Ask MBA Crystal Ball

10th - 84%
12th - 95.5%
BTech - EEE - 83% JNTU Hyderabad

Work experience - SW engineer . 5 years (Fortune 100 company - embedded systems)
Indian

GMAT score - 680 (Q49 , V 33)

Target schools:
UCLA, NYU Stern, Cornell, University of Cambridge

Extra curricular activies:
- President of college association , presented technical papers
- Community work as part of CSR

Looking for a general management degree (not yet decided in specialization. Not considering marketing as I do not have much interest in that field)

I would like to know whether I have a chance of getting admission in above mentioned colleges? Am I not including colleges which I should have considered.

MBA Essays: 9 pitfalls to avoid while writing business school application essays

It’s a relief to be done with the GMAT preparation and move on to the main MBA application. The most ominous part now is to write the MBA essays. The best written MBA essays can open up the doors to the final round – MBA interviews. But for many, an interview may never happen as the Admission Committee has already made up its mind (based on your essays) that you aren’t good enough for their program for that year.

You may have done your research on what you should do when it comes to MBA essays. However it’s also a good idea to have the knowledge of what to avoid in your MBA essays so that you don’t inadvertently shoot yourself in the foot. So here’s a list of 8 things to watch out for while working on your MBA application...read more.

Sirji, I checked out your other posts (including the obsession with Hult) and though I have my theories, frankly I'm not sure what your intention is.

But anyway, good luck to you my friend. May Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati shower their blessings on you.

IIMA PGPX careers: Private Equity jobs on your mind?



The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) offers a one year MBA program called the Post Graduate Program in Management for Executives (PGPX) that is unlike any other in the world. Exaggeration? Not really if you consider the profile of candidates targeting the program (average age of 34 years, average work experience of over 10 years with 4.5 years internationally) and the extremely competitive selection process (average GMAT score 713). None of the global programs can match that combination.

We found the perfect alumnus (from the first PGPX batch) to tell us more about the program. Vivek Joshi had a Chemical Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B) and a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from USA. He placed his trust in the PGPX course when the course was just launched, did amazingly well academically and took up a job in Private Equity. He is currently an Associate Director at...Read more

Entrepreneurship: Thinking of making money from a franchisee business model?

In the book ‘Beyond The MBA Hype’ I talk about alternative options to explore to reach some popular post-MBA goals. Launching an entrepreneurial venture is one of them.

Probably that’s what prompted an MBA aspirant on one of the MBA discussion forums where MBA Crystal Ball has a presence, to wonder whether he should re-direct his tuition fees (roughly 60 lakh rupees) to being a franchise owner for a popular fast-food chain.

His situation was unique as he had already applied to several business schools and had got an offer from a good school. But he was unsure of what the two years in a classroom would give him that he couldn’t get directly. He expressed his … Read entire article »

Hi Sameer,

I need suggestion about the direction I need to take from here on. I gave my GMAT recently and scored 690 (48 Q and 37 V). I am confused with this score.

Brief -
I am an IT consultant from India ( I know!). I had 3.6 GPA in undergrad and I did my MS from Wayne State University with GPA of 3.3.

I have been working for over 5 years now and I enjoy my job. I like to lead from the front and I am ready to solve any problem thrown at me. I have strong recos from my current and previous bosses who themselves went to MIT and Univ of Wisconsin @ Madison respectively, if that helps at all.

But in last 3-4 years I have developed a new passion and I want to make it my profession. I have almost been working 14-16 hours a day (actual job and parallely pursuing my passion) since last few years. I am very passionate about investment management/equity research.

I want to make a career switch to investment/asset management. For this reason going to university below top 15 is not an option for me. I read books after books on investments and I enjoy going through company reports. I have my own little software to calculate the fair value of a company. Last year I came across some IB interview questions from UT Austin and was able to answer more than 60% of questions by the bank. I have never ever felt such clarity of goal and direction in life as in last few years. I have started seeing myself as a portfolio manager in 10 years time.

I single handedly launched a website for mutual funds that is and will be shortly doing so for stocks. This is non profit website that is for people who cant afford professional service.
https://www.mutualfundsforfuture.com/

I have been maintaining few portfolios since three years. In fact I plan on opening a company down the line that will provide a similar service but will be far more detailed.
https://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/PortfolioSharing/SharedPortfolioSnapshot.aspx?q=BC40CC613C939B0C

But the bottom line is - Is 690 enough for career switch?

On personal front I enjoying running marathons (I have couple of half marathons under my belt and am planning on a full next year) and I play a bit of guitar. Every now and then I do some volunteer work for the Indian temple in Austin.


Thanks
Sumeet

MBA essays: How important is the word count

Having word limit problems while writing MBA essays? If not, sooner or later, you’ll face the frustrating roadblock. Here are a few questions that may pop up in your mind about the word limits for your MBA essays and some perspectives to help you navigate them.

Q1 - Words give my thoughts wings and allow me to fly. Why, oh why, then would anyone be so cruel as to restrict the word count and curtail my flight?

The very purpose of giving you a specific word count is to … Read entire article »

MBA Essays: How to write essays within the word limit

In an earlier post, we had talked about why MBA essay word counts are important and why you should not overshoot (or for that matter, undershoot) those word limits. That brings up the logical next question – what can you do to ensure that the tedious and frustrating process of knocking out sections from your fully drafted essay can be minimised.

