Ask ISB Alumni @ ThinkISB

Dear sandi,

Tuck and Ross will be reach schools but it is good to keep them. Both are good for consulting placements but I don't think they'll be strong in telecom placements. Tepper is a good school in that regard that can offer you a mix of the two. Your profile is competitive for other schools.

Have you crafted your career goals just because you are in telecom or is it really why you want to do an MBA for? Do email us at contact@thinkisb.com for further discussion.

Dear dks22,

If you are doing BD after 5 years in IT, it is really good. Your overall analysis:

We find your profile weak in academics. 65% in undergrad and 700 in GMAT will make life a bit tough. But as we said earlier, your work ex sounds good. But with so little information, it is difficult to comment. With BD, you need to show how much business have you gained for the organization you work for. How many leads have you generated/converted?

For extra currics, if you were seriously involved, do not worry about certificates. What matters is how much engaged are you now? which is weak.

So your strength in the application seems to be your work experience. There may be other stories from your background but we need to have a brainstorming session to bring those out. As of now, refine your experience to stand out from the crowd.

Hi ThinkISB,

Staying in the telecom industry and getting a very good exposure in work, I have gained a lot of insight of the industry. And if I stay in telecom industry I will be able to excel faster and justify my past experience. Moreover I have got huge interest in telecom. At the same time I will be open for consulting in other domains as well.

Can you please suggest few more b-schools(a mix of stretch and safe) which will fit my profile and goals. This will be very helpful in finalizing my b-school list.

Really appreciate the support I am getting from you!! Thanks in advance!!

Regards.
Sandi

Dear Sandi,

Apologies for the direct question in the previous reply. We just wanted to ensure that you have given enough thought to your career goal. Ideally a lot more information is required to comment on perfect schools to apply to because a lot of question about fitment come into the picture. But based on the available information and considering your career goals, you have a good shot at ISB, NUS, HEC, McCombs, UNC and Kelly. Strech schools would be Tepper, Cornell, UCLA, HAas and Columbia.

At the end, it all depends on how you craft your application.

All the best.

Hi ThinkISB.

It is okay. Your asking personal question, shows the concern you have for applicants like us.

Your comments are highly valuable.

What are your comments on Emory and Rotterdam for my profile.

Do you suggest me to apply for the stretch schools you have mentioned? If yes please mention which 2 according to you shall I target[pocket wont allow me so many ] which can be somewhat nearer to my reach. (Include ROSS and TUCK also in your list)

Regards.
Sandi

Emory can be a comfortable school for you, so is Rotterdam. If you are ready to work in Western Europe post MBA, Erasmus (Rotterdam) is good. The only problem that may arise is the knowledge of local language preference in Europe if you are in consulting, and that too business level. So be ready to pick a language and be an expert in it before you graduate.

Pick 1 or at most 2 schools from the stretch list. We just provided a comprehensive list of which you can shortlist based on location, class size, faculty, etc preferences. For example, life at Tuck is very different from that in Columbia only because of the location. Haas (~500) and Ross (~900) will give you different experience because of the difference in their class sizes. So define your experience expectation and pick a school. If you can visit a school, do that. We strongly encourage you to do so. This will help you make a decision.

Hi ThinkISB,

Emory is in Atlanta, US.

One final query - How do you see my chances in ISB based on my profile? Waiting with my fingers crossed for interview call!!

Anyways thanks a lot for giving so much details. When can I reach you on your number? Would like to have detailed discussion.

Regards.
Sandip

Dear Sandip,

Sorry for the typo. I meant Erasmus Notterdam: corrected the earlier reply.

You can reach us by emailing us at contact@thinkisb.com or call us anytime comfortable to you.

Hi ThinkISB

Thanks for your support!

Kindly evaluate my profile:

GMAT: 710 (V38 Q49)
XII: 91.2%
GPA: 2.74
UnderGrad: NIT
Workex: 3 years Application Developer in Financial Products

Work involved working with Business unit to finalize product specifications, estimation of project duration, allocating resources, etc.
Was a project lead for a major spec.

Sports: Member of College Hockey team, Company football and athletics team, Karate purple belt
Community: Part of National Service Scheme and Give Life (providing basic education to under-privileged kids, and doing community development).
Initiatives: Initiated Company's News segment - was the editor and reporter for it, Spokesperson to media in college cultural festivals, Editor for the college magazine

Please give me your feedback.

My specific queries:
How crucial is AWA (got 4)?
Done few technical certifications. How relevant and value-additive are these?
I am targeting Product Management. How do I project myself ( i.e. does my work come under Product development category? ) and what courses in ISB helps this out?
Which other Bschools can I target with my profile and goal?

Thanks In Advance
Chirag

Hi thinkISB,
pls evaluate my profile.

Male/Indian/24 Years old.
Undergrad study: Bachelor of Engineering. Graduated with 1st class (74 %) out of 100.
GMAT: 710 (Q50/V34) / AWA 5.0

Work Experience(Will be 4 years by admit time):
- Working as a senior software developer in a mid level startup (around 1200 employees). Its a IT product company. The employee count was around 500 when i joined 3.5 yrs back. The company was having very small business at that time.no international clients and very few indian clients. In the past 4 yrs company has made great strides in terms of acquiring new customers both in india and across the globe. It has signed multi million dollar deals with 2 big global telecom giants.Software developer profile was not just limited to development it also involved requirement gathering & sometimes involved in direct discussions & solution presentation to clients at their premises.

