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MBACrystalBall
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 12 Aug 2010, 22:30
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rnemani
Hi,
Nice post ( I tried going to your web site it seems to be down). Could you please advice me on the executive MBS program. Here is my profile:

1) Over 17 years of IT industry experience
2) Over 7 years as an entrepreneur
3) GMAT score - 670
4) I have a decent career progression as an entrepreneur and want to do Executive MBA to help me successfully take one idea all the way through. I am launching ideas which do not seem to go anywhere, the reason being is that I do not know how to take an idea all the way through. I wish to learn that from MBA.
5) I am interested in applying to Columbia-Haas executive MBA program and Wharton executive MBA program.

What I am looking for is that how would you evaluate my profile and secondly, I took my GMAT in Decemeber 2008. Would you recommend I take GMAT again and shoot for 700+ score

Thanks for your analysis of my profile
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rnemani-ji namaste,

rnemani
Nice post ( I tried going to your web site it seems to be down).
Show more
We had been having trouble with our hosting servers for quite a while. I read your comment and got our website moved on to a new server. We lost the annual hosting charges that we had paid the earlier company. Talk about taking feedback seriously :-)

Pls allow me 30 seconds to to vent my spleen and also attempt to package it in the form of advice. For anyone planning to host their new websites on a dependable, reliable server, my recommendation - stay away from Godaddy.com. For domain registrations, they are ok. For hosting, there are far better ones.
Aah! Frustration released. I feel light now. Let's get back to the main topic of this post.

rnemani
1) Over 17 years of IT industry experience
2) Over 7 years as an entrepreneur
3) GMAT score - 670
Show more
Successful entrepreneurs are cool! But failed entrepreneurs who don't give up, rock big time. So hats off to you for hanging in there.

rnemani
Would you recommend I take GMAT again and shoot for 700+ score
Show more

Haanji. If you think the current score doesn't reflect your potential, then I'd give it another try. Been a while since you spent time in a class, you could use your score to emphasise your kick-a$$ mental processing capabilities.

rnemani
5) I am interested in applying to Columbia-Haas executive MBA program and Wharton executive MBA program.
Show more
Ok. So here comes our story. Last season, we helped a candidate with his essays (point to be noted, as we'll come back to this) for the same two schools for the same Exec MBA programs. He didn't get into either one (honest transparent disclosure at the risk of adversely impacting our business). He got feedback from both and that's why I bring this up.

Berkeley gave him the feedback, basically pointing a finger at two things - one point highlighted in his recos and another parameter relating to his personal data. For confidentiality reasons, I can't get into the details. As we only had access to his essays, we had no clue what would go in the rest of the application till he gave us a post-facto update.

Wharton actually recommended that he re-apply and he'd have a very strong chance of getting an offer. The competition within his pool last year was intense.

These situations are always tricky as we're not sure if we should be happy that the essays were good or sad because the candidate didn't get into the program of his choice.

rnemani
I am launching ideas which do not seem to go anywhere
Show more
Interesting. I'd like to know more about this. If you don't want to share your stories here, we can continue the interaction offline. Maybe we can jointly do some analysis of the possible reasons (no charge for non-MBA related brainstorming, sir, just doing this out of personal interest). For all you know, it might be something that an expensive Exec MBA degree may or may not not help you fix.
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MBACrystalBall
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jaintanvi
Hey Sameer!
Thanks for a great conversation. The best thing I've liked about all of MBA Crystal interactions (despite a name that signifies mumbo-jumbo, than anything else) and posts are that even tho you are in the business of giving advice, you do it so freely and openly unlike some other consultants who will make some generic blog posts about getting in (like "make sure your essays fit with the college"..duhh!) and then want to charge you for everything.
You did put things in perspective for me and as of now if I do, I would like to use MBAcrystal for my essay services.
Look forward to more conversations.

Keep up the good work!

Best, Tanvi
Show more
Thanks, Tanvi. Aapke khule dil ki taareef ne hame khush kar diya.

jaintanvi
...despite a name that signifies mumbo-jumbo, than anything else...
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Ouch! I'm sure there's a compliment hidden in there somewhere. Only a matter of finding out where.
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 16 Aug 2010, 00:47
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Hi Sameer,

Thanks for the wishes man...!!!

