Engineers: Ask Vocaz

Hi Gil,

Your profile is certainly impressive and inspiring. I really appreciate you taking time to help MBA aspirants here...

Can you please evaluate my profile here...I really appreciate your time and help.



Personal details:
-Male/35/Indian/IT
-Married with one kid/Living in USA
-GMAT Score: 730 (M 50, V 40)
-Grad Degree:
Industrial and Systems Engineering (Texas A&M - Top 5 IE schools in US)
GPA 3.4
-UnderGrad Degree: Mechanical Engineering (Reputed Engineering School)
GPA 3.9,
-Consistently High Grades/Ranks in all academic career. Ranked in Top 5 of the class each year through schools and undergrad.

Work Experience:
10 years in USA (IT), 2 years in India (Engineering)

1. Worked for one of the most prestigiious engineering company after finishing undergrad. Worked on Process automation.
2. After Masters, working in US for last 10 years. Had decent growth in responsibilities. Currently I am technical lead and manage development and support projects with Teams including members from US/India and Argentina. Have managed project involving 8 developers in 3 countries. Project was a great success that helped win back more client business.
3. Have worked closely with Project mangers and have good insights into project management.
4. Passed my PMP certification to have more rounding of skills
5. Was involved with CRY Chapter and with Indian Classical music organization as a volunteer but last 3-4 years have been hard on extra curricular since birth of our son.

Motivation:
1. Stagnation in current career.
2. Need to advance in career. Catch up on some lost time if u will.

Strong skills:
1. Have been always a top performer at my work. (appraised "exceed expectations" for most years)
2. Strong technical / analytical/ communication/ interpersonal and leadership skills
3. Work very well in team environment

Weakness:
1. age (?)
2. Community work
3. Dont have management experience in most generalized sense of the word. (no budget p&l responsibility etc).

Post MBA Plans (for now)
Career in IT management.

Tragetting:
General Management
1 Year Full time MBA prorams
IMD (first choice)
INSEAD
HEC
LBS
OXFORD
IIM (india)
ISB (india)

Hi Gil,

Your profile is certainly impressive and inspiring. Thanks! I really appreciate you taking time to help MBA aspirants here...

Can you please evaluate my profile here...I really appreciate your time and help.
Sure, happy to help.
Personal details:
-Male/35/Indian/IT
-Married with one kid/Living in USA
-GMAT Score: 730 (M 50, V 40)
-Grad Degree:
Industrial and Systems Engineering (Texas A&M - Top 5 IE schools in US)
GPA 3.4
-UnderGrad Degree: Mechanical Engineering (Reputed Engineering School)
GPA 3.9,
-Consistently High Grades/Ranks in all academic career. Ranked in Top 5 of the class each year through schools and undergrad.

Work Experience:
10 years in USA (IT), 2 years in India (Engineering)

1. Worked for one of the most prestigiious engineering company after finishing undergrad. Worked on Process automation.
2. After Masters, working in US for last 10 years. Had decent growth in responsibilities. Currently I am technical lead and manage development and support projects with Teams including members from US/India and Argentina. Have managed project involving 8 developers in 3 countries. Project was a great success that helped win back more client business.
3. Have worked closely with Project mangers and have good insights into project management.
4. Passed my PMP certification to have more rounding of skills
5. Was involved with CRY Chapter and with Indian Classical music organization as a volunteer but last 3-4 years have been hard on extra curricular since birth of our son.

Motivation:
1. Stagnation in current career.
2. Need to advance in career. Catch up on some lost time if u will.

Strong skills:
1. Have been always a top performer at my work. (appraised "exceed expectations" for most years)
2. Strong technical / analytical/ communication/ interpersonal and leadership skills
3. Work very well in team environment
Weakness:
1. age (?)
2. Community work
3. Dont have management experience in most generalized sense of the word. (no budget p&l responsibility etc).

Good profile overall (the academic and work achievements are particularly impressive!), and you have done an honest job identifying potential weaknesses.
Yes, your age will make it more challenging to gain admission into most leading full-time MBA programs. Your first choice of program i.e. IMD is probably the most accepting in this respect. While recent/active community work is ideal, it is fine to have put it on hold for personal reasons. In terms of management experience, project management is definitely useful and gives you some points. However, if combined with people (i.e., performance evaluation and raises) and budget management, it carries a lot more weight.

