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Hi,

Could you please help me in evaluating my profile.

I wrote GMAT and scored 660 (Q-49, V-33)

Degree : BTech(IT)
Job : Systems Engineer in TCS(Development project) in BFSI(banking and finance ) domain
Working for multinational client dealing with Financial Markets
2+ years exp.
Have conducted lots of trainings and participated in extracurriculars too.
Social Activities : Volunteer in some NGOs
Leadership Exp : College event coordinator, managed fests etc. Trainings in job.
Activities : Dance, public speaking, painting, member of Toast Masters International, Throw ball team in school


Looking for MBA in Finance.
Please advise Indian and Singapore based schools .


Thanks in advance .
GR

Hi,

I'd appreciate it if you could provide some application tips...I am going to apply for Round 1 next year.

1) Female, 3 yrs in top Engine Manufacturing Company based in Midwest. In Financial Rotational Program, have been to Accounting, Plant Manufacturing Costing, high level reporting and analysis, and Engineering Finance a total of 4 functions with each half an year. Going to apply next Year for first round.
2) 680-710, going to target 750+ before first round next year
3) College info: IUB Kelley Bschool, 3.84, Finance 3.93, Accounting 3.79. In addition, another college degree slightly before this one in China, 3.3 in sociology major. Graduated from Kelley in 2011. Only Undergradute degree.

4) Activities
Co-Founder and Co-President, Chinese Business Association at Kelley School of Business. Now with 300+ members. Received "2011 IU Student Org honorable Mention" Award. Now I am sitting as Alum Committee Chair at this club.

Founder and President, Chidren's Mentor Network (post university club). A club targeting children living in poverty are in china. Raised funding to help them get back to schools, and set up one-on-one mentoring service for 30 children (selected). Volunteering to teach them classes during Christmas. Advocated this program through local TV Station and newspapers and secured a few corporations for funding.

Event Co-Leader, Women's Affinity Club (in my current company). Will be holding several mentoring events next year.

Will-be Vice President of whatever title soon. At my father's company (200+ employee medical appliance manufacturing corp). I am looking forward to seeking for business in North America for this company.


5) CPA all exams passed. CFA Level 1, might take level 2 next year
6) MBA Goal: Top 10
7) Career Goal: Entreprenuership or VC
8）Others: 2nd place in women's basketable 3v3 game in 2008 in a Chinese University campus tournament
member in golf club
play a few other sports, not outstanding tho

Age- 26

Nationality - Indian

GMAT 2- 700 (Q49, V- 35)
GMAT 1- 680 (Q49, V-34)
WE- 3.5 (so far) in Retail Analytics + Decision Making global firm (offices in US, UK, Asia and Europe)
1. worked with the 2nd largest grocery retailer in the US on streamlining their loyalty and rewards work stream, was recognized for my efforts with an inter-company award and a promotion
2. Worked with one of the largest coffee and fresh bread chains in the US, streamlining their loyalty card offering and making the program more personalized for the customer.
3. Currently working with the second largest grocery retailer in a Scandinavian country, worked on the Pricing Strategy for one their store formats which has been rolled-out nationally. Worked directly with the pricing team of the Client, while being at their offices in Scandinavia.

Undergrad- Bachelors in Engineering from Delhi University (Top 10 engineering college of the country)
Undergrad Score - 3.5

Leadership Roles/Community Service-

1. President of the Toastmasters Club of the corporate club at my organization, was also the VP, Education for the Club the year before I became the president. winner of awards at the Area level, Certified Competent Communicator.
2. Head, Quizzing Club at my organization, started the club and am responsible for hosting all the trivia quizzing activities at the office. Have also represented the organization in inter-company quizzing competitions.
3. NGO work- working in my spare time with a charitable NGO which provides schooling to under-privileged slum kids
4. Head of Publications, IEEE-Student chapter at my undergrad college. Was responsible for the publication of all the technical magazines from the stable
5. Founder and Head of the Quiz Club at my undergrad college, have participated and won many inter-collegiate trivia competitions across the country.

Post MBA goals:-
To work in a firm like Amazon, which is the biggest online retailer and apply the principles of management, analytics and marketing to make the online experience even better.
Or
To move in the field of consulting where my inter-personal and analytical skills can be utilized to the fullest in providing the best strategic solutions to my Clients

Schools targeted:-
Dream- Kellogg, Wharton,Tuck (First 2 are good schools in the field of Marketing, Tuck very good in General Management & Consulting)
Reach- Duke, Ross, Darden

I am not very happy with my GMAT score; it's not the score that I'd love to have, but it's something that I can live with. What do you think are my chances at an admit at these schools? Should I look at some other schools as well? Planning to apply next year, so will have a WE of about 60 months if and when I start my classes in the Fall of 2014.