Yeah Im planning to get into the application mood...As you know i belong the IT Male Group, Im looking for some good B schools which accept young applicants(3yrs WE). Here's brief about me:

Area's of interest: General Management and Consulting.
GMAT: 700
Toefl: 97

Age: 24

Degree: Btech in Electronics and Instrumentation [cgp 3.5/4.0]
In india 's No1 Private Engineering College

High school : 98.3% [100 percent in math in both years ]

Work : -SAP Business Intelligence Consultant for the past 2 years in India top Software firm.

-Worked on Business processes like Order to Cash, Procure to Pay , Supply Chain management and Inventory Management.
-Represented my company in a leadership training program in MIT [ cambridge ].Was the first Individual from my company to do so. [Total employees = 200,000] was the youngest and the first TCS employee to havegot selected for it.
-Team Lead for a 5 member group.[ After just 1 year of technical exp I was promoted to this position --a very rare occurence in this indusrty]

Co-Curricular:
-Member of TCS Maitree - an inititative to help the poor sections of Indian society
-Member of KVCP for the past 7 years - a government initaitive to help the street children of Andhra pradesh[ its a kind family initiative ...all of us do participate in it]
-The first TCS'er to join the Lead India program where the youth of our country join hands to encourage the people of India to use their voting rights -during the elections]
-Held many cordinator and leadership roles in my college which actually spurred me to consider a management job.[I feel I can perform better in this area.]



.Also I do have a recommendation letter from one of the MIT lecturers on my skills. [very well written 7 page report which explains all the positive qualities of mine].How helpfull will that prove to be??

The reason why I am opting for a mba is to change my career to mangement consulting . Thats what interest me .working with clients in real time and giving them solutions to better themselves. Moreover I want to have the experince in working crosss cultural teams which I cant do in my present job.

Pls provide your valuable feedback and the possible schools I should be looking into!!!
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anantpahari
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 17 Aug 2010, 15:10
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MCB is indeed a great way to start your application process. Sameer and team have really helped me in thinking in the right direction for soul searching....I am on a much clearer line of thinking than I was when I started myself. A sure recommendation for any lost MBA applicant soul.
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MBACrystalBall
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 19 Aug 2010, 03:58
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vibarora
Thanks Sameer. You and Jon have been a great help.
--------------
For everyone else who is looking for some help on the apps process, I would highly recommend Sameer and Precision Essay. I am just waiting for my gmat to get over to engage with them formally.
In the last one 6 months I have spoken to various admission consultants but really did not find what i was looking for. I have been following Sameer's post on various forums for some time so one day i decided to connect with him. During my various conversations I found him to be very genuine and also very polite (unlike some adm consultants who think they are god's gift to mba aspirants).

I would highly recommend him if you are looking for help in your app process.
Show more

Thanks for the kind-words, Arora sahab.

[Self-talk triggered by a sad realisation: I don't yet figure in the 'God's-gift-to-mba-aspirants' category. Damn! Need to work harder]
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MBACrystalBall
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 19 Aug 2010, 04:48
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Ironduke
Sameer, thanks for your input. I appreciate your response. I agree that differentiation is a key factor here due to applicant pool that my profile belongs too.

I have a quick question about Extra-curriculars. do they sound Ok to you. I have not been into a executive position with any professional body but has been active member of many forums including social ones. Not sure how to put this across or balance this portion with other strong areas in resume. I am more worried about this part as after your suggestion I think packaging the strong part (acads+work ex) the right way will not be an issue for me.

At some point I think I will be reaching you offline too. Given my age this can be my one and only attempt and I will not be taking any chances with it.
Show more

Ironduke:

Will your breathing and heart-rate get back to normal if I share with you a little secret? Your extra-curriculars sound better than mine.

An executive position doesn't necessarily convey credibility. Compare two profiles:

- the politician with the 'official' portfolio who's not done anything worth talking about with the money/power at his disposal

- a small grassroots social worker engaged with a small NGO as a volunteer with no money and no designation, who's been putting a few hours a week in a cause that genuinely motivates her

Time for you to get judgemental (and senti) now and tell me. What appeals to you more - designation or intent?