Do not view these weaknesses as deal-breakers. Aim to counter-balance them through other aspects of your application e.g., performance excellence at work, in academics and in well-written essays and strong/insightful recommendations.

Post MBA Plans (for now)
Career in IT management.

Tragetting:
General Management
1 Year Full time MBA prorams
IMD (first choice)
INSEAD
HEC
LBS
OXFORD
IIM (india)
ISB (india)

On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations, our experience shows that you will be a competitive-to-stretch candidate at IMD and LBS, competitive at HEC and a stretch at the other programs you mentioned.
Hope this helps. Good luck,
Gil Levi
Vocaz

Gil

Many Thanks for such a detailed and insightful response. Appreciate your time and guidance.

I will definitely keep all your recommendations in mind. Looks like a great ride ahead....I better fasten seat belts.

Thanks.

Hi,

I already have a MBA degree from IIM, one of the top institutions in India, but am keen on doing another internationally. I am hoping this will open up some interesting senior roles and provide me with a wider alumni network. Now, how do the top programs view this and does this place me at a disadvantage? If yes, which schools would reject my application outright?

Cheers,
PK.

Hi,

I already have a MBA degree from IIM, one of the top institutions in India, but am keen on doing another internationally. I am hoping this will open up some interesting senior roles and provide me with a wider alumni network. Now, how do the top programs view this and does this place me at a disadvantage?

Hi PK,

Most top programs would accept your application, despite the fact that you already have a MBA. This is probably because they appreciate your drive to take time off work and invest further in building your career. Also, their experience has perhaps shown that such candidates enrich the B-school experience for their cohorts and go on to do well post-MBA. However, there are some schools that as a matter of principle do not accept candidates with prior MBAs.

If yes, which schools would reject my application outright?

Based on the information you provided, you cannot apply to some leading MBA programs, such as Berkeley.

Cheers,
PK.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Manish

Manish Agarwal
Senior Consultant
Vocaz

Hi,

Thanks for your response. What if I didn’t tell them about my prior MBA? Would they be able to find out?

Cheers,
PK.

Sorry to barge in Vocaz team great job with the feedback

@PKumar

Certainly they would find out and if they wouldn't it does not reflect well on your candidature if this information is known to the adcom by other means. I am sure you wouldn't want to jeopardize your application just for this small reason. A second MBA that is justified by a solid reasoning and a clear laid out career plan is always welcomed by the adcom. I don't see a big problem.

@MAVocaz

Darden and Berkeley do not accept applicants for a second MBA? this is news? would be glad to see some data to reflect this
thanks

Hi Gil, I'm so glad that there's someone who is able to show the way to engineers, as we are not the majority applicants. Unlike in a consulting company where I'll be able to find easily b-school alumni, I'm more surrounded by hardcore geeks :-p

Something about myself, I'm a Chinese girl of 25 years old. I've done my undergraduate & graduate in France (National Institute of Applied Sciences, the number 1 in 5 year education), while all the studies were in French, and I haven't learnt french except for 3 month course before going to france. I have a dual degree in Electrical engineering and Semiconductor Sciences, I don't know how to convert the french scoring system (out of 20) to GPA, but I've always ranked top 10 during my 5-year study out of 200+ students, and on my diploma I have "With congratulations of the jury" with is awarded to less than 5 students.

During my study in France, I've done various internships, in France, in United States, in Singapore, even though I was just an intern, I managed to in some way take the technical lead and influence the technical decisions.

After my study I worked in a Norwegian company called TANDBERG as a software developer since November 2008. I wasn't leading any project, but I focused not only on my assignment, but on building the framework for people to work easier and more efficiently, by taking the leadership in a project and made it as an "example project", although I wasn't officially the leader of the project (I'm the only girl in the team, the only person below 30 years old as well). I'll start working on the production side as well, assist on moving a production line from Poland to China.