There are no right or wrong ways to do this and you might have already thought about how you want to approach it. For those who don’t want to spend time on discovering and fine-tuning an approach, here’s a quick start … Read entire article »

Hi,

For the first 3 schools, the GMAT could be a challenge. For the last one, experience could be a challenge. So do consider other schools as well, where you can strike the right balance between experience, GMAT and overall fit.

Dear MBA Crystal Ball team,

I have received a ADMIT in HULT BOSTON Campus 2012 session , I am a bit confused - as on now this is the only admit i have - have applied to HKUST R1 , Emory 1 year MBA and result awaited from them. I have to pay commitment fee of USD 3,500 by 1st december.

Need your candid views on HULT specially BOSTON campus - please reply to this. thanks

Testimonial from the MBA Crystal Ball Facebook page

Hello Sameer,

Please evaluate my profile and let me know what is the probability for getting selected in the institutes mentioned.

My MBA interest: Full Time, finance,marketing.

GMAT (on Nov 19, 2011) - 710 (Q50, V36)


Total Work Exp: 5.5 yrs ( IT )
1 years 9 months in India (IBM India, Bangalore)
3 years 8 months in Canada (IBM Canada,Toronto + AON Hewitt , Toronto)

At Present working in Canada (Toronto) for a major Human Resource Outsourcing firm - AON Hewitt

Sex – Male
Age – 28 yrs
Nationality - Indian ( Canadian PR)

Current Responsibilities:
Business Technology Analyst.

I am responsible for Requirements Analysis, Technical design of enhancement requests. Responsible for reviewing others work. Making Recovery Plan and leading from the front during major incidents. Conducting Post Incident Reviews. Communicating with the Business Users to get the requirements for any new change request.

I work in Peoplesoft (ERP) Technology. Supported Major Bank of Canada in their Funds Transfer Pricing, management allocation and HR modules.

While in IBM, I have lead a team of 10 members and was instrumental in optimisation of the client's processes to decrease the overall processing time.

Education:
B. E. (Computer Science) from NIT (REC) Durgapur, 2006 passout, 79.1% marks
XII – 88%, CBSE board
X – 85.6%, CBSE board

ECs:
1. While doing B.E. participated in IEEE international conference and presented paper
2. Actively Involved with World Vision India in sponsoring education for underprivileged children.
3. Volunteered in Office to conduct security audits to prevent any confidential material from getting exposed.


I would like to know if my profile is good enough for getting selected to the following institutes.

1. ISB Hyderabad
2. IIM Ahmedabad
3. York University Toronto (Schulich)
4. Nanyang Singapore
5. NUS Singapore

------
Somu

Hi Sumeet,

The brand names won't mean much in isolation. If your recommenders understand how the MBA process works and what Adcoms are looking for in the recos, then that'll help you more.

If the passion has lasted for such a long time, it's more than just a passing fad. You have found your calling, bro!

Thought you were managing a few portfolios already? If you can demonstrate that you are better equipped (than your competition) with the skills and the strong intuition that is needed to sniff out winners, after you've done the basic groundwork with data-analysis, then you've got a strong application simmering out there.

In the management world, be careful about overselling the 'single-handedly' part. In the nice, collegial corporate world, it's all about team work, remember?

3 years is a long enough time to make judgements about your investing skills. How have you performed in a market that's been pretty volatile?

I managed it with a GMAT score less than that. So I might be biased, but I think it is possible.

I need advice about how to proceed further with my grad school application.

I have a score of 650 Q44, V35 (disappointing, because I expected 700)
I'm aiming at Said, Judge and LBS MiF for the January 2012 deadlines.
A bit about my background, CA and FRM holder working for over 5 years in a Big 4 (10th-88%, 12th-88%, Undergraduate : 62% in Accountancy Honours)

Does this profile give me a chance to be accepted at these schools?

Optional MBA Essays: How to decide if you should use them

After you’ve taken care of the compulsory MBA essays, there’s the open canvas of the optional MBA essay looking at you enticingly…all white and pure…waiting for you to colour it with the palette that you hold. Will you jump at the opportunity or will you let it go?

The enthusiastic ones would look at it as the last open window to squeeze in all the brilliant things that they think the Adcoms need to know about them. Stuff that they were not able to cover in the mandatory MBA essays. Others may treat it like the psychologist’s couch where you can explain all the things that went wrong in your life and why you were not the one to blame. The lazy ones (‘overworked’, sounds better?) would think … Read entire article »

Are MBA jobs in consulting and investment banking coming back?

The best management consulting firms, investment banks, technology companies and several top notch companies appear to have shaken off their post recession blues and decided to give their HR teams reason to start consuming increased amounts of caffeine.

Firms like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Google, Bain & Co, Amazon, Booz, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble opened their doors to many MBA graduates this season. This would come as a relief to many who were concerned that a top MBA might not yield the returns that candidates expect from it.

Many would say management consulting firms are 'recession proof'… Read entire article »

Hi,

I'm pretty ignorant about this school. It doesn't figure in the Mock Application Process that we do and none of the guys we've worked with have had it on their shortlist. So I'm afraid I can't help you much there, brother.

Maybe you could reach out to current students/alumni to get more info. Ideally you should've done that before applying.

For the others reading this, ending up in a situation like this and being forced to take a decision under pressure and with limited information should be best avoided. Do you homework about the school before you apply.