Of course, with the right designation and the right intent, the scale of impact can be tremendous. Coming back to your profile, all I'm assuming right now is that you haven't had an opportunity to do that yet.
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 19 Aug 2010, 05:05
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Hello Sameer

I would really appreciate if you could take some time and evaluate my profile. I am planning to apply for the Fall 2011 session

Age: 29
Nationality: Indian Male
B.Tech from private school in Electronics and Communication - Avg 68%
M.S. in Electrical Engineering from USA (avg school - in top 50) - GPA - 3.72/4.0 (A's in all but 1 class)
Was a Reseach Assistant during MS, worked on a project for NASA (thesis project), wrote and presented papers in conferences.

GMAT: 640 (Q46, V31) waiting on AWA

Work Exp:5 years (as of Sept 2010) in US on H1B Visa
Working in an Avionics company (Pretty big name in avionics) in a team that builds GPS receivers for commercial aircrafts, my profile is completely NON Software, I work at the black box level on the System development life cycle. Basically working with customers, FAA to get requirements at high level, break them into SW and HW functionalities,work on design strategies, integration etc. For the last 2 years I have taken up a leadership role as in Project Management, no direct reportees but am responsible for projects (upto 5M US$).

Extra Curr:
Play racquet ball, softball, golf cricket etc.
Participated in a few debates and plays at school level and undergrad level. During Graduation volunteered with the Indian Student Association. Volunteered on and off with the university to help out local community, one specific case was the major Florida hurricane in 2004.
At work, I have been working with the Diversity Employee network (Asian network) as a volunteer (no important/lead role in committees). Also volunteer at events organized by the company/department again one case was helping out local community during the devastating Iowa Floods of 2008. I also helped out in creating an official cricket league within our company.
All in all, I have only been volunteering ocassionaly, have never been in a leadership role.

Short Term Goal:
I want to get in Strategy and Business development role in avionics industry in asia pacific reason. Avionics industry is growing in Europe/Asia region with lot of avionics companies opening up facilities in there (specially India, Singapore etc). I want to get into the strategy development role in such company.

Long Term Goal:
I want to open up my own business in avionics in India (not too sure what right now) but in the same industry specially because it is still developing and has lot of scope.

My Questions are:
1) I know I have a very weak GMAT (and not so good Extra Curriculars) but I have heard that schools considers low GMAT for people with different profiles/work ex, Will my profile/industry experience be considered “Different” and that different that it can offset the low GMAT?
2) I am thinking about taking GMAT again but not too sure if I will be able to take it before the deadlines, so in case I am not able to take it again, With this GMAT do I even stand a chance ?
3) I was thinking of applying to some schools in US and some in Europe/Asia region like INSEAD, ISB (I am more inclined towards ISB as avionics industry is growing in india and there are lot more strategy and business development roles there, also eventually I want to open up something in india and a good network would be very helpful). What do you think my chances are at ISB ? (am thinking Round 2, I don't have my essays done yet)
Also, What schools would you recommend I should aim at with this profile (if I am not able to retake the GMAT)?

Thanks, I really appreciate your time and effort.
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 21 Aug 2010, 06:23
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Motteboss:

motteboss
Hi Sameer,
Its crowded on BW forums, and this forum provides me a greater range of smileys. So I thought will post my query here. :-D :) :o :shock: :? 8-) :lol: :x :cry: :evil: :| :arrow: :?: :!: :!: :wink: :roll:
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@BB: Are you listening, sir? I think we might have just cracked the secret here. More power to the GC smiley collection :wink:

motteboss
I have been closely following your posts and advise on both BW and gmatclub. I think your advice has been super.
Show more

Muchas gracias.

motteboss
Its always better to stand on the shoulder of giant people to see farther than your average Munna goes a saying. I would like to stand on you. :)
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I see that the spirit of Gokulashtami is already in the air (Mach gaya shor saari nagari re...Any Amitabh fans out there?)

Just one request, though, Motteboss. Take off your footwear before you climb. The last guy who tried the stunt was wearing track spikes (yup, the ones used for track and field events) and my shoulders still hurt.

motteboss
I have my profile here. I would like to see where I fit.
:
:
Guruji, need your margadarshan
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Baalak, thy diligently cultivated skill with the written word is thy brahmastra. Wield it well in thy quest for success.

