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Gender - Female; 29 yrs old Ethnicity - Chinese GMAT - 620 (V: 34, Q: 41, AWA: 5, IR: 7) GPA - 3.7 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Undergraduate Degree - Bachelors of Science in Industrial Engineering Professional Experience - 6+ years spread over various geographical locations; Chicago (approx. 2 years), London (1 year), Hong Kong (4 months) and Singapore (3+ years) Industries - 4 years in management consulting and 2 years in banking (risk management)
I'm looking at the following MBA programs: Stanford Kellogg Chicago Booth Columbia MIT Berkeley
I'm at crossroads at the moment as my GMAT score isn't my strong point. Your advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
- 1y in Armed Forces (rank: Sergeant, leading a small group and responsible for the technical and tactical training). As ususal my country, I remain a member of the Armed Forces for 6-10 years and am attending annual repetition courses (3.5weeks each) during which I have the function of an instructor or lead a group in exercices. - 3 months internship at 2nd tier global Mgmt consulting company - Business Management position for 2y at bulge bracket bank in Europe (providing analytical, administrational and other support for senior Mgmt). Great management exposure, early promotion. Whole thing was in the client facing unit for private clients from some emerging markets.
After things were pretty much done at the bank (I had joined after a significant restructuring),
- I joined microfinance startup NGO in Ghana in Sep 2012 to help building it, pro bono work, committed for at least six months. Had always dreamed of the challenge to work in developing country.
2) GMAT Score: 680 (85%; V:83%, Q:71%). (Re-taking is not an option)
3) Undergrad in Business Administration from a leading European institution (St. Gallen, HEC, RSM, Bocconi). Very solid, but not stellar, GPA.
4) Extra-curricular:
- Voluntary member for 9 months (full time) in a selective and prestigious student initiative (incl. leading 60 students for a 2w period), otherwise mainly relationship management with business leaders. - Co-founded a successful online gaming team in my pre-college years (incl. management of corporate sponsors and 20 staff members). Grew to a considerable size during college.
6) Target schools
Top25 schools, global brand and internationality is important (I am not really U.S.-focused): Fields of interests: Corporate finance, general management, development (but all with of them with a focus on emerging markets/developing countries). Less interest in: Tech (and the related start-ups), Marketing.
7) Post-MBA goal.
Very fascinated with emerging and developing countries, hope to join and lead (or maybe build, at a later stage) a company that either consults companies that enter these markets or finances local companies (e.g. through PE). To put it more visionary: Helping to transform underdeveloped economies by enabling businesses.
Other.
Have quite adventurous personality and am a risk-taker: Do a lot of outdoor-sports (kayaking, mountaineering etc.) and backpacked through some special destinations (e.g. Somalia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia etc.).
Would extremely appreciate your insightful feedback!
FifthEmu,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 680, our experience indicates you would be a stretch candidate at IMD, between stretch and competitive (closer to stretch) at INSEAD, between stretch and competitive (closer to competitive) at LBS, competitive at Oxford, and strong at IESE, HEC Paris, and IE.
Your current work experience at the NGO is well-aligned with your future interests and objectives, so definitely use part of your essays to use the lessons learned from this work to provide depth to the reasons "why" you have this interest. While the experience is a positive in this sense, I was not entirely clear on the reason for you leaving your prior role and the relationship/reputation with the bank when you left. Since you were with the company for just several years, it's important for the ad coms to know that you were a valued employee and that you left on good terms. Additionally, although you do have leadership experience based on your military background, I would say to make sure you take on and highlight initiatives that display leadership in your work at the NGO. Part of this is that you might not have had the opportunity to receive a promotion in your two years at the bank.
Some of the type-A personality traits like backpacking and visiting a number of countries will provide points on the margin for your candidacy. Since your quant GMAT split is a bit lower and because you comment that re-taking the GMAT is "not an option," definitely look for other areas to highlight in your background that would solidify the evidence around your quantitative and reasoning abilities. It will help some if your major in undergrad was in a technical field or if you can point to key accomplishments at work that were quantitative in scope. While this would be advice for many MBA applicants with your level of quant GMAT split, it does have some added weight because you are listing an interest in corporate finance as a primary career objective.
Gender - Female; 29 yrs old Ethnicity - Chinese GMAT - 620 (V: 34, Q: 41, AWA: 5, IR: 7) GPA - 3.7 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Undergraduate Degree - Bachelors of Science in Industrial Engineering Professional Experience - 6+ years spread over various geographical locations; Chicago (approx. 2 years), London (1 year), Hong Kong (4 months) and Singapore (3+ years) Industries - 4 years in management consulting and 2 years in banking (risk management)
I'm looking at the following MBA programs: Stanford Kellogg Chicago Booth Columbia MIT Berkeley
I'm at crossroads at the moment as my GMAT score isn't my strong point. Your advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
eagerbeaver29,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 620, our experience indicates you would be a stretch candidate at Stanford, Kellogg, Booth, and Columbia, and between stretch and competitive (closer to stretch) at MIT and Haas. Assuming you applied with your current GMAT score, I would strongly encourage you to diversify your school set from a rankings / exclusivity perspective and drop a number of your target schools in place of applying to programs in the 10-15 range within the US. For example, we would project you to be between stretch and competitive at Tuck, between stretch and competitive (closer to competitive) at Ross, and competitive at Fuqua, Darden, and Johnson.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have a bachelor and master of mechanical engineering from Michigan-Ann Arbor. I can tell you that Michigan undergrad is a top feeder to top MBA programs, but for applicants from either Ross undergrad or the College of Engineering - not LSA (Literature, Science, and the Arts). So the fact that you majored in industrial engineering with a good GPA will be a plus. Having said this, you're also up against three fairly competitive cohorts: 1) Chinese applicants 2) Consulting applicants 3) Other University of Michigan applicants - it's one of the largest undergraduate programs in the US
Your GMAT score is a bit of an outlier in an otherwise strong profile - you have a good GPA, good work experience, and are a woman. Your GMAT "hurdle" would be reduced if you work(ed) at a prestige management consulting firm and/or bank. Your profile did not indicate when you were looking to apply, but at a minimum I'd consider at least re-taking the GMAT once to show that you've attempted to improve your score. Additionally, since your verbal split is lower and because you have a technical degree, it is extremely important in your essays to show stories of communication, presentation, persuasion, and negotiation skills.
