, application form – matter that much! Improving key credentials can also be crucial. There are many best practices that can help boost your odds of success with a reapplication.


Best Practice #1: Do a complete and accurate diagnostic.

If you want to reapply with a better shot at admission, a key step is to gain a good understanding about the factors that were obstacles to your admission. You need a complete diagnostic. This is absolutely a crucial first step. Why? Because you cannot fix the problem if you don’t know what the problem is.

The list of things that could have been a “problem” for an applicant can be extremely varied. For some candidates, there might have been a problem with their academic credentials, by which we mean their GPA or GMAT score. For other candidates, the problem might have been timing – the Round in which they applied, or the week in which they applied if the admissions process involved rolling admission. For candidates with extremely competitive profiles – particularly candidates who are foreign national East Asian men or foreign national South Asians (men and women) – applications can be very affected by the Round at some schools and applying too late in a rolling admissions cycle can also be a notable problem.

For some candidates, the essays they wrote did not aid their quest for admission and they need to re-write the essays with much better content. That alone can sometimes allow a candidate to go from rejected to accepted at their top-choice business school. For some candidates, the recommendations were weak. Many candidates do not realize that one weak recommendation alone can close the door to admission at the most competitive schools, even if the rest of their application is impeccable. (And sometimes, the weakness in the recommendation can boil down to one or two horrible sentences that dealt you a fatal blow.)

Too little work experience, too much work experience or disjointed work experience can all be problems. The list goes on! Your first step to reapplying successfully is to determine what the weaknesses of your application were and to strengthen those weaknesses so that you put forward a stronger application and candidacy when you reapply.

How can you get an excellent understanding of the precise factors that caused your rejection? First, try to reach out to the business school that declined to admit you. Some schools offer formal feedback sessions in which they will discuss with you many of the factors that contributed to your rejection. Even in the absence of such a formal process, some candidates succeed in making contact with admissions officers and are able to arrange a feedback session. If you cannot speak directly with a school, you can consider hiring a reputable consultant to review your application and provide feedback. Among the important factors that should be assessed are these:


GMAT score

GPA – undergraduate

GPA – graduate (if applicable)

Impact of citizenship

Timing of application (Round, etc.)

Essay content – topics chosen

Essay content – writing quality

Strength of recommendations

Strength of resume

Strength of application form

Prestige of college/ grad school

Demonstrated leadership

Impact of age

Adequacy of work experience

Quality of work experience

Consistency of work experience

Industry – asset or negative?

Prestige of company

Effectiveness in conveying work experience

Long-term goal

Short-term goal

Quality of personal story

Quality of extracurricular activities

Effectiveness in showing a fit with the school


Best Practice #2: Strengthen your academics as needed.

Your academic credentials comprise a key area to assess at a deeper level. Were your GMAT score and GPA sufficient for the school you were applying to? Please note, to answer this question, you cannot necessarily just look at the average GPA and GMAT score for the school to which you applied, because where your particular GPA and GMAT score need to be is impacted by your profile. In general, underrepresented candidates (ethnic minorities who don’t apply in large numbers, as well as most women) can be a little lower on the GMAT and GPA than the average for matriculating students of a particular school. Overrepresented candidates’ scores (such as East Asian foreign national men and South Asians) often need to be higher than the average for matriculating students of a particular school.

How important is the GMAT in particular? The GMAT provides MBA admissions officers with a standard metric by which to compare candidates from all over the world and offers an indication of whether a candidate will be able to excel in a rigorous MBA program. Because of this, a GMAT score plays an important role in admissions outcomes. If you find your GMAT score is really low relative to where it needs to be for admission to a particular school, you should consider taking a formal GMAT prep course or otherwise studying and taking the test again.

