Ask Neha from general-ed

Thanks Neha for your valuable Tips.

I thought schools could look into the future goals as well. They might help those who are keenly interested in starting their own business and support them financially.

Could you please list some good schools who prefer such aspiring students and are keen to help them.

Hi,

Do not assume that schools will look into your future goals.

It is very unlikely that a good school will admit you because you wish to run a business. There are multitude of applicants who can claim that they intend to set up business. The most important element in such cases is to demonstrate that you have the potential to run a business in future and one of the ways to convince admission committee people is to have experience in building and running an organization over an extended period of time.

Regards
Neha

hi neha,

i would like to know more about HEC paris. I am interested in pursuing Financial Economics there. Is HEC an excellent institute, and how is the MSc FE there? I believe you will know since you did your MBA there.

Also, I have 720 in GMAT, 3.2 undergrad GPA in IT, an internship under my belt from an international computer security firm and several extra curricular activities at college level and also a bit of good NGO work. What are my chances of admission for 2011 entry?

thanks

Hi,

FE from HEC is one of the most reputed programs in Europe. In fact, HEC leads the business Grand Ecole system that is equivalent to IIM system here. However, to make the most out of your coursework and imbibe the experience to the fullest, you need to be fluent in French.
You stand a fair chance of getting into the program. If you have any specific question we can as well discuss it offline over mail.

Regards
Neha Singh
General Education

,

Hello,



I have a query regarding my profile, in ISB

With 2years experiece & one pharma MBA degree will it bepossible for me to apply to ISB?

Pls let me know

I hope it would not bother you.



A brief about me:

My name is Sagar Mahajan.

Age:24 yrs

Experience: 2yrs by end of next yr

With Sun pharmaceutical industries Ltd

Working inInternational Marketing division.Handle Central American countries business development & assist in main Latin american countries like Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, etc

Qualification:

Pharma MBA from SIES college og management , Mumbai

(MAT:98.18 percentile,ATMA 97.42 percentile)

B.pharma with 66 %

12 th 76%

10th 71%



Extra curricular activities:

Not much , Participated at university level group song competittion, soprts

Played cricket , football for college at university levels.

Hi All,

The General Education's 'MBA Application Strategy Workshop' is back.

Hear from Director Admissions, ISB & expert team comprising alumni of Top B-Schools - Harvard, INSEAD, HEC, ISB, AGSM about how to go about planning for the seemingly complicated MBA admission process in MBA Application Strategy Workshop. Interact with experts to know what makes a B-School application stand-out in the eyes of the admissions committee.

Date and Time: Bangalore: 7th November 2010; 2 pm to 6:30 pm

Venue: Ivy - The Unwind Island, Opposite Prestige Tech Park, (Near Innovative multiplex), Infants Nest, Marathahalli Ring Road, Bangalore - 560087

Admittance: By registering on the our website..https://www.general-ed.com

Its a free event. There are no charges for registering.

We look forward to meeting you on 7th Nov.

Regards,
Neha Singh
General Education

Hi Neha

Would really appreciate some assistance in deciding which Schools to apply for keeping in mind my profile and my future goals. So here goes

Age: 26
Nationality: Indian
Work Experience: 4+ at the time of matriculation (Applying for the fall 2011 session)
GMAT Score: 720 (V39,Q49) (1st attempt)

Education:

Undergraduate: Business Management, India's top University, 58% (No GPA system)
Post Graduate: Business Management with a specialization in Marketing, GPA: 2.99/4

Extra Curricular Achievements:

Won a number of National Paper Presentation Competitions
Member of the Student's Council during my Post Graduate Studies

Work Experience:

Joined the Finance Arm of a Fortune 5 company after my Post Graduate Studies as a part of the Leadership Development Program
Gained Cross Functional Exposure Across Sales, Portfolio Management and am Currently the Product Manager in my vertical responsible for Customer Life Cycle Management, Brand Building, Profitable Customer acquisition and overall P&L management. This role usually entails extensive experience and the avg work experience for candidates in this role is 7-8 years.

