Ask Marvel Admissions

Hi all,

this year I will be applying to MiM programmes at several universities in Europe. I have a question regarding my cv and mentioning my high school diplomas.

I graduated from high school in Germany with the normal Abitur like everyone else. Additionally, at my school we were given the opportunity to do the international baccalaureate on the side.
So I did that as well. The thing is, on the one hand this is quite rare so it might help me differentiate myself a bit and it shows that I am willing to work hard. On the other hand my IB is pretty mediocre with 34 points. That's not terrible, but my Abitur is a bit better and my Bachelor's degree will be significantly better. My GMAT score is 750.

So no now the question is whether I should mention my IB in addition to my Abitur. I feel that if grades are very important I'd better leave it out, but I am not sure on how important they are to application commities.

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice.

Hello,

Can you please evaluate my profile?

US Citizen, Male, Asian American
Age at matriculation- 26
GMAT- 700
Undergrad School- Community College for 2 years then UC Riverside for 2 years
Undergrad GPA- 3.8 Transfer GPA & 3.15 at a 4 Year GPA- Combined GPA is roughly 3.47
Degree- Bachelors in business administration with a concentration in financial economics

Work Exp - Financial Advisor for 1.5 years at boutique financial services firm
Part of a team that specialized in working with business owners in areas such as: advanced estate planning, business tax planning, and succession planning. Took this job right out of college for one reason: I knew that my presentation skills, sales skills, and relationship building skills were lacking and I wanted to put myself in a position that would force me to improve those skills. This was not the scenario where a college grad joins a company and starts selling insurance.

After that I began working at AAA Insurance as a Product Management Analyst. I took this role because it requires the analyst to lead multiple projects while working with multiple departments to directly meet and exceed revenue, sales goal, and retention goals for the company. This role involves presenting recommendations to executives that would impact the company. I will have worked here for 2.5 years when I matriculate at an MBA school. Prospect for me to receive a promotion looks slim not because I am undeserving but because it takes a long time for people to get promoted (i.e. all the managers in my department were working for 7+ years before they got promoted)

Extra Curriculars-
I have been the Vice President of a Young Entrepreneurs Organization for 2 years. The objective of this group is to promote an environment for young entrepreneurs to network, incubate ideas, form partnerships and learn from experts (we host a monthly workshop where we bring in a speaker). My responsibility is to increase our member base and increase participation at our events. We have grown to 1,500+ members and average 25 members per event.

I take health and wellness seriously, I eat right and consistently exercise 3 days a week and play basketball 4 days a week. Not sure if I can incorporate that in any way.

I have formed a Volunteer Organization. This is simply an organization where I post volunteer events and get groups of people to come out. I typically volunteer a couple times a month and have been doing this for about a year.

Goals with MBA:
Short Term: Management Consulting
Long Term: C-Suite Executive

Target schools: Booth, Kellogg, Darden, Ross, Cornell, Duke, UNC, McCombs, NYU, Columbia and USC.

Hi Marvel Consultants

Can you please evaluate my profile. I am very interested in doing MS, or MBA, in finance from some good asian university. Also, can you please suggest me some schools?

My GMAT score is 640 (Q50, V26, IR6). I have also taken GMAT last year. My score was: 620 (Q49, V26, IR:5). I am in no mood in taking another GMAT :p . Got some other engagements as well.


Work Experience:
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Regular Check Up Polyclinic (2013-Present)
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Description: I started a polyclinic, currently 3 clinics. We provide passive health-care services, such as dental, ayurved, and cardio.
Designation: Proprietor, Founder
Role: Founder , Entrepreneur- administrative and management , Marketing

NJ Solar Infra (P) Ltd. (2014-Present)
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Description: We consult our clients on solar project.
Our consultancy services include: developing of financial models-using excel, calculating depreciation and carrying out techno-economic viability
Working with another solar consultants to raise funds for small rooftop projects based on net metering
Designation: Director, Co-Founder
Role: Co-Founder, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Marketing: B2B & B2C

BU Group (Jun-Aug, 2012)
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Description: Focus on NDT testing
Designation: Intern
Role: Assisted company CEO (IITR Alumni)
Assisted the marketing team to carry out seminars in different companies and colleges for business development

WILLmed, Columbus, USA (May-Jul, 2010)
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Description: tech startup, focusing on non invasive glucose-meter
Designation: Intern
Role: Conducted competitive analysis with application of strategic and management tools
Analyzed medical data using MATLAB
*On tourist visa
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Education:
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Graduation College: Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Ropar
Major: Electrical Engineering
GPA: 7.55
Year: 2009-13

