Ask ISB Alumni @ ThinkISB

Thank you ThinkISB for your comments. I will keep those in mind while submitting my application.
My experience has been mostly in the technical area rather than in project management. I have led teams in some of my projects but from technology perspective and not general management perspective. Will that put me at disadvantage? Is there something i can do to strengthen my application?

Thank You
Harsha

Please evalaute my profile :

Acads :-
GMAT- 750
UnderGrad- BITS Pilani - 8.04 CGPA
12th - 88.8% (CBSE)
10th - 92%

Work Ex-

Since I have relatively small work experince, I am not able to provide bulleted points higlighting my career progress and achievements. Instead, I am providing a slightly detailed account of my job till now, hoping for pointers to present it in most effective manner.

I have recently completed 17 months in an organization which is the world leader in manufacturing of Agricultural machinery. My departent is responsible for providing software solutions for agricultral operations, with main focus being US markets .I joined as a member of a batch of 15 engineer trainees (all from IITs and BITS) and for the first 5 months we were put through a rigorous training programme, following which I was adjudged to be the best new engineer trainee for scoring the highest aggregate score in all internal and externa evaluations.
Following this, I joined a team which was resposible for creating a software product to provide software solutions for precision farming needs of large scale American farmers. I have continously been evaluated as one of the highest performers in the team despite my relative new comer status. Withing 12 months of joining, I was promoted from Engineer Trainee post to Technology Analyst and have recieved multiple recognitions and rewards from my superiors (both official and unofficial) for my innovative thinking and positive attitude towards work.

This job has helped me gain a good deal of domain knowledge related to agriculture field, and helped me to understand and appreciate the shortcomings in this sector in India compared to the developed world.

My performance has helped me get recos/evaluations (hopefully very positive) fr
om the country head of my department (himself an ISB alum ) and my delivery manager (an IIM alum).

ECs :-
Probably the biggest achille's heel in my application.

1. Event Manager at College Technical Fest: was responsible for everything from coceptualizing the event to holding seminars to popularize the event, and also interacting with the sponsors to decide the competition structure.

2. Member Publicity and Public Relations committee for college cultural fest : used liaisons in colleges across India to create awareness about the fest, managed and co-ordinated fest online forum to answer inquiries from university students interested in attending the fest, and also facilitated these students in travel and accomodation related services.

3. Greatest passion in life- follow a plethora of sports - crazy about soccer and Manchester United, also follow Formula 1 and tennis with great interest. One of my biggest dreams is to some day be associated with manchester united in an official capacity

4. Member of debating and literary club in school (too old i guess).

Long term career goals: Besides the one stated above, enrter the challenging field of strategic consultancy (probably in agriculture domain) as I have the core competencies to be successful in this field and with the learning I can acquire at ISB, I will be able to further augment my competencies.

Some pertinent queries :
1. I am a little disappointed with my GMAT score as i was hoping for 770-780 based on my mock performances, but I guess it just wasn't my day. Is it possible to offset the effect of this slightly lower score by mentioning my performances in other national level B-Schools entrance exams like CAT in the previous years, and would it be at all advisable.

2. I realise my low work ex might be a big deterrent in terms of my selection, but I am desperately looking for opportunity to go for higher studies which are aligned with my career goals. Can you suggest some good programs (Masters- other than MBA if necessary) in Europe, especially in UK, which I can realistically aspire to.

3. I have quite a few highlights from my schooling days - school gold medalist, gold medal in mathematics olympiad, INR 50K reward for scoring 100% in Mathematics in 10th board - will mentioning these things help improve my application or are these too far in the past to be relevant.

Thanks in advance.

Dear Harsha,

We just mentioned project management experience as an example. Basically, all you need to present is you have some leadership experience, be it people management, team experience, project management, module management, client relationships, sales, etc: something beyond engineering or beyond your scope of work. You are in software field so it is obvious that your management experience will be in the software area, which is fine. Management from technology perspective can be shown, a general management experience is not essential. If you can show that effectively, your application is already strong.

