2008 Applicant Information - Put your Profile Here!

Hi, I just joined the gmat club and found this thread. To be honest, I was feeling a bit lost about the application process, but reading the various threads on the message has been very informative. I just wanted to submit my profile for eval. as well.

-23 years old
-American of Indian origin
-3.1 Undergrad GPA (3.6 major GPA) I was a bit overwhelmedfreshman year
-Taking the GMAT in August: but scored 710 on the Princeton diagnostic
Worked for 1.5 years for the Fed. Reserve (auditing financial institutions)
-Currenty working for a mid-sized financial service firm in Bangalore, India. I mostly create financial models and business plans for mid cap companies seeking to expand through M&A. Also, I'm helping to set up a rural/urban health project in Karnataka (southern Indian state)
-Extracuriculars: Volunteer at a spastic hospital, and taking German classes

If I can bump up my GMAT score by 40-60 points will I be a strong candidate for bschool? Thanks for your feedback, great site!

Anyone else here feeling a little intimidated by the whole application process? I am planning on applying to 6 schools total (4-R1 2-R2) and feel that I might end up pushing quantity ove quality for R1. Any advice? Below is the breakdown that I'm thinking:

R1
- HBS
- Ross
- Chicago GSB
- Kellog

R2
- Wharton
- Cornell

I wish I had all the apps in my hands right now so that I could get started on them already . I'm just reading MBA application books right now and will start refreshing my resume next.

I hear you

When I posted my profile, someone responded with, "Welcome to the app-season from HELL". I wasn't sure what he meant at that time .. but I am getting an idea now.

I also have a plan similar to yours - applying to 5 schools from the M7 - 3 R1s, 2 R2s. Everybody says that I may not have that great a chance in H/S (Not that that's stopping me from trying anyway) .. so that means that I am actually applying to only 3 realistic schools.

If you are an Indian IT applicant and are overwhelmed by the near perfect GMAT scores and IIT/780/4.0 profiles, there is one good news. Be glad that you are applying this year and not in the next.

For a long time, the Indian IT crowd applied to B-schools naively relying solely on stellar numbers. But that trend is changing.... and fast.

I am a 2008 applicant myself and for the last few years I have been running a non profit foundation. During my volunteer recruitment efforts, I run into Indian IT-EC building-MBA aspirant resumes all the time. I know 1 dear volunteer in my org who has spent the last 4 years patiently biding his time and building stellar extra curriculars and leadership experience. (BTW, he is a current GMAT club member). I encounter such people often enough to be sure that a new & improved IT applicant pool is on its way.

That said, I think as long as your ECs are genuine and in sync with your future goals, good execution on the essays and a reasonable GMAT will still put you in the running for an M7 admission.

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I know HBS is great, and I don't doubt it deserves a spot on your list because its HBS, but just to be clear, I don't think it's a finance powerhouse. Well connected and will still get you to point B - absolutely, yes.... will it provide the same finance education as, say, Wharton? In my opinion (and thats all it is), it wouldn't. Of course, that doesn't mean I wouldn't pick it over Wharton anyway. Just something to noodle on.

Also, I have to ask - why is the Chicago GSB not on your list?

Excellent point Rhyme,

In fact I have only just begun my research of B-Schools today and I am consistently hearing about how wonderful Chicago GSB is, for finance.

HBS on the other hand is not stacking up in terms of pure finance. I might have to re prioritize my list a little.

I have been to Chicago once in my life and the only thing I can remember is the miserable weather out there. The freezing wind and the ultra cold winter. I guess I am bit spoilt, living in Sydney for so long. But hey, no pain no gain

Boston isn't too warm either. Still get lots snow and plenty of cold windy days in the winter. If you really hate the cold so much that it would keep you from looking at Chicago then you may want to visit Harvard and MIT in February and reevaluate whether you want to spend two years in New England.