Btw, my company is acquired by Cisco, a US company, so I'll start working for Cisco from next week

I have 111 out of 120 in toefl(Since I'm chinese), will pass GMAT in June, but my estimated will be >750 according to my simulations.

During my work, I found myself more and more interested in global aspects, with interest and knowledge in the high tech domain, I would like to improve the functioning of R&D department, help solving problem such as how to balance research/development, how to get better interaction with clients...etc. I would like to go for a 2 year full-time MBA, afterward, I'm aiming for either consulting (for high tech industry) or management in R&D department of high tech company.

I guess that my strong point is the vast international working experience, (worked in 4 foreign countries so far), but weak point is evident: lacking of work experience (only 1.5 years) and especially leadership experience.

My dream schools:(You may tell me that i'm daydreaming...)
Stanford
Berkeley
MIT
HBS

I will really appreciate your advice! Thank you so much

Hi Manish

Thanks for your response. What if I didn’t tell them about my prior MBA?

Hi PK,

I am not sure I would recommend heading down that path, for the following reasons:
1. You will have to explain the two year gap thus created in your CV.
2. If found out during the program, you will probably face immediate expulsion.
3. There are plenty other top schools that can offer similar, if not better, career/ networking prospects and schooling experience, so why risk it?

Would they be able to find out?

There is always the possibility. Some schools use an external verification company in order to verify the details provided in the application.

Cheers,
PK.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Manish

Manish Agarwal
Senior Consultant
Vocaz

Hi Gil,
I'm so glad that there's someone who is able to show the way to engineers, as we are not the majority applicants. Unlike in a consulting company where I'll be able to find easily b-school alumni, I'm more surrounded by hardcore geeks :-p

Hi,
I am responding on behalf of Gil, as he is away on vacation. Glad you find the work Vocaz is doing, valuable.

Something about myself, I'm a Chinese girl of 25 years old. I've done my undergraduate & graduate in France (National Institute of Applied Sciences, the number 1 in 5 year education), while all the studies were in French, and I haven't learnt french except for 3 month course before going to france. I have a dual degree in Electrical engineering and Semiconductor Sciences, I don't know how to convert the french scoring system (out of 20) to GPA, but I've always ranked top 10 during my 5-year study out of 200+ students, and on my diploma I have "With congratulations of the jury" with is awarded to less than 5 students.

During my study in France, I've done various internships, in France, in United States, in Singapore, even though I was just an intern, I managed to in some way take the technical lead and influence the technical decisions.

After my study I worked in a Norwegian company called TANDBERG as a software developer since November 2008. I wasn't leading any project, but I focused not only on my assignment, but on building the framework for people to work easier and more efficiently, by taking the leadership in a project and made it as an "example project", although I wasn't officially the leader of the project (I'm the only girl in the team, the only person below 30 years old as well). I'll start working on the production side as well, assist on moving a production line from Poland to China.

Btw, my company is acquired by Cisco, a US company, so I'll start working for Cisco from next week. I have 111 out of 120 in toefl(Since I'm chinese), will pass GMAT in June, but my estimated will be >750 according to my simulations.

During my work, I found myself more and more interested in global aspects, with interest and knowledge in the high tech domain, I would like to improve the functioning of R&D department, help solving problem such as how to balance research/development, how to get better interaction with clients...etc. I would like to go for a 2 year full-time MBA, afterward, I'm aiming for either consulting (for high tech industry) or management in R&D department of high tech company.

I guess that my strong point is the vast international working experience, (worked in 4 foreign countries so far), but weak point is evident: lacking of work experience (only 1.5 years) and especially leadership experience.

You undoubtedly have very strong academic credentials and have done well professionally too. The international exposure will undoubtedly appeal to business schools. Your choice of post-MBA career indicates a passion for management of technology. This passion coupled with evidence of commercial savvy and thought leadership should appeal to consulting firms. As you rightly identified, high-tech companies may seek a little more experience at the R&D manager level.

My dream schools:(You may tell me that i'm daydreaming...)
Stanford
Berkeley
MIT
HBS

Based on the information you provided above, and under the assumption of GMAT >750, strong recommendations/ essays/ resume (if required), our experience shows that you will be a competitive-to-strong candidate at MIT, Berkeley; competitive at Stanford and competitive-to-stretch at Harvard.

