670(Q48;V34;IR3) - 10 years experienced Stanford MSX and InSEAD?

Hahah,
dont call yourself a "lesser being" dude, you're already a higher being. Juuuust gotta make that move to the executive level.

I agree that those top executive programs might not just be right for you, but I think that regular MBA programs (one year and two-year) will be fine. Although Scott is entirely right in that if you intend to apply to top programs, especially as an Indian candidate a higher GMAT will be helpful.

Of course all of this depends on your work experience, about which I know too little. Like what do you ACTUALLY do? How quickly have you advanced? Do you have any leadership? What are your great achievements? Do you have notable community service or extra curriculars?

all of this influences you too.

For the moment, I'd say if you can pull a 710/720 or higher, I would suggest places like INSEAD, LBS, HEC Oxbridge, Cornell in the US if you are aiming at one-year programs.

I hope this helps, and if you have more questions, do not hesitate,
Best,
Jon

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the insight. I will contemplate a re-take if I am dinged by the first choice schools in India to which I have already applied and then post back here.

I work for Citigroup. Let me summarize my growth briefly -(don't want to write a boring essay ,for now, glorifying myself just like pharaohs and Kings once did!)

1. I am not an "over represented" Indian candidate like most others as I do not work in IT or ITES industry.
2. I completed my Engineering with 66% in 2005, schooling with 81%, joined a Post Graduate Diploma Program in 2005 and completed the course but did not graduate as the institution was disqualified from awarding diplomas by the Indian Government! That was unfortunate but life went on even without it!
3. Joined American Express bank as a trainee in 2007 May, Promoted to rank of Senior Officer in September 2007.
4. Quit the bank in 2008 and joined Citigroup as Assistant Manager. Promoted to Manager in 2010 September.
5. Quit Citi and joined barclays as assistant Vice President in 2012 September but due to the nature of work being less challenging and leading nowhere , I quit barclays and Joined back Citi in 2014 which is where I presently work as an AVP.

Awards At Work:
1. Was Awarded the best employee of the year in 2009.
2. Received a similar award from the Citi's London Regional Management in 2010.
3. Another award in recognition of my yearly work from the Citi London Regional management in 2015.
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Additional Qualifications:
1. I Hold Official SAP Certification in ABAP Module (which I never put into use as i jumped into core banking!)
2. I hold "Certified Documentary Credit Specialist" and "Diploma In Trade finance" Awarded by Institute of Financial Services, UK.

Span of Roles:
1. First Managerial assignment started in 2008 leading a team of 21 members.
2. When Promoted to manager in 2010 was leading a banking operations team of 40 members
3. Same continued unto Barclays/
4. Currently working in a secondee model wherein I monitor all the vendor operations on behalf of my Citigroup EMEA regional Management. Additionally working with various clients to structure their complex deals , impart trainings to Citi staffs across the EMEA region not only on internal and/or regional banking procedures but also for a specific qualification awarded by the IFS, UK.
5. In-Charge of Decision making when it comes to US Compliance and Money laundering issues in Trade and Treasury operations.
6. Within the Citi EMEA region, I hold certain "higher" level authorities to approve certain Complex scenarios after independently assessing it - an authority that is usually available to people with higher designations.
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Note: Unfortunately, our entity treats anyone at the rank of Manager and Above as "Higher Beings" in that they rarely give us a piece of paper that can be termed an "award"! The rhetoric that is said time and again to justify this is that, since we are part of the management we need to award our reportees and encourage them!
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International Exposure:
1. 2010- I have traveled to Citi Taiwan to work on annexing several branches and improve the existing process. This was for a period of 3 weeks.
2. 2010- I have traveled to Budapest, Hungary for a period of 5 months to recruit, train and set up a back office operations for Tata Consultancy Services (A Vendor of Citi) in 2010.
3. 2011- I lead a term of banking experts from India to Royal bank of Canada to study their existing processes, put forth a report on how their existing processes can be improved leading to cost saves and a plan to move their business back to a vendor in India.This was for 3 weeks.
4. 2012 - When I joined Barclays I was invited to their London Head office and Birmingham local office to attend a week long management get together to plan course of action on various initiatives planned for 2013.
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Whom do I report to ? At Citi, right from the date of joining in 2014 till present, I report to a Senior Vice President in London. He has over 35 years of banking experience as in UK those days these lucky gentlemen got to join a bank at the tender age of 16 while in India that may be called "Child Labour" just another reason to make us all lazy and keep studying until we turn 60odd with all these SLOAN or SS++SLOAN programs
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Co-curriculars / NGO:
NIL as Trade and Treasury Solutions is a very high pressure job and there is no literally no scope for work life balance as such, especially when Commodity bigwigs such as Cargill,Trafigura, British Petroleum or Reliance are always chasing us to get their bank guarantee or LCs issued , paid etc!
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But, I would like to ask why all this social service or "Mother Teresa" like activities are being considered? Will the college do a favour by admitting an under privileged person for no Fees? Business is for profit and Business School must think along those lines! Why do they bring in such diversions that would in no way develop a business leader?
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If I was good at NGO I could make more money by means of donations and maintain a low profile instead of slogging over GMAT and trying to make sense of it by attempting to get into a B-School

Frankly speaking, the GMAT score i secured is lower than what I am capable of. It could probably due to the last moment panic created by those GMAC guys but my suspicion was proven right with my ESR it showed a terrible performance during the last session of the Verbal when I was exhausted and rushed to answer around 9-10 questions!
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I could have easily picked up 4 additional points on the Verbal alone with no stress and that could have resulted in a 710. I would love to re-take the GMAT again but that would again require more work from me which is why I am trying to avoid the stress involved in the process of doing so. Otherwise I have no qualms to re-taking the GMAT.
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But what would be the ideal period to re-take the GMAT for top 1 year MBAs in the Europe or USA as I must also ensure I do not miss the deadlines.

As Jon mentioned, you are not a lesser being! The MSx program is meant for mid level executives who want to improve their profiles and rise further in their career. Often executives reach high levels without a focused business education and can benefit from having one as they continue to progress.

Your accomplishments at work are impressive and will certainly help offset some of the not so ideal parts of your profile. I recommend taking a look at Cornell Johnson and Oxford Said as some potential options, as well as other part-time programs if you can make that work with your profile. There are certainly options for you!

Best,
Scott

Thanks for you response however I am surprised by your comments "mid-level executives" I just wonder what would a assistant vice president mean then? This is not middle level management in the company I work for and it is the "starting" level of Senior management. The MSx Website states the following:

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/m ... n-criteria

Degree and Work Experience

All applicants are expected to have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, as well as eight or more years of successful work experience. Most successful applicants have served at least five years in management positions.

I just wonder why would my profile be assumed to be lesser than what you consider fit for this program when the program website states as above. It requires 8+ years of full time work experience which I do have, and of the 10 years in total I have been at a managerial position for more than 7 years. Just wondering why this discrepancy so that I can set my expectations right. If what you state is what it is with MSx then their website is clearly misleading as it sets false expectations!
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Sure I will look into Cornell and Said but do they offer 1 year MBAs? How are their placement statistics within the banking world? I don't want to end up spending a bomb with very little ROI. So your expert opinions on such programs could help me further. Thanks.

Cornell and Said offer 1 year programs and Cornell has pretty good placement in the banking world actually. They are a leader in finance placement in terms of % of class that enters the industry. The only reason for the comment about the executive level is that there are a lot of students who have higher positions, i.e. Director level, MD etc and I would rather present more caution than raise expectations. This isn't to say it isn't possible, but just from experience the schools prefer a bit more experience.

Best of luck!

Best,
Scott