Achievements:
Recently Promoted to the position of Lead Product Manager
Awarded the Best Project Award in the Leadership Trainee Cadre for the year 2007-08

Strengths:
Consistent demonstration of innovative thinking and execution across Education and at the work place and suitable recognition of these achivements
Relatively different profile vis a vis the stereotypical Indian Male, Engineer, IT work experience
Decent & balanced GMAT score
Excellent Recommendations

Weaknesses
Average Academics but for a few spikes in between
Relatively weak community service & social deeds

Grey Areas:
Already a post graduate in management

Areas of Interest:
Marketing & Product Management
Business Consulting

Applications:

International:
INSEAD: Due to its tremendous reputation as a world class school and 1 year curriculum (not very keen on applying to European colleges keeping in mind the state of the economy in Europe)

USA:
Have basically broken it into 3 tiers based on GMATClub rankings

Tier 1:
Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Wharton, MIT

Tier 2:
Tuck, Columbia, Kellogg, Haas, NYU Stern

Tier 3:
Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Yale, Tepper

I want to apply to atleast 1 Tier 1 college, 2-3 Tier 2 colleges and 1-2 Tier 3 colleges

Important things I look for in a college:

1) Relevance to my career goals & objectives
2) Career advancement & job opportunities post graduation
3) Strong reputation for excellence
4) Strong alumni community network
5) Diverse International student community
6) Opportunities for financial aid

Keeping in mind my profile and areas of interest, need your views and suggestions on which colleges do I apply to.

I am planning to apply in R2 now as I have already missed the R1 deadlines for most of these colleges

Also how do you rate the Kellogg 1 yr MBA program to its 2 year MBA program.

Looking forward to your reply..

Warm Regards

I am in the government department in telecom sector. I am interested in making a career switch to corporate sector. I have 20 years of work experience and am 40 years of age. I would like to do an executive MBA to enhance my skills for the the new role. I am looking towards business schools in India and Asia.

My profile

Class X 75%
B Tech CGPA 6.6 out of 9
GMAT 640/4.5 (Q 44 V 34)

I have contributed in planning and implementation of communication networks in difficult areas. The communication network includes a host of medias such as fibre optics, satellite communication, radio etc and their integration with terminal equipments.

Besides equipment management I have also been exposed to management of human resources and their optimum utilisation. I have led and managed 200 persons in various capacities.

I play most outdoor games and sports in particular Basketball , long distance running and trekking. I am a voracious reader. I read anything that interests me and like to keep myself updated with the latest happenings around the world.

I have seen almost the whole of the country and also been to a few foreign countries as part of my work. I believe in growth and now am looking forward to leadership roles in the corporate sector. This will give me an oppurtunity to enhance my skills professionally and also meet people of different cultures.

I would request a profile evaluation and also options open to me.

Hi Arjun,

Your profile looks decent and you have good chances of success as your background speaks. However, you would need to demonstrate your background and your future career objectives (most important portion of your application) strongly through your application essays.

Amongst European Schools Insead is a good choice. How about considering LBS also as, LBS has strong foothold in financial job market in Europe especially London?

Amongst US schools, the rationale of grouping them into three tiers is not very evident as all the schools that you have selected look equally competitive. There are no safe schools that I see in the list. Also you will have to cut down your list to maximum 5-6 total number of schools as it is not practically possible to do justice to all the applications. It is not possible to touch upon all the key issues that go while selecting the target schools.

Regarding Kellogg MBA - It depends upon your need.Both courses are taught with same material but in 1 year some of the basic courses are waived off.

Let me know if you wish to talk further about this and we can connect over phone or other media.

With Regards,
Neha Singh

Hi,

I would recommend that the best option for you are

IIMs - Ahemdabad, Bangalore and Calcutta Executive programs - These courses have people with 8+ years of experience (with lot of them in the higher number of work experience bracket) and these are the most suitable for you based on what I understand from your professional background.

ISB PGP MAX - is a program conducted for senior executives by Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. This again is program for senior level executives who wish to gain competencies to fast track their career growth.

Apart from this, there are no executive level programs in Asian schools that can promise impeccable skills development. To discuss your profile and suitable programs in detail, feel free to get in touch with us offline.

With Regards,
Neha Singh
General Education
https://www.general-ed.com

Hello Neha,

I have registered for the "MBA application strategy" seminar organised by General-Ed on 20th May in Delhi. Before attending the seminar, I wanted to get some advice from you regarding the choice of B-Schools.

Very Brief profile
1. GMAT - 660 (V49/Q30; Will re-take)
2. Total work experience (as of May-2012) - 8.5 years in IT industry
3. Bid manager for projects worth <$10 million
4. Part of bid team for projects worth >$100 million
5. Led team of ