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Hi, Everyone, Welcome to this chat session. We have Poonam with us from myEssayReview to answer your questions.

Poonam, can you introduce yourself to our audience and we will get started

aasthaabhatia1997, Please post your profile in one go

Welcome to MER ( myEssayReview) chatroom. My name is Poonam Tandon, President and founder of myEssayReview. With three decades of experience as an English teacher in India and the US, I launched myEssayReview (MER) in 2011 to provide highly personalized and dedicated consulting services to Business School applicants. Since then, I have supported hundreds of students worldwide get accepted into the top MBA, EMBA, part-time MBA, and specialized graduate programs in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
A full-time consultant since 2011, I do not work with more than six applicants at a time. I am one of the top 5 most reviewed consultants on the GMAT Club ( 119 reviews )
I am happy to answer your questions today.

Hi …my profile is as follows:-
Indian male , 27, 6.3 years of work ex
Graduated from one of the top 10 Indian Law Schools cgpa of 8.1/10, Headed certain Committees in colleges, won a B Plan competition and certain other extra curriculars
Working as a Manager with Indian Securities Market Regulator (equivalent of US SEC) for 3.5 years
Focused on Capital Markets policy, legal framework, litigation
prior to that worked as an Analyst for BlackRock. Also worked as an independent lawyer prior to that.
Certifications in field of Merchant Banking, Securities Market products, Investment advisory etc..
Aiming for a GMAT score between 700-750
Post MBA goals:- Consulting, entrepreneurship, general management

Possible target colleges among top 15 MBA courses globally? Should I make all possible efforts to apply in round 1 or applying in round 2 won’t hurt?

myEssayReview, You can address the above question from tobeornottobe,

The chat moderation is on. Your questions will be queued and will be released to maintain pace. Please keep sending in your questions

Hi to be or not to be,

Since you have not yet taken your GMAT, I would focus only on GMAT prep for now, and after that, apply to Round 2 with a strong GMAT score.

I will release the next question

Profile Review


My profile in summary:

GMAT: 750

Age: 32 M

Undergrad from India: GPA 4 (went to a top private school and a rank holder of that matters)

Masters in Engineering from UT Austin
: GPA 3.6 (A+ in Math courses)

Total years of experience across three countries: 7 years (India,US,Canada)

Work experience:
Worked for a semiconductor giant for many years. Several products that I have worked on have made it to market.Have good progression to show and can get good recommendations. Have won several notable accolades along the way

Currently working as a PM in a startup
I intend to continue in Tech post my MBA

I feel a need to strengthen my business skills and I mostly transitioned to a PM role out of a boot camp. I see myself as a global executive in the future and have solid international experience to show

Target schools: Kellogg Tuck Haas CBS Yale MIT Kellogg ( I’m still reviewing the list)

Post MBA options: I am a Canadian Permanent resident and have my citizenship under process. I also have approved H1b that I can use if I decide to stay back in the US. I can use this to advantage and highlight these points in the optional essay

How would the age factor come into picture and are there any universities in T-15 which do not look down at slightly older candidates?

You have a strong profile in all areas: academic capacity, work experience, career growth, leadership and accomplishments at work, and international experience . There are many people there who face the same dilemma as you do. If you are confident that to fulfill your career goals, you need an MBA and can write a story that convinces the AD Com, then I don’t see why you shouldn’t apply for an MBA.
True, most MBA programs ( especially the top 10) are not very welcoming to older candidates, so you will need to research programs and see which programs accept older candidates.
European MBA programs, especially LBS and IMD, are more accepting of older candidates. Also, EMBA programs and global EMBA programs are designed for more senior and more experienced professionals. One-year PGP program at IIM –A also welcomes experienced professionals. In the AIGAC conferences that I have attended in the past few years, whenever we asked the admission committee members how welcoming they are to the older candidates, they confirmed that those 30+ candidates bring maturity to the classroom. Therefore, they do accept older candidates if their story makes sense to them.

I have assisted many older candidates with their applications for full-time MBA programs. One of them went to UNC Kennan Flagler at 38, another one graduated from Oxford two years back. This year, I worked with two candidates who received admission offers from Kellogg and ISB at 31 and 35, respectively. You can go through their debriefs here https://myessayreview.com/category/student-interviews/

Hi Poonam, i dropped you a mail to check if you can help me for round 1. I scored GMAT 760 and have 5.5 year of work ex in financial industry. I have 5.2 GPA out of 10 in undergrad. How should I address that

Amna26, Please send in your request in a single message

GPA is an important parameter of your intellectual capacity. Therefore, you need to provide a valid explanation for your low GPA in the optional essay. Sometimes extenuating circumstances result in a low undergrad GPA e.g. sickness, death, or severe illness of family member, a full-time job, overinvolvement in sports, and other extracurriculars. On the other hand, sometimes it can just be a lack of interest and immaturity.

Profile Evaluation for MBA 2022 intake:

Indian/Male/23
GMAT: 700 (Q49 V37)
Udergrad: GPA 3.93/4.00 in Bachelor of Commerce Honours (was in the running for batch topper)

Work Exp: 1.5 years with Deloitte India (US Offices). Did valuation audit for a top US PE firm. Rewarded within 4 months of joining. Given add. responsibilities compared to peers. Moderated leadership conversations. Organized team building activities. Worked closely with the VP of the firm.

0.5 years and counting - work with family business. Rebranding and leading the COVID recovery. Taking measures to professionalize the organization.

ECs: Organised an international business fest in university. Volunteered for employment drive for the dumb and mute. Head Boy in school, actively participated in debates, writing competitions, extempores etc.. in school and uni.

Post MBA goals:
Short Term: Accquire professional mng skills that are useful for the family business and implement the same back home

Long-Term: Expand the family business (currently into construction and hospitality) into retail and consumer segment across the globe

Target School:
NYU, LBS, UCLA, Tuck, Marshall, Kenan Flagler, Questrom, HEC

Questions:
1.How do colleges view family business as work-experience?
2.Which are the colleges (not just in the US) which suit my profile (low workex, family business)?
3.Is my GMAT and low workex a concern?

You will write an optional essay to address this. I will respond to your email today. Thanks.

myEssayReview, You can take vinayak576, question next

I will .