Considering you've already experienced the MCB's legendary chhatra-chhaaya offline, would you be kind enough to share your feedback on the margadarshan you've received.
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MBACrystalBall
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 24 Aug 2010, 01:56
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Argentino
Ciao,
SO I gave the GMAT today and scored 690. The first thing I did after that was reach out to Sameer. I've been on this forum a bunch of times, but didn't register. This is my first post and the reason is because of the conversation I had with Sameer. I dropped him an email and within 10 minutes we were talking on the phone. That was a pleasant surprise!

As someone else also stated, he's candid. He has had enough conversations with students to quickly be able to assess who is at what level. Even though my score is average for a top B-School, I am hopeful that with his able assistance, I might be able to get into one of them...

Obviously people here already realize how valuable his insights might prove out to be. All of us are within a hypothetical range of 18-20. There aren't too many basic facts that change from applicant to applicant. Kind of similar to the fact that different B-School applications share about 70% of their content. Any help that makes us improve our applications with a viewpoint that an adcom member might have, is priceless.

I hope to be able to use your services soon.

-Raj
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Articulate as ever, Shri Raj. Good luck with your apps.
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motteboss
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 24 Aug 2010, 13:16
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Hi All,

I would like to give feedback on the MBACRYSTALBALL process.
- Sameer guruji is very kind and patient. After you give a feedback form and have a small telephonic Q&A session, you get the mystical MCB report in a day (or two). Some say Djinns from Tirunelveli make it, some say a pdf creator running on infinite monkey theorem and others cite a BPO in Gurgaon. I say, the origin does not matter, but the content is usually well organised and relevant.
- Going by the feedback time which is super fast, I will go with the Djinns of Tirunelveli.
- There is a feedback session after the report is created. This is truly paisa vasool. The secrets of the adcoms are passed on in true Guru Shishya parampara from Sameers mouth to our ears. Questions are answered patiently and great feedback on all points are covered.
- I think the report pays for itself (or more) because the money you save in just 1 application, for a program which is not a great fit, is almost what it costs for this report. And the suggestions from Sameer are usually helpful in considering some B schools which you never though would be a great fit..

MCB report is truly worthwhile. Just go for it, I say...!
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MBACrystalBall
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 28 Aug 2010, 23:21
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kalyanfires
Hi Sameer,

Thanks for the wishes man...!!!

Yeah Im planning to get into the application mood...As you know i belong the IT Male Group, Im looking for some good B schools which accept young applicants(3yrs WE). Here's brief about me:

Area's of interest: General Management and Consulting.
GMAT: 700
Toefl: 97

Age: 24

Degree: Btech in Electronics and Instrumentation [cgp 3.5/4.0]
In india 's No1 Private Engineering College

High school : 98.3% [100 percent in math in both years ]

Work : -SAP Business Intelligence Consultant for the past 2 years in India top Software firm.

-Worked on Business processes like Order to Cash, Procure to Pay , Supply Chain management and Inventory Management.
-Represented my company in a leadership training program in MIT [ cambridge ].Was the first Individual from my company to do so. [Total employees = 200,000] was the youngest and the first TCS employee to havegot selected for it.
-Team Lead for a 5 member group.[ After just 1 year of technical exp I was promoted to this position --a very rare occurence in this indusrty]

Co-Curricular:
-Member of TCS Maitree - an inititative to help the poor sections of Indian society
-Member of KVCP for the past 7 years - a government initaitive to help the street children of Andhra pradesh[ its a kind family initiative ...all of us do participate in it]
-The first TCS'er to join the Lead India program where the youth of our country join hands to encourage the people of India to use their voting rights -during the elections]
-Held many cordinator and leadership roles in my college which actually spurred me to consider a management job.[I feel I can perform better in this area.]

.Also I do have a recommendation letter from one of the MIT lecturers on my skills. [very well written 7 page report which explains all the positive qualities of mine].How helpfull will that prove to be??

The reason why I am opting for a mba is to change my career to mangement consulting . Thats what interest me .working with clients in real time and giving them solutions to better themselves. Moreover I want to have the experince in working crosss cultural teams which I cant do in my present job.