XII: 79.6% (2008-09)
X: 86.4% (2006-07)
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Academic Achievements:
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2016 Course: EDP on solar energy, under Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Certificate of Completion
2011 IIT Sem: 4 EE204: Signals and Systems Course rank # 1, Grade A
2010 IIT Sem: 2 MA102: Mathematics: Calculus 3D, Matrices, Space top 10 students among 800, Grade: A+
2010 IIT Sem: 2 Environmental Studies top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 PH101: Physics top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 MA101 Mathematics: Calculus 2D, Matrices top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 EC101A: C++ programming top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 Engineering Entrance Exam Results:
Category- GENERAL
IIT JEE: top 1% among 400,000 applicants
AIEEE: top 0.5% among 1,000,000 applicants
UPTU: top 0.1% among 250,000 applicants
2008 Senior Secondary Class Rank-1, IX
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Projects:
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Year Place Topic
2012-13 IIT To develop different market models for trading RECs in India
2012 IIT Valuation of Options, using Black Schole Method
2011 IIT Analysis on Modeling and Simulink of DC Motor and its Driving System Used for Wheeled Mobile Robot, using MATLAB
2011 IIT Valuation of Ford Share Price using Kalman Filter
2011 IIT Developed shoes that charge mobile phone using piezeo-elctric material, awarded: 2nd among 12 teams, certificate of honor & Trophy
2010 IIT Developed mobile appication: encrypting messages
2010 IIT Developed Solar Mailbox
2008 Class XII Recycling of Aluminium slab
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Social Services:
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Participation in Anti Child Labor Rally and Global Warming
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Extra Curricular Activities / Skills / Achievements
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Tennis
2011: IIT Kanpur- Sports fest - Certificate of Participation
2010: Inter IIT meet - Certificate of Participation
2004: Saifco Tennis Tournament - Certificate of Participation

Collage Magazine, IIT
Member, Editorial Team - Magazine Copy

Drama
2004 School Drama - Delhi Public School - Certificate of Participation

Debate/GD/ Speeches
2007-09 - Reference Letter

Vocab Competition
Mother Dairy Spell Vocab Challenger, Reached round-2 - Certificate of Participation

Science Competition
Young Scientist Talent Search Exam, under category-A - Certificate of Participation

Art Competition
1998 Class-2 - Certificate of Participation
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Post MBA/MS plans:
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short term: work in private equity
long term: start my private equity funds in India, focusing mostly on small companies that are still working on old management techniques.

Hello,

I hope you are well.

Would you be able to spend some time evaluating my profile and recommending some top schools that I should focus on?

GPA: 3.5 (from a business school in Hong Kong; majored in Finance; graduated in 2012)
Citizenship: India but have been living in Hong Kong for ~9 years now
Work: 6 Years (by the time I enroll) of institutional business development for a top investment bank (MS/GS/JP)
GMAT: 710 (Q48/V38/IR3/AW5); this is my biggest worry.

Other points to note:
- Have shown a 'habit of leadership' throughout life (high school, university, and work); see below.
- School Captain
- Overall Student Life Award at university for leadership and community integration
- Officially recognized as one of the most promising juniors in Asia (elected to sit on multiple leadership committees)
- Became responsible to cover the largest institutional clients in Asia just after 2 years at work (based on performance); our coverage even got recognized with a "best client service" award by the client directly.
- Specially selected by our international CEO of our business to lead a project based out of Asia
- Have gone through exceptional circumstances back home to reach where I am (none of my parents are educated, extremely poor background but went to one of the best high schools in Delhi, Dad passed away at an early age)
- Worked part time during university to support myself
- Don't have exceptional community service but actively mentor students at my secondary school back home and juniors at university)
- Trained for and ran a marathon
- LGBTQ
Would appreciate your thoughts on (apologies, in advance, for the long list of questions):
1) I have taken the GMAT multiple times but I am unable to do better under time constraints (and historically, this has been the case too). Is there a way I could address this? I am confident that I have the intellectual horsepower (at least for business school) when time is not a constraint.
2) What would be the ideal short-term goal for me to highlight? I am afraid that my real goal is too...different from what my current background would permit. Should I stick to a goal in the investment management industry alone? I understand that AdComs think carefully about whether a candidate will be able to achieve their immediate goal.
3) Given the Indian citizenship (Hong Kong resident for 9 years) and a relatively low GMAT, should I even target the top 10 schools? Ideally, I would really like to make it to a top 10 school - don't want to spend USD 250k(!!) anywhere else, really - but I am conscious of the competition from Indian male candidates.
4) Should I have one recommender from London and one from Hong Kong? Or do you think it would be better to have both from Hong Kong (since AdComs prefer to have people working close to you)?
5) Any 10-20 school that you would recommend for someone who wants to return to Asia? I don't want to work in the US.

Thank you your thoughts, in advance!

I agree your great writing.