Ask MBA Crystal Ball

Hi Sameer,

Can you please evaluate my profile?

Profile:
GMAT: 730 (Q: 50, V: 40)
30/M
I have a Masters degree in Computer Science(from a good US university) with a GPA of 3.89/4.0
I did my undergrad(Bachelors in Technology) in India and scored 81% (Top 10% of the class)
I have decent volunteer work(most of it is in the past 6-12 months) and currently I am a project coordinator at a volunteer organization.

I worked for 1 year in India before coming to the US for my Masters. I have been working for the past 4 years in a top tech firm(in the US) as a Software Engineer and was promoted recently to a Tech Lead Position. Currently I am leading a project and managing an international team(3 members). Recently I took on an added responsibility of mentoring a new team member; I am also leading the same project.

Post MBA Goal: I want to start my own company after MBA. I have the necessary technical background for starting my own firm, but I feel I need to learn the business skills before I dive into the entrepreneurial world.

What are my chances at the following schools:
1) Columbia
2) Stern
3) Tuck
4) Wharton
5) Darden
6) MIT
7) Booth
8) Kellogg
9) Fuqua
10) Cornell

Is there anything else I can do in order to strengthen my profile?

Thanks!

If you've wondered why our free evaluations on this thread have been a little slow, it's because we've been working hard behind the scenes to get testimonials like the one below. This one's from the MCB Facebook page:

"I would like to comment on my experience with Sameer & MBA Crystal Ball:

After reading the business week forum, I decided to use the MBA Crystal Ball report for evaluating my profile. At the moment, I was in the middle of my application, having applied to a few stretch schools and getting rejects. The report was extremely useful in terms of understanding my profile & giving me feedback about my stretch, reach & safe schools. One thing to note was that the advice was biased towards getting the candidate to the best school possible as opposed to the usual advice from consultants who try to play safe and never ask candidates to go for the stars.

After getting an interview call from one of my stretch schools, I contacted Sameer for a mock interview. Again, Sameer took the time to read all my essays & customized the interview to make very realistic. This was a good experience and a major confidence booster. I ended up getting an admit from that stretch school and am going to matriculate this fall!

A big thanks to Sameer & MBA Crystal Ball!"

Always good to get positive feedback from those who've battled against the odds to get into the top schools of their choice. Hope we have many more stories like this over the coming months.

Sameer, I just chanced upon this thread. This is a good one. Please evaluate my profile which is below. I am targeting 2011 admissions for European B-schools

Age/Background: M/32/Indian
Experience (current): 9.5 Years (5.5 years of experience in US)
Currently Manager in IT Governance Risk and Compliance in Global Fortune 100 in US (for 1 year). 2 Direct reports, ~12 indirect reports (multiple project based at any given time). Manage project/operations worth 1-1.5 Mn USD at any given time.
Previously 8.5 years of work ex in Top Indian IT firm as Lead consultant and Project Manager. Direct report 5 and managed a service line worth 3 Mn USD. Key role were Account management, project management and sales. Worked with multiple Fortune 50 clients in different capacities.

GMAT : 710 (Q50 V35)
GPA - 76% (BTECH in E&C) - 4th ranker in Univ in said course.

Multiple awards in previous company, all certifications in current field including PMP. Scholarship holder throughout most of acads.
Low on extracurriculars though. Has published few papers, written blogs at company websites and participated in few professional bodies as member and currently planning to hold a membership chair in one of them. Foundation member and active participants in some region based social bodies.

I am planning European B-schools as I think I am too old to qualify for US b-schools. I will keep them in my stretch list though.

Hi Sameer, I have been following your thread both here and on BW forums for quite some time and have heard some great things about the crystal ball report. I have been in the process of selecting and researching schools for almost 5 months now and have selected a few based on the categories normally used here. Given below is my brief profile and the school listing. I would request you to give your feedback on the school selection

Age 25

Sex Male

Nationality Indian

Work ex 4+ years by the time I join

Educational Background B Tech Electrical Engineering from IIT Roorkee with a CGPA of 8.1/10

GMAT 720

Career Highlights

1. Worked as a management consultant at one of the Big 4 (accounting ones)

2. Worked on engagements in Government sector, these engagements have been such that they affect the life of millions of people. Think RTI Act, Commonwealth Games, e governance.