If you have a lower-than-ideal GPA, you should to try to override it through different means, such as securing a high GMAT score, securing other indicators of your strong analytical skills like certifications or a CFA credential, building an alternative transcript (take courses at a reputable school in business-relevant areas and get As), and earning promotions and awards in the workplace. Time is also a useful factor: the more time you put between your less-than-ideal GPA and applying, the less important that GPA will be. If you apply only two years after college and you had a low GPA, the low GPA will likely factor much more strongly in your admissions outcome than if you put four years in between college and applying.



Best Practice #3: Re-examine your recommendations.

This is a very key step! It is a rare day when we review a rejected application and find that the recommendations did not play a role. Many candidates do not realize how important the recommendations are in determining admissions success. You can have a wonderful application in all other ways (essays, GMAT score, GPA, resume, app form), but if the recommendations are lukewarm about you, this alone can often close the door for an interview to the top MBA programs. The admissions committees want to hear that you are a great performer capable of success in business school and beyond. If any one of your recommendation writers indicates that you are just “second best”, the admissions committee may lean instead toward other candidates with much stronger recommendations. If your recommendations were a problem, be certain to make sure that with your reapplication your recommendations support your candidacy excellently.



Best Practice #4: Assess your essays – both in terms of “strategic content” and presentation.

Your MBA essays are absolutely critical for admission to business school. It is hard to underscore this enough. Nearly every time we review the application of a candidate who failed to gain admission to their desired business school after applying on their own, we see a great deal of room for improvement in their MBA essays – both in terms of their strategic content and the specific wording they used to talk about their achievements and credentials. Did you shine a light on the credentials and experiences that are very impressive, distinguish you and are most likely to get you admitted? Did you highlight personal, professional or academic experiences that make you stand out? Did you skillfully address weaknesses, directly or indirectly, to minimize the importance of those weaknesses? If not, it may be possible to revise or completely re-craft the essays and achieve much better outcomes.



Best Practice #5: Re-examine your designated short-term and long-term goals.

Sometimes a key contributing factor to a rejection is the stated short-term or long-term goal. When assessing whether your short-term goal worked for you, think about whether the admissions committee would have thought that you could attain your short-term goal relatively easily. If not, they could be concerned that with you, they would have a job placement problem on their hands (bad for their statistics and their rankings), and hence they might reject you on the basis that you were seeking a goal for which you had inadequate preparation or credentials. In fact, Cornell issued a feedback sheet to some of its unsuccessful candidates that explicitly indicated a problem was “planning a significant career transition without prior preparation.”

When considering whether your long-term goal worked for or against you, consider at least three things. First, was the goal clear? Don’t sound too uncertain or mention multiple possible career goals. Second, given your work experience and training, do your long-term goals look realistic? Some candidates find themselves rejected when their past experience on the surface shows no relationship to their stated long-term goal. If you do indicate you will be making a big change, you need to spell out how you will get from point C to point F. What are steps D and E? Third, does your career goal distinguish you? For example, if you are a foreign national male engineer and you have indicated that you want to start you own manufacturing company, you can only imagine the number of candidates with similar backgrounds who are indicating the same thing. Without providing more definition about your goal, you will look very “generic”.



Best Practice #6: Re-examine non-essay portions of your application.

What are the key non-essay portions of your application to consider? Your resume, application form and interview performance. Because many top MBA programs have adopted shorter MBA admissions essay content, the resume and application form are all the more important. Interviews have also seemed to play a greater role in admissions outcomes at several top MBA programs. Was your application form a strength of your application? Or did you fill out your application form quickly and fail to give deep thought to how to summarize your jobs and your achievements on the application form? Did the resume highlight your key achievements in the professional, academic and extracurricular arenas? Was it presented in a very business-like fashion using action-oriented words? How did your interview go? Did you prepare adequately? Did you perform poorly in the interview? If you did not maximize your use of these items, be certain to correct this in your reapplication.



Best Practice #7: Show improvement by the time of your next application!

Knowing that the top MBA programs value excellence professionally, academically and in your extracurricular activities, you should strive to strengthen your credentials in these areas even if you have no glaring deficits. During the time you have between your last application and your reapplication to a business school, you should be certain to continue to build your credentials and be able to articulate those improvements in a reapplication or reapplicant essay. For example, if you had a low college GPA, you ideally should be able to point to some online courses you have taken since applying that have helped strengthen your academic and/or analytical skills. If your feedback session with an admissions committee member indicated you did not perform well in your interview, you should be able to point to some opportunities you have taken to get more practice with public speaking. If you determined that your extracurricular activities were weak, you should be able to point to new activities you have engaged in since your last application. Even if you did not have a notable weakness in these areas, showing continued growth is a plus. For example, even if a candidate had a high GPA and GMAT score, it will only impress the committee if that candidate moves forward to gain extra training, takes an online business-relevant course or gains a reputable certification. A demonstrated commitment to continual growth, even when a weakness is not present, is an asset. Be certain to articulate through your essays all you have done to make yourself an even better candidate as you reapply.



Need a Ding Analysis to direct your reapplication efforts? We can examine your prior application through our Ding Analysis Service!

You can opt to have our president and founder, Dr. Shel Watts, a professional with Harvard admissions experience, look at your application and draw on nearly 25 years of experience to help you understand your application’s deficits and identify a plan of action.

Need assistance in putting together a strong application? We are here to help!

Feel free to reach out to us at info@mbaadmit.com.

Read more: https://mbaadmit.com/ding-analysis-special-pricing-march-2016-235/

Website: www.mbaadmit.com
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Congratulations if Accepted! Now How to Choose: 2 Factors to Consider

Let’s face it, making your short-list of business schools is no easy task. All of the top business schools have unique programs, excellent opportunities and strategic partnerships that could serve you well in your future career. Whether you have already been accepted to multiple schools and are trying to figure out which would be the best path for you, or whether you are just beginning to select schools for application and are currently assessing where you will be competitive, here are two additional key factors you should consider when narrowing your list:

Career and Alumni. Choosing a business school is not just a two-year pledge; it is a lifelong commitment. What you intend to do in your long-term career should have a great effect on your decision-making when it comes to choosing a school. As you apply to business schools, you should have a sense of where you want your career to go, both in the short term and in the long term. There are many companies that recruit students from certain campuses and schools. To that end, your school is often a stepping stone to your future career, not only in terms of recruitment, but also in terms of networking. Most likely, in pursuit of your long-term goal, you will switch companies maybe two or three times. In these times of change, having a vast network of alumni can make a world of difference. Many alumni will give preference to fellow graduates of their school. In addition, you may see many of your former business school classmates start their own companies and begin to recruit – and one of those positions could potentially be your future career. Make sure your careers and goals are backed by the school that you choose, and the opportunities offered by your school and alumni will help you go far.

Prestige. It’s is hard to overemphasize how far the power of a name can extend. But before we talk about the power of prestige, remember, prestige and ranking are two different things. A business school can be highly ranked one year, and then fluctuate greatly in rankings the next year. Rankings can also differ greatly based on the publication or the organization providing the rankings. Prestige, on the other hand, is the specific “brand” you obtain from the business school you attend – and brand can go a long way in networking, job searching, and making your resume stand out, regardless of ranking. Prestige usually stands the test of time. For example, Harvard was considered to be an outstanding brand 20 years ago; so too today, regardless of whether it hold the spot as the #1, #2 or #3 ranked business school based on various organizations’ assessments. Therefore, when you are trying to make the hard choice between your top two or three schools, focusing solely on rankings rather than also on the long-term prestige can be shortsighted.