I'd also encourage you to make sure you have a clear why MBA, why now story and post-MBA goals, since it can be difficult at times for management consultants to craft compelling career objectives if they have had diverse client and industry exposure prior to business school.
Experience : 9 years ( including 5 years USA + 1 year Malaysia) GMAT : 650 GPA : 3.2
What are the schools I should apply in US and UK ?
petercat2009,
Thank you for your question. Please note that the more information you provide in a profile, the more specific I can be with respect to advising you as a candidate about your application strategy. If you are looking for a quick insight or general comments only, then you don't have to submit a full profile. But, I can give much more specific information and a much better estimate of your application chances with the following information:
Age, gender, undergraduate university (and/or reputation) and GPA (or percentile rank if outside the US), graduate degree (if applicable) and GPA, extracurricular activities in school and during full-time work, GMAT (including splits), length of work experience and extent of leadership roles, industry, reputation/size/prestige of your company, why MBA, post-MBA aspirations short and long-term, target schools or target school rank, interesting or impressive accomplishments/achievements, etc.
Based on the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 650, our experience indicates that, directionally, you'd want to look at programs outside of the top 15 in the US and outside of the top 5-7 in Europe. Depending on the strength of the remainder of your profile, it might make sense to look at the "next tier" of programs outside of these ranges, or perhaps a bit further out. Any additional detail on programs would be more specific to your career interests and/or functional interests in a business school, but is difficult for me to prescribe more in depth given the relatively brief profile you shared. The challenge is that you are in a competitive demographic and will want to try to find unique aspects in your profile to differentiate you.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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05 Nov 2012, 12:44
Nationality: Indian GMAT: 740 (Q 49 V42) GPA: 3.61 from top 50 engineering school USA (Tier 2/3) Graduated cum lade Major: Electrical Engineering Minor: Business Administration Work Experience: 3 years at Matriculation (India) 1 Year: Business Development officer for an online portal (gracerequest.com) for spa and salon reservations, and gym memberships. The business didn’t go well so we closed it after one year. I was working with the founder and 3 others. (India) 2 years: Big 4 IT Risk, Associate Consultant Internships: • Comcast : Software QA 6 mths (USA) • Central Electronics Limited (Govt of India) : Solar photovoltaic QA 6 mths Community Service: Taught poor children in a village every weekend for 6 months Leadership • Elected officer for two professional organizations college chapter • Represented the university at a leadership conference Honors: • Member electrical engineering honors society • Ranked 3rd in Senior Design Competition • Dean’s List • Dean’s Merit Scholarship Future Plans: Use my mba education and international exposure to improve my business acumen and come back to India, an emerging economy, and start my own business. Please evaluate my chances for the following colleges 1. Wharton 2. LBS 3. INSEAD 4. Kellogg 5) ISB 6) MIT Also, please let me know if there is any apparent weakness. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you very much for your time.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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05 Nov 2012, 12:47
please evaluate my chances.
Nationality: Indian GMAT: 740 (Q 49 V42) GPA: 3.61 from top 50 engineering school USA (Tier 2/3) Graduated cum lade Major: Electrical Engineering Minor: Business Administration Work Experience: 3 years at Matriculation (India) 1 Year: Business Development officer for an online portal (gracerequest.com) for spa and salon reservations, and gym memberships. The business didn’t go well so we closed it after one year. I was working with the founder and 3 others. (India) 2 years: Big 4 IT Risk, Associate Consultant Internships: • Comcast : Software QA 6 mths (USA) • Central Electronics Limited (Govt of India) : Solar photovoltaic QA 6 mths Community Service: Taught poor children in a village every weekend for 6 months Leadership • Elected officer for two professional organizations college chapter • Represented the university at a leadership conference Honors: • Member electrical engineering honors society • Ranked 3rd in Senior Design Competition • Dean’s List • Dean’s Merit Scholarship Future Plans: Use my mba education and international exposure to improve my business acumen and come back to India, an emerging economy, and start my own business. Please evaluate my chances for the following colleges 1. Wharton 2. LBS 3. INSEAD 4. Kellogg 5) ISB 6) MIT Also, please let me know if there is any apparent weakness. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you very much for your time.
