Ask EXPARTUS

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to the Expartus team joining the GMAT Club Forums!

I have run into Chioma's work a few years ago when I have discovered the Best BSchool Admissions Secrets Book on Amazon and Expartus team is a fantastic addition to the rank of consultants on GMAT Club. Chioma has been a part of the HBS admissions team and definitely has the experience and knowledge of the application process. Feel free to request a free assessment for your 2015/2016 applications.

Good luck to everyone and welcome to the Expartus team.
Best Regards,
BB

Profile Evaluation --- MBA 2016 - India, Male

Hi

I would greatly appreciate an evaluation of my profile for ISB, NUS-Singapore , nanyang singapore and Great lakes ,chennai .

Hi

I have appeared for a GMAT my score is 670.I am planning to appear in GMAT again in April this year

Beside this I have an average profile :

10th = 67.80
12th = 56.20
B.E. (computer science) = 67.80

3 years of work experience in US top three Healthcare company

Roles & responsibility :

Analysis of requirement of clients .
Bug fixing
Been working with global clients directly from a very early stage of my career and have regular interactions (France and German Clients as working in France and both German projects)
performance tuning.
I have mentored one associate.
Basically worked as a Test Analyst .

extra co-curricular :


1-Played Cricket at national level twice.
2-Played Footaball at State level and was the captain of School team.
3-I have organised National level Fest in College .
4-I am an active Volunteer of Art of living and have even Coordinated few courses.(NGO work)
5-I have done event management during college time ( was own firm and got dissolved due to some financial reasons)



Could you please help me out in selection of b-schools ?

Is my profile suitable for schools i am aiming for ?


I want to Do MBA this year , i have some personal issue (both family and financial) due to which i cant wait for another year .
Could you please suggest me good B-school where i can get sure good placements with no job seeking activity. I am looking for 12-15 months program .
And please suggest me any activity which can help me improve my profile .

Your little time could be a big help for my career .

Thanks

Profile Evaluation --- MBA 2016 - India, Male

Hi

I would greatly appreciate an evaluation of my profile for ISB, NUS-Singapore , nanyang singapore and Great lakes ,chennai .

Hi

I have appeared for a GMAT my score is 670.I am planning to appear in GMAT again in April this year

Beside this I have an average profile :

10th = 67.80
12th = 56.20
B.E. (computer science) = 67.80

3 years of work experience in US top three Healthcare company

Roles & responsibility :

Analysis of requirement of clients .
Bug fixing
Been working with global clients directly from a very early stage of my career and have regular interactions (France and German Clients as working in France and both German projects)
performance tuning.
I have mentored one associate.
Basically worked as a Test Analyst .

extra co-curricular :


1-Played Cricket at national level twice.
2-Played Footaball at State level and was the captain of School team.
3-I have organised National level Fest in College .
4-I am an active Volunteer of Art of living and have even Coordinated few courses.(NGO work)
5-I have done event management during college time ( was own firm and got dissolved due to some financial reasons)



Could you please help me out in selection of b-schools ?

Is my profile suitable for schools i am aiming for ?


I want to Do MBA this year , i have some personal issue (both family and financial) due to which i cant wait for another year .
Could you please suggest me good B-school where i can get sure good placements with no job seeking activity. I am looking for 12-15 months program .
And please suggest me any activity which can help me improve my profile .

Your little time could be a big help for my career .

Thanks

Hi Akshay2005,

Thanks for sharing your question.

The profile you shared suggests that Nanyang and NUS will be more reachable. You will face much stronger competition with ISB.

It's a smart idea on your part to want to retake the GMAT. Aim for a score above 700 if possible. Don't underestimate the importance adcom places on the GMAT/GRE. While exceptional scores do not guarantee admission, scores that are lower than average can eliminate a candidate completely.

Top 3 HC company is a plus. Obviously the schools would want to know your goals long term and it has to be in line with what they offer.

The three years exp is fine. It's going to come down to what exactly you did, what value you created.

Try and focus less on the job description of your role and try and frame your involvement in terms of impact on people and the organization as a whole. Eg, I mentored an analyst in this particular area....he/she needed help with XYZ, I structured a tutorial and spent time each week putting them through....the outcome was ABC....

Or with work, talk about the value/impact of the systems work you did and how it helped your company to achieve ABC objectives...

It would also be interesting for the adcom to hear about your leadership outside work and in college to help beef up your profile. Less about many organizations where you were a member and focus on a handful where you actually had a leadership role. Show impact!

I wish you a successful application.

Have other questions, sign up for our newsletter on EXPARTUS.com so we can stay connected.

Cheers,

Chioma Isiadinso
Co-founder, EXPARTUS
Author of The Best Business Schools' Admissions Secrets

Hi,

I would love to get your perspective on where I stand.

-27 y/o Indian Male (will turn 28 in may)

-GMAT 710 (49Q, 39V)

-Graduated in 2008 from a business school in UK with a degree in accounting and finance. Topped my degree in year one. Ended up with an upper 2.1 degree.

-planned on working in UK itself in order to get some international work ex but had to move back to India because of my fathers death (3 weeks after final term). Had to take care of family affairs, both financial and emotional, so moved back.

-Over 6.5 years of experience working in the business development and strategy implementation division of a firm with interests across hydropower, textiles and education and annual revenues of over $100m. Have worked across all 3 sectors. Currently leading a team in implementing the expansion/diversification of the education vertical. The project is at an advanced stage of implementation and the financial rewards from the project have already started flowing in. The idea for diversification was my brainchild and thus I was made the team leader of the project. The financial rewards from this project have already started flowing in. I'm also the youngest at the firm at a senior managerial role. I've held leadership roles across all the 3 verticals.

-short term goal is to make a transition to a top tier management consulting firm and work in new geographies (outside of India). Long term goal is to take up a senior management role at a fortune 500 firm. In my current role I'm coming up with and executing ideas that lead to improvement in business process and create value for the firm. I think a career in consulting will be a reasonable sell as my STG.

-Extra curricular: work with one of the most prominent environmental NGO in the country. Have been closely associated with environmental research over the last 4 years. Having lost my father to blood cancer I started a cancer foundation in his name and have raised over INR 1.5m which in turn was used to help underprivileged patients in their treatment. Also organize an annual blood donation camp. Also redrafted and implemented the corporate social responsibility charter at the firm with a focus on sanitation for the poor and improving female financial literacy. I've also worked for a member of parliament from 2009-2013 on devising a plan for development in the members parliamentary constituency.

I would appreciate if you could evaluate my profile at the following schools.

-Target schools- INSEAD, Columbia, Kellogg, Tuck, Duke, Darden, Emory, McCombs, etc

Feel free to suggest other business schools.

Thanks for taking time out and helping people out here. Really appreciate it.

Regards

Hi Ramalo,

Your profile is compelling. You seem like you have given this a lot of thought and you come across as well-balanced (solid work experience, XCS). Your schools are realistic. If you are able to retake GMAT to improve score to 730 and % then go for it! Columbia might be slightly tougher given GMAT but I think with a strong application across the board you will have a good shot at that too. Your achievement at work is also compelling and will bear highlighting in your story.

You need to spend time looking closely at the schools you end up choosing to have very concrete reasons why you wish to go to each program. I could see INSEAD, Columbia, Tuck, and Duke as a balanced list.

I'm happy to speak further with you to discuss your profile and position. Feel free to sign up for an assessment: https://www.expartus.com.

All the best,

Have other questions, sign up for our newsletter on EXPARTUS.com so we can stay connected.

Cheers,

Chioma Isiadinso
Co-founder, EXPARTUS
Author of The Best Business Schools' Admissions Secrets

Hello Chioma,

Please evaluate my profile

29

Dual citizenship - Israel/U.S

Gmat - 700 (46Q\40V)

Bachelor's in Accounting and Journalism from Hebrew University
GPA 3.48
made deans list for the year of 2011
Won a national Social Entrepreneurship competition and founded a non profit (sustainability) while in school
Passed all 5 CPA exams on first trial (some of the exams had lower than 20% success rate for first timers)


Work experience:

Served for 3 years in the army as a combat medic, was awarded an excellence award during that time.