The caveat to this is that prestige can be very subjective. For instance, if you intend to have a career outside of the US, it may serve you better to attend Cambridge instead of Wharton, where the name of Cambridge is well-known internationally. Although Wharton is one of the best business schools worldwide, the name of Cambridge may be better recognized across your intended audience. The same logic holds true regionally as well. If you intend to pursue a career in the South, for instance, Duke’s name travels very far, as does the loyalty of its fans and alumni. In this case, the power of a regionally prestigious school may outweigh the power of prestige from a nationally prestigious school. If you intend to pursue a career in the Midwest, the University of Chicago may be a better choice for you. On the other side of the argument, if you intend to move around the US during your career, choosing a more prestigious nationally ranked school, such as Harvard or Wharton, would be most beneficial.
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Hi All!

For those of you who did not have success at your target MBA programs so far, I wanted to mention how a Ding Analysis can help you. At MBA Admit.com, our affordable Ding Analysis assesses the following aspects of your application (and other factors as needed). You can opt to have me personally review your application and hold a call with you. After reviewing your materials for one application, we provide you with a 45-minute telephone or (for clients outside of the U.S.) audio Skype feedback session that discusses which of these factors need to be addressed in order to strengthen your candidacy/application and how you can best go about addressing any potential weaknesses of your prior application.

It can be useful for a candidate to review this list below, even if you don't go through a formal Ding Analysis, and consider deeply whether any of these factors were major weaknesses for you that might have contributed to your outcomes. Just remember, many, many candidates have success as reapplicants, so don't give up hope!

Factors To Be Assessed in a Ding Analysis:

General strength of essay content – strategic view
General strength of essay content – grammatical/writing quality view
Strength of recommendation 1
Strength of recommendation 2
Strength of resume
Strength of application form
Impact of citizenship
GMAT score
GPA – undergraduate
GPA – graduate (if applicable)
Adequacy of work experience duration
Adequacy of work experience quality
Impact of age
Industry – asset or negative?
Current company – asset or negative?
Long-term goal
Short-term goal
Leadership in the workplace
Leadership in extracurricular activities
Strength of extracurricular activities – professional years
Strength of extracurricular activities – college/grad school years
Reference to hobbies
Impact of round or application timing
School selection
Effectiveness in conveying, ‘Why this school’
Effectiveness in conveying potential contributions to the school
Effectiveness in conveying personal story
Effectiveness in conveying positive personal attributes
Effectiveness in conveying skills and experiences
Effectiveness in conveying strengths
Effectiveness in conveying uniqueness of candidacy
Effectiveness in addressing any potential weaknesses
Overall impressions
Actionable Next-Steps
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Hey Team MBA ADMIT..
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..

Also i know that chetan2u Vyshak and Abhishek009 are Mathematics Wizards/Gmat experts and not admission consultants .But given that they have been super awesome in replying to every query i post(or anyone posts) i would love to hear from you guys as to what should i do..!! Any Advice guys?

Love and respect to everyone
Stone Cold


P.S => i am posting on multiple forums a i am looking for any advices i can get
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Hello,

Can you please evaluate my profile?

US Citizen, Male, Asian American
Age at matriculation- 26
GMAT- 700
Undergrad School- Community College for 2 years then UC Riverside for 2 years
Undergrad GPA- 3.8 Transfer GPA & 3.15 at a 4 Year GPA- Combined GPA is roughly 3.47
Degree- Bachelors in business administration with a concentration in financial economics

Work Exp - Financial Advisor for 1.5 years at boutique financial services firm
Part of a team that specialized in working with business owners in areas such as: advanced estate planning, business tax planning, and succession planning. Took this job right out of college for one reason: I knew that my presentation skills, sales skills, and relationship building skills were lacking and I wanted to put myself in a position that would force me to improve those skills. This was not the scenario where a college grad joins a company and starts selling insurance.