I will really appreciate your advice! Thank you so much

You're very welcome. Good Luck!

Cheers,
Manish

Manish Agarwal
Senior Consultant
Vocaz

Hello Vocaz

I recently completed my GMAT and earned a respectable 780 on it. However, I managed only a 3.0 on the essays. Do universities pay attention to this part of the GMAT score? After all that hardwork, the low essay score still leaves me uneasy.

Please advise.

Hello Vocaz

I recently completed my GMAT and earned a respectable 780 on it. However, I managed only a 3.0 on the essays. Do universities pay attention to this part of the GMAT score? After all that hardwork, the low essay score still leaves me uneasy.

Hi,

Congratulations on the 780! While universities do look at the essay score, its relative importance is low. A score at the low end might therefore raise a concern about your English writing skills, but should be easily alleviated with high quality admission essays, a strong TOEFL performance and a high TOEFL essay score.

Please advise.

Hope this helps.
Manish

Manish Agarwal
Senior Consultant
Vocaz

Hi Gil,

Thank you for sharing your insight in the admission procedures! If you want to I would really appreciate if you can take a look at my profile. I though I just use someone else's template:

Personal details:
-Male/22/Swedish
-GMAT Score: Latest simulation 730 (Q 49, V 41) but I will take it in 1 month so I hope on ~750
-Undergrad Degree: BSc Industrial Engineering (Top Engineering School in Sweden)
GPA 5.0/5.0
-Ranked Top 1 of the class.
-Exchange student in the US for one year in high school.

Part-time work experience:
Summer jobs at two blue chip companies and at two medium sized companies. All different work tasks. No leader roles.

Extracurricular:
I ran a company for one year in my senior year of high school.
Member of the board of the Student Union at my University.
Started an organ in the Student Union which arranges case-solving events for students.
Teacher for freshmen's at the University.

Motivation:
I want to challenge myself and to study finance. Since I am in my junior year now I am applying to HBS 2+2 program and then a couple of MSc Finance at Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and ETH.

Strong skills:
1. Have always been a top performer academically.
2. Strong analytical and interpersonal skills
3. Work very well in team environment

Weakness:
1. No leadership experience from my part-time work, some from my extracurriculars.
2. Community work

Post MBA Plans (for now)
I want to work in finance. Ideally at a management consultant firm with a finance focus.

Hi Gil,

Thank you for sharing your insight in the admission procedures! If you want to I would really appreciate if you can take a look at my profile. I though I just use someone else's template:

Personal details:
-Male/22/Swedish
-GMAT Score: Latest simulation 730 (Q 49, V 41) but I will take it in 1 month so I hope on ~750
-Undergrad Degree: BSc Industrial Engineering (Top Engineering School in Sweden)
GPA 5.0/5.0
-Ranked Top 1 of the class.
-Exchange student in the US for one year in high school.

Part-time work experience:
Summer jobs at two blue chip companies and at two medium sized companies. All different work tasks. No leader roles.

Extracurricular:
I ran a company for one year in my senior year of high school.
Member of the board of the Student Union at my University.
Started an organ in the Student Union which arranges case-solving events for students.
Teacher for freshmen's at the University.

Motivation:
I want to challenge myself and to study finance. Since I am in my junior year now I am applying to HBS 2+2 program and then a couple of MSc Finance at Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and ETH.

Strong skills:
1. Have always been a top performer academically.
2. Strong analytical and interpersonal skills
3. Work very well in team environment

Weakness:
1. No leadership experience from my part-time work, some from my extracurriculars.
2. Community work

Hi,

In our experience, your credentials are strong and well-rounded, and should appeal to admissions committees of top universities.

Ad-coms seek out strong academics, entrepreneurial drive and an exhibited interest in developing people around you and returning to the community. If appropriately explained, your experience in starting a company should sufficiently illustrate leadership skills in a professional setting. This will complement well and corroborate similar skills mentioned in the extra-curriculars.