Worked 2 years as a strategic consultant in a local but selective firm that specializes in public administration

currently working full time at Ernst and Young as a CPA
Part time business dev and marketing at family business (art)

extra curricular:
Volunteers at the local chapter of an international non profit as a Digital consultant,
Mentors a startup in a local accelerator
Runs Marathons
meditator

Schools
Haas, MIT Sloan, Yale SOM, Johnson

Reach-Stanford GSB

Thank you for your help!

Hello Sir. I am Satyajit Chaudhary from India. I am a pass-out of IIFT Delhi 2012 batch (a Top-10 Indian B-School), currently working in Cognizant Business Consulting. I am in a tricky spot right now in my life & could really use some advice. In my 3 yrs in the industry, I have realized that my MBA degree lacks a global perspective & is pretty India-centric. As such, I was pondering over a 2nd MBA, a global one from a FT Top-25 B-School. I appeared for GMAT just to test myself & surprisingly scored 760 (Q-51,V-41, IR-8, AWA-6). But I got to know from different articles that US B-Schools don't usually prefer candidates in their early 30s or those with an MBA already. Unfortunately, I fall in both of those categories. That has left me completely confused. My profile-
Class X Board Exams- 92%
Class XII Board Exams- 92%
Graduation - B.Tech in Electronics & Communication - 82.9%
MBA - 3.4 on a scale of 4
Work Ex- 4.5yrs, currently working in Cognizant Business Consulting
Will be 32 by the time I join

Now more than a profile evaluation, I would like to know straight from the horse's mouth if such a profile can make it to a Top B-School, if such a profile has any prospects in the gruelling admission process. Wanted to know what you think of the prospects of such a client. Any help will be much appreciated...

PS- Scouring through forums, I see so many from India applying for their 2nd MBAs in their 30s (this is such a widespread phenomenon here). A lot of them must be getting through or else why would they keep on applying? So is this stigma really that prevalent (as these websites are making it out to be)?

Hello Eladavid,

Thanks for sharing your profile. Your background is compelling for most of the schools you have. You are right, Stanford will be a reach. You should be able to get into one if not more of the schools you have on your list.

E&Y is a solid brand and well respected. Family business could be quite interesting, depending on what you wish to do with it, how you will leverage the MBA do accelerate its growth. Your nonprofit could also be interesting.

What you have to nail in your application is your VISION LONG TERM. It has to make sense, be something that the schools you have identified can help you prepare for. Military experience is not uncommon given your background...so when referencing this you want to think about the unique experiences, if any, that you have had in this space that has made you a better leader/team player etc.

Overall, a lot to work with. Your challenge is going to be in execution and pulling it all together.

Wishing you success with the process. To continue this conversation off line, feel free to drop me an email: chioma@expartus.com.

Warmly,

Chioma

Dear All,

Please help in evaluating my profile...

Please suggest which are the colleges I can apply and What are the areas I can improve upon so that I can apply for better colleges.

GMAT : 670 Q:48 V:33 (first attempt : will retake again)

Academics :
10th : 85%
12th : 97.2%
Engineering : 3.57 / 4 ( GPA )

Work Experience :

3 years at Business Intelligence unit, ICICI bank. (got 2 appraisals)
Working as Deputy Manager, Business Intelligence unit, ICICI Bank
Projects : 1) NPA Provisioning analytics
2) Risk Analytics - Segmentation of the loan Portfolio
3) Debt Service Management Group - Collection Analytics ( many left... just for giving an idea... limiting to this)
4) Hands on experience on SAS,Vertica,R,Hadoop,BigData

Educational Achievements :

1) CIMA(UK) - Chartered Institute of Management Accounting certificate in Business Accounting
2) Specialization in Financial Analytics - Jigsaw Academy ( #1 analytics training academy in india)
3) WCBDA - Wrox Certified Big Data Analyst (international IT certification) - By AnalytixLabs
3- 4 courses in EDx and Coursera