After that I began working at AAA Insurance as a Product Management Analyst. I took this role because it requires the analyst to lead multiple projects while working with multiple departments to directly meet and exceed revenue, sales goal, and retention goals for the company. This role involves presenting recommendations to executives that would impact the company. I will have worked here for 2.5 years when I matriculate at an MBA school. Prospect for me to receive a promotion looks slim not because I am undeserving but because it takes a long time for people to get promoted (i.e. all the managers in my department were working for 7+ years before they got promoted)

Extra Curriculars-
I have been the Vice President of a Young Entrepreneurs Organization for 2 years. The objective of this group is to promote an environment for young entrepreneurs to network, incubate ideas, form partnerships and learn from experts (we host a monthly workshop where we bring in a speaker). My responsibility is to increase our member base and increase participation at our events. We have grown to 1,500+ members and average 25 members per event.

I take health and wellness seriously, I eat right and consistently exercise 3 days a week and play basketball 4 days a week. Not sure if I can incorporate that in any way.

I have formed a Volunteer Organization. This is simply an organization where I post volunteer events and get groups of people to come out. I typically volunteer a couple times a month and have been doing this for about a year.

Goals with MBA:
Short Term: Management Consulting
Long Term: C-Suite Executive

Target schools: Booth, Kellogg, Darden, Ross, Cornell, Duke, UNC, McCombs, NYU, Columbia and USC.

Hi there,

Could you please review my profile and provide your insights and opinions regarding chances of mine to be admitted to the schools listed below. Thanks in advance for your valuable insights.

Harvard Business School
Stanford Graduate School of Business
MIT Sloan School of Management
Haas School of Business

I'm 30 years old executive from Azerbaijan, Baku. I believe the name of my country might tell nothing since it used to be part of the Soviet Union and located far away from USA to which I would like to take my journey. Moreover, it is just small:) Yet I believe it might enhance my profile because there have been few applications for top MBA programmes from my motherland.

As for my work experience, currently I'm Director of Development Company and, at the same time, Chief Strategy Officer of the parent company which has activities in following spheres: real estate development, publishing house, and largest printing company in Caucasus. Previously I had been working in telecom for almost 10 years and was CEO of the biggest Pay TV in Azerbaijan in terms of footprint of its broadcasting network prior to joining Baku European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC) which was established with a sole purpose of organization of the first ever European Games. Before that, I managed the nation-wide project regarding deployment of digital terrestrial television network and simultaneously worked as Head of Business Development of the company in charge of this project, which then was the part of the biggest Telecom Group in Azerbaijan which had two mobile operators and other telecom and IT companies in the Group.
In parallel, I have had some start-up experience (I developed First Pay Radio Project in Azerbaijan (although it didn't become a full-fledged company) and consulted start-ups in the sphere of fin-tech, retail, media, and education).

On top of that, I fluently speak 4 languages: Azerbaijani (native), Russian, Turkish, and English.

Why do I want to get an MBA degree? In essence, unlike dozens MBA candidates (no offense intended to brilliant MBA candidates out there for whom I wish nothing but best), for me MBA is not as much about increase in salary or the honing of my management skills and the acquiring of knowledge, as about overall experience it provides. It is like a destination you want to travel and constant immersion in environment where you will be part of something significant whether it is people, projects, or new knowledge. As for my post-MBA plans, I want to pursue my journey in in some start-ups or venture capital firms or companies which is trying to have an impact on as much people as possible like Tesla, SpaceX, and the like.

Below are my scores:

IELTS score - 7.5
GMAT - 650/76%
Verbal - 38/85%
Quantitative 41/48%.

As for references, I can provide references from peoples ranging from the former minister (of the ministry I worked with on some projects) to current CEO of the Group I work in and Deputy CEO of one of the biggest banks in Azerbaijan.

I believe that my sub-par quantitative score (which is result, based on my CAT experience, of silly mistakes and bad time-management) may make admission committee raise eyebrows and may result in my application being rejected and, therefore, I would like to know how I can strengthen my overall profile.

Thanks once again in advance.

