2008 Applicant Information - Put your Profile Here!

Wow..these GMAT scores are just amazing

Indian Male

GMAT :

740(49 quant and 42 verbal).

Educational background:

Graduate level:

MBA

Was a topper in a state level entrance exam taken by under graduates and won award for excellence from state government for the performance in this exam. GPA during MBA was just average.

Undergraduate level:

Bachelor of Arts. GPA not great. But was in top 20 % of the class during undergraduation.

A in Calculus course from UC Berkely online. Doing next level course.

Work experience :

I have all my experience after doing MBA. 6 years by Fall 2008. This includes 6 months at a startup, 2 years with an NGO, 3 years 7 months at a top IT market research firm. Major part of my work comprises project management (includes QC, advising country teams and ensuring quality final deliverables in time), and to a certain extent research, and business development.

International experience :

Part of Asia/Pacific regional team that is based out of 3 countries. Some of my projects involve working with teams from 13 countries in Asia/Pacific region. All projects involve atleast 2 country teams. Interact with analysts and clients from these countries regularly.

Extracurriculars :

1. Good in school and college. Was a member of football team and captain of volley ball team.
2. Has been associated with my village high school for the last 4 years. I teach there during annual holidays and maintain good relationship with school teachers and students. I can say I am sort of motivating/inspiring students, when I am spending time with them.
3. Writing a policy document for an NGO (turned into a Political party recently) on vocational/technical education training in the country.
4. Have some of my articles published in a reasonably popular magazine in the country. The book for which I wrote content during my stint at NGO, is being used as a text book in a leading business school in the country. Nearly 3500 students go through this graduate level course every year.
5. Member of local Toastmasters club.

Target schools:

Schools that have strong IT or Technology bacground. So far decided about:

1. Carnegie Mellon
2. UC Berkely
3. MIT (most probably)

Might end up applying to a couple of top 20-25 range schools along with these.

Post MBA goals :

Mgt/Technology consulting in short term to pay off study loan and Social Entrepreneurship in long term.

Not sure of my chances.

Rhyme/Lepium, can you please comment?

Why do you need a 2nd MBA? What happened to the 1st one?
I think that, together with a not that high GMAT and liberal arts undergraduate, may work against you (specially at MIT). Of course the essays execution will be crucial as well. Rhyme is the man to talk to about essays.

L.

First off -- Rhyme: superstar. I copy/pasted your guide into an email to myself.

Here's my rundown. Glad to enter the fray :D

Undergrad @ Colgate: 3.8
Philosophy, History [any other humanities/ss'ers out there?]
Extracurriculars: Solid
GMAT -- 760 (49/44)
Work Exp -- 1 yr internatl (Japan - teaching), 2 yrs underwriting (insurance), 8 mos founder web startup (launching soon!)

My main weakness is that my work experience is not particularly focused, it'll be tough to find amazing recommendations (likely just adequate).

Target schools - Stanford, Chicago, HSB, MIT, Columbia -- but I still need to do further research here.

-Cheyne

Hi to all,

By way of introduction I am:

A Californian
Undergrad = English Lit
GPA = the last 30 units are ok
GMAT, 1st try in June, currently prepping,
Extras = College sports, board service in local arts org, tutoring/teaching
Work ex = 9 years FT (which means, yeah, I'm older than dirt)
Schools = working on the short list, will need help with this

So far the most important thing I can say is thanks. Some folks here could probably use the contributions they have made to the board as good examples of team work and community participation. I hope, as things move along, to be able to return some value to the community.

Hey, that sounds like me. English Lit major, California, low GPA, old. I had some pretty good luck this application season - made it into several top 15 programs so there is definitely hope. Work hard on the GMAT because they will cast a suspect glance at your math skills (as an English major) until you prove otherwise. Good luck.

I browsed through the forum, and the one thing I have to say is thank god I'm not in the Indian applicant profile. You guys have your work cut out for you. Good luck.