Nationality: Indian GMAT: 740 (Q 49 V42) GPA: 3.61 from top 50 engineering school USA (Tier 2/3) Graduated cum lade Major: Electrical Engineering Minor: Business Administration Work Experience: 3 years at Matriculation (India) 1 Year: Business Development officer for an online portal (gracerequest.com) for spa and salon reservations, and gym memberships. The business didn’t go well so we closed it after one year. I was working with the founder and 3 others. (India) 2 years: Big 4 IT Risk, Associate Consultant Internships: • Comcast : Software QA 6 mths (USA) • Central Electronics Limited (Govt of India) : Solar photovoltaic QA 6 mths Community Service: Taught poor children in a village every weekend for 6 months Leadership • Elected officer for two professional organizations college chapter • Represented the university at a leadership conference Honors: • Member electrical engineering honors society • Ranked 3rd in Senior Design Competition • Dean’s List • Dean’s Merit Scholarship Future Plans: Use my mba education and international exposure to improve my business acumen and come back to India, an emerging economy, and start my own business. Please evaluate my chances for the following colleges 1. Wharton 2. LBS 3. INSEAD 4. Kellogg 5) ISB 6) MIT Also, please let me know if there is any apparent weakness. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you very much for your time.
Aju,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 740, our experience indicates you would be a stretch candidate at Wharton and Kellogg, between stretch and competitive (closer to stretch) at INSEAD and Sloan, and competitive at LBS and ISB. Given the relatively competitive Indian / engineer / IT industry demographic, I would encourage you to also consider programs in the top 10-15 in the US - for example, we would project you to be between competitive and stretch (closer to competitive) at Tuck and Ross.
Clearly, you have some strong academic and GMAT credentials, which is great. I like the fact that you took a chance in your first job in a start-up, and it's ok (honestly) that the company did not succeed initially - this should serve as a tremendous foundation of insights and lessons that you should talk about for your future career goal of starting a company. What would you do differently with a new organization, looking back on your and your colleagues' experience? What areas could perhaps have been improved with the benefit of an MBA, for example? For applicants who want to go into entrepreneurship, the ad coms will be keen to hear about these types of details. I would also strongly encourage you to be (much) more specific about the business you would like to start. In what part of India? In what industry? Solving what kind of problem? Especially for younger candidates like yourself, the ad coms want to see a level of thought and planning for a future career, and not just a general goal that can often seem vague and imprecise depending on how it's framed.
The second area you will want to be certain to address is your performance rating at your current firm. In our experience successful candidates with 2 years of work experience at application (and 3 at matriculation) are often management/strategy consulting or investment banking professionals. As such it's going to be imperative to talk about how you're performing relative to your peers, and if you have a promotion to speak of, definitely mention it. To some extent, I would encourage you to defer applying by at least a year so that you can gain more experience and point to upwards progression in your organization.
Finally, one tell-tale sign of a younger applicant is reference to internships. Internships in general are not counted by the ad coms for full-time work experience, and they don't count for much based on our experience. Having said that, because the solar power industry is a growing and relatively "young" space, you can mention your internship experience in this sector in a bullet (no more than this) on your resume.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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18 Apr 2013, 04:25
Hi i want to know my chances for few good us universities..
10th- 49% (2003) 12th- 60% (2005) Grad- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from Tier1 university 43% (2009) Grad repeated- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from different Tier3 university 73% (2012) Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel university (2010) Diploma in Theater (2007) Apart from this a lot of small certificates.
Work Exp- Small family garments business(small botique) So dont think adcom will consider it. Want to do MBA in finance.
Have not taken Gmat but in mocks getting around 650- 680, i can improve a lot more and target 720.
So as per my profile which colleges should i target, i know my profile is not good neither i am targeting top 20 US Bschools. Kindly guide me. _________________
_________________
Hi i want to know my chances for few good us universities..
10th- 49% (2003) 12th- 60% (2005) Grad- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from Tier1 university 43% (2009) Grad repeated- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from different Tier3 university 73% (2012) Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel university (2010) Diploma in Theater (2007) Apart from this a lot of small certificates.
Work Exp- Small family garments business(small botique) So dont think adcom will consider it. Want to do MBA in finance.
Have not taken Gmat but in mocks getting around 650- 680, i can improve a lot more and target 720.
So as per my profile which colleges should i target, i know my profile is not good neither i am targeting top 20 US Bschools. Kindly guide me.
Hi, you certainly have an unusual profile . It wasn't clear to me from your last sentence if you ARE targeting top 20 schools, or are NOT. I also didn't understand what 10th and 12th refer to - it's the first thing you lead with above.
I would suggest, besides working on your GMAT, that you do a lot of mining work into your history, to see where we can find good admissions drivers. Have you done any volunteer work? Community service? Have you ever initiated an activity, business, etc.? In your family business, where you work, do you have management experience? Have you any other professional experience, during or after college? Won any kind of awards? Etc..
Now - regarding which universities to target, you mean where you might have a chance of admission? If that's the case, please clarify whether you are looking at top 20 or below. If top 20, then you want to look at those 20 and see which ones are good for finance, and which ones value what you have to offer. IN other words, if you don't have a lot of professional experience but have a lot of community and volunteer work, then perhaps a school that values that. You also might look for a school that is super friendly to career changers - since you don't seem to have any background in finance, you would want a school that is open to such a complete switch.
I hope that helps a bit - feel free to write back if I can be of further assistance.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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22 Apr 2013, 10:29
Hello,
Can you please consider my profile and suggest best fit for me? And also let me know whether I stand a chance applying to top 20?