Hello Sir,

Please evaluate my profile and suggest points of improvement and my chances at the below listed schools

Name : Mihir Patel
Age : 28
Nationality : Indian
GMAT : 720 (Q49 V39 IR 6 AWA 5)
UGrad : BE in Instrumentation and Control with 71% (First Class with Distinction)
Work Ex : 6 Years (break up as below)

L&T CHIYODA Pvt. Ltd. (a division of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Pvt. Ltd)
Sr. Engineer, Jan-2014 – Mar-2015
Executive Engineer, Sep-2010 – Dec-2013
With L&T being India's largest Engineering and Construction Company, L&T-Chiyoda (a JV between L&T and Chiyoda Corp, Japan) is L&T’s main center for engineering.
Report to AGM of the Department and responsible for engineering & design for Oil and Gas Projects.
- Selected as Management Trainee (MT) from the pool of 1000+ Graduate Campus recruits who joined L&T in 2010)
(MT Scheme of L&T is aimed at identifying potential managers / leaders evaluated on the basis of several key parameters such as Leadership qualities, Vision, Interpersonal communication and Creativity through a series of aptitude tests and interviews conducted by Company level VPs).
- Reduced man hour consumption on preparation of deliverables by 20% by developing standardized templates and implementing effective automation using excel VB Macros

DODSAL ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Pte. Ltd. (Dubai, UAE)
Executive Engineer, Mar-2015 – Present
Dodsal Group is a leading EPC player in the Energy, Industrial and Infrastructure sectors with a strong track record of executed project in 22 countries the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and South-East Asia.
Report to Project Lead and responsible for engineering & design of Control Systems and interfacing with other department
- Led a team of two colleagues through all phase (conceptual design, procurement, detail design & Factory acceptance test) of a Safety System costing around $ 3Mn (approx. 0.5% of Project Cost).

Education
L D ENGINEERING COLLEGE, Gujarat, India
BE, Instrumentation and Control, 2010. Result: 71.02% First Class with Distinction.
- As a Department Placement Coordinator helped fellow students & juniors in improving their aptitude & communication skills by conducting mock placements & communication workshops.
- Member of Technical Festival Campaigning & Fund raising Team

Class X and XII : 88% & 82% respectively

Extra – Curricular
- Started & managed the first in-house e-magazine for I&C Dept. at L&T Chiyoda with a team of six fellow colleague
- Taught basic math to students of economically underprivileged group as a part of Teach India campaign by The Times of India during 2008-2009


Post MBA goals : Consulting in Energy (both renewable and Non-renewable) and Infra sector
Interested in : Business Analytics, General Management and Leadership
Target Schools :
1. Darden
2. Ross
3. Tepper
4. Tuck
5. Mendoza
6. Yale
Request to indicate chances for each school in terms of achievable, ambitious and safety option.

Thank you so much for reading and evaluating my profile.
Warm Regards
Mihir Patel
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Hi Dr. Shel Watts

Could you please help me in evaluating my profile?

Indian male
GMAT Score 700 Q49V35 IR5, AWA 5

X th : 92.4% out of 100%
XIIth : 94.6% out of 100%
Undergraduated ( NIT Hamirpur) : 8.51 out of 10 on CGPA scale.

Work Experience : 3 years+ in sales & marketing analytics
1. Business Associate in Sales and Marketing firm
2. Leading a team of 4 and in dialogue with clients on a regular basis.

Not impressive extra-curriculars

Target Schools : Kelley, Purdue, Tepper, Kenan-Flagler, Johnson, UCLA Anderson and other 10-20 ranked schools.
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I have applied to Kelley and Purdue in R1 but I am not sure of if I'll get the interview call. I am now comptemplating of waiting for one more year to improve on my GMAT score and profile in terms of work-experience, and extra-curricular activities.

Is it worth waiting for one more year to try for my target schools or settling for a lower ranked school (if I get selected this time) would be just fine given that my primary focus is job opportunities after MBA??

Best
Naval

Hey MBA admit Please evaluate my profile

Introduction:
I am a 36 year old Indian male working in UK for last 5 years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 10 schools for MBA in USA/UK/Canada/Singapore.

