Oxford (Said) 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Thanks mate.

I am planning of retaking the GMAT soon. Hopefully ill do much better this time around.

I have one more question to ask....

Will i be at an advantage if i apply early (I.e R1) rather than at the end of the year (Lets say R2 or R3) ?


Vasu

Hey there

I am applying in R1 for Oxford. Can you give some insight on what sort of resources are available to aspiring entrepreneurs with a technology slant? Is there a strong student community centered around entrepreneurship and innovation?

Also, what are Oxford's strengths with regards to prepping its students for international business? I am interested in focusing on the Asia region.

Thank you in advance,
enkie

Hi..

Apologies for the late reply.. I have been traveling a bit.

To answer your first question:

Oxford prides itself on its entrepreneurial focus in the course. This has been highlighted during the numerous discussions I have been part of, before and after receiving my offer. Also, in the last two years more than 10% of the class have ventured out on their own. Oxford's focus on entrepreneurship is also reflected in the employment report where there is a separate section dedicated to it. I am unfortunately unable to add the link here, but you can access it from the SBS website.

With regards to your second question, you have got to be a bit more specific about what you would like to know. In my opinion, today, all 'business' is international business, so I am pretty sure that this will be covered as part of the course.

All the best with your application.

Hi,

I am shooting to submit my application before the end of round 1, which is on 14th of October. My GMAT is on the 17th of September. I am hoping to come up with a good application by then, otherwise I will shoot for round 2.

I am curious about the process once admitted. How does it work? I am going for a US student loan, and I know Oxford asks for an $8000 deposit, can that be covered? My money is tied elsewhere right now. (edit: thinking about it, you might not know the answer to this q. I will send the adcom an email about this instead.)

Also, I want to ask about the background check. When are they going to call my employers? I will ask recommendation from my supervisor, but I don't want the rest of my company's management (and HR) to find out yet that I will be leaving. Upon paying the tuition deposit, when do they make this call?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

Hey wanted couple of clarifications. Have written an email to admissions committe too.

1. The second essay talks about "Which recent development, world event or book has most influenced your thinking and why". Does the word recent goes with world event too or only with development. In case i am looking at a world event that happened in 1990's would that be considered?

2. The second question is regarding TOEFL. Is it true that you have to give TOEFL to get admission into Said. I know the admission committee is the best place to ask this but may be you can help with your experience. I did my engineering from INDIA with medium of instruction being English. Have worked in US MNC's and have travelled to U.S also. Historically, does the school really waive off this requirement. Also in case i am supposed to give TOEFL, should the results reach school before i apply?

Hey Max,

Did you get a response to your above question regarding the context of the word "recent?"

I wasn't sure how to intrepret that either.

Thanks,
Mr Friendship

@MrFrndship

They did answered a personal question regarding the essay . However am still not sure about the context of word "recent".

I am kinda torn on whether to OX, with the new non EU work Visa rules and all. Can you give me some insights on how one's chances would be(non Eu ) if she decides to go for a front end IB role in LNDN in a bulge bracket bank, with no prior experience in Finance ( well maybe a Pre-MBA internship with PE/VC if I try really hard, starting after the admit decision)

Hi,

Please find a brief profile of mine mentioned below.

Please let me know if I would make the cut to the Said Business School at Oxford:


GMAT: 670 Q49, V33
Male, 27 Years old, India
Educational Background: Bachelor of Engineering (67% Aggregate)
Work Experience: 6 Years in High-Tech Industry.
Designation: Technology Specialist.

Work Experience Details:
-- Worked for the first 2.5 Years in a leading Software Services Firm in India.

-- Worked with the HR Division for 4 months... >> This helped me gain insight into the hiring practices in large corporate firms.

-- Worked as a Consultant for the remainder of my term there. Worked onsite at customer sites, understanding their problems and translating them into technical requirements and built solutions to meet their needs.

Then moved to work with an American Software Product Company. (Have been working here ever since)

-- Worked as a consultant for 3 years. Main responsibilities were building and deploying software solutions for customers, relaying feedback to product engineers regarding feature requests and working with product development to evaluate new releases of the Software.

-- Moved to a Pre-Sales Role within the same organization. Have helped the company in deals totally worth in excess of 18M$ till date. My responsibilities include:
-- Responding to RFI's from customers.
-- Building Proof-of-Concept Solutions for customers.
-- Working closely with Sales to come up with strategies on positioning our products to potential customers.
-- Demonstrating key features of the product to customers.
-- Making executive and corporate presentations to customers.

-- Was the recipient of a Star award within the organization for being the best Sales Engineer during my first year in the pre-sales role.

-- Am only pre-sales engineer in the Country and have not only won deals in India but also across the globe.

-- International experience:
--Have traveled on work to liaise business in:
a) USA -- San Jose, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami
b) UK -- London
c) Brussels
d) Singapore
e) Australia -- Melbourne and Brisbane
f) Hong-Kong

-- In addition, I've also traveled to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai within India on work.

-- All travel has been related to generate business for the company and have been part of the sales cycle.

-- Extra Curricular:

1) volunteer with a local NGO when I find the time to teach under-privileged kids.
2) Work with a local theater group where I'd trained in learning improve theater/acting.
3) Avid sports fan and voracious reader.

---------

Sorry once again abt the late reply.. But, this time I am placing the blame on Gmatclub..
I didn't get a reminder email once you guys posted here..