3. My work on an IT procurement project resulted in a cost saving of INR 8 million

4. Have taken an initiative of internal learning and development within the firm

5. Managed a team of 2 - 3 analysts in 4 engagements

Extra Curricular

1. Publicity Cell head at NSS IIT Roorkee

2. Organized 4 blood donation camps in the campus with collection of around 300 units per camp

3. Negotiated sponsorship for NSS events at IIT Roorkee

4. Currently active member of IIT Roorkee Alumni association, organized alumni meets and designing Alumni portal

5. Currently active member of Resident Welfare Association of the community and interacting with various civic agencies


*******************School List**********************

Ambitious

1. Tuck

Stretch

1. Columbia

2. Anderson

3. MIT Sloan LGO

Practical

1. Darden

2. Ross

Strong

1. Emory

2. Tepper


I am not considering Duke and Cornell because of their less than stellar employment statistics.

*************************************************

How would you rate my school selection

Appreciate your valuable insights

Thanks so much

Dev

Vijay-saar, ever heard of the saying - 'Too many cooks...'?
If you talk to 10 consultants, you might end up getting 20.36 opinions (the 0.36 is the inflation adjustment).

So it's good that you are doing your own research to come up with that list. Now that you have your portfolio ready, the last thing you'd want to do is go back to each of those 10 consultants for a 'final' opinion. Something tells me when you are done with that final round, your list would look substantially different from the current one.



Sure. We could address all those points with the MCB report. But at this stage when you've almost finalised your list, I wouldn't recommend that coz it would mean we wipe off all the hard work you've done and begin all over again with a clean slate.

With so many consultants doling out free advice on discussion forums, it's become easy for candidates to copy and paste one query on 10 threads. But the strategy can backfire as well. Can you honestly say that you are less confused now than you were before you started out?

Have confidence in your research, (do some more of it on your own if you aren't completely there) and 'own' your decisions. my friend. You'll be making many more of those as a jet-setting businessman after graduation.

For others reading this post, here's a suggestion. Before you start posting, carry out your independent research on each consultant. Check out their threads, their responses. Put your finger on 1 or 2 you trust. Fire your queries. Get their inputs, but don't follow them blindly. Carry out your own research and use your intuition/common sense to validate the advice.

Sir,

After getting the feedback on the other threads, what are you planning to do now? Apply with the same GMAT or go for a re-attempt?

For the former, you'd need a separate list of schools and a chhappar-phaad application strategy.

For the latter, if you are sure you can substantially improve your score, you have the luxury of hanging on to the current list of names for the time being.

Ki khobor, Faduc-dada?

Considering our offline interactions and the fact that we've completed the MCB report for your profile, do you think you could share some feedback here?

Sameer Crystal Ball ji still waiting for your reply Sir ji

Hi Sameer,

Request you to go through this an offer a profile evaluation and comments on my choice of schools and the chances of making it to them.

If possible I am also looking for tips on how to address the application to schools where I am a reapplicant. What should i be emphasizing on on my reapplicant essays

Age : 28

GMAT Score - First Attempt -September 2007 - 690 (Q48,V36, 5.5)
Second Attempt - July,2010 - 730(Q50,V38 , 6.0)

Undergrad: Engineering Graduate in Information Technology Delhi, India.
Top 10% in my class

Work Experience:
6.5 years with TCS
I spend the first 2.5 years working as a software developer in India for an investment banking software.
Since August 2006: I have been working in US as a Business Validation/QA(functional) Analyst for one of the largest wealth management products in the world. My responsibilities have majorly included validating the business function for the software with the wealth management market in UK.
PS: I do not have a direct managerial experience, as the project structure is that of a flat organization. My team includes individual with a MBA, CFA, CPA qualification and also former traders and bankers. A major part of the responsibility is to address gaps in the software, map it to client needs and offer solutions to address the gaps. Because the job demands validation of the system as a whole I get to typically interact with over 200-250 people(out of 400 project strength) and coordinate work across a mix of 7-8 teams at one time. This provides an excellent opportunity to practice indirect management. Because of the flat structure of the project a manager typically has 12-15 years of experience. However I have been managing a team of 5 individuals for the past 7 months. Also in my team of 30 members, I am among the only 2 engineers in the team.