GMAT Score:
Planning to take GMAT May-2017

Education:
X th: 81% out of 100%
XII th: 90% out of 100%

- UG GPA: 82% out of 100% (top 10%); Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering; Madurai Kamraj University, Madurai, India

- Master's GPA: 4.6 out of 5 on CGPA scale; Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow, Russia.

Work Experience:
Total 10 Years professional experience as Engineer (5 years in India & 5 years in UK). At the minute working with Aircraft Interiors Manufacturing company in UK as Structural analysis Engineer.
No managerial experience. No promotions.
Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries.
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.
Extracurriculars
Learnt Violin for 5 years and Interested in Music – Classical & Carnatic; 3 stage performances at Chennai
Learnt Hindi and French
Was a member of College Cricket team in UG and was a member of University Badminton team in Master’s.
Was a good runner. Won prizes for running during school days
Won prize at debate competition during school.

MBA (interested):
Interested in MBA (1 year programs) or Executive MBA with scholarships.
Please advise what are my chances?
Post-MBA Goal:
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in manufacturing/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in manufacturing /technology.
Interested in General management & product management (both middle level and senior level post MBA)

I gave the GMAT first time around and scored a 660(q43v38). Retook within a month and scored a 750 (q49v42).

A little about my self:

Pakistani from top business school in the country.
Majoring in Economics and Political Science.

1) Last semester in College. Still haven't been recruited on Campus.
Multiple reasons: goofed off, engaged in activities I wouldn't put under Extra-currics for all 3 years.

Result: Next to no leadership experience and a 2.5 GPA as of now with Cs in my major courses. Max I can do is TRY to bring that up to a final 2.6, MAYBE a 2.7 if I do REALLY well this semester. Is it worth the effort or should I focus that effort on getting into a name brand company via networking etc?

2) Had an epiphany because of an event that led to something i'm not proud of so I decided to take the GMAT....
Studied Hard.. scored High.

3) Want to make serious money. Still not sure about career paths but i'm 'business minded' if that even means anything now a days.

4) Strong sports background especially in Sailing. Visited a few countries because of it.

My questions are what should my career path be. I'm interested in consulting type work because I consider myself a generalist because I combine deep research and a multi disciplinary approach to problem solving. Mckinsey recruits on campus in a month or so but my CV is probably not going to get short listed for a lack of GPA and leadership experience, though I have done a few internships in summer.

What industry should I go for if I want to enter a top MBA program? If I don't get a top name brand job offer, should I continue studying by applying for a MS, knowing that given my grades chances of getting into a decent program are low? Whats going on in my mind is that doing better in an MS may improve my JOB/MBA prospects?

any help is appreciated

thanks

Hello Expert,

GMAT - 710( QA 49 VA 36 IR - 7/8 AWA 6/6 )

Ethnicity- Indian
Male , 25 years old
Btech (Mechanical) - 2013 - 69% [ Under grad]
12th - 2009 -87%
10th (ICSE) - 2007 - 75%

Work Experience - 43 months as on Date will reach 48 months by August ( At the time of applying will have around 49-50 months work experience)

I am currently working as a business development executive at a startup and have worked with a government agency to design some training programs for their employees to effectively use social media for better E-Governance and have worked on building an android application along with successful launching of a online platform designed for certain companies. ( working for about 2 years here).Working alongside here , My father owns an advertising agency in which i play a role too because it is a family business and i need to look after when he is away and have helped create logos for the Government of Telangana. I am from Hyderabad , India and Telangana is the State. So i do not know how to leverage this work because in my own personal opinion I think it is great to have worked on a few government projects and design logos for it. The logo is evident on their websites and posters and all over the city . So i think i can give me some edge but any opinion regarding this will be considered. Prior to this i worked with Google for a year via a third party. I worked there as a business analyst.