All the best. Do email or call us if you have more queries.

Dear fatality,

Look buddy. Don't fret over your GMAT score. You know that you have scored well above ISB's average. And not only GMAT, you have shown consistently good academic performance throughout. And with BITS Pilani in your resume, you need not say more. So don't worry about it. Academics is one of your strong areas and is taken care of. Move on.

Coming to your work-ex. Yes, in terms of number of years, it is low but you have shown good progression at work. Regarding promotions and accolades, well good that you have achieved those. But the real meat is... what did you do to achieve what you did. Make sure you highlight that aspect in your application well... focus on what you did, how you contributed. Just ensure that someone who reads your app will know you better after reading, not just know what you achieved.

Regarding your 3rd question, yes they are long back in the past and do not hold much relevance apart from strengthening your academic capability, which you do not need since your GMAT, 12th and undergrad performance are good.

Hi ThinkISB,
It would be of great help if you could evaluate my profile.
Applying in R2..working on essays...
Profile:
10th-80%(assam state board)
12th 69%(assam state board) --thought was not imp at dat time as engg entrance separate.
Mechanical engg from NIT jamshedpur- 8.56/10
wanted to join only a core company and did not sit for any IT comps.
Work ex: july 2006-present in Larsen and Toubro-almost 5 years in april 2011.
Domain: Marine structure and ship design. Provides consultancy to Ship builders and owners.
Was promoted to team lead within a year. Lead a team of 10 ppl for a mega ship building project(one of a kind in India)
since then involved in many projects for Indian navy etc.
At present workin as Asst. manager.
Reason for MBA after being in core engineering for 5 years: Was not in the race for MBA till recently-dint do the CAT thingy..Was happy with my job.
But realized that a MBA is needed for career advancement. to break a sort of glass ceiling dat exist.
Post MBA: wants to stay in my core engineering field but at a managerial level with greater responsibility.
Also dont mind getting into business development for an engineering firm.
In short: want to use my MBA as a spring board for the leap. Hence an executive MBA from the best-ISB.

EC: cricket captain for school and NIT team. Member of L&T team
Also a football goal keeper throughout and m still in my company team.
But nothing great to show off....
Passion: travelling-biking-done crazy stuff in here-travelled arround the country on bike-just for the heck of it..photography--hence mostly found on my bike with my camera in the himalayas.
But nothing much in the community service side......

But here is the problem bit:
GMAT 1st attempt:690 (48q,35v)

Should I appear again(have time till 20th nov)...because i know i can get atleast 720s.

Please advice...

Dear sajibbaruah,

You have a unique background and a pretty interesting one. Well, first of all, do not worry about your GMAT score now. 2 reasons: 1. an increment of 20-30 points won't make much of a difference considering you profile is unique in terms of work-ex. 2. There is not much time left. Whatever time you have, around 40 days, spend them well on your essays rather than GMAT.

You can show passion in your essays, which is really good. Highlight on your biking and traveling bit, that is interesting. Forget about community bit, that is not important as long as you are able to show your engagement outside of work.

Your work-ex is good, as I said earlier, pretty unique. But you need to present leadership abilities, and team skills out of it. And you have only 300 words per essay. So make you sure you spend quality time writing your essays. If you want, we can guide you through that bit.

Another point of concern that I see is your post MBA goals. Although what you have stated might be the right reason, but I do not see any focus in there. Breaking a glass ceiling is not a good enough reason for an MBA. I'd suggest research a bit on the opportunities available after an MBA and then refine your short term and long term goals based on what suits you best.

Hello team ThinkISB.

I'm planning to apply before the November 30th deaddline. I'd appreciate if you could give me feedback on my profile.