Since I Last Applied to business school for Fall2010 session- Following are the changes in my profile

• GMAT : Score increased from 690 to 730(Q50,V38, AWA 6.0)

• Work Profile - Managing a team of 5 individuals ( 2 peers and 3 junior associates). Assisting my Senior manager in planning for a $25 Million US version release for the software

• Executive Member for Business forum run by TCS North America, involved in finding synergies between various software implementations and chalking out the product road map. I am the youngest member in the forum.

• Toastmaster - Serving as the Vice President for the Club for the past 8 Months.



Achievements at work :
• Finalist at TAS 2008 (Tata Administrative Services - Fast track management Program for grooming individuals to take up executive positions in the $70 Billion TATA Group)

• Peer Recognition award winner in 2007 ( Given to 4 individuals every year out of the project strength of 400).

• Icon Award winner in 2009, (Only 1 given every year out of 400)
Extra Curricular/ Community service:


College - Student Body member, President Quiz club. Founder of monthly college magazine - FundaMentals
Post College - Member of Toastmasters Club - since 2009, currently serving as the Vice President - Education for the Club ( club strength is 41 members)

Big Brother Big Sister - Mentored a 11 year old boy for a year. Will begin another year when the school year starts in September.

Green Team - Events Committee - VP. - saved over $120,000 for the company through various initiatives. Extended the practices here to my hometown in India. Organized a recycling awareness drive in Delhi covering 250 households/ 3 speeches at resident communities and personal visit to over 50 families.

Charity work mostly through company engagements, includes commitments of 2-3 hours every month.

Hobbies - Rafting, running ( have run 4 5K races this year and 2 for charities)

GMAT Score - First Attempt -September 2007 - 690 (Q48,V36, 5.5)
Second Attempt - July 16,2010 - 730(Q50,V38 , AWA 6.0)

Target schools - Ross,UM(ReApp - applied last year) Dinged with No IV call
Fuqua,Duke( Reapp - applied last year) - Dinged with No IV call
Tuck,
Kellog
Hass
NYU

Short term Goal - I want to target a Strategy consulting profile, but I am open to get back to the IT industry in Sales and Business Development.

Long Term Goal - Go back to India and lead a consulting initiative there in the areas of Technology, business system consulting. A lot of this would depend on my post MBA profile, but I do want to go back to India and use my US experience to transfer best practices to India.


Request you to go through this an offer a profile evaluation and comments on my choice of schools and the chances of making it to them.

If possible I am also looking for tips on how to address the application to schools where I am a reapplicant.What should i be emphasizing on on my reapplicant essays

Thanks in Advance

Paay lagu sir ji,

R1 volumes ke wajah se finding it a little difficult to spend time on free reviews. Paying walo ki pehle puja, phir kaam duja.

Pleejh allow me some more time. I'll take the queries in the order in which they've been posted.

Offline contact karun sir ji. Bachpan se line todeni ki aadat hai Sir ji

(info@mbacrystalball.com right ?)

Raag Malhaar (urf Rainmaker 123) ko pranaam,

>> GPA of 3.89/4.0

Sweet!

>> Post MBA Goal: I want to start my own company after MBA. I have the necessary technical background for starting my own firm, but I feel I need to learn the business skills before I dive into the entrepreneurial world.

When someone says entrepreneurship in their sales pitch, I start sharpening my claws. I'd love to grill you (gives me cheap thrills) on your post-MBA goals and see how serious you are about this. I did this recently with another candidate who approached me from this forum (he's probably reading this) and realised that he's pretty committed to the cause. I hope you fall in the same category, buddy.