Pls provide your valuable feedback and the possible schools I should be looking into!!!
Show more

Hi Kalyan,

Considering you've mentioned MIT twice in our post, I'm guessing you view it as a trump card (and it could be if you are able to address the points below). So let's focus on that.


kalyanfires
Represented my company in a leadership training program in MIT [ cambridge ].Was the first Individual from my company to do so. [Total employees = 200,000] was the youngest and the first TCS employee to havegot selected for it.
Show more

The 'Before' part
If you are mentioning the size of the company to put your selection in context, then you are implicitly saying, all 200K employees were potential candidates for this program. If that is correct, what was the selection criteria for this? Aapki kameez doosro ki kameez se safed kaise?

The 'After' part
What happened after you came back from the program? Did you get a chance to use that training in your day-to-day responsibilities? What was the outcome? Apart from the envious stares from the remaining 199,999 employees (and Z-level security), what else did you gain after coming back?

A training program by itself does not tell me much. It was an opportunity that you got (earned?). What did you do with it?

A B-school seat at a top MBA program would be very similar. Adcoms will select you over several qualified competitors in the hope that you'd use the opportunity to do some good for yourself, for the institution and other stakeholders (your employer, community etc). They could use your MIT experience to judge what you'd do if you are given another opportunity for world-class training and access to the best resources.


kalyanfires
Also I do have a recommendation letter from one of the MIT lecturers on my skills. [very well written 7 page report which explains all the positive qualities of mine].How helpfull will that prove to be??
Show more
7 page report!!! Are you sure it was a recommendation and not a khufiya case study ('Inside the mind of an Indian genius') that he plans to use in his classrooms? Or are you talking about one of those standardised personality evaluation reports (like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)? What does he talk about in it?

Fire on, Kalyan-bhai.

[MG: Do you want to take on Kalyan's query on Management Consulting?]
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Thanks Sameer.
Kalyan, your profile does put you in a competitive pool. Having said that, you do have elements that can set you apart. The transition from IT to consulting is a bit on the rarer side. Having said that, there are definite pluses in your profile, the lesser years of experience being one in this case.

But for consulting, you need one clear spike at the time of applying for a job. But given the fact that you have an IT background, adcom would want to see elements of this even at the time of applying for a b-school. So, if you can really prove your mettle in either acads or ECs so far, in addition to a stellar work-ex, you got a decent shot at it. For your case, just a stellar performance at work may not suffice unless you can really create a very compelling story on why you as an IT applicant has done which only a very handful of candidates would have accomplished. And here, this needs to be communicated in a very non-IT kind of language so that you can counter the prejduice that prevails.

Hope this helps! Cheers!
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 31 Aug 2010, 05:11
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mn2010
Hello Sameer

I would really appreciate if you could take some time and evaluate my profile. I am planning to apply for the Fall 2011 session

Age: 29
Nationality: Indian Male
B.Tech from private school in Electronics and Communication - Avg 68%
M.S. in Electrical Engineering from USA (avg school - in top 50) - GPA - 3.72/4.0 (A's in all but 1 class)
Was a Reseach Assistant during MS, worked on a project for NASA (thesis project), wrote and presented papers in conferences.

GMAT: 640 (Q46, V31) waiting on AWA

Work Exp:5 years (as of Sept 2010) in US on H1B Visa
Working in an Avionics company (Pretty big name in avionics) in a team that builds GPS receivers for commercial aircrafts, my profile is completely NON Software, I work at the black box level on the System development life cycle. Basically working with customers, FAA to get requirements at high level, break them into SW and HW functionalities,work on design strategies, integration etc. For the last 2 years I have taken up a leadership role as in Project Management, no direct reportees but am responsible for projects (upto 5M US$).

Extra Curr:
Play racquet ball, softball, golf cricket etc.
Participated in a few debates and plays at school level and undergrad level. During Graduation volunteered with the Indian Student Association. Volunteered on and off with the university to help out local community, one specific case was the major Florida hurricane in 2004.
At work, I have been working with the Diversity Employee network (Asian network) as a volunteer (no important/lead role in committees). Also volunteer at events organized by the company/department again one case was helping out local community during the devastating Iowa Floods of 2008. I also helped out in creating an official cricket league within our company.
All in all, I have only been volunteering ocassionaly, have never been in a leadership role.

Short Term Goal:
I want to get in Strategy and Business development role in avionics industry in asia pacific reason. Avionics industry is growing in Europe/Asia region with lot of avionics companies opening up facilities in there (specially India, Singapore etc). I want to get into the strategy development role in such company.