My Profile:

Nationality: Indian
Degree: B. Tech (Production Engineering) from VJTI, Mumbai
10th standard: 88.27% (22nd in the Merit List)
12th standard: 85% overall (93% in PCM)
GPA: 6.9/10.0 (First Class)
GMAT1: 650 (Q46, V34, AWA5.0)
GMAT2: Scheduled on November 11, 2011 (Hope to do better!)
TOEFL: 111/120 (Reading 30, Speaking 23, Listening 29, Writing 29)
Internships: Winter Internship at Indian Smelting and Refining for 1 month, 6 months internship at L&T (part of the course)
Work experience: Working in the manufacturing sector since June 2009. Will complete 1 year and 10 months of work experience by the time the program starts. Was promoted in the first six months.

Another important criterion is that my current employer i.e. Usha Martin Ltd which is one of the leading manufacturing firms in India, wants to sponsor my MBA, provided I sign an undertaking that I'll come back to work with them (I'm willing to do it)
Will this sponsorship help in my application?

Extracurriculars: Organized a few social events and even managed a couple of technical and sports events. Organized an international conference regarding development of education. I've also been involved with the Corporate Social Responsibility division of my current company.

Please let me know what kind of a chance I stand, if any. Thanks.

Sorry to disappoint you buddy, but you will not be eligible to admission to ISB for next year's batch. Like you, I joined my job last year (June 2009) and was interested in applying to ISB this year. But I checked up by calling ISB and they told me although I can apply for admission to ISB this year, since I donot meet the min requirement of 2 years of post undergrad work ex at the time of commencement of next years batch, I will not be eligible for admission to next year's batch. But they did say that if they found my profile interesting, they will call me for an interview, and based on overall evaluation, may offer me a deferred admission to the following year's batch, although there is no precedent for this in ISB history.

My interpretation of this was why risk applying this year when I stand no chance of making it to the coming batch. Why not apply in an years time with better work profile rather than applying this year, getting rejected on grounds of less work ex and then applying again next year as a reapplicant. Don't get me wrong, I donot wish to imply that there is anything wrong with reapplication, but as a reapplicant you have to emphasize in your essays how you have overcome your shortcomings since your last application, and to do that in 6-7 months (time between reject this year and round 1 application deadline next year) is going to be really tough, but I guess to each there own. I have decided not to apply to ISB this year, instead focus on international B-Schools like Chicago Booth, HBS and GSB Stanford this year as they donot have any minimum work ex requirement and are eager to attract good recent graduates to their programs.

Edited

Hi Think ISB,

Your thread is very resourceful. Please help me evaluate my profile.

I am a b-tech grad in industrial biotechnology from Dr. MGR university in Chennai. After my graduation I joined my father in his first entrepreneurial venture. He had just started with the project when I joined him. So essentially, both of us built the company together.

We owned a biomass based thermal power plant. It was situated in a village near Raipur, Chhattisghar. We handled the whole of EPC of the plant, including the govt permissions, and a lot other things. Basically we had very limited resources so we managed the whole show.

Eventually we had to sell the plant. Now after our first failed attempt, I seriously think I need a formal education in management. I have heard a lot about ISB and its MBA’s focus on the Indian markets and conditions. Also, that it doesn’t base its evaluation of profiles purely on entrance test scores. We are still in the midst of our final handing over processes, meanwhile, I heard the deadline for applications this year is approaching so I went ahead and wrote the GMAT today. I did not fair well, I landed with a 490. Do you suppose I stand any chance of getting through this year?

My over all work-ex is 3yrs, 4months as of date.
My Acads are as follows, X Std: 68%, XII Std: 70% and B-tech: 79%

I've been an active part of Dance and Dramatics club through college. Was the founder and president of Origene, our biotech association from college. Before that I was the president of Interact club in my 11th and 12th.

Please let me know of any other details you require to evaluate my profile.

Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Ranjana.V

Hello Think ISB,
I am planning to apply for round 2
my profile goes as follows:
female
10 th - 79%
12 th - 72%
BE(comp)- 66%
profession - Military service(MAJOR) Indian Army
w/exp - 4 and half yrs
GMAT Score- 630

what are my chances of making it into ISB ??