Little bit about me. Age: 24 from Poland GPA: 3.75-4.0 (Electronic Eng & Management - finished undergrad in UK with 1st Class Honours Degree - conversion of UK degree to GPA is unclear for me, however 3.75+ seems to do the trick according to various sources) GMAT: taking in June, aiming for 680-720, which I guess is reasonable.
Work experience:
Originally I was enrolled in masters course at the Uni. However during the 4th year I was headhunted and offered with a opportunity to join a reasearch project for two years (EU funded) in Lithuania (where I am now) as researcher - switched my degree to B.Eng and graduated to take this position. As I would like to apply for entry in 2014 Sept, so by the time of Uni start there will be 2 years.
Earlier: summer internship in open source software company in new business department - preparing case studies for clients, cold calls, CRM system management and implementation.
Extras (I apologize for random order): - First reward for the best business pitch of the entrepreneurial program (raising business creativity) - awarded with Class medal at the Uni for achiev. - created + managing of two websites for a local company in my hometown - at Uni part of squash and tennis club (still trying to play both as often as possible)
Community: - elderly care (back in hometown) - i won't go into much details here since its quite personal - still connected with my old high school - collecting necessary means for schooling at orphanage
Recommendations: - current supervisor from Lithuania - dean of the department at the Uni/Advisor/one of the Dr I was working with - depending on the number of applications.
As a goal I'd like to focus on management consulting.
On my own I was looking closely at Kelloggs, Haas, Duke, Booth perhaps.
Also If you could point me into the direction of the ways I could improve my profile by the time of application, it would be great.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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22 Apr 2013, 23:13
[quote="Aringo"][quote="prateekbhatt"]Hi i want to know my chances for few good us universities..
10th- 49% (2003) 12th- 60% (2005) Grad- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from Tier1 university 43% (2009) Grad repeated- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from different Tier3 university 73% (2012) Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel university (2010) Diploma in Theater (2007) Apart from this a lot of small certificates.
Work Exp- Small family garments business(small botique) So dont think adcom will consider it. Want to do MBA in finance.
Have not taken Gmat but in mocks getting around 650- 680, i can improve a lot more and target 720.
So as per my profile which colleges should i target, i know my profile is not good neither i am targeting top 20 US Bschools. Kindly guide me.
Hi, you certainly have an unusual profile . It wasn't clear to me from your last sentence if you ARE targeting top 20 schools, or are NOT. I also didn't understand what 10th and 12th refer to - it's the first thing you lead with above. Those were my high school grades and i am not targeting top 20 us schools.[color=#2e3192]
I would suggest, besides working on your GMAT, that you do a lot of mining work into your history, to see where we can find good admissions drivers. Have you done any volunteer work? Community service? Have you ever initiated an activity, business, etc.? In your family business, where you work, do you have management experience? Have you any other professional experience, during or after college? Won any kind of awards? Etc..
Now - regarding which universities to target, you mean where you might have a chance of admission? If that's the case, please clarify whether you are looking at top 20 or below. If top 20, then you want to look at those 20 and see which ones are good for finance, and which ones value what you have to offer. IN other words, if you don't have a lot of professional experience but have a lot of community and volunteer work, then perhaps a school that values that. You also might look for a school that is super friendly to career changers - since you don't seem to have any background in finance, you would want a school that is open to such a complete switch. More on profile details below
I hope that helps a bit - feel free to write back if I can be of further assistance.
Regards,
Joy[/color]
Here is little more about me....
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience. What do you do?
After my schooling (2005)i joined my family garment business.We have a small showroom and we get our products from different states of india through our staff. The business was established in 1995, though its not a large scale but i wish to expand it.
My work profile-
Multiple work profile, it really difficult the content it in words but starting from
cleaning my work station to dealing with clients in terms of showing them our product to coordinating with our agents to get the product on time to working on accounts on daily basis and making a balance sheet quaterly.
But since its a small scale business i am afraid that adcom might not consider it.
2) Your GMAT.
Mocks- 720 ( have not taken it yet)
3) College info: The name of the college, your GPA or grade average, your major, year of graduation. For any graduate degrees, please provide the same info. If you grades are low, please indicate if there were extenuating circumstances.
Bachelor in commerce through distance learning from university of Delhi Tier1( 43%) completed in 2009.
For this degree it was really difficult the get a good score and the topper of the university got 62%.
Graduation repeated in Bachelor in commerce through distance learning from Tier 3 university 73% & completed in 2012.
Had to repeat it since i was not eligible to take any indian mba entrances, moreover i knew the my earlier scores were not a reflector of my potentials.
4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience.
Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel University 2010 (18 months duration). Diploma in Theater 2007. Certified First Aider. Certificate in English from BBC UK. Certified in Galileo and Fideleo( Programs very known in Aviation and hospitality).
5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA.
Though i do have a plan to go for CFA.
6) Your target programs.
MBA in Finance MS in Finance MS in Economics
7) When you plan to apply? Please specify round and application cycle, for example R1 2013-14 or R3 2012-13.
R1 for Fall 2014.
8) Your post-MBA goal.
Getting a good exposure in international market for around 5 years and then expanding my business and taking it to another level(Have a plan to have chain of big showrooms).
Thanks and appreciate your help. _________________
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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23 Apr 2013, 02:38
Hello there !!
Please evaluate my chances.
