Ask Fortuna Admissions

Hi all, Caroline Diarte Edwards from Fortuna here, happy to answer your questions! I was previously Admissions Director at INSEAD and work mostly with candidates applying to the top international business schools.

Hi Sk2020, I think you’ve chosen some good schools based on your profile. and both Cornell and Darden are great options but cornell might be a bit competitive for you. Why not aim for both? It’s always nice to try for some some reach schools and more safety schools. I would try and sit in on some info sessions and speak with students to get a better sense of which is right cultural fit for you and you can also ask them about your post mba goals and what they can provide for you. .
2. All schools will provide scholarships - some you have to apply for, others are just given by teh school based on merit or academics. If you are admitted to various schools, you can decide then, which ones will offer you more scholarships and choose the one giving you the best offer. i can’t really say which school will offer more and more easily as mos schools offer so many.
3. I would say that wwarwick, vanderbilit, Emory , and Queens would be more safety schools. Darden and Oxford and Cornell more competitive for you.
4. Cambridge and oxford definitely look at more in’tl backgrounds so might be tough if you don’t have that experience. But you can always focus on your in’tl motivation

-- Some amazing experience here, Apurva. Like to see the international components . I would sit for another GRE or GMAT as you’ll have a competitive group of test takers coming form your pool. Another important component will be strong LORs from supervisors who can speak to your career trajectory and progression at work, leadership skills. You can also aim to build leadership outside of your day to day activities -- think about where you can get involved at work socially or on initiatives that will help you mentor others or support the culture of your workplace -- these are good things to engage in to profile build (plus can help with LORs!). School choice is quite personal but you have some great options and range presented here -- network with them thoroughly!

GMAT: 760
Indian, Male, Lawyer

Went to one of the top law schools in India and started working at a PE/M&A team at a top law firm right out of college. 3 years’ work ex. (4 by the time I’ll join). Have represented US mega funds on several acquisitions in India. Closed transactions worth more than USD 1bn. Was active in co-curriculars in law school and have represented the law school at many competitions in India and abroad.

R1 schools - Wharton, Booth, Columbia, NYU, Tuck

Short term goal – IB, Medium term - PE

1. In terms of growth, law firms in India have pretty rigid promotion structures (as do firms in the west) and there’s no possibility of a promotion before 4 years. How do AdComs judge transactional lawyers in terms of growth and what aspects should be highlighted to them.
2. While I was active in co-curriculars at law school, I have not been able to do anything substantial after I started working. How detrimental can this be and will recent non-profit experience (after I gave the GMAT) harm my prospects instead of improving them?

Hi Brittany, Shreyasee here (Indian female, 29 years old).

• I am currently preparing for my GMAT. I’ve taken three mock tests so far and am consistently scoring between 730 – 740. My target is 760+.
• I have been working in Analytics for the last 5 years. I currently work in Customer Analytics at a large global bank, in the Wealth and Personal Banking department.
• Prior to that, I was a consultant in Marketing Analytics at one of the top 10 market research companies.
• I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Economics (Undergrad CGPA: 8.23 / 10; Postgrad CGPA 9.77 /10).
• Extracurriculars include volunteer work throughout Undergrad, participation in employee engagement committees at work and core member of the Diversity & Inclusion employee resource group in my current organization.
• Awards: Gold Medal in Economics (Postgrad), various performance awards at work, winner of global competition in current organization to drive revenue growth & customer acquisition.
• Post MBA goal is to move into Management Consulting.

My question is really in terms of understanding whether I am a good candidate for a top school (seeking guidance in terms of which schools to realistically target). Would really like to apply to Wharton and Darden for sure. Any suggestions on which aspects of my profile to highlight and / or further work on?

Hi Jistel, thanks for sharing your profile. You’ve definitely got a good profile for business school. My question is about your professional experience - with 6 or 7 years of work experience, many candidates would have reached a level beyond analyst. Do you expect any promotion before submitting your applications?

Note: Please send in your questions only once All questions will be addressed. If you post your questions multiple times, it will complicate the process

Also forgot to mention that I have international work experience (worked in New York for 5 months in my previous role).

1. 2 years Q = this is fine, but it is always nice to connect with the schools directly to ask specific questions like this one/good way to network

2. Also I have left my job since 2020. Currently I am learning Artificial Intelligence. Will it suffice to cover my gap year.?

I might work on test pre as GMAT/GRE will be very important. You will also want to explain why you left your job and consider an internship or another role to build your profile

3. Suggestions you want to give for my profile? = test prep so important! never fun but I would use your time now to work on this while looking for another role.

Best wishes!

Requesting Profile Eval for MBA 2023/2024 Intake

Age: 29
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Southeast Asian (US Citizen, Immigrant, 1st Generation College)
Schools: HBS, Wharton, Sloan, Columbia, Booth, Haas  

GMAT
Not yet taken, aiming for 690-710

Academics:
-BS in Mechanical Engineering from HYPSM
-Theatre minor
-2.9 Cumulative GPA, downward trend (It’s my weakest area, I know... It was hard adjusting to college, I was dealing with depression... I plan to explain in optional essay)

College Leadership/Work Experience:
-Executive Board Member at Diversity Group 1
-Community Engagement Chair at Diversity Group 2
-Part-time jobs
-Study abroad in Germany