Send me a PM with your email ID and I'll send you a mini-MCB report. Don't want to upload it here like last time for the world to see. It won't have all the details that you've asked for (I need to give you the whole report for that). Parantu yeh mini-report aapke liye free hai bhai. So what our father goes?

Hey Sameer,



Sorry for the delay. Got caught up for the last couple of weeks.

The main takeaways were:
1) A very realistic assessment of where I stand in comparison to a larger pool of applicants.
2) Categorisation of schools into ambitious, stretch, realistic, backup which should help a candidate to decide on the mix of schools.
3) And definitely the fact that during our conversation you never restricted yuourself to the contents of the report, but gave me valuable inputs about the MBA journey.

Overall it was great value for money and I got out of it much more than what I initially expected.

Thank you very much for taking the time read this post and give your expert advise. I am planning to apply to business school fall of 2011. Below, is a brief description of my background.

Gender - Female
Ethnicity - Indian

Education:
- Engineering in Computer Science, India. Honors student
- MS from USA in Information Science, GPA 3.7/4.0
- GRE score - 1310/1600
- Final GMAT Score - 620 (V- 58%, scaled score- 31 and Q - 75%, scaled score - 45)

Experience:
-Total 5 years in IT industry. Below is breakdown of the 5 years -
a. 2 years as an IT Analyst
b. 1 year worked as a onsite coordinator (Coordinated a team in India while posted in US. Had direct client interaction)
c. 1 year worked as a business analyst (Worked in US)
d. 1 year worked as a module leader (Worked in US and looked after a team of 10 members)

Community involvement:
-Volunteered as a teacher in SOS children’s village where I taught maths and science to middle school students.
-Several Leadership roles for female students - I took classes on female sexual harassment on work places
-Worked in AID (Association for India’s Development)

The low GMAT score is because I have a 2 month old baby. I could not give my best shot, but I do Not intend to appear again in GMAT.

I'm interested to apply:-
1. Berkeley
2. USC Marshall
3. UCLA
4. UC Davis
5. Kelley School of Business

Please advise me that what ranked colleges should I be looking for. Please let me know my chances of getting into the colleges are. I will be grateful if you can suggest me some other colleges too.

Thank you very much for your kind help!

Very kind of you to say that, sir. But let me forewarn you, I'm not going to hold back my punches as I read through the rest of your post.


Good to see 'mature' profiles taking the plunge into the MBA waters. Check out the original post that got this thread started to see why it gives me a sense of deja vu.

Your strong exposure to management and leadership responsibilities will be your forte.


Let's analyse this. In your professional profile description you've used 4 basic variables to make your profile unique - yrs of work-ex, number of team-members, project budget and number of clients.

Sorry for not sugar coating this, but I don't like that strategy. Most of your competition from the IT industry will use the exact same parameters and after a while, Adcoms will just end up scratching their, ummm, heads.

Think about it. Are these the parameters the only things that make you special? If I were to take you out and replace Mr Parthasarathy Pookutty (known popularly as Pappoo in social circles) in that role, wouldn't he have delivered the goods? Why are you better than Pappoo? Are you more dyanamic than him? Tell me how. Are you more innovative and entrepreneurial than him? Show me how. Why is the management so keen to hold you back in the organisation while Pappoo can go hunt for greener pastures, for all they care?

Apart from the stuff that we already take for granted for someone with the same level of experience and the same industry, in your essays bring out other aspects of your persona - Are you muscular? Are you popular? Can you dance? I'm dramatising, but do you get the drift?


European schools tend to attract candidates with strong work-ex, just like yourself. So expect impressive numbers for the same parameters we've seen here. But once the hygiene factors are addressed, let's take it all to a completely different level where you are seen as an individual and not a faceless fragment of the IT industry.

Hello Sameer,

Please evaluate my profile and provide me guidance on which B-schools should I select.

My MBA interest: Strategy & Business mgt, (essentially Brand Management), Marketing.