EC

Sports - Swimming, basket ball , kabbadi , table tennis and badminton , Boxing .
Won the 1st Place in basketball at College (team event) .
Participated in multiple university and state level competitions . (table tennis)
Participated in a national level debate and Adjourned best speaker in a debate at a college level event.
Winner of an Extempore at a national level technical fest
Participated in multiple public speaking events and debates
The president of a Student Body in college for 2 years until the end of graduation undertaking lot of responsibilities and conducting multiple events
Organiser of the Sports Fest for 3 years along with a team under me and successfully organised multiple events. Along with Organizing as a sports player had to participate thus managing both organizing and playing.

I was the anchor for the Annual Day for 2 years and conducted the event in a splendid fashion
Class representative and event organiser for the college Fest for 4 years
Musical instruments learned - Keyboard , Guitar
Performed in the annual day and formed an own band during the college days and participated in college events.
learnt Classical singing for over 11 years and still learning
An active member of NSS during college and couple with the other activities i had , went on to form events to distribute food , books , clothes to the needy and have taught maths and physics to the needy .
Associated with an NGO as well , hope this help in application process


Academic Projects and Achievements

Always in the reckoning of the class - top 5%
95th percentile in CAT ( Management Exam in India) a neccesity to get in the reputed IIM’s ( Indian Institute of Management) and 90th percentile in XAT ( Management Exam for XLRI - Xavier School of Management)
Multiple projects in Robotics and designed various prototypes using basic principles of robotics and have done an internship in a PSU regarding steam engines

Final project in College related to Robotics – 6 degree Stewart Gough Platform
I have been to multiple industries such as steel pant , iron ore plant and a couple of thermodynamic industries to see the functioning of machines and an automobile industry as well to see the understanding of manufacture of components.
Softwares learned - CAD/CAM , Catia , Solid Works , Pro-E , Ansys (taught during academic rigour ) along with the normal C , C++ , Blue Java , MS office etc.




Q) Do you have a specific Company to work for? - I do not have a specific company to work for. My areas of interest are marketing and consulting . Of course every aspirant desires to be in the best of the best companies. Rather than working for a company would love to have company of my own down the line

Q) what do i want from my MBA? - I want my MBA to provide the knowledge n specific skills to run a business. It comes with experience i am sure but an MBA adds value and can make one think better in terms of the business. I would like to start a company of my own. My father has his own business and i want to diversify its services . A marketing related MBA would help me to make my company more reachable to cater to the needs of clients. At this stage my answer isn't clear and might be vague but i still haven't put a thought to it . Mostly like i wish MBA helps me better to run a business

Q) Mba full time/part time - I would want to do an MBA full time (2/1 year is fine) . I turned 25 last week so at the moment thinking i could use 2 years for an MBA unless a one year MBA suits me more. I am willing to relocate and looking for schools in India , US , UK , Singapore

Areas of Interest - Marketing / Consulting
Dream School – Kellog (Marketing)

What schools would you suggest to apply to based on this Profile assuming i still score a 710 in my retake . Targeting R1 this year , want to join a school in 2018

Other schools on my mind - Yale , Oxford , NUS , NTU , ISB . Also do i stand a chance at Harvard/ Stanford / Haas ( the elite ) if not what can i do to solidify my application for applying to these schools. I would like to apply to 6 schools One in India (ISB) , 3 In the United States , 1 in UK , 1 in Singapore , i haven't given much of a thought but any advice here would help

Target Score for Retake - 740 (QA 50 VA 40) , owing to my poor academics , i thought of giving the exam another shot and I represent a demography of very high scores

Regards,
HK


P.S - sorry for keeping it long , i might have missed out anything , feel free to ask something if it is missing
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Hello everyone! The 2017-2018 admissions season is underway now! Feel free to post questions and we will try to respond. I will also post excerpts from our most popular recent blogs so you can read up!!!

Best wishes,
Dr. Shel Watts
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