Work Experience:
- 4 years in F100 Aerospace – Mechanical Engineer, Program Manager, Promoted 1x, Given Program-level award, $1-2million projects w/ international clients, process improvement initiatives saving company $500K
-Lead my office Employee Resource Group (ERG) focused on Community Engagement  
- 1 year in FAANG – Mechanical Engineer, $50-70million projects

Extra Curriculars:
-Volunteer for national organization focused on Education enablement and College Prep for first-generation students of color - Teaching STEM classes, CS TA, resume workshops
-Ski instructor (2 years)

Goals:
-Short term: Work in Tech - Product Management or Operations
-Long Term: Expand my venture focused on Mental Health and Wellness, Head of Product at Tech company

Questions:
-Other than GMAT, any other ways to mitigate my low undergrad GPA? Do you recommend HBX Core? Would enrolling in a Master’s in CS help or detract from application?
-Any other US B-schools you think would be a good fit?
-Any other International B-schools would be a good fit and would potentially give scholarships given my background?

I am currently working with the Leadership team of HCL. My whole team is based in London and US, and i have been working with folks across the globe all round my career. Since i joined in the mid of pandemic, relocation wasn’t possible, hence i wasn’t able to move to London.

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Hi mankotiag, I’m curious about your years of experience sinc eyou are 37. How many years of work exp. total? You are quite ’senior’ for a full time MBA and will be quite challenging to get into a full time mba program. Have you considered part time or maybe even an EMBA? You are kind of in the middle and could consider the fellows program at MIT (MIT sloan fellows). But that is a very competitive program and I worry about your undergrad degree marks. IMD does have a higher average but more like around early 30s so it could also be an option. That’s great about your extra curriculars. any leadership roles in extra curriculars and at work?

--Makings of a strong application here! Some notes:

-Aim for 760+ GMAT this is very important for top schools
-Can you take on more of a leadership role in the D&I group at work? That is a nice way to scaffold the leadership elements of your profile
-Work on getting strong LORs -- these, like test scores, are very important!

vinnyray, your questions has been answered already

Age: 27
Sex: Male
Citizenship: South Africa (Indian heritage, but was born in South Africa as was my family for several generations)

GMAT:
740: 49Q | 41V | 6 AWA | 8 IR (taken once, June 2020)

Academics:
- Bachelor of Business Science, dual major in Finance and Accounting at highest ranked university in South Africa/Africa
- 1st class pass, Dean’s Merit List all 4 years, graduated with Honours, finished top 1% of class, faculty scholarship all 4 years
- Tutor for several university faculties: taking 2-3 tutorials of 20-30 students each semester for 3 years across economics and information systems courses - also supported faculties with test/exam administering and essay marking
- Member of a number of on-campus societies; project leader for a business/finance-related society and responsible for coordinating its largest ever intake of new students in a year

Work experience:

3 years MBB consulting:
- Broad industry experience (telecoms, FMCG, marketing, insurance, retail, oil & gas) focusing on strategy and operations, projects mostly based in South Africa. 1 promotion over tenure.
- Extras: volunteer in the recruiting team - speaking at campus presentations, judging case competitions, holding briefing calls for applicants

3 years senior data analyst (current role) at international big data analytics and consulting firm. 1 promotion to date:
- Senior team of the retail consulting team, delivering consumer and market reports to clients across multiple industries based off consumer banking data - a first in the local market. Indirectly managing 2-3 juniors per project
- One project highlight was recently delivering a population-risk model to the National Department of Health of SA to help with their covid-19 vaccine program by identifying locations of at-risk populations and algorithmically determining optimal locations of vaccination sites
- Extras: introduced new L&D system to better track development of analysts and consultants; developed new consulting skills training curriculum which I now deliver on a bi-annual basis

Other EC:
- Pro-bono consulting work for a local social development NGO (2020 to date)
- 2 month exchange to the Palestinian territories to teach english at a local education center (2016)

MBA:
- ST goals: product manager in tech-innovation space (think Google X) to learn how to commercialize and bring niche tech innovations with social focus to market
- Schools: Stanford, HBS, Wharton, MIT, Booth, Berkeley, Michigan, Fuqua, Tepper

Background and Nationality:
I am an Indian male(25 years old) currently working in the manufacturing sector(Tata Steel) as an Operations Manager.
Undergrad Information: BTech in Mineral Engineering (7.78/10 CGPA) with honors from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, 12th: 92.40%, 10th: 10 CGPA
GMAT: 760(V42,Q51)
Professional Work Experience: 2 years: Manager Operations, Tata Steel
I, alongside my team, worked towards stabilising the operations of a newly constructed 2MTPA capacity coal preparation plant and succeeded in doing so.

Volunteering Experience(during Undergrad):
2 years: Team Leader at AIESEC India: I worked in following portfolios: Event Management(5 events during college), Content marketing, Graphic Designing: local entity won 3 national awards, created graphic content for Tourism Industry of 2 Indian states
3 months cultural internship at AIESEC Krakow, Poland
Digital Experience Manager: AIESEC Russia (6 months)
Tata ProEngage volunteer program
Secretary at University department societies
Represented India as a delegate at International Conferences

Extracurriculars:
Attended and won at multiple inter-college sports meets
National level Table Tennis Player
National level Squash Player
State Level Badminton player
Marathon Runner: Started Running and Physique Transformation club in college
Post MBA goals: Social Entrepreneurship(in the field of sports), Strategy, General Management, Leadership

Target Schools: M7, Tuck, Duke Fuqua, Michigan Ross