Nationality: Indian GMAT: 700 (Q 49 V36) GPA: 75% from a top 50 engineering school Major: Mechanical Engineering
Work Experience: 7 years at Matriculation with a top Oil exploration and refining company (I worked only in downstream - refining)
4 Years: Mechanical Engineer - Maintenance. Lead a team of 6 technicians. Worked towards ensuring the reliability and availability of mech. equipment. Developed maintenance plans - Preventive and Predictive. Active involvement in Tendering and Contract Management.
2 Years: Senior Engineer - Maintenance and Projects. Leveraged the maintenance expertise to streamline and manage Revamp Project activities. Lead a team of over 40 technicians to complete shutdown activities well ahead of schedule. Job included planning, inter - department coordination and execution.
1 Year: Senior Engineer - Vigilance. Leveraged the technical and commercial expertise to bring systemic improvements across the organization. Focussed on areas that required system development or improvement and recommended changes to improve efficiency, transparency and effectiveness.
Leadership • Elected Representative for Management Staff Association (Officer's association to liaison with the Management) • Work profile full of leadership examples
Extra Curricular: • Active Member of Toastmaster's Club • Community Service through the CSR activities of my company - Organized blood donation camps, AIDS awareness campaigns etc. • An active event organizer throughout my life - right from school till today. Was a member of Organizing Committee for Annual Tech. & Cultural fest at college. Active participation in organizing company events including handling venue, logistics, decor, liaison with speakers etc.
Future Plans: Energy Consulting with a focus on sustainability.
Target Firms: GE (internal consulting) Bain McKinsey
Backup Plan: Operations management in Energy industry. Target Firm: Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP.
Please evaluate my chances for the following schools
1. Tuck 2. Duke Fuqua 3. Darden 4. UCLA 5) Johnson 6) Emory 7) Mc Combs 8) Kelley 9) Ivey, Canada 10) Rotman
Please let me know if there are any apparent weaknesses. What schools should I focus on. A list of schools reputed for placements in the energy sector (Consulting and Operations).
I have another query regarding GPA system. I graduated from India with 75% aggregate. What would be my GPA as per US system. In case, percentage can not be converted to GPA, any alternative to determine where i stand amongst the GPA averages for various B-schools.
Can you please consider my profile and suggest best fit for me? And also let me know whether I stand a chance applying to top 20?
Little bit about me. Age: 24 from Poland GPA: 3.75-4.0 (Electronic Eng & Management - finished undergrad in UK with 1st Class Honours Degree - conversion of UK degree to GPA is unclear for me, however 3.75+ seems to do the trick according to various sources) GMAT: taking in June, aiming for 680-720, which I guess is reasonable.
Work experience:
Originally I was enrolled in masters course at the Uni. However during the 4th year I was headhunted and offered with a opportunity to join a reasearch project for two years (EU funded) in Lithuania (where I am now) as researcher - switched my degree to B.Eng and graduated to take this position. As I would like to apply for entry in 2014 Sept, so by the time of Uni start there will be 2 years.
Earlier: summer internship in open source software company in new business department - preparing case studies for clients, cold calls, CRM system management and implementation.
Extras (I apologize for random order): - First reward for the best business pitch of the entrepreneurial program (raising business creativity) - awarded with Class medal at the Uni for achiev. - created + managing of two websites for a local company in my hometown - at Uni part of squash and tennis club (still trying to play both as often as possible)
Community: - elderly care (back in hometown) - i won't go into much details here since its quite personal - still connected with my old high school - collecting necessary means for schooling at orphanage
Recommendations: - current supervisor from Lithuania - dean of the department at the Uni/Advisor/one of the Dr I was working with - depending on the number of applications.
As a goal I'd like to focus on management consulting.
On my own I was looking closely at Kelloggs, Haas, Duke, Booth perhaps.
Also If you could point me into the direction of the ways I could improve my profile by the time of application, it would be great.
Thank you for your time.
Hi! You have a diverse background, with a lot of interesting things, very good. You've chosen excellent schools, others you might consider are Wharton, Ross, Columbia, MIT, Stern and INSEAD, if you would be interested in studying Europe - all are known for their consulting tracks. In terms of improving your profile - one thing I don't see much of is managerial experience, so if you can find a way to gain that or emphasize it in your application that would be a great help. I'd also like to see you emphasize any initiatives you've taken - maybe you tried at one point to start your own business on the side? Whether or not it succeeded is less important than the fact that you tried.
You also lack business experience, as well as corporate experience. Since you are planning to apply a year from now, what about trying to get a job that is closer in line with your goals, or one that will give you business and/or management experience? That could also enhance your application.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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23 Apr 2013, 07:19
Hi. I am currently applying for Desautels (McGill) 's full time course this year . In fact , I am a 30 year old pharmacist with 6.5 work experience 5 of them in a multinational pharmaceutical company first as a sales representative then as a sales trainer after being promoted.I had distinguished extracurricular activities during high school and undergrad but later my job consumed 80% of my time , the rest 20% was dedicated to PG studies and to my family . PG studies include a diploma in Industrial Pharmacy and another in "Training the Trainer" , and a certificate in written translation .In addition to all these ,I got an HR certification from SHRM as well as some workshops and non-academic courses including finance for non-financial managers . Knowing that my GMAT scores are 540 , then a 550 , and my GPA varies between 2.82 -2.94 after assessing it on different GPA calculators,while Desautels responded to my inquiry that they look for 600 GMAT and a GPA 3 , encouraging me to apply but meanwhile implying that they can forgive a slightly lower GPA for a satisfactory GMAT , what do you advise me to do ? which strengths can you see in my profile can compensate for the GMAT gap? knowing that I am applying these days to catch the deadline but will still retake the GMAT for the 3rd time next month aiming at updating them with a better score.By the way , on their website it is said that the range of GMAT scores for their students is 560-780.