Thanks,
I will take that to heart. I'm afraid you are right about the math skills. My plan to take care of that is to concentrate on re-learning math rather than simply passing the test. I look forward to your report, as the Darden ambassador, on how a English majors can survive in a top school.

Enjoy your 2 years at HBS.

The only thing certain is uncertainty. I'll believe it when I get an admit phone call. Until then, just going to continue to prepare for the app process and pushing forward with activities that I can speak passionately about in essays and in the interview. Also plan to stick around here and give my input here and there whenever I can contribute. Thank you for the encouraging comment though

hey guys does anybody know if any among the top 15 schools releases the new applications/essays before late summer?
Thanks

The essay questions and length don't change very much from year to year so if you want to get going use last year's essays if only just for practice / as a draft for this year. If you want to make more than 2 or 3 schools in round 1 you need to get going ASAP.

L.

Hey everybody:

26 year old Canadian male

GMAT : Writing early July

Work experience : 2.5 years software developer for well-known corporation

Education: Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (Simon Fraser University), Bachelor of Science in Computing Science (Simon Fraser University)

Extracurriculars : Occasional volunteering through work; photography club president in University; dragon boating; golf; skiing; jogging; hiking; camping

Post MBA goals : Product manager for software company

Target schools : Ivey, Schulich, Rotman

Hi Guys,

26 year old Indian male

GMAT -
730

Work experience -
4 yrs IT in BFS (developer > analyst > Project Lead (India/Australia) > Leader for centre of excellence)

Education -
Bach. of Engg. in National Inst. of Technology, Nagpur, India

Extracurriculars -
Photography (featured photographer on a commercial photography site)
Trekking
Assisted in setting up local sub-chapter for a SPIC-MACAY (a national organization to promote Indian Classical Music)
Set up blood donation camps during under-graduate studies
Organized a robotics competitions for national level college tech festivals
Occasional work with leprosy patients

Post MBA goals -
Product Manager/Business Development Leader

Target schools -
Tuck (Stretch School), SBS, ISB

I may be wrong, because I don't really know that much about this process and how the demographic you are applying from may affect you. But I think your "package" would be reasonably competitive at some of the top schools. Seek more advice (from Paul and Hjort or others), but if I were you I would be applying to a few ultra - elites as well. The leadership/extracurricular portion is what should distinguish you from the rest of the IT pack, if you can communicate those achievements effectively.

And I would definitely not apply to ISB, but that's because I'm not Indian.

Cheers. L.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Now that you say it, I do wonder why (and when!) I dropped the ultra-elites/elites from my list. A couple of reasons come to mind -

1. Break-Even - Loan repayments + Covering up my own investment will take around 4-5 years!
2. The profile - Indian IT sector. Too many people, too little diversity, lots of ambition! => Lots of DINGS
3. The proof - Some of the XCs i've done haven't left any documented proof for me. I could probably hunt down the authorities and get something, but chances are low - I've been out of under-grad for more than 4 yrs now!
4. The philosophy - The indian admission process and the gmat admission process are two different animals! Of course this in itself should not prevent me from applying, but the mindset does have an effect on the apps...

About ISB, its coming up, and fast! It already boasts some of the highest paid MBA grads in India, and its value for money (imho). Plus its got exchange programmes with Wharton and some other schools... looks like a good package to me

Question is - Am I being over-cautious? I'll check with Paul and Hjort, as you suggest.

Thanks Again!

paddyboy -

where you apply is up to you, and as lepium said, others can give you a better sense of how your profile compares.

however, on the XC side: you don't need "proof." I don't have proof of anything I've done on the XC side. Some schools might ask for a contact name (Stanford does), but no one is going to ask you to get a notarized document that says, "I was there when johnny organized the school-wide keg-stand tournament, and to the best of my knowledge, he did indeed show leadership, teamwork, and introspection in so doing."

Hmm... well thats good news Thanks!