Ask Marvel Admissions

Hi everybody

I got a GMAT score of 680 and i want to pursue MIM because i am an engineering graduate(petroleum engineer). My gpa is decent(6.8 on the scale of 10).
I have a good number of extracurricular activities on my resume.

1) Played(division 3) county cricket.
2) District Chess Champion.
3) Badminton and Lawn Tennis College champion for 2 consecutive years.
4) Held the post of sports secretary in my college(Highest post offered to a student).
5) Captain of the football team that won inter-college football tournament.
6) Captain of college cricket team.
7) Few hours of community service under my belt.
8) Few technical projects done during the college tenure.

Will be joining a MNC on 2nd jan, so i will get about 8 months of work ex before september 2013.

According to my profile i am looking for 2-3 decent colleges(with a good chance of selection). I am already considering Edhec business school.

Can anybody please help.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I am particularly interested in the investment management side of private wealth management. It is basically Asset Management but with client interaction and it requires strong investment management skills and good client handling skills.

My education and work experience has provided me with a thorough understanding of the technical skills required to be a private wealth manager. What I lack are strong inter personal skills, client handling skills, people skills, networking skills etc. The reason for doing an MBA now is to strengthen these skills, plus build a diverse professional network.

Also with almost five years of work experience, I feel that an MBA will be a more viable option that MiF.

What do you suggest?

Thanks for your time

Hi,

Can you please evaluate my profile.

Male , Indian , 24 years.

Academics:

Xth - CBSE -88%
XIIth - CBSE -90% (school topper)

B.com (H) - Delhi University - 67% ( First Division)
Masters in Commerce ( M.Com) - Delhi University - 60% ( First Division)

Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

GMAT : 660 (Q44 V 36) , IELTS 7.5


Total Full time work experience - 28 months plus 3.5 years of article ship experience

Major Tasks handled :

--->Lead a team of Chartered accountants for the Branch audit of a US$700 million public sector bank.

---> Handling the Internal Audit of the Companies as well as monitoring of the implementation of the systems and providing feedback to the top management with regular internal audit reports.

----> Company incorporation and getting all approvals ( FDI , RBI , FEMA , Ministry of Corporate affairs , Income Tax Deptt.etc) of a company listed in Shanghai
stock exchange.

-----> Managing the accounts and working as a financial controller for an award winning SBA certified US multinational company's Indian subsidiary.

----> Analysis of Cash Flows & Funds Flows

----->Preparation and Filing of Service tax returns

------> Filling Statutory forms with Registrar of Companies and Income Tax Returns for Clients.

------> Part of team responsible for preparation of Project Reports and offer suggestions about resource utilization, tax strategies, and assumptions underlying budget forecasts.

----- > Implementation of various tax and accounting software and training to the employees.

Extra curriculars:

1.) Bronze medal in an All India essay writing competition held by an NGO in special consultative status with the economic and
social council of the United Nations.

2.) Have received certificates of Merit and Honor of distinction in various Quiz competitions.

3.) Was a part of the placement cell of the my college and now I am a executive member of the Governing Body of the Alumni Association.

4.) Volunteer and the committee member of a non profit society which helps to promote Indian culture through traditional performances and
provides support to the talented children in the country.

5.) Love listening to music . Have created few mixes [ Will not yet call it yet as DJ level mixes ]

Currently working in my family firm (CA firm ) . Post MBA : Plan to lead the firm and expand it through various services. (Entrepreneur)

I am worried about my low GMAT score but it will be difficult to retake it again .The years of work experience is not as per the average of 3-5 years
but I personally feel spending 3.5 years as an article assistant and then working as an full time employee for 27 months in the same firm is sufficient .

I will appreciate if you could provide me with some B schools I can target. My preference is US .
I am confused regarding some colleges so I am providing you with the full list.

1.) UCLA
2.) Ross
3.) Darden
4.) Fuqua
5.) Cornell
6.) Tuck
7.) UC Davis
8.) Stern
9.) Tepper

Long list Please let me know if I can aim for any other colleges.

Thank you for your time. appreciate it.