Long Term Goal:
I want to open up my own business in avionics in India (not too sure what right now) but in the same industry specially because it is still developing and has lot of scope.

My Questions are:
1) I know I have a very weak GMAT (and not so good Extra Curriculars) but I have heard that schools considers low GMAT for people with different profiles/work ex, Will my profile/industry experience be considered “Different” and that different that it can offset the low GMAT?
2) I am thinking about taking GMAT again but not too sure if I will be able to take it before the deadlines, so in case I am not able to take it again, With this GMAT do I even stand a chance ?
3) I was thinking of applying to some schools in US and some in Europe/Asia region like INSEAD, ISB (I am more inclined towards ISB as avionics industry is growing in india and there are lot more strategy and business development roles there, also eventually I want to open up something in india and a good network would be very helpful). What do you think my chances are at ISB ? (am thinking Round 2, I don't have my essays done yet)
Also, What schools would you recommend I should aim at with this profile (if I am not able to retake the GMAT)?

Thanks, I really appreciate your time and effort.
Show more

Schools do give weightage to profiles that are different, but the bhaav that your application will get will also be driven by the degree and scope of that hat-ke factor.

You've highlighted the fact that you have nothing to do with software (by this I'm guessing you mean 'not into coding'). But the same sentence has SDLC jumping out of the page. If you fit somewhere into the SDLC process, I'm not sure you can completely blank out the IT association.

My point is, that effort is not even needed. You don't have to go out of your way to hide that fact or sound apologetic about it. You are at the cutting edge of technology dude. Be proud of what you are doing and highlight what you do in the industry and why is it special. Just belonging to an under-or-over-represented industry doesn't make your profile good or bad.

What the rest of us do isn't rocket science. You are right in the middle of it, literally. There's plenty you can write that can get the reader excited. Avionics, black-box, NASA! Do you see the goose bumps on my hand?

Moving on to the next question. And I'm keeping the top schools in mind when I say this. I don't think your profile is radically different to make Adcoms ignore the GMAT score. The product you work on is ultimately an IT/technology application within a niche industry. With the current score, I'd skip INSEAD and ISB.

Either get closer to the median scores of the top schools or choose schools where your current score will not be a big liability.

Let me know which side you are inclined towards and we'll make the discussion more specific.
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nikhilgupta2020
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 01 Sep 2010, 09:15
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Hi Sameer,

Please evaluate my profile.

I want to work in the field of finance. So, I am looking at a degree in MS(Finance) or MBA(Finance) in the US.

Constraints: Max expenditure for tuition fee is 35 lakhs. So if the tuition fee is above this amount, please suggest colleges that provide scholarships or other aid options.

My GMAT score is 750 (Q50 V41) , AWA - 5

Profile
3 years Experience in one of the top MNC company in India
Worked as an R and D intern in an non-profit organisation

Acads :
Class X- 92 % , Class XII - 95 %
B.Tech from NIT Warangal( Top 10 Tech school in India) -- CGPA -8.61/10
Institute Merit Scholarship for the freshman year
AIEEE rank of 170 ( out of 4,00,000 applicants).
EAMCET rank of 91 ( out of 1,00,000 applicants)

ECs:
Active member of the Volunteers group at my present company
Volleyball player. Represented the company at various corporate events
One of the coordinators for the tech fest of NIT Warangal
Additional Secretary, ECE Association, NIT Warangal
Joint Secretary, IEEE Student Branch, NIT Warangal
Won prizes in various paper presentation contests in various colleges including IIT Roorkee, Osmania University
Conducted a mock AIEEE exam for AIEEE aspirants in Hyderabad
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sandi
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 02 Sep 2010, 09:43
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Hi Samir,

Thank you for inviting me in this forum. A number of positive feedbacks as well as your style of giving suggestions in humorous way were really a treat for me to read. Now would like to have some similar kind of suggestions for me as well.

Here goes my profile:

X ICSE : 90 %
XII ISC: 86.3%
BE (2007) VTU(Bangalore) : 76.03%
GMAT Scor: 690 (V:35, Q:48) AWA : 5.0

Professional Experience: 2yrs 11 months experience in a leading Telecom Company. Have 6months onsite experience in China. After 6 month of telecom software development, I joined the presales team to demonstrate my project for some of the leading Indian Telecom Operators. After that I have led a team of 10 members for the deployment of my project. Currently I am leading another team(which i have set up by taking interview, trained and mentored) for Managed Service project in the client side (a leading telecom operator). My responsibility is customer interaction, leading team and providing solution to client and client relation management.