Extra-Curricular Activities:

Represented Tamil Nadu State Cricket Team in under 16 category
Captain of Thiruvallur district Cricket association in the under 16,19,22 categories
Winner of Inter district cricket tournament under my captaincy in under 19
Winner of Management Guru, nation level technical symposium by Anna University
Winner of Yuvashri KalaBharathi for outstanding achievements in Sports and Academics simultaneously.
Junior Coach of younger kids in a renowned cricket academy in Mumbai( on weekends)

Since Analytics is one upcoming field and I have started my career as a data analyst in financial services, I would like to stick to this field.
I have been hearing from people that this is one good area where I can differentiate myself from the rest of the applicants pool ( Is it really so? )

1) I wanted to know with this score which are the universities I can apply?

2) What are the aspects I need to improve upon to aim for better schools (definitely GMAT score) other than the schools state above.

3) Would a 700 on GMAT score with this application and good essays and LOR fetch me admission from top 20 colleges?

4) Are Top 10 schools far from me? or Can I offset this Low GMAT with this application?

Please help me out. Hoping for a reply. Would help me a lot going forward.

Thanks and cheers

Hi Satyajit,

Thanks for your question.

You are right, it isn't common for the top schools to go for applicants with an MBA. But this varies from school to school. Some schools explicitly state that they don't want applicants who already have an MBA. Others are open and make their decisions based on a case by case basis.

You will need to contact your target schools to first find out whether they fall in the latter group. Then you have to also look at the average age of students at those schools. Most of the top US schools admit students are between 27-29.

You may need to cast a wider net and target schools beyond the top schools to overcome the age factor.

But more than this you have to be clear on why you feel you need a more global program. You may find that there are other ways for you to invest in yourself through executive education programs at top schools that would give you international exposure and a broader network.

You have some important decisions to make and I wish you success as you map out a plan for your future.

Chioma Isiadinso
CEO, EXPARTUS

Hi kkarthik1692

Thanks for your question.

To stand any reasonable chance for business school you have to have at least a 700. Depending on the schools you are targeting, your score may need to be higher.

The reality is that top MBA programs can fill their class multiple times with people with impeccable numbers (grades/GMAT) so they have a lot of great candidates to pick from. Lower than average numbers give the adcom an easy excuse to say "No" to you.

So first get your GMAT as close to the average score as as possible.

You have to choose schools where there is a fit and where you would be competitive. You should target schools in the 15 and above range. Research them to make sure you goals fit what they can offer you career wise.

Best,

Chioma Isiadinso
CEO & Co-founder, EXPARTUS

10th: 86%

12th: 83.4%

GRADUATION
B.Tech. in Computer Science from IP University, Delhi with an aggregate score of 72.6% (First Class)

GMAT: 740

WORK-EX:
Working with Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG) (World’s 5th largest group) for past 2 years as a Software Engineer. Involved in different roles for 2 years. Was a JAVA developer for the first 12 months and worked on a project related to automobile industry wherein we tracked all the activities of major automobile players (like Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen etc.) and their manufacturing plants. In this project I proposed a module which involved scanning of invoices, of which I proposed the algorithm, to potentially reduce the effort at customer’s side. This brought a business of 60.2 Million INR to organization. Received Star Performer of the Year award for the initiative taken.
In lieu to this initiative taken, after 1 year in the organization, I was shifted to Business Intelligence Team to use the critical data like revenue; budget etc. of the organization to track down the lacuna’s to suggest possible changes to be made for organization’s benefit. Working under this team, I proposed the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) which shall mitigate the re-work done in few teams in the organization. Upon review it was implemented in the organization. I inked down the proposed SDLC and got it converted in form of a research paper, published in a prestigious journal.

Total Work-Ex at the time of ISB 2016-17 application will be 2 years 8 months.

OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE
Went with project leader and other team members for installation and demo of the project to the client for duration of 3 months in Hungry during my tenure as a JAVA developer in initial 12 months

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EXPERIENCE
In last year of under-graduation, founded a tech company along with 2 friends, to develop websites and applications ranging from android to ecommerce website. The company is registered in the name of www[dot]crebertech[dot]com. The company generated a revenue around INR 1 lakh. Currently serving as the business head in the startup.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR
I have categorized extra-curricular into following categories.
Scholastic Achievements:
• Have 5 research papers being the 1st author published in prestigious journals with a high impact factor. For one of the research paper published, was selected as a reviewer at the same journal (Science Alert) where mostly doctorate and post-doctorate professors are selected.
• Was selected to represent my school in a competition of Mathematics and English conducted by University of New South Wales.
• Winner of 3 state awards in technical events conducted at Delhi College of Engineering (DCE). Runner-Up in 4 technical events conducted at Delhi College of Engineering.
Dramatics
• Winner in 1 competition and runner up in other organized in IGIT.
• Played Football at National Level. Represented Delhi and scored a hat trick and helped team to reach semi-finals. Was also adjudicated Man-of-the-tournament by sports head of IIT during an intra-college football tournament in my college.
• Organized literary events during college fests in the year 2011-2012-2013. Recoded higher participation with each successive year.
Debating and Literacy
• Winner of 3 State level debate competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering.
• Winner of 3 State level extempore competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering.
• Winner of 3 State level essay competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering and 1 essay event organized in my college.
• Contributed to college and school magazines and remained an active blooger in my organization monthly newsletter.
Social Initiative
• Involved with an NGO for past 3 years. Working as a treasurer now. During my time I organized events to raise fund for the NGO and used the same money to prevent cow smuggling and prevent slaughtering of cows in the small villages of Haryana.
• A short 3 months internship at AIESEC under the program Iccha, to help slum children identify the basic cause of malaise. Helped them identify major pollutants and areas acting as a breeding ground of mosquitoes. Drafted a survey on the area visited and was adopted as a blue print by the local residents to palliate the waste.
• Worked for 5 months at Children Home, Delhi Government foster home to orphan kids. Provided pedagogy to students and was involved in various teaching drives organized at foster home during those 5 moths.
• Active member of CSR committee of my organization. Awarded for an active role in donation and social drives.

My target schools are Yale, Booth, Ross, Anderson, Tuck, Stern, Hass, Insead, Kellogg, ISB, Stanford GSB, LBS, Tepper and Johnson. Is it too ambitious or can I count some of them as moderate ? if yes, which one ?

10th: 86%

12th: 83.4%

GRADUATION
B.Tech. in Computer Science from IP University, Delhi with an aggregate score of 72.6% (First Class)

GMAT: 740

WORK-EX:
Working with Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG) (World’s 5th largest group) for past 2 years as a Software Engineer. Involved in different roles for 2 years. Was a JAVA developer for the first 12 months and worked on a project related to automobile industry wherein we tracked all the activities of major automobile players (like Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen etc.) and their manufacturing plants. In this project I proposed a module which involved scanning of invoices, of which I proposed the algorithm, to potentially reduce the effort at customer’s side. This brought a business of 60.2 Million INR to organization. Received Star Performer of the Year award for the initiative taken.
In lieu to this initiative taken, after 1 year in the organization, I was shifted to Business Intelligence Team to use the critical data like revenue; budget etc. of the organization to track down the lacuna’s to suggest possible changes to be made for organization’s benefit. Working under this team, I proposed the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) which shall mitigate the re-work done in few teams in the organization. Upon review it was implemented in the organization. I inked down the proposed SDLC and got it converted in form of a research paper, published in a prestigious journal.

Total Work-Ex at the time of ISB 2016-17 application will be 2 years 8 months.

OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE
Went with project leader and other team members for installation and demo of the project to the client for duration of 3 months in Hungry during my tenure as a JAVA developer in initial 12 months

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EXPERIENCE
In last year of under-graduation, founded a tech company along with 2 friends, to develop websites and applications ranging from android to ecommerce website. The company is registered in the name of www[dot]crebertech[dot]com. The company generated a revenue around INR 1 lakh. Currently serving as the business head in the startup.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR
I have categorized extra-curricular into following categories.
Scholastic Achievements:
• Have 5 research papers being the 1st author published in prestigious journals with a high impact factor. For one of the research paper published, was selected as a reviewer at the same journal (Science Alert) where mostly doctorate and post-doctorate professors are selected.
• Was selected to represent my school in a competition of Mathematics and English conducted by University of New South Wales.
• Winner of 3 state awards in technical events conducted at Delhi College of Engineering (DCE). Runner-Up in 4 technical events conducted at Delhi College of Engineering.
Dramatics
• Winner in 1 competition and runner up in other organized in IGIT.
• Played Football at National Level. Represented Delhi and scored a hat trick and helped team to reach semi-finals. Was also adjudicated Man-of-the-tournament by sports head of IIT during an intra-college football tournament in my college.
• Organized literary events during college fests in the year 2011-2012-2013. Recoded higher participation with each successive year.
Debating and Literacy
• Winner of 3 State level debate competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering.
• Winner of 3 State level extempore competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering.
• Winner of 3 State level essay competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering and 1 essay event organized in my college.
• Contributed to college and school magazines and remained an active blooger in my organization monthly newsletter.
Social Initiative
• Involved with an NGO for past 3 years. Working as a treasurer now. During my time I organized events to raise fund for the NGO and used the same money to prevent cow smuggling and prevent slaughtering of cows in the small villages of Haryana.
• A short 3 months internship at AIESEC under the program Iccha, to help slum children identify the basic cause of malaise. Helped them identify major pollutants and areas acting as a breeding ground of mosquitoes. Drafted a survey on the area visited and was adopted as a blue print by the local residents to palliate the waste.
• Worked for 5 months at Children Home, Delhi Government foster home to orphan kids. Provided pedagogy to students and was involved in various teaching drives organized at foster home during those 5 moths.
• Active member of CSR committee of my organization. Awarded for an active role in donation and social drives.

My target schools are Yale, Booth, Ross, Anderson, Tuck, Stern, Hass, Insead, Kellogg, ISB, Stanford GSB, LBS, Tepper and Johnson. Is it too ambitious or can I count some of them as moderate ? if yes, which one ?

Profile Evaluation ---- 31 Indian IT Male
Married and have a young boy

I have taken GMAT and scored 690 (QA 49, VA 34, IR 6, AWA awaited)

Academics:
10th 1999 = 78.4 %
12th 2001 = 86.0 %
B.E.(Computer Science) 2005 = 71.2 %

Work Experience:
9.5 years of work experience and currently working as Project Lead with India’s top IT Service provider
Lead a team of maximum size 8
Technically very good, enjoy doing data analysis

International Exposure:
2 years in London, UK
3 years in USA

Not associated with any NGO and no voluntary involvement.

Recommendations: Will be able to get good recommendations from immediate supervisor and/or higher management

I want to do 12 to 16 months MBA preferably in IT Service Management (ITSM), Business Process Management (BPM)

While taking GMAT, I have chosen executive programs in below B-School:
IIM A
IIM B
IIM C
XLRI
SP Jain
(Open for B-Schools outside India as well)

Please help me in selecting right B-School catering to my requirement and also where I have better chance to get in.

Any suggestion helping my application will be a great help.
Thank you!

Hi EXPARTUS, Please evaluate my profile

Introduction
I am a 28 year old Indian male working in Canada for last 3 years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 15 schools for MBA in USA.

GMAT Score
650 (Q49, V30, AWA 6, IR 7)
690 (Q49, V34, AWA 5.5, IR 4)
Planning to retake and targeting 720+

Education
- UG GPA: 74.6% (top 10%)
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi, India
- Won many extra curricular awards
- Master's GPA: 3.53
- Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- McGill University, Canada

Work Experience
3.5 Years in a top tier Aerospace Company (Employs 30,000+ people and has 100 sites across the world)
- Working as Lead Certification Analyst (certify interiors for business jets for their structural integrity), making sure that the products conform to the regulations and industry standards.
- Manage a team of 5 engineers (for 1 program) and indirectly a team of 10 engineers (for 2 programs)
- Promoted to the above post after only 10 months of experience, pay raises double the usual amount for the past 2 years.
- Led 2 teams of 3 engineers each to oversee update of important company directives, guidelines and manuals that dictate the manufacturing and quality standards of the company.

Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries
- Nominated (only engineer) to go to France and USA to represent the facility at intra-company conferences and international symposiums
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.

Extracurriculars
- Tutoring kids at risk subjects such as Maths, Science and English from grades 3 to 12 (been close to 10 months now, 4-6 hours per week, volunteer basis).
- Team member of company's soccer team
- Teach professional and technical English (related to Aerospace Industry, both written and spoken) to colleagues after work
- Learning French and Spanish over the weekends
- Member of tennis and squash teams of YMCA and play as a member of Montreal Squash League
- Teach colleagues from work tennis after work
- Leading a team of 15 volunteers since 2013-14 for a community heart and eye checkup camp , held once every year for 3 days. This is a free event for anyone who wants to participate.

Post-MBA Goal
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in retail/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in retail/technology.

Target Schools

- Columbia (Early Decision)
- Chicago Booth
- Stanford
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Wharton
- Cornell
- NY Stern
- Kellogg
- Duke Fuqua (Early Decision)
- Michigan Ross
- CMU Tepper
- Yale SOM

All the above schools Round 1 or Round 2 , 2015, Full Time MBA

Questions
1. Do you think I have a decent shot at the school of my choice (listed above). It will be of immense help to me if you can categorize the schools above as
1) Not possible, forget about it!
2) Good Chance
3) Not at all easy but can be given a shot

2. Also please advise which schools I should target in Round 1 and in Round 2?.
3. Please also advise which other schools (not listed above) will help me achieve my career goals.

Hey Expartus,

Can you please help me in evaluating my profile :

Indian female

Grades :
Xth - 91%
XIIth - 88% ( Have been on scholarship since class 8th in school)
Undergrad ( NIT kurukshetra<Top 25 engg schools in India> ) - 7.93/10 (2008-2012) Gpa 4.0 according to WES
GMAT - 720 (Q50, V38, IR5)

Work experience -
* Have been working in Samsung from the past 3 years
Have had 2 promotions in 3 years
First as a software developer, then moved into Pre-sales consulting owing to my interest in Marketing.
In that I worked with Samsung Sales division in APAC regions, assisted clients and partners in Dubai, SA, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singlehandedly set up a whole Enterprise business conclave in India marketing Regional HQ, Worked with directors of engineering of Hyatt, Oberoi, and Taj hotels.
Demonstrated Samsung solutions in events, conclaves, summits to CXO's of different verticals.

* Member of cultural commitee in Samsung, Won the best innovative project of the Quarter for a project, Winner of many cultural competitions held in Office.

Extra Curriculars -
* Won accolades for Dance from age 6, Working as a dance instructor in a Dance studio.
* 2 District level prizes in Arts, College level athlete( won 10 medals ) in NIT sports meet' 09, '10, '11
* Head of 3 committees in tech and cultural national level fests in NIT.
* Started a society for teaching Underprivileged children of College's workers. This has been published in a local newspaper of Kurukshetra.
* Working as a UN online volunteer for a research project on Women Situation in Thailand.
* Represented North Zone ( 4 states ) In a national level General knowledge Quiz held in Hyd.
* 1 district level prize in Analytical ability (scholarship given).

Working on my startup idea as well ( It would be completed by the end of the year )

Post Mba goal - I want to enter into Brand management or marketing.

My target schools are - Kellogg 1 year program, ISB, Insead, HEC paris, NUS, NTU, Oxford.
I even want a partial scholarship for these programs.

Can you please tell me about the shortcomings in my profile and how can I be the good fit for these above schools?

Do I need to hire consultant for the essays or should I try writing them on your own?