- Very small international work ex of 25 days. This is the biggest international deployment of the company in terms of revenues. Was directly dealing with the client in these 25 days on the technical front (and it was a very short time span in which the whole system was made live).

- Can get very good recommendations from my technical manager as well as business manager. My manager is currently the engineering director of the company.

- Working as a intern in motorola electronics during my graduate course for a period of 7 months. Was involved in a technical aspect of a bid presentation by motorola for a multi crore Rs tender (biggest at that time in indian telecom domain). But my work involved only the technical part. My work was to minimize the number of towers, so based on the final number of cell towers they have to estimate the cost for the bid.


post-MBA career goal: business development/statergy consulting

Extra curricular:
- Was an active participant in professional sports. Participated till state level in 2 sports during school time. Was a member of college sports team. Participated from my company for intercorporate tournaments and won them. There were around 20 companies participating in that tournaments and i won across 3 different sports. Have certificates for all of them.
- Working for an NGO for last 5 months.
- Won many performance awards at work. Includes highest award for recognition(2 times)
- Involved in various cultural societies in college.


I am planning to apply to ISB, NUS, Nanyang, HKUST, schulich.

My queries-
1 ) Is my profile good enough to target these schools. What are my chances in them? Or should i downgrade my choices a bit.
2) Does the verbal/quant split in gmat score seen by these schools ? As my score split is not that good ,so how will it effect my chances?
3) Can i upgrade my school choices to include said oxford and hec paris. What are my chances in these?
4) Since the company i am working in is no more a start up now(1200 employees) and at the time when i joined there were 500 employees. So can i project this as a start up in some way ?

any other of your suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

Dear Chirag,

Your XII percentage was good, but what happened in undergrad? 2.74 (assuming a scale of 4) is low. GMAT of 710 with IT experience is, to be frank a bit low. So in acads, you would be rated as average. Let's look at other things.

Regarding your work, what you have mentioned is a regular day to day work. What makes a difference, rather what a B-school wants to look at is your leadership potential displayed at work, and how good a team player are you. Did you take any initiative at work? Did you contribute something positive by doing something that was out of your defined scope of work? If yes, do mention that.

Your extra curricular has a lot of activities, but the only spike we see come from your initiatives in media related activities. It looks like your interest lie in this area. We'd like to know more about that.

From the above analysis, we'll answer your questions:

It is important as your writing style is reflected through that. 4, though low is not a make or break. So don't fret over it.

These are a definite value add to your profile only if you show how these help you at work. Or how you have capitalize on these certifications to contribute at your work place.

You answer whether your work involves product development. Do you have an understanding of the impact of the product you are working on in the market? Do you understand what business problem is solved and how it fares in the overall industry impact? Are you able to gauge the market requirement of the product you are developing? These are some questions that you need to understand and more importantly demonstrate that you understand to make yourself fit for product management.

It depends where you want to study and stay post MBA.

Dear kaushals,

From your overview, it looks like you have a strong profile but you are not able to articulate it well. We need to understand more. When you mention that the employee count grew from 500 to 1200, what was your contribution in it? If nothing, then this fact is insignificant. When you say the company has signed multi-million dollar deals with 2 new clients, in what capacity were you involved? See the point we're trying to make is that it is YOUR application, and not your company's. Make yourself the center of the description and tell the admissions committee what YOU have done. Make sure you frame your essays in this manner. Example, what did you get the highest award for recognition at work? We're more interested in knowing that.

710 is an average score for your profile (unless you bring out your true contribution as a BD specialist in your essays) and a split of 50/34 is quite common, though biased. Don't fret too much over it.

Is your choice of schools in line with your career goals? Does NUS, Nanyang, etc give you good options in strategy consulting? Please research by looking at the sample recruiter list of the schools from their website.

Whether your company is a startup or not, does not make a difference. What makes a difference is your contribution. Read above.

It has been a pleasure reading your profile evaluations for other candidates on this forum. It would be great to get your input on my chances for an admit in ISB. I also intend to apply to top 10 US and international Business Schools for Fall 2011 intake.

Here is my profile:

Education:
Age: 31
Bachelor of Technology - Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay, India 2003.
Master of Technology - Computer Aided Design and Automation, IIT Bombay, India 2003

GPA - 7.3/10 - translates to approximately 3.2/4 ( It was an integrated course, so GPA is same for BTech and MTech)

GMAT - 780 ( Q51 V46) AWA-5.0

Work Ex - Total 7 years. 5+ years international experience.

3.5 years in Auto Industry Focused Software Development ( CAD/CAM softwares ). Worked as an expert consultant for Big 3. Coordinated and Partially Managed a team of up to 8 employees.
3.5 years as Senior Analyst for an Auto part retailer ( Fortune 500 ) with a strong focus on IT.

