Ask MBA Crystal Ball

We had posted this on our blog earlier. At a time when the disappointment and frustration of not being successful in the first round forces many to go into a shell, one of the candidates (Thanks, Satya) was considerate enough to share his honest views and offer some advice on the topic for the benefit of others who are in a similar situation.

If you have been planning quick fixes to your application strategy, do check out the fifth comment on this post before you take a knee-jerk reaction.

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Hi MBA Crystal Ball ,
Thanks for offering an introduction to your services !

My profile in short
Male , Indian
GMAT 740 (49Q/44V), 6.0 AWA
UG : BAchelor of Computer Engineering , 3.4/4 GPA
Work experience:Will have 6 years of experience when I plan to start my MBA
IBM 3yrs - Technology consulting and Service in India
Rated among Top 5% in IBM for last 3 years
4 Patent applications,few publications and customer facing experience
TCS - 1 year
EC:Working for a NGO for community schools to help deploy computer labs

Goal : After MBA, plan to work in Management/Strategy Consulting.

Based on my research, schools such as Booth , Columbia , Kellogg seem a Stretch goal to get an Admit, but without a scholarship.

However, I am not in a position to generate $ 120k ,required for these schools.
So I am searching for mid-ranked schools, which are a good balance of Brand + Scholarship where I can complete the MBA in approx $60k.

Question 1. I have shortlisted Emory - Goizueta as one of the target schools, which has a good probability of scholarship.
Could you please suggest any other schools with the Brand+Scholarship balance, which are known for Consulting ?

Question 2.
I have still 1.5 years before I apply.Could you please suggest how I could strengthen my profile, to move my Career towards a Consulting path ?
in terms of changing profile @ work or taking up EC activities.

Question 3 :
Does MBA Crystal Ball provide face to face consulting in Pune ?

Thanks and best regards.

You've got done your homework well sir. Usually schools use a mix of case-studies, lectures, group assignments. Harvard and Darden are the strongest when it comes to case-study based teaching. Case studies have their limitations just like the other options. So you might be better off experiencing a mix of pedagogies and teaching styles.



Yup, good choice, in the Practical-Stretch range. 1-2 Practical schools would've been nice. But fikar not, if you've put in strong apps.

Hi Kratika,

I see that our good friend, Arun (aka pyschodementia and the founder of Crackverbal) has already addressed many of your queries on another thread. He's been in this business for several years, so he knows what he's talking about.

If you have any additional queries, do let us know.

We’re looking for a few good guys and gals to be part of our team

If you’ve been concerned about your extra-curricular experience not being solid enough for the good MBA universities, here’s a chance to rectify that. At MBA Crystal Ball, we’ve been doing some exciting and unconventional work in the area of MBA admissions consulting. The MCB brand has been growing within India AND outside. And we could do with some help from self-driven and entrepreneurial folks out there who’d like to be associated with us on short-term projects. You don’t need to be an MBA expert (though it won’t hurt if you are familiar with what we do) and you don’t need to be Indian. Just tell us what you are good at and we can find a … Read entire article »

Hi Sameer,

Here's my profile. Could you please let me know your thoughts on the target schools that I can shoot for. I am concerned abt my GMAT and dont want to re-take it

GMAT - 680 (Q48, V35)
Acads - BE: GPA 8.3/10 from a leading college in India
X/XII - 81% /70%
Indian, Mlae Age - 32
Work Ex - 8.3 Years in HealthCare IT for a major IT Co. in India (4years in US and 4.3 in India).
Role - Associate Manager - Projects
Career Progress - 4 promotions till date
Achievements at work -
Created new business opportunities worth $3.2 Mi
Achieved 14 % productivity improvement for teams under me as opposed to an organizational target of 11%
Proposed and implemented cost reduction initiatives that lead to a total savings of $450,000 p.a. for the client
Have always been rated within the top 15% of my peers
Received numerous awards for excellence in performance - e.g. was awarded the "Best Boss"
Am currently leading an account wide initiative of reducing costs - target to achieve is a savings of $x Mi

ExtraCurriculars - Was a professional sportsman in India (volleyball) for 2 years (post XII) didnt do great stuff just represented my state in various tournaments
Founder of a club that helps promote sports as a career for the deserving
College volleyball captain for 3 years

Course - MBA in Consulting

Schools - NYU Stern, Fuqua, Notre Dame (safe - safe), Cornell (safe), Columbia

Thanks

Tushar Nangnure saheb, Sankrantichya belated shubhecchya!


Not sure why, but for a minute, I thought this post was addressed to Bobby Darling.


I don't think this would qualify as 16 years of full-time education, specially considering the the PG from Symbiosis is a weekend course (very different, in fact, even from a part-time course). Don't try to veil the courses just to show them as MBA pre-requisites. That strategy could backfire in the long-run. Be honest and upfront in your applications. I would suggest checking with the univs that you are interested in, before you apply. If schools see you as a strong candidate, you might get a positive response (waiver!) from some of these schools. And that brings me to the next point about what will make you a strong candidate.


For these schools, having a basic amount of real-world professional experience is very important. There are some state schools that would take you in with no experience as well. But I wouldn't recommend that. You've already spent a lot of time in gaining qualifications and degrees. Now is the time to balance it out with some hard-core work-ex. US jaanyachi ghaai karoo nakaa.


My take on this. Don't apply this year. Take some time to find out more about the schools you are targetting. Find out what they are looking for in prospective candidates. And then take a call.


I like this part. Spend some more time in structuring and growing this initiative. It'll serve you much more than all your qualifications put together.

Hello,

Could you please evaluate my profile based on the following information:

1.) Education

Bachelor of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - 71% Aggregate - India
PG Diploma - Advanced Manufacturing Technology and Systems Management - Pass - University of Manchester - UK

2.) Work Experience

2.5 years by now - 4/5 years at the time of matriculation.
Family Business - Working as General Manager - started my stint in inventory management - took some good effective initiatives - implemented Inventory Management Techniques such as ABC Analysis, Economic Order Quantity estimation for about 5000 parts in the inventory - estimated the operation cost of the warehouse with these techniques - marginally reduced the operative costs to about 60% of before.
took charge as a plant manager to set up a building material (aggregate) manufacturing plant in a village with my team of 20 people and further hired contractors and labor on my own - successfully set up the plant which is now in a running condition already - formed a joint venture with a company from Malaysia to supply them the material on a consistent basis - liaison with the project manager of that company on a daily basis to resolve day to day issues (transportation, financial etc) - reported directly to the Chairman of my company.

Now, I am promoted as a General Manager of the company and into setting up of a sponge iron plant of 200 Tonnes per day capacity - the company has also proposed a 10 MW power plant in the future for which I will be the incharge again - I am right now looking after its civil construction and assisting the labor and the contractors hired by me few months ago - trying to handle the project professionally with the help of tools like Microsoft Project, ERP, Excel Spreadsheets.

Company's employee strength -- 400

Have formed a charity organization which funds the education of our employees' children - motivate them to perform good in their academics in order to avail these benefits - have provided 3 lacs INR till now - this helps our employees too - they feel quite secured and consequently they get motivated to work hard.

Can write good essays demonstrating my leadership and management potential.

GMAT - yet to take! will target 720+ !

Please evaluate my profile based on the information given above.

Thanks

Chaitanya Bhansali

Hey, impressive profile. Find my comments in line:

Hi Sameer,

Here's my profile. Could you please let me know your thoughts on the target schools that I can shoot for. I am concerned abt my GMAT and dont want to re-take it

Any particular reasons you want to avoid a re-take? Was this your first attempt? Considering your target list and the fact that you are in a competitive pool, it is much safer to be on the other side of 700!

GMAT - 680 (Q48, V35)
Acads - BE: GPA 8.3/10 from a leading college in India
X/XII - 81% /70%
Indian, Mlae Age - 32
Work Ex - 8.3 Years in HealthCare IT for a major IT Co. in India (4years in US and 4.3 in India).
Role - Associate Manager - Projects
Career Progress - 4 promotions till date
Achievements at work -
Created new business opportunities worth $3.2 Mi
Achieved 14 % productivity improvement for teams under me as opposed to an organizational target of 11%

Difficult to say whether this is impressive. If you can translate this into a $ number, maybe much more interesting to look at.
Proposed and implemented cost reduction initiatives that lead to a total savings of $450,000 p.a. for the client
Have always been rated within the top 15% of my peers
Received numerous awards for excellence in performance - e.g. was awarded the "Best Boss"
Again, much more impactful if you can quantify this in some way. For instance, if you can say only 2 guys get this among 1000, then we're talking.
Am currently leading an account wide initiative of reducing costs - target to achieve is a savings of $x Mi

ExtraCurriculars - Was a professional sportsman in India (volleyball) for 2 years (post XII) didnt do great stuff just represented my state in various tournaments
Even participation helps, trust me not many of us around are athletically inclined
Founder of a club that helps promote sports as a career for the deserving
College volleyball captain for 3 years

Course - MBA in Consulting
You'll have a tough time finding a school that offers this, unless one of the big consults have started their own venture . Unlike marketing or finance, consulting is not a "single" stream. It is in many ways, a milieu of all the streams - and hence the attraction towards it as well

Schools - NYU Stern, Fuqua, Notre Dame (safe - safe), Cornell (safe), Columbia

In summary, though you've got a pretty impressive profile, but I would strongly recommend that you think about your GMAT.

Thanks a ton for the response. My primary reason for not taking GMAT again is time constraints.
The score that i have now is from 2007 when i had more time The 680 was my seond attempt taken just after a month or so without much planning. I took it because i knew that i was much better in verbal than my score represented. My first score was 650 (51Q,25V)
I am also looking at the possibility of EMBA if my profile fits in (columbia sturday, sunday)program). I know that i have reached a plateau in my career and need a catalyst from here on to reach where I want to in 5 years. I understand that my apps would be very different for the 2 programs (mba/emba) and believe i can articulate the need for an mba effectively. Is 680 not competetive for both the programs? Or rather should i consider only the mba and not the emba based on what i have.
Clarifications to my profile:
The productivioty improvement caused a coast savings of $6.3 mi
The award was among a group of 40 leads and managers

Posted from my mobile device

How to improve your MBA profile for top business school admissions

The question pops up on various forums frequently and there are two categories of guys who want to know. The first set are a few months away from application deadlines and have recently realized that their competitors look and sound better on paper than they do. This is the ‘uski kameez meri kameez se safed kaise’ syndrome. … Read entire article »

Hi MBA Crystal Ball team,
Could you please help with my profile evaluation?
Many thanks.

Well, it depends a lot on what you are looking at out of an MBA. And that ideally should dictate the choice between an EMBA and the normal one. An EMBA would usually be more useful if you want to use the MBA to grow / transition within your current organization. If you want to explore on a broader canvas, then a full blown MBA makes much more sense.

Thanks for the clarifications. The point is, you should think of conveying your story (as and when you do), in these terms rather than the ones you had

Cheers!

Hi Crystal Ball,

Can you please help me shortlist some good schools for IT Consulting and/or Entrepreneurship. I'm open to both US and UK but have to start by fall this year. Here is my brief profile.

Indian / IT / 25 / Male
GMAT: 700 (QA 50, VA 34, AWA 4.5)
TOEFL: 109
Work Ex: 4 years by the time I join

Looking for Emory, Tippie, UIUC(Illinois), Rochester, Manchester and Imperial

Thanks

Hi Chaitanya,

Candidates from a family business background have some unique characteristics and your profile underlines some of those.

You've got a great deal of responsibility at an early stage. Most other guys would have to spend several years doing relatively basic activities before the company management decides to place greater trust in their capabilities. A General Manager designation in bigger companies would be conferred upon employees who've spent decades honing their skills in multiple areas.

The challenge here is that Adcoms need to be convinced that you've earned your stripes and shouldered additional responsibilities because you really had the potential and not just because of your blood relations with the founders of the organisation.

Use your unconventional background and the fact that you play a key role in a 400-strong company. If your GMAT you've targeted can be reached (when's the test?), more power to you. With a strong application that addresses the points listed above, you be in good shape to target the top 10-15 schools.

You haven't shared your post-MBA plans. Do you want to work in another company for a few years before you get back to your family business or do you want to jump right back in?

Thanks Sameer!

I hope I'd be able to convince adcoms about my potential which I will be talking about in my essays.

I intend to work in strategy consulting position in a good consulting firm for 3-4 years before jumping back in my business and expand it on a global scale with the skills attained in the b school.

Thanks for your reply per se.

Chaitanya