If you want good weather look at schools in Cali. Then again at least you arent looking at Cornell or Dartmouth...that could be a real shock.

Of course I was only kidding riverripper. 150 K + 2 years of my earning life is too big a sacrifice to compromise on, just because of slightly miserable weather

Although I must admit, I have never actually lived in a place where it it actually snows...

Man, don't say that. If you dont have much of a chance, I'm in serious trouble.

I'm also in...

After 3 months of research, thinking and hesitations between '08 and '09, I realized the timing may be good as I will have more time over the next 5 months than the following year... Plus reading all the posts on the GMAT Club really motivated me...

So I am taking the official GMAT soon, got my recommenders and school shortlist (my favourites being GSB and Kellogg).

My profile is on the Ask Hjort etc forums, so no need to put it here again...

Good luck to all of you !

A Grand Ecole eh? Who exactly is your family?

Ok so whats the Cereal box for?

A Grande Ecole is basically the competitive French system for Engineering studies... That's what it's called, the French are very proud of it, no one else really understands it

The cereal box ? Just because Kellogg would be my first choice...

Not all ... and the rest of the sentence is not far from the truth

Dont worry, At Last year Wharton Info session out of 50 who turned up 80% are of Indian , who happen to have either Aus/Kiwi Passport!

So you got plenty of competition my friend!!!!!

Watch out HBS/Wharton --they start their info sessions first in Sydney ..followed by the ROW!!!

Macquarie bank --The one close to Martin Square or Bond Street???

Cheers

I know what a Grande Ecole is... thats why I asked who your family was. It's not just competitive, its CONNECTED as well.... and not without criticism either. Its long standing connection to the Grands Corps has, at least in the past, sparked criticism in the past as an antiquated overly elitist system (particularly when it comes to obtaining positions as a civil servant or in politics) They also spend far far far more money than the regular universities even though they have like 5% of students... but I digress.

I'm guessing you went to X? In any case, if you are from a Grande Ecole, and especially if you are "Grand Corps" whether we talk X or ENA or whatever, you should have no problem.

As for the cereal box issue.... Let me save you from embarrassing yourself later on.... The Kellogg Graduate School of Management has almost nothing to do with Kellogg the Cereal. It's a common myth. (See next page for addtl details)

Ok, although this is not the right topic at all, let me correct a few misperceptions here, as my personal values / credibility are challenged by what you believe to be true :

1- There are over 200 Grandes Ecoles in France. I did not go to X, but to one of the Centrales. The same way as people get into Polythechnique, ENA, HEC, etc which are ALL Grandes Ecoles, I just studied hard, took a competitive exam with neither my name nor my picture on the papers, and got in based on my ranking... It is not connected, believe it or not, and the only connection you get out of X or ENA is the alumni network (which, logically, you can only belong to once you got in, etc, etc...)

2- Funding of Grandes Ecoles: that is a subject of debate. Indeed, they are better funded than the universities, and it is quite unfair. I agree with you that universities are not valued enough in France. But they need, in addition to money, deep reforms to make them more in phase with what the professional world is expecting (France accounts for more psychology students that all of Europe - source : The Economist).

3- Grands Corps and Grandes Ecoles are two different things. Grande Ecole is a label (same as EQUIS, AACSB), while Grand Corps are civil servants, who are often succesful Polytechnique Students who got into the prestigious Ecole des Mines, etc... or ENA alumni, etc...

4- Maybe the French system is very elitist. True. But so are all systems : aren's b-schools elitist ? What about Law school, med school in the US ?

5- As for the Cereal box. Do you really think I would try to convince the school to take me because I love strawberry Special K's ??? Anyway, I suppose you just say that to be nice and help, so thanks a lot.

Edit : From wikipedia (so it can be challenged...) In 1979, in honor of a $10 million gift made to the school on behalf of John L. Kellogg, the former president of the Kellogg Company, the school was renamed as the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

So should I talk about corn flakes if ever I get an interview ???