Thanks in advance!

Hi fellow Toastmasters member,

You seems to have strong/interesting work experience, as well as leadership experience and great extracurricular activities. It will be extremely important for you to have strong application essays. How much time have you spent working outside of India?

You should be competitive at Duke, Ross, and Darden.

Happy to discuss further regarding additional schools to consider, and ways to improve your candidacy. It is great to start preparing early for the applications, and get ready for Round 1 next year. Please feel free to send me your info through https://marveladmissions.com/contact-us/

Thank you.

Christine Lin

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Ah! So I bumped into a fellow ToastMaster! Brilliant! Thank you so much Christine, for taking out time for this and giving a prompt reply.

I have a decent amount of international exposure- close to 12 months of my WE has been out of India. I am pretty sue that a few more months would be added by the time I apply for R1 next year. My biggest concern was my GMAT score, as it does put some of my dream schools, a little out of reach. Do you think I should still take a shot at these - Wharton, Kellogg, Tuck? Any other schools apart from the ones that I have mentioned that you'd recommend?

Thanks!

I seek an evaluation for my profile:

Background: Indian male, IT industry (I am expecting an indistinct 'tsch' in your head at this point ), 28 years

Professional Exp: 5 years of service in the IT industry. Career progression from an engineer to senior engineer to an analyst. Onsite experience of 2 years and a couple of big(read much-sought) client honors and awards.

Education: BTech from a fairly-decent Indian university with a 6.1/10 GPA. No frills here.

Extra Curricular: Founding member of college music society and the lead vocalist of the band. Decent share of winning LAN gaming tournaments.

GMAT: 670 (Q48/V35). Again, no frills here

Career Goals: Since I have worked for an insurance major in the past five years, I can relate to working in this field post my MBA.

I understand this is an average profile, specially given the demographics. I plan to apply in:
Competitive: McCombs, Kelley, Kenan Flagler, Olin, Fisher
Safe: Smeal, Krannert
I also intend to apply in the MILR program of Cornell, though I have no justifiable reasons why.

Kindly, give your honest feedback, or suggest accordingly

Thanks!

Hi

Could you pls suggest some ambitious, possible and safe schools for my profile

Gmat -690
Toefl - 109
Acads - ok abt 3.3 gpa

Work exp - Overall 3.5 yrs ...a bit more than 4 by the time I start in 2013
Manufacturing
Worked in the Family Manufacturing business for abt 11 months
Responsibilities
• Lead a team of 10 people that ensured on-time product delivery, generating 15% more revenue for us, above average operating margins, and leading to three subsequent major contracts
• Co-ordinate with the clients to ascertain their expectations from the product
• Manage the supply-chain to make sure raw materials were received on time
• Generate cumulative and quarterly reports to quantify and monitor performance
Achievements
• Optimized the supply chain to receive all raw-material from single vendor, which saved 10% of the money spent
• Implemented an “On-site Maintenance” trend, which became the business’s USP


IT Quality Assuarance (Not a typical coder..but a domain related job)
Worked as a QA (Tester) for the brokerage application. Learnt a lot abt brokerage and different financial instruments

Responsibilities
• Work as a QA Lead/QA Engineer for the Brokerage application of Fidelity Investments
• Understand and Analyze requirements from SDS/ Stories
• Contribute to project planning by preparing a Test plan
• Create and executed test cases to demonstrate the functional quality of application
• Conduct peer to peer test case review to adhere to the quality standards
• Create a weekly project status report
Achievements
• Created a historical data and defect tracker sheet, which helped in the successful delivery of projects and reduced project back-outs by at least 20%
• Created a Macro which helped with test case creation and reduced time and efforts by 20%
• Suggested new opportunities for business growth, which were highly appreciated and could soon, be implemented
• Conducted Knowledge transfer sessions for the new entrants to the project

HONORS & AWARDS
• Certified “ISTQB” Quality Assurance Engineer
• Awarded “Achiever of the Quarter” for my performance in IPO enhancement project
• Awarded “Most valuable person” by Fidelity for my performance in ATP project
• Awarded “Pat on Back” award for my performance in Fidelity SPS project
• Received a rating of 4 (highest & only 10% of 26000 people receive this) during first annual appraisal cycle

OTHER INTERESTS/ACTIVITIES
• Represented college at State level Football tournaments
• A regular participant in the Standard Chartered organized Marathon held every year to raise funds for charity
• Volunteered at an Orphanage, to teach the basics of computers to children and also volunteered at an old age home.
• Led many events and “Infrastructure team” during college festivals and technical festivals.