By April 2011 I will be having an experience of 3.5 years.

Awards : 1. Table Tennis 2. Distinction Awards in College 3. Best Contributor Award from both my employer and Client(almost 5)

EC: Played Table Tennis in state level and have been captain in the school team. Have taught poor people in my locality during my school days and still continue whenever I get time.

Post MBA Goals: To stay in Telecom Industry and to know know more in depth business knowledge. Would like to intoduce few good business practices in my family business as well..Further I would like to start off a telecom consultancy.


I have already applied for ISB and will be applying for NUS and Nanyang.

Please give your comments on my profile and my chances to crack ISB. I also want to know whether in ISB, I will be considered in the IT pool of candidates. And last of all, is my score on the lower side taking into consideration my entire profile?

As far as your question regarding my selecting only Singapore schools are concerned, I am open for US and Internation B-Schools as well. But am facing a dilemma in shotlisting them with based on my profile( acads+GMAT+work-ex).

Would appreciate if you can help me in selecting US and European B-Schools.

Regards.
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mallyaprs
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 03 Sep 2010, 02:50
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Hi Sameer,

How do you see my profile ?.

Demography: Indian/Male/24

GMAT : 740 ( q 50, v 42 ) AWA 5.5
Toefl : 110
BE from VTU ( 81%)
12th 90%
10th 93%

GPA: 3.7 from a good university

Work experience:
1. 2 years in R&D
2. Got promoted within 2 years
3. Tech leader for the projects and mentoring new engineers
4. Proposed an idea , which was voted for presentation at company HQ at Austin .
5. International working exposure.

Leadership Experience:
1. Founder and Chapter leader of Net Impact Bangalore professional chapter
2. Was responsible for coming up with a team from scratch to build the chapter
3. Managed to get memberships and was responsible in developing relationships with other NGO's such as Starting bloc etc
4. Started board fellows program
5. As a part of our green initiative, we tied up with local NGOs and organized two green events.
6. Partnered with a TEDx event and improved the visibility of Net Impact

Extra Curricular:
1. Started as a member , and then grew to be elected as the Vice-Chairperson of IEEE student branch in my undergrad
2. Was the head of financial committee for an annual national level technical event. My job was to find sponsors, and manage budget for the whole event.
3. Have participated and won 2 management case studies competition
4. Have won a national level project presentation competition organized by Agilent technologies
5. Have presented a paper in IEEE

Entrepreneurial:
Participated in a national level B plan competition by Economic times, and was selected to make a pitch to an Angel investor. Had to work on developing the complete b plan and present it to an investor. Due to my inexperience in the given field, I was not provided the funding.

Why I need MBA?
To develop the skills required to start my own company. To apply the skills developed to take my b-plan forward. I am looking for a school which is good in consulting as well as entrepreneurship.


I have sent my scores to MIT Sloan, Ross, UCB Haas, Kellogg and Duke. I spoke to some of the alumna of HBS and they are pushing me to apply to it as well. Can you please provide me info on my chances on all the above mentioned schools. Also, any suggestions on what i should work on to get into these and your thoughts of the safe school in the list.

Thanks in advance.
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motteboss
Hi All,

I would like to give feedback on the MBACRYSTALBALL process.
- Sameer guruji is very kind and patient. After you give a feedback form and have a small telephonic Q&A session, you get the mystical MCB report in a day (or two). Some say Djinns from Tirunelveli make it, some say a pdf creator running on infinite monkey theorem and others cite a BPO in Gurgaon. I say, the origin does not matter, but the content is usually well organised and relevant.
- Going by the feedback time which is super fast, I will go with the Djinns of Tirunelveli.
- There is a feedback session after the report is created. This is truly paisa vasool. The secrets of the adcoms are passed on in true Guru Shishya parampara from Sameers mouth to our ears. Questions are answered patiently and great feedback on all points are covered.
- I think the report pays for itself (or more) because the money you save in just 1 application, for a program which is not a great fit, is almost what it costs for this report. And the suggestions from Sameer are usually helpful in considering some B schools which you never though would be a great fit..