Post MBA Plans (for now)
I want to work in finance. Ideally at a management consultant firm with a finance focus.

Given your post MBA plans, I assume you have done the requisite due-diligence in ensuring these schools will help you achieve the end-goal. Here are some basic points to confirm as you complete your applications:
1. Do you wish to gain international exposure through your MBA/M.Sc., or to be focused on a certain region? How does each school help you with this objective?
2. Do the companies you aspire to work for regularly recruit from your short-listed schools? How does each school score against this metric?
3. Apart from academics, what other experiences do you seek during the course of your studies? Which one of your chosen schools stands out in this regard?

The best way to seek reliable answers to these questions is to conduct some own research and follow it up with conversations with current students who are willing to share their first-hand experience and make sure you like what you hear.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Cheers,
Manish

Manish Agarwal
Senior Consultant
Vocaz

Gil/Vocaz,

I'd be quite grateful if you could review my profile and give me your recommendations.

The Basics
Male/25/Caucasian/American
Graduated with honors from a top 5 engineering school in 2008
Major: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
GPA: 3.23/4.0
GMAT: 760 (Q:49 V:44 AWA:6.0)

Work Experience
Upon graduation, I took a developmental position with a large independent refining company. Over the past two years I have been in three different positions. I had two positions as a plant engineer before I was promoted to a business analyst role in January 2010. While working as a plant engineer, I discovered that our feedstock supply was sub-optimized, built a model to optimize it and worked with management to implement my changes (a raw material savings of ~$1MM/yr). In my current role, I work directly for a VP and should be able to leverage this into a letter of recommendation. I will move out of my analyst role in December (hopefully with another promotion) and move to a different commercial role in the company.

Extracurriculars
I believe that education is the great equalizer for our society and I've spent the last two years volunteering as a pro-bono tutor, mostly working with local libraries (in different locations as I've moved around). Additionally, I designed and taught a six week ACT prep course for local high school students. I'm also looking into teaching some GED classes at a local women's shelter.

Goals
I'd like to attend a top 10 MBA program (enrolling in Fall of 2012) and from there head to a top management consulting firm (possibly leveraging my experience into a job in VC, PE or F50 company down the road).

Questions
1. What are my chances of getting into a top program (Since I won't apply for another year, I'm still researching schools)?
2. What can I do now to strengthen my candidacy both for business schools and consulting firms?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much!

Hi GilLevi,

This post is impressive as you guys are helping us. Thanks. I will definitly seek your guidance once I am finsihed with my GMAT.

Hi Gil,

I would appreciate your help in evaluating my profile for 2011 application.

Personal: Indian Male; just turned 31; living in US for last 5 years

GMAT: 710 (V38/Q49); AWA 5.5

Education:
Undergrad in Industrial Engineering from India; GPA 3.712 [Dept. Rank 1]
Dual MS in Industrial Systems Engineering and Engineering Management from one of the Big 10 schools; GPA 3.83 and 3.95 respectively

Work Experience:
2 Years in India for an Automotive Company as a production engineer
-1 year as a rotational training engineer and 1 year as a design engineer
2.5 Years in US in with heavy equipment [offshore rigs] manufacturing company as an operations expert
-Worked on several projects ranging from more than $20M of capital investment in different areas to project manager for a major software roll out
Worked on operations consulting project with 7 different small Midwest companies while in graduate school

Strengths:
Strong background in manufacturing/operations
Good/Decent GPA

Weaknesses:

1) Weak ECs: No community service in US but very active in training/educating employees at corporate level with good results to show. Some community work during undergraduate years.
2) Leadership Experience: Top performer in company but do not have direct reports. However I work with several different groups in a large company on a regular basis.
3) Age: 32 at the start of college is greater than the average age for all schools
4) Manufacturing focused background.

Interested in: : Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Haas, Columbia, Tuck, Yale

Post MBA, I wish to work in the area of operations management or operations/general consulting

Given my background and the interest areas, my questions are:

a) What are my chances in each of these schools?
b) Will my work interest post MBA affect my application to a school which is well know for other specializations e.g. finance, entrepreneurship etc.
c) Is 7 too many to apply in the same round?

Thank You