Short term Goal :Management consultant
Long term: Entrepreneur

Please evaluate my profile!! Thank you for your help

Hello Admissions Consultants


I wanted to gauge whether or not people think I should apply to Stanford GSB Round 2. I know it is difficult to determine admissions prospects based on limited information, but I wanted to gauge whether or not my profile and general story would be interesting enough to warrant a serious consideration. I have already applied to many top 10 business schools and received interview invites and now debating on whether or not to spend 50+ hours on the Stanford Round 2 app.

First the demographic information


GMAT: 740 (fairly even breakdown between quant and verbal)
GPA: 3.8 in Accounting and Finance (top 50ish private university, attended on full tuition merit scholarship)
WE: 3 years at prestigious financial institution (think Goldman Sachs- D.E. Shaw group) in client facing role (not I banking though)- Promoted twice, lead numerous international projects (but do not have direct reports) and tons of international client experience. During college, I helped develop ideas for a start up that raised 1+ million dollars.
-Asian Female, immigrated to country at age 16 without knowing English from Korea, (family is low income, lived in a lower income area)

Career goals: Short term, non-profit management consulting (Bridgespan type firm), long term to entrepreneurship (have a very specific type of idea/industry that my background supports that I would prefer not to divulge here)

However, I am concerned about my weaknesses
-No leadership title at my job (my company, most people are not managing others in an official "title" capacity until they have 5+ years experience)
-lower than average volunteer experience- I feel that everyone I know that got into Stanford worked in the Peace Corps, Teach for America or worked on large scale volunteer projects. I work about 12+ hours daily, and only involved in small volunteer activities on the weekend (mentoring program for immigrant high school students)
-feel work experience is too traditional and goals are too traditional (want to move from finance to consulting)
-No alumni recommendations (someone mentioned that this is important for Stanford)
-Not from an IVY league school like everyone else at my company who gets into GSB


What would your hunch be? Do you think that based on the information provided, I should focus on one particular area in my application and or how I should address my weaknesses? They say online Stanford Round 2 is much more competitive, which is discouraging.

Hi All,

Here are my stats. Any comments, suggestions, or help would be very much appreciated. After HBS & GSB (expected next week) Round 1 dings, I'm re-evaluating my Round 2 chances and personal expectations. Not sure if I should remain hopeful for other top-10 programs like Wharton, CBS, Booth, or aim a little lower (top-20). Sorry for the length. I'm partly using this as an exercise in self-reflection.

Profile
Male
29 Year Old
Mexican American
First in Family to College
Living in New York City
730 GMAT (V44, Q47)

Education
HYP Ivy - B.A. Architecture with Distinction
3.4 GPA (Overall) 3.8 GPA (Major)

HYP Ivy - Master of Architecture (3-Yr Professional Program)
Pass/Low-Pass/Fail grading- received all Passes

Major Extracurriculars
Appointed Teaching Fellow for 3 Courses in Graduate School
Appointed Teaching Assistant for 1 Course in Graduate School
A few other minor leadership positions for clubs, publications.

Accreditation
Licensed Architect in NY State (Required 5600 internship hours post-Masters degree, and passing 7 separate State Exams)
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson in NY State (Required 75-hr course, and passing State Exam)

Work Experience
2-years at Large International Architecture Firm, working on massive developments in China (2mil SF+)
1.5-years at Boutique Architecture/Development Firm focused on NYC high-end Condo Development
.5 (Current) Founded Real Estate Development Startup and have become Real Estate Agent

Goal
To transition from architecture to real estate development. Post-MBA, would like to be at a large, multinational Real Estate Development/Investment/Management company, or at an IB in the Real Estate division.

Main Weaknesses
Work Experience
A) Early-career architecture experience is essentially an apprenticeship, with few opportunities for significant leadership or responsibility. Your only choice is often to simply take orders from those with 10+ more years of experience, while jumping from project to project. I worry much of this will be perceived poorly when juxtaposed to more traditional pre-MBA job experience where there is typically opportunity for growth & promotions and quantifiable means of measurement (sold X amount, led X teammates, analyzed X, etc). Any of my supervisors would give me the highest performance marks; this just doesn't translate to significant promotion within firms.