EC :
1. Started a free school for underprivileged kids in my hometown in India. The school is still running successfully with a strength of 200+ students. It is completely free for students and runs on government grants and private charities.
2. Active member of Community programs run by my company for local community schools.
3. Active member of Technology festival and Cultural Festival committees during my college. Head of organizing committee for Alumni Day Functions organized during my senior year in college.

I am looking for programs with strong entrepreneurial focus and intend to work in Consultancies with focus on retail sector for a few years before starting my own business. Please give your inputs on my chances for getting an admission in ISB . What else can I do to improve my profile?

Thanks for your inputs.

Ashutosh.

Hi Think ISB team,

My name is Gautrav and i am planning to apply for ISB 2011 R2.Your feedback on my profile would be of greta help.

Work _ex: 4+ years as on today.For 2 years i am working with one of the top hospitality firms in the world in capacity of manager-IT projects where i am responible for planning and supervising IT implementations of upcoming 5 star hotels in india-bagladesh-Maldives region.I have so far handled opening of three 5 stars in India.
I am also part of the division(Asia pacific ) team for IT security and awareness projects.
Previously i was working with an IT MNC as ERP consultant where i was involved in ERP implementation projects.Did two implementations there right from Feasebilty analysis to 'go live'.

Graduation : Engineering,First class with Distinction (67%).

12th : 89.5 % (ISC)
10th : 90.2 % (ICSE)

GMAT : 690 (Q 49,v 34) (4.5)

EC: Represented scholl at district level basket ball and badminton.
Quite a few Debate and Quiz participation on national level
Certified Service cultutre trainer for my organisation.
Active member of NSS in college
Member of 'activity circle ' in college
Core team member for College fest.
Certified level 1 fire fighter
Please let me know your views on my proifle and if you could suggest me colleges i should apply for.

Hi Think ISB team,

My name is Amit and i am planning to apply for ISB 2011 R2. I have to take my GMAT exam this month end. I Would like you to evaluate my profile.

Work Experience: 4+ years as of today. Out of my work experience i have about 3 years and 8 months of experience in Telecom Industry with one of the top US Telecom Service Providers but i was based out of India. Have 3 months of onsite experience in US. I started with this organization and moved on from a Software Developer to Sr. Software Developer with responsibilities ranging from getting the attending requirement gathering session with the clients and getting the requirements, designing the application changes and distributing the work among the team-members and reviewing the work. I have been a leading performer for the organization and have a very good track record with them having 5-6 certificates of appreciation and excellence.

As the human brain craves for variety, I have moved on to join one of the leading IT companies in India and changed my domain to Banking and Financial services. My responsibilities here are very much the same, getting requirements, designing the system and handling a team of 4-5 people.

My Academic profile is as below:-
Graduation : B.Tech in Computer Science with 83% (was a Gold Medalist for my batch)
12th : 76 % (CBSE)
10th : 84 % (PSEB)

My EC:
In my current organization, won a silver medal for being the runner-ups in Cricket competition.
In my current organization, won a certificate of excellence in Thought Leadership event.
Was the founding members of ACE(Computer Society) in my college and have organized many events.
Won a University silver medal for acting.
Have participated and won declamation contests during my graduation.
Have performed/won in skits/plays in almost all the annual day events during graduation.
Had won a National Scholarship for meritorious performance in Matriculation.

All of the above can be supported with the required certificates and medals.


Please evaluate my profile and provide inputs on my candidature and possible GMAT score which would be good enough for ISB. Any suggestions on any other colleges would be welcome too..

Hi,

I am planning to apply for ISB in R2. Please evaluate my profile. Thanks in advance for your help

Age/Nationality/Gender: 27/ Indian / Male

GMAT Score : 760 (Q50,V41) AWA 4.5

Work Experience : 6.5 years in an Indian IT company with 4.5 years in USA. Most of my experience(~5 yrs) involved working for a single client in the Banking and Financial Services domain. Over time my role changed from developer to Tech Lead to Architect in the Application Integration space.

Academics :
10th : 87%
Intermediate/12 : 91.3%
Under Graduation : 75% (B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering from JNTU, Hyderabad)

Extra Curricular Activities : Long Distance Running. Ran 2 full marathons(Twin Cities Marathon 2009 , Mumbai Marathon 2010) , a half marathon(New Prague 2009) and a 193 mile relay race(Ragnar great river 2010) in the last 2 years.

Thanks
Harsha

Dear Ashutosh,

Your profile is solid academically. GPA is a bit on the average side, but your GMAT score is rock solid. Plus IIT Bombay tag would help. Your work-experience also looks good. It is different from most of the applicants, so you score high on the scale of diversity. But we need to see the real meat in work-ex which is the leadership experience. We won't be able to comment on that with the limited information we have.

On extra curricular front too, you have engaged yourself throughout and a passion is reflected in whatever you do.

Regarding your career goals. ISB does have a strong entrepreneurial focus and will provide you with the necessary tools. To make your application effective, make sure you back your career goals statement with what you have done and how a consulting firm with retail focus is a natural progression to your career with an MBA as an added skillset. Your long term goal would still need more clarity.

With a carefully written application in which you can highlight your strengths effectively, we strongly encourage you to apply to ISB.