MCB report is truly worthwhile. Just go for it, I say...!
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Hmmm..an unusually creative compliment! I laaik.

I will now proceed to carry out further research on Tirunelveli and Gurgaon based-BPOs.
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nikhilgupta2020
Hi Sameer,

Please evaluate my profile.

I want to work in the field of finance. So, I am looking at a degree in MS(Finance) or MBA(Finance) in the US.

Constraints: Max expenditure for tuition fee is 35 lakhs. So if the tuition fee is above this amount, please suggest colleges that provide scholarships or other aid options.

My GMAT score is 750 (Q50 V41) , AWA - 5

Profile
3 years Experience in one of the top MNC company in India
Worked as an R and D intern in an non-profit organisation

Acads :
Class X- 92 % , Class XII - 95 %
B.Tech from NIT Warangal( Top 10 Tech school in India) -- CGPA -8.61/10
Institute Merit Scholarship for the freshman year
AIEEE rank of 170 ( out of 4,00,000 applicants).
EAMCET rank of 91 ( out of 1,00,000 applicants)

ECs:
Active member of the Volunteers group at my present company
Volleyball player. Represented the company at various corporate events
One of the coordinators for the tech fest of NIT Warangal
Additional Secretary, ECE Association, NIT Warangal
Joint Secretary, IEEE Student Branch, NIT Warangal
Won prizes in various paper presentation contests in various colleges including IIT Roorkee, Osmania University
Conducted a mock AIEEE exam for AIEEE aspirants in Hyderabad
Show more

Hi Nikhil,

You'll first have to make up your mind which way you want to go. Both are legit ways of getting into the Finance field (and both come with their share of challenges). But the kind of roles you want to target and what you want to do with your degree should influence the choice.

During the 1-2 yrs in b-school, many candidates discover career options that they hadn't considered before. It isn't unusual for people to keep harping about how crazy they are about a particular industry (probably coz this was the only one they were familiar with) and then change tracks completely midway through the course. A regular MBA will leave many such options open for you.

A specialised MS degree however will not give you all of those options. Of course, within the finance industry you'd find a variety of roles people get into and some that are VERY lucrative. But effectively you are sealing yourself from most of the non-finance opportunities that an MBA can provide.

The top programs in both categories can be pretty expensive. Once you firm up your decision, we can continue the discussion further and talk about optins in one area. Right now you've kept the field wide open. The choice of schools, the application requirements can be quite different for each.

Also a little curious to know. Are you hoping to fund the entire degree on your own? Or does that figure of 35 Lakhs refer to personal savings, schols, additional sources of funding?
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 06 Sep 2010, 04:33
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Hi Sameer,

Many thanks for the reply. Please provide me a shortlist for an MBA(Finance) degree.

About my funding options, no I am not planning to fund my entire degree. The 35 lakhs is cumulative of my personal savings, some additional sources of funding and possible bank loan. As I have mentioned, please suggest colleges that provide scholarships or other aid options.

Thanks
Nikhil
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Ask MBA Crystal Ball 07 Sep 2010, 05:04
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nikhilgupta2020
Hi Sameer,

Many thanks for the reply. Please provide me a shortlist for an MBA(Finance) degree.

About my funding options, no I am not planning to fund my entire degree. The 35 lakhs is cumulative of my personal savings, some additional sources of funding and possible bank loan. As I have mentioned, please suggest colleges that provide scholarships or other aid options.

Thanks
Nikhil
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Alright. 50% complication taken care of then. Let's focus on finance focussed MBA programs. You could look at the regular suspects - Chicago, Stern, H/S/W, Kellogg. MIT is pretty strong in finance too. But don't go in there looking for scholarships. The budget would be way beyond what you have in mind.

If you go further down in the rankings you can get good schools that aren't as dhinchak as the ones listed above. But you'd be able to get a good education, a decent network and a good-to-strong chance of bagging one of 'em big-money jobs. But don't go overboard with your expectations.

Be prepared to say bye-bye to PE/VC/Bulge-bracket kinda opportunities.

nikhilgupta2020
3 years Experience in one of the top MNC company in India
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Care to expand on that? What lies in there will make a lot of difference to where you get in and how much free money you can get.
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