B) Previous job ended in a layoff (not performance based; office lost a few projects).

C) Currently working on own Real Estate company startup with the intention of starting a few projects soon. Have also become a RE Agent. This career direction had been my intention (I incorporated Jan '12) but the timing of the unexpected layoff makes it seem like a euphemism for being 'unemployed'. When attempting a startup, not sure how much adcom committees expect in the form of tangible accomplishments.


Quantitative Performance
Have a very dismal C+ in Calc and C- in another math course during my sophomore year of undergrad (a whole 10-yrs ago now), and nearly no other Quant courses on my transcript. I was overly focused on my architecture major, and simply didn't give much effort on many of my other courses that year. Since then, I have a B+ in Physics, a B+ in Structures (Statics), and a 'Pass' in the graduate level Structures II. Additionally, I passed the NY State 'Structures' exam required for licensure.
I'm fully aware I'd have to take 'math camp' prior to enrolling at any school, but wonder if some of this past quant performance is the weakest link in my application, only remedied by a good performance in some kind of Continuing Education Stat or Econ class prior to applying.


Essays
I did not use the optional essays to confront these weaknesses, and now realize that I should have. Would definitely do this in future applications.


Thank you all for your thoughts.

Hi,

Kudos on making some great, quantifiable improvements to the family business.

What type of management consulting would you like to do? You may want to leverage your industry and functional experience.

You can refer to this list for GMAT and GPA info to select a short-list of schools, and then research consulting recruiting and entrepreneurship curriculum at the schools. You may also want to consider preference for class size and location.

https://business-schools.findthebest.com/

Good luck!

Christine Lin

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Hey Christine

Thanks for your help. I know that Gmat and GPA and wrk exp are not the only criteria. Are the average Gmat scores for schools higher for Indian applicants.
Can you pls suggest some schools for my profile

I want to specialize in Finance or Strategy
Can I target any of the Top 20 schools? Would they be possible with my profile and score?

Which would be possible universities for me?

Thanks for your help!!

Hi All,

I'd like to ask some guidance on my profile, what's my chance of getting admitted?

Schools Interested:
HBS, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Columbia (only interested in going full-time to these schools if I'm admitted)

Profile: I've been in the US since 2007 for my MS in Marketing.

work:
2yrs: automotive retail dealer/digital marketing, Boston
1yr: top-3 automotive European tire company, digital marketing, NYC
2yrs(at time of Fall,13): top-1 US trucking company, digital marketing, Philly.
Goal: I want to be a successful marketing/product person in the automotive manufacturing industry.
all mid-level manager positions, always go above and beyond, consistently promoted, excellent reference from everyone/supervisors/partners.

academics:
GMAT (new): 770
MS in Marketing Analytics, Bentley University, Boston. GPA: 3.78, 1/20 in class, interned at Microsoft and Mazda.
BS in Civil Engineering, Top Engineering shool, China. GPA: 2.3 (I hated physics and there is no way to change major, barely made it)
Excellent reference from professors in Graduate School.

leadership:
managing advertising agency.
Leader in climbing/hiking group, I climbed the highest mountain in each of the 48 states in the US, tons of volunteers in outdoor organizations.

struggle:
I hated civil engineering and I love marketing and cars, I did my very best to change my fate by getting into a US school and studied what I wanted, I was the top student at Gradate school and had progressed well but I felt in many time without an ivy-league I simply cannot open doors to companies I want to work for. I've worked with many ivy-school people from Google/Mckinsey and felt myself a equal member to them. I'm concerned that my extremely low undergrad GPA/that I did follow the top-undergrade > 3-5 yrs top school formula are going to cost me a chance to go to my dream schools.

strength:
extremely persistent and passionate - I had a group of Google engineers working with us by mailing their Senior VPs.
clear career goal, good presenter.
I'm always looking to improve myself and do the best with what I've got.

1. what's my chance of getting admitted in one of the schools?
2. should I apply for R2 '13 or just wait for '14? I do not see any significant career advancement for me for working another year, but applying for R2'13 means I have only 1 month to get reference/essays done and I didn't want to rush it. I'll be 29 in '13 and I'm afraid 30 would be too old for B-schools by looking at their class profile (and I have visited a class at each school, impressed most by Stanford)

Thanks!
-Alex