Another last issue that my clarify more about my profile :The trend of my GPA is a downward one due to a personal crisis I faced during my last three semesters . Moreover , among the subjects I studied during 5 years of undergraduate studies was a low-weight course (much less credit hours than others) of mere mathematics with a "Pass" in the second year , and another of business administration and basics of finance in the third year with an "Excellent".Both had the same weight .Also, in my first postgraduate degree I studied another "low-weight" course that was a mix of maths and other topics with a "Pass" as well because of the other topics but this detailing can never be explained in he transcripts since the mark stated is the overall of the test.Taken into consideration that I took a three-day workshop "finance for non-financial managers) a few months ago before my GMAT,and that my Quant score increased from 36 in my first attempt to 39 in my second , how do you advise me to connect these together in order to prove I have the sufficient quantitative skills to handle an MBA curriculum ? (I actually do . a big part of my studies were statistics and calculations and also my work involved a lot of data charts and numbers)
Thank you very much.I sincerely appreciate your advice.
_________________
Hi i want to know my chances for few good us universities..
10th- 49% (2003) 12th- 60% (2005) Grad- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from Tier1 university 43% (2009) Grad repeated- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from different Tier3 university 73% (2012) Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel university (2010) Diploma in Theater (2007) Apart from this a lot of small certificates.
Work Exp- Small family garments business(small botique) So dont think adcom will consider it. Want to do MBA in finance.
Have not taken Gmat but in mocks getting around 650- 680, i can improve a lot more and target 720.
So as per my profile which colleges should i target, i know my profile is not good neither i am targeting top 20 US Bschools. Kindly guide me.
Hi, you certainly have an unusual profile . It wasn't clear to me from your last sentence if you ARE targeting top 20 schools, or are NOT. I also didn't understand what 10th and 12th refer to - it's the first thing you lead with above. Those were my high school grades and i am not targeting top 20 us schools.[color=#2e3192]
I would suggest, besides working on your GMAT, that you do a lot of mining work into your history, to see where we can find good admissions drivers. Have you done any volunteer work? Community service? Have you ever initiated an activity, business, etc.? In your family business, where you work, do you have management experience? Have you any other professional experience, during or after college? Won any kind of awards? Etc..
Now - regarding which universities to target, you mean where you might have a chance of admission? If that's the case, please clarify whether you are looking at top 20 or below. If top 20, then you want to look at those 20 and see which ones are good for finance, and which ones value what you have to offer. IN other words, if you don't have a lot of professional experience but have a lot of community and volunteer work, then perhaps a school that values that. You also might look for a school that is super friendly to career changers - since you don't seem to have any background in finance, you would want a school that is open to such a complete switch. More on profile details below
I hope that helps a bit - feel free to write back if I can be of further assistance.
Regards,
Joy[/color]
Here is little more about me....
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience. What do you do?
After my schooling (2005)i joined my family garment business.We have a small showroom and we get our products from different states of india through our staff. The business was established in 1995, though its not a large scale but i wish to expand it.
My work profile-
Multiple work profile, it really difficult the content it in words but starting from
cleaning my work station to dealing with clients in terms of showing them our product to coordinating with our agents to get the product on time to working on accounts on daily basis and making a balance sheet quaterly.
But since its a small scale business i am afraid that adcom might not consider it.
2) Your GMAT.
Mocks- 720 ( have not taken it yet)
3) College info: The name of the college, your GPA or grade average, your major, year of graduation. For any graduate degrees, please provide the same info. If you grades are low, please indicate if there were extenuating circumstances.
Bachelor in commerce through distance learning from university of Delhi Tier1( 43%) completed in 2009.
For this degree it was really difficult the get a good score and the topper of the university got 62%.
Graduation repeated in Bachelor in commerce through distance learning from Tier 3 university 73% & completed in 2012.
Had to repeat it since i was not eligible to take any indian mba entrances, moreover i knew the my earlier scores were not a reflector of my potentials.
4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience.
Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel University 2010 (18 months duration). Diploma in Theater 2007. Certified First Aider. Certificate in English from BBC UK. Certified in Galileo and Fideleo( Programs very known in Aviation and hospitality).
5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA.
Though i do have a plan to go for CFA.
6) Your target programs.
MBA in Finance MS in Finance MS in Economics
7) When you plan to apply? Please specify round and application cycle, for example R1 2013-14 or R3 2012-13.
R1 for Fall 2014.
8) Your post-MBA goal.
Getting a good exposure in international market for around 5 years and then expanding my business and taking it to another level(Have a plan to have chain of big showrooms).
Hi, you say you are looking for an MBA in Finance - but that your long-term goal is to expand the family business, so I'm not sure how that fits together. You might want to reconsider that. If you stay with Finance, you might consider Boston College - it's known for Finance and it's a top 40-50 school with relatively low tuition. Good luck!
My concern is more with my GPA than my GMAT (Hit a 720) but was hoping you'd give me your thougts??
About me:
I’m 27 years old and am from Northern Ireland. Growing up I was fortunate to live in 13 countries (mostly Asia but with spells in S.America and Australia) and travelled to many more (35+).
Work Experience:
Currently just under 5 years. Would be 6 or 7 depending upon when I decide to matriculate.
1 years 6 months: After graduation I was employed by (and co- founded) a start-up which focused on providing VC, Executive management expertise and international marketing to small to mid-stage growth companies within the oil and gas sector. We had a VC fund of $5million, which I raised funds for, and my work took me to Norway and Singapore regularly. The partners have recently wound up the business as they have been offered senior positions with other start-ups (they are both VP level within the industry)
6 months: I worked for an executive level figure within a multinational asset manager to create, develop and market new investment vehicles. These focused upon the alternative energy space and were marketed to institutional investors in Europe alongside the larger Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
3 years Worked for another multinational asset manager, the investment arm of one of the world’s largest banks. Joined at the Analyst level and was promoted to Associate after 1 year and 3 months. Initially worked in global strategy but requested a move into institutional sales as I wanted to have a more direct and perhaps tangible effect upon the balance sheet, along with wanting to interact with fund managers, investment analysts etc more. Primarily worked on pitches and research for our emerging market focused products.
Present (4 Months): Business development manager, raising assets from institutional investors for an Asian based investment firm with responsibility for clients in the Uk, Netherlands and Ireland.
Extracurricular:
College: I played rugby for the college team; I also managed one of the intramural teams (Got the squad together, liased with other teams, secured sponsorship etc). Assisted with coaching of a local junior school rugby team in the area. Was a member of the university investment club.
After College: I sit on an alumni committee for my university which gets events going in and around the capital and which also seeks to increase alumni involvement with the university for mutual benefit. Participate in various charities and do volunteer work. I have climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money for charity and have helped to build an orphanage in Vietnam. I continue to travel as opportunity allows, and hobbies include golf and rugby.
Qualifications: I have been accepted onto a part time MSc in Finance at Cass Business School in London, commencing September 2013. The MBA would definitely be my preference and, if the masters won’t aid my admission, I’ll forgo it to focus on my MBA applications
Weaknesses: Very low GPA. I don’t know what it translates to in the American system as I studied in the UK, but I’ve seen it converted as low as 2.0. No excuses, I had a hard time at college but bare sole responsibility for my own failings. I’ve worked hard to prevent it from holding me back.
I not sure which is the best way to combat this, taking several college level classes and getting A's (UCLA extension perhaps) doing the masters and putting off my MBA application for a year or two?
GMAT: 720. I may be able to push this higher with dedicated study and practice. I’m looking to matriculate in 3 years.
So: - Is the MSc in Finance something I should pursue? My only interest in doing so would be if a) I’m very unlikely to gain admission to any of the schools listed above b) it would help my application - Are the schools I have listed appropriate?
Thanks again, I look forward to getting your input
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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24 Apr 2013, 10:23
Aringo wrote:
Aringo wrote:
kunzi wrote:
Hello there !!
Please evaluate my chances.
Nationality: Indian GMAT: 700 (Q 49 V36) GPA: 75% from a top 50 engineering school Major: Mechanical Engineering
Work Experience: 7 years at Matriculation with a top Oil exploration and refining company (I worked only in downstream - refining)
4 Years: Mechanical Engineer - Maintenance. Lead a team of 6 technicians. Worked towards ensuring the reliability and availability of mech. equipment. Developed maintenance plans - Preventive and Predictive. Active involvement in Tendering and Contract Management.
2 Years: Senior Engineer - Maintenance and Projects. Leveraged the maintenance expertise to streamline and manage Revamp Project activities. Lead a team of over 40 technicians to complete shutdown activities well ahead of schedule. Job included planning, inter - department coordination and execution.
1 Year: Senior Engineer - Vigilance. Leveraged the technical and commercial expertise to bring systemic improvements across the organization. Focussed on areas that required system development or improvement and recommended changes to improve efficiency, transparency and effectiveness.
Leadership • Elected Representative for Management Staff Association (Officer's association to liaison with the Management) • Work profile full of leadership examples
Extra Curricular: • Active Member of Toastmaster's Club • Community Service through the CSR activities of my company - Organized blood donation camps, AIDS awareness campaigns etc. • An active event organizer throughout my life - right from school till today. Was a member of Organizing Committee for Annual Tech. & Cultural fest at college. Active participation in organizing company events including handling venue, logistics, decor, liaison with speakers etc.
Future Plans: Energy Consulting with a focus on sustainability.
Target Firms: GE (internal consulting) Bain McKinsey
Backup Plan: Operations management in Energy industry. Target Firm: Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP.
Please evaluate my chances for the following schools
1. Tuck 2. Duke Fuqua 3. Darden 4. UCLA 5) Johnson 6) Emory 7) Mc Combs 8) Kelley 9) Ivey, Canada 10) Rotman
Please let me know if there are any apparent weaknesses. What schools should I focus on. A list of schools reputed for placements in the energy sector (Consulting and Operations).
I have another query regarding GPA system. I graduated from India with 75% aggregate. What would be my GPA as per US system. In case, percentage can not be converted to GPA, any alternative to determine where i stand amongst the GPA averages for various B-schools.
Thank You.
Best Regards, KUNAL
Hi, Kunal You seem competitive according to what you have written above. It's very good that your career goals are supported by your previous professional experience. I'm glad you have a lot of leadership - that's very important. All of the extracurrics and community service is also excellent. I can't give you a chances evaluation for each of the schools you've listed - there are other factors involved and determining chances is a lengthy process, but there is a link below you can click on and do your own self evaluation. Just answer all of the questions and you will come up with a number that should give you a sense of where you stand.
Regarding your GPA question, this is a tough one. Are you saying that you are not given at all a single GPA? If that is the case, and it is the norm, then you would need to explain this in the optional essay or additional information question provided by each university. I will check around to see if I can provide you with any additional help on this one.
Hi - I did a little research about your GPA question, and I understand that some candidates in your position were able to get a GPA from their universities, or were able to convert their rankings to a GPA. However not all were in this position, and for the ones who were not (as it seems you are), the universities they applied to understood the situation, and were able to deal with the transcripts and grades they received. They also understand the relative ranking of the different universities. You might be best off just explaining the situation as I recommended above.
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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24 Apr 2013, 12:05
Aringo wrote:
TheNona wrote:
Hi. I am currently applying for Desautels (McGill) 's full time course this year . In fact , I am a 30 year old pharmacist with 6.5 work experience 5 of them in a multinational pharmaceutical company first as a sales representative then as a sales trainer after being promoted.I had distinguished extracurricular activities during high school and undergrad but later my job consumed 80% of my time , the rest 20% was dedicated to PG studies and to my family . PG studies include a diploma in Industrial Pharmacy and another in "Training the Trainer" , and a certificate in written translation .In addition to all these ,I got an HR certification from SHRM as well as some workshops and non-academic courses including finance for non-financial managers . Knowing that my GMAT scores are 540 , then a 550 , and my GPA varies between 2.82 -2.94 after assessing it on different GPA calculators,while Desautels responded to my inquiry that they look for 600 GMAT and a GPA 3 , encouraging me to apply but meanwhile implying that they can forgive a slightly lower GPA for a satisfactory GMAT , what do you advise me to do ? which strengths can you see in my profile can compensate for the GMAT gap? knowing that I am applying these days to catch the deadline but will still retake the GMAT for the 3rd time next month aiming at updating them with a better score.By the way , on their website it is said that the range of GMAT scores for their students is 560-780.
Another last issue that my clarify more about my profile :The trend of my GPA is a downward one due to a personal crisis I faced during my last three semesters . Moreover , among the subjects I studied during 5 years of undergraduate studies was a low-weight course (much less credit hours than others) of mere mathematics with a "Pass" in the second year , and another of business administration and basics of finance in the third year with an "Excellent".Both had the same weight .Also, in my first postgraduate degree I studied another "low-weight" course that was a mix of maths and other topics with a "Pass" as well because of the other topics but this detailing can never be explained in he transcripts since the mark stated is the overall of the test.Taken into consideration that I took a three-day workshop "finance for non-financial managers) a few months ago before my GMAT,and that my Quant score increased from 36 in my first attempt to 39 in my second , how do you advise me to connect these together in order to prove I have the sufficient quantitative skills to handle an MBA curriculum ? (I actually do . a big part of my studies were statistics and calculations and also my work involved a lot of data charts and numbers)
Hi, firstly, if there is an optional essay or additional information part, I recommend using it to address your quantitative skills. You can tell them that you are planning to retake the GMAT and update them if you get a higher score. You can also possibly address the personal crisis, as an explanation for the lower GPA. Now how to prove your quantitative skills? You would want to talk about anyplace you use them, whether at work or in extracurricular activities. Mention your attempts to improve your score, like the workshop. Perhaps decide to take a course that will get your quant abilities up to par before school starts, and tell them. If you enroll now, you can even say, I have enrolled in the xxx course, that will begin on yyy, to prepare for my studies. If you got any particularly high grades in university on your math classes, point that out as well.
Thank you very much.I sincerely appreciate your advice.
Thank you for the valuable advice I am applying these days to catch the deadline for this fall semester.I am applying with my current GMAT official score (550 , 39 Q 27 V) already sent to them a couple of days ago.Since they demand a minimum of 600 , I will retake next month but the only available appointment is on the 16th whereas their deadline to receive official scores is the 31st .Consequently , I applied with my current score intending to update them with a scanned copy of my unofficial score on test day .In the personal history pdf form I have to fill as a part of the application ,they have a space to indicate my test date in case I applied before taking the test . Do you advise me to indicate that I will retake the test , or this can result in an informal "on hold" status ? Knowing that my online application has the GMAT score ticked "submitted" .
Re: Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
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24 Apr 2013, 19:11
Nationality: Caucasian Male GMAT: 690 (Q 48 V36)/AWA 6.0 - this was my second attempt, I initially scored V39 with a dismal math score GPA: 3.4 from a top private liberal arts college (w/ study abroad experience in language immersion program) Major: Economics & French
Work Experience: 4-5 years at matriculation with leading credit ratings agency (operations/sales analysis/strategy). Variety of roles within the company (incl. promotions, employee of the month, etc), most recently in a sales strategy based role working with a global team (no direct reports, but senior mgmt exposure) Six Sigma Green Belt Interned @ large global bank in risk mgmt during undergrad
Leadership/Extra Curricular: Team lead @ work Led process improvement projects (w/ measurable results) Volunteer council lead Captain of soccer team Symphony Orchestra (all four years undergrad) Community Service through my company Teambuilding and community service counselor during undergrad
Future Plans: Career switch to (CPG) marketing/brand management
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