Hello,

I would sincerely appreciate a profile evaluation. The following is my information.

Thank you.
GatorToMBA
_____________

Academics/Scores
* 3.49 GPA majoring in Political Science and Marketing
* 700 (48Q,37V) GMAT on second attempt. First attempt was 640 (47Q, 32V)- had 5.5 AWA and 7/8 IR on first attempt.
* Attended top state school with full-tuition scholarship
* Also received merit/leadership scholarship for 3 years
* Graduated in 2007

Awards
* Ranked top 20 student leader in state by now defunct magazine
* Inducted in to university's hall of fame (50,000+ student body)
* various leadership awards

Demographic
* Underrepresented Asian American (Southeast Asian where 1 in 10 never attend college)
* Male, 29 years old at matriculation
* Born/raised in the Southeast USA

Leadership
* Founded first Asian fraternity in state
* President of Asian organization on campus
* Founded Freshman leadershp development program for Asians on campus
* Elected into top 3 Student Government executive position
* Ran for student body president and lost
* Served as Director for National fraternity since graduation (5 years)
* Part of founding new Asian Alumni organization for my college

Professsional
* 1 of 12 students selected for a State Government year-long internship/fellowship (learned that I did not want to work in Government)
* After internship, started eCommerce niche apparel company
* Decided to work elsewhere post-graduation but maintained equity ownership
----
* Joined international retailer to help company expand in to state (wanted to see how a big business grows/expands)
* Was a retail District Manager and launched two locations
* Managed store's P/L and hired/trained 20+ employees
* worked here for just under 2 years
----
* returned to eCommerce business I started to pursue interest in entrepreneurship
* rebuilt website and developed competency in Web Development (HTML, CSS, etc)
* Hired/Trained/Developed all employes (20+) using my experience as a District Manager
* Created all policy/procedure manuals based on experience as DM
* Lead acquisition of two local small biz competitors
* Grew company from ~300k to $1MM+ in three years
* Sold equity ownership in company this year (Aug 2012) to take advantage of low cap gains tax and to pursue bigger goals
----
* was immediately hired as a Project Manager for a small start-up company (3 FT employees, 5 PT contractors)
* managing portfolio of 12 clients - all small to medium sized biz
* currently work with clients and developers to create eCommerce websites
* utilizing my technical experience as biz owner and ability to communicate with people
* translate biz requirements to technical developers and vice versa

Goals/Why MBA
* MBA will help address my weakness in acct/finance. I was a people manager.
* Opport to network with students and share entrepreneur background via MBA
* Small Biz experience inadequate to run big biz with 100+ employees and $10MM+ revenue
* Short Term - work for large eComm company (eBay, Amazon, Wal-Mart, etc) and gain experience in Big Business.
* Long-Term - with big biz experience, launch a company in emerging Made-to-Order apparel eCommerce space
__________

I am applying to a few Top 10 schools, hoping for Top 5 in early January rounds and scrambling to write essays. I have the following challenges/questions:
* Not much out there about how to position myself as an entrepreneur, esp in essays
* No international experience
* Leadership outside work has been heavy Asian community focused although consistent since graduation
* Relatively old (29) Asian Male Candidate may be stereotyped - not sure how to position my under-represented Asian status
* Retail Manager experience is somewhat un-traditional - most do not pursue MBA.
* Mostly small biz background
* My Verbal GMat score is lower than my practice tests - actually spent time focusing on Quant because i thought it was a weakness - but failed to address Verbal sufficiently. Retake post application?
* BIG PROBLEM - Letters of rec are weak - using biz partner who also sold equity in business, National leader in fraternity, and administrator from college. None are technically "direct supervisors" - cannot use my current supervisor for fear of losing job - and my oldest company has a policy against LORs. Letters of rec already in play/submitted.

Christine,

Thanks for your reply, and your insight on UNC. I do feel that KF has a pretty good training program for consulting, but I am still a little unsure of their ability to open doors for MBB placement.

I am applying for a few schools for round 2. At this point in the process, would I benefit from any admissions consulting, or am I past most of the major hurdles?

Thanks,