Dear ThinkISB team,

Thanks for the feedback on my profile..I have question regarding short term and long term goals.

I wish to work for infrastructural and ecnomical development of the country and i see two ways to do it.Either take up a job as adviser in planning commision or work as independednt consultant for planning commision.In either way the motto remains the same.
Seeing this my short term goal is to work in an consulting firm in its growth practice/project appraisal/preoject perspective division to gain the desired experience .For this i need to MBA to expand the sphere of my knowdlge of project management and implementation which is righl now in Hospitality IT.

My question is whether my goals sound absurd ?? my enthusiasm is to play a role in country's development and i forsee two mentioned ways for it,does it sound vague pr depicts lack of clarity to mention two ways to achieve that.Please help me on the same.

Hi rajeevmundhada,

Well, first of all, all the best for your GMAT. Guess it is tomorrow.

"fatality" is right in saying that currently you are not eligible for ISB in terms of years of experience. Although you can still apply and evidence says that there are a few, albeit very very few, people who have got a deferred admit after demonstrating a strong case despite not qualifying the eligibility criteria in terms of years of experience.

The sponsorship will financially help you. It'll do nothing to your chances of admission. We won't be doing justice if we comment on your chances of admission with this limited information. We'll need more info to comment better.

Dear gaurav0705,

Your career goals are not absurd. They are well justified and it is good that you know how you will achieve them.

The problem is justification of the need of an MBA to achieve the same. The takeaways from an MBA program to achieve your goal is not satisfactory enough to convince the adcom. Ideally, you need to relate your experience (what you have gained in terms of soft skills or hard skills - industry knowledge), your MBA to your post MBA career goals. You need to work on this aspect.

Hope that helps.

ThinkISB:
It will be great if you please share a word or two on my chances of getting into ISB. I am applying for r2.
GMAT-690/5 (I know its on lower side of ISB's average)
Work Exp: 6.8yrs by Mar-2011. Experience in IT industry with top IT companies. Have 2yrs of international exp (USA).
Acads: Average in Xth, XIIth and engineering(B.Tech) (between 65%-70%)
Extr Cr: Good sports and extra curricular activities during college. Was university chess champion and captioned Kabbadi team. Was also part of winning cricket and football team.
During professional career have obtained 3-4 technical certification and many achievements and appreciations from clients and managers. Have also lead a team of 4ppl. Currently focuisng on six-sigma green belt and PMP certification. I am also associated with a NGO.

Dear smartm0ve,

Here's your brief profile evaluation:

Academics is not one of your strong areas, as evident by your 12th score, undergrad performance and GMAT score. Let's move on to other areas to see if they compensate for it. Your work experience seems to be in IT. There are elements of success and diversity that we see, like investment banking and international exposure, we would like to see more instances of teamwork, and leadership skills in your essays to make your profile stronger. Your strong knowledge equities cash business will be helpful in aligning your experience with your post MBA career goals. Talking about career goals, your short term career goal is logical and achievable, though a bit tough. Make sure you talk more about takeaways from ISB/MBA that will help you achieve it.

Your extra-curricular is one of your clear strengths, esp portrait making. It does matter whether you still pursue it or not. Participation in other sports show your interest in adventure, but again, recency is a critical factor here. Forget about community service experience if that is not strong.

Overall, you have a strong hold in extra currics, acads are average and potential for a high upside in work-ex in your essays. All the best.

Dear Ranjana,

Your work-ex and the business learning that you can demonstrate is solid. Not many people can show this experience and there is a lot to learn from you. Even though your venture failed, focus on what you learnt and show how you will apply those lessons in future. Your decision to do an MBA now is good and ISB is a good school for you.

Unfortunately, your GMAT Score is too low for ISB and you would not be able to make it with 490. We suggest you wait a year, retake the GMAT with proper guidance and preparation and then apply for an MBA.

All the best.