Dear All,

Following is my profile:

Age: 27 years

Acads:
• Under-grad stream: BTech (ICT) from DAIICT (not likely to be recognized outside of India as the IITs are)
• Under-grad CGPA/percentage: 2.96/4 or 62.4 (have a couple of Fs too!) – will basically own up to it in my optional essay. Also, after graduating, I have chosen a completely different field (Microfinance), so will build my defense around that.

GMAT: 740

Extra-curricular: Good (Have won a state-level lawn tennis championship, written 2 academic research papers which got published, was active in the student body of my college)

Workex details:
• Years: 4 (on 28th Aug'11)
• Industry: Microfinance (Development Sector) - currently working in Product Development as Senior Manager (at a top 10 MFI in India)
• Work Progress: Good - have done well and consistently moved up in the 4 yrs at Ujjivan
o Currently leading a product vertical within the company
• International Exp (Abroad): None

Recommendations: I am in good shape on that front

Outside Office Work:
• Lead writer for a social sector oriented blog
• Advisor and volunteer for Activist Circle – a discussion+networking platform for local communities of youth involved in the development sector
o I give introductory lectures on microfinance and mentor fellows who join the Activist Circle fellowship

Post MBA career goal (short-term): Social Venture Fund (I believe that my on-ground operational work-ex in Ujjivan plus the hard-skills, i.e. finance learnt at an MBA program will equip me for a job at an SVF). I plan on taking relevant electives (Private Equity, Finance) during my MBA to give myself the best shot at an SVF job

Post MBA career goal (long-term): yet to give shape to that (I have an idea for a start-up, but I have to think through it and don’t want to appear unrealistic)

Other notables:
• Got admitted to IIM-Indore in 2008 (IIMs are the leading MBA schools in India with acceptance rates of less than 1%), but decided to stay in Ujjivan (I had initially joined Infosys after my under-grad and gave my CAT exam during my tenure there. By the time CAT cleared and results came out, I had switched to Ujjivan and then I decided to stay and not pursue my MBA). I am mentioning this because I plan to use it in my essays

Target Schools: INSEAD, LBS, Oxford, Chicago GSB, Cambridge

W.r.t international experience (which is important especially for LBS and INSEAD), I have the following line of thought/defense:

1. I choose to work in India because I wanted to work in the development sector and since I am Indian, to me it made the most sense to work here
2. Post MBA, I want to work in a Social Venture Fund - to understand how companies make decisions on investing in social enterprises. I don't have a preferred location of my job post MBA (India/international) but I am guessing that if I choose India over international, then it might hurt me in my application to these schools
3.My long term goal (potential) is to start-up a end-to-end dairy consulting firm for Indian farmers (I believe that combined with my current on-field experiences and experience in an SVF will provide with the skill sets and expertise to start up in future). I have to refine this further though

In view of 1-3, can I build a logic/defense for my INSEAD/LBS apps which can counter my ZERO international experience?

Also would love to hear thoughts on my chances at other schools - Oxford, Chicago and Cambridge

Best,
Srijan Kaushik

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for the solid advise. Really helpful

Thanks,
Srijan