GMAT - targeting between 710-740 (Will give the test in September)

Total Work Exp: 6 yrs (1.5 yrs event management + 1.5 yrs Publishing industry + design consulting mainly in Corporate Identity design 3 yrs)

Education:
BA (Hons) in Philosophy (1st division, stood 3rd in class)
Post-grad Diploma at NIFT (National Instt of fashion technology) in Fashion communication (Gold-medalist)
Foundation degree Award in Graphic Communication from University of the arts, London (scored 78%)

Sex – Female
Age – 30 yrs
Nationality - Indian

Responsibilities:
Event Management -
Handled 27 events, out of which 9 were handled independently. Integral part of the creative and the marketing team while also supervising the overall production process. Created design themes and promotional material for the events. Formulated comprehensive sales presentations and innovative marketing strategies and campaigns.

Publishing - Conceived and executed creative solutions for their illustrative books from concept to completion. Collaborated with editors to design covers and jackets for their fiction and non-fiction titles. Created computer-generated artwork for marketing and promotional materials. Supervised the entire production process.
Supervised and trained junior designers and artists. Liaised between the editors and the authors.

Design Consultant (corporate identity Specialist)-
Visualized and developed the corporate identity for the brand. Created the vision and the graphic image of the brand. Styled photo shoots for the ad campaign & product catalogue.
Target market research and devising the advertising strategy.
Worked very closely with the marketing director and trained and supervised junior designers and artists.


Achievements:
1. Won the prestigious ISTD (International Society of Typographic designers) competition and currently a member of the society.
2. Awards at NIFT (a) All-round Excellence (b) Best Diploma Project
3. Received several awards in academics, debating and elocution at school and college level.
4. Promoted twice: once from events assistant to events executive and the next time from graphic designer to Sr. Art Designer.

Leadership Roles:
1. Organised cultural events at College level
2. While in event management - handled 9 events independently as the Team Lead- handled the creatives, client-servicing and the production of the events.
3. Organised CMYK- the end-of-course graduate exhibition (University of the Arts, London) and co-ordinated with industry recruiters.
4. Joined The RN Group as the Corporate Identity Specialist, leading a team of junior designers, desktop publishers and production artists.


ECs:
1. I have worked very closely with the Art of Living Foundation in their rural projects in India- literacy and vocational training projects.
2. Organised medical camps.
3. Participated in the World Youth Peace Summit organised by International association of human values.
4. Raised Rs. 25 lacs through a youth musical concert “mantra” to help in rural development.
5. Organised a campaign for the ban of plastic bags.
6. Organised an exhibition of the pottery, metal art, embroidery, canework , etc. created by people in rural areas. The proceeds of which went towards the development of schools in those areas.)


Sort term Goal - creative director or Brand/Account Manager in a big advertising firm.
Long-term Goal - I want to start my own advertising company.

I would like to know:
1. How my profile looks for an MBA from the top 10-20 B-schools?
2. What, in your opinion, are my strengths and weakness?
3.Do my community service activities have to be very recent or could they also be 3-4 yrs old?
4. Please mention what should I do to make my case stronger for final call.
5. Please list the best schools for Entrepreneurship, Strategy & Business mgt, Marketing.

Hi,
Nice post ( I tried going to your web site it seems to be down). Could you please advice me on the executive MBS program. Here is my profile:

1) Over 17 years of IT industry experience
2) Over 7 years as an entrepreneur
3) GMAT score - 670
4) I have a decent career progression as an entrepreneur and want to do Executive MBA to help me successfully take one idea all the way through. I am launching ideas which do not seem to go anywhere, the reason being is that I do not know how to take an idea all the way through. I wish to learn that from MBA.
5) I am interested in applying to Columbia-Haas executive MBA program and Wharton executive MBA program.

What I am looking for is that how would you evaluate my profile and secondly, I took my GMAT in Decemeber 2008. Would you recommend I take GMAT again and shoot for 700+ score

Thanks for your analysis of my profile