OK.. here are the answers as best I can give you..

1. With regards to the essay, I personally interpreted it to mean an even that was more recent.. Some of the ppl I spoke to, wrote about the financial crisis.. So, something recent would be expected.. Again, this is my opinion.

2. If you are not from one of the countries mentioned in the list on 'How to Apply' section, you will have to give TOEFL / IELTS.. The reason is that this is beyond the college and is required for your visa too, as required by UKBA.. The only exception to this would be, if you studied from one of those countries mentioned in the list. You might then have to check with the Admission committee.

With regards to the visa rules, you have to remember that these apply to all business schools in the UK and it affects all of them equally. This also has a big impact in the UK due to the fact that the composition of the class in top B-schools in the UK tend to be more international than the US. The only change that really impacts students in the UK is the closure of the Post study work (PSW) visa that gave 2 years to work/look for work, after the MBA without the need for a sponsorship from an employer.

Now, if you were to attend one of the open days at Oxford, they will say that 'there are ppl who have changed location & industry and there also ppl with relevant exp in the industry who didn't get through'.. Personally, I would say that this depends on the amount of work you are prepared to put in, the extent you are focused on getting into a bank etc. A lot of what happens on the career front is determined by the amount of work you do on your own. So, I doubt if anyone will be able to tell you one way or the other, until you get your admission and get here.

Hope this helps..

--------------------------------

First off, I will not be able to give you a comment on whether you will be able to make it or not. Not qualified to do so and not right to do so

But, I will give you advice as best as I can to help make your application stronger..

You have to keep in mind that a large percentage of applicants from India are from IT sector and the average GMAT score tends to be higher. So, I would say that it is important for you to work on your GMAT score and bump it into the 700's.

Also, given the large IT applicant pool, you will have to work hard to differentiate yourself and the essays are your best bet to do this. So, work hard on your essays and try, as far as possible, to highlight the non- IT aspects of the work you have done, your achievements, your volunteer work etc. Highlight your travel too, as this is an international course and it is important to show that you have worked with people from different cultures.

Overall, other than the GMAT score, your profile looks good and is something you should be able to work with.

Hiya,

Thanks for the feedback...

I don't think I can retake the GMAT coz I def want to apply in R1... As you said I already belong to the IT Indian Male cohort, so my best chance is to apply in R1...

With that said, I would def take your points on how to make my application stronger...

Is there anyway I can contact you directly to get feedback on my application once I've completed my essays?

Also, the other question I have in mind is, given the current state of the economy in UK and Europe and in the US... Is is worthwhile for me (an Indian) to spend close to 40,00000 Rupees to do an MBA in UK... The reason I pose this question is, I would like to understand my chances of landing up in a Job Post MBA coz I would have taken a huge loan over that 1 year... Would you have any placement statistics for people who have entered the Oxford Said MBA background with IT Indian Male profiles and found lucrative jobs in UK or elsewhere in Europe...
I would like to know this, because I want to evaluate the trade-off I would be making between continuing to work in my current job and pursuing an MBA abroad...

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated...

Many Thanks...
Rohit

I will pm you my email and you can email me your essays there. I will be most probably a little busy with course work around that time, but, I will respond to you as and when I can.

As to your other point, any MBA is a big investment. There is no hiding from that fact. But, given SBS offers you a one year MBA, it reduces both your fee & living cost and also your opportunity cost. There are arguments both for & against this and that is something you have to work out for yourself. With regards to the UK market situation, there is no way to guess how it will be in 2 years time. We are all taking a chance. There are a lot of ppl from India & with IT background who found jobs and there are others from a similar background who didn't find jobs. Your career success, to a large part, will depend on the amount of leg-work, you are prepared to put into it. You can also check out the career report on the SBS MBA portal, which is quite detailed and should be informative.

Do Top IB banks recruit on campus?What do you think about reputation of Oxford MBA in banking industry? I have not seen top companies in their last employment report , what is the reason behind that? I want to change career from operations side to finance side. Do you think Oxford help me as much as LBS do given that I am non-eu and no prior finance work experience?

https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/careersreport/default.htm

This is the latest employment report. You would find that the top banks do recruit from Oxford. And there is nothing stopping us from going after any firm/ bank that is not on the report. There are also a number of cases of students switching careers. There are a lot of opportunities and you do get help from the career services team for this. I do not think there is a difference in help you can get from either LBS or Oxford for your situation. You are going to face the same challenges on the visa front & with the career switching plan and you are also going to get a similar assistance from both. You are going to have to base your choice on another criteria.

I'm sitting the GMAT in 13 hours time!

I will ONLY be applying to Oxford - based on how I go tomorrow, it'll either be on October 14th (round 1), or round 2.

I've already started the application, and my referees have already submitted their recommendation.

I'm an Australian Engineer with A BEng (1st Class Honours) and an MEngSc with distinction, from two unique top Australian Universities. I have 5 years of work experience on major infrastructure projects - in design, construction, and consulting. I am currently working for a top infrastructure consultancy. I've been getting consistent yearly pay-rises and promotions. Have some decent extra-curriculars too (Rugby & active member of a Political Party)

I've been hitting between 680 and 720 on my GMAT mocks (680, 680, 700, 720) - so I'd be happy to land anywhere in that range tomorrow (or, if I bomb tomorrow and do it again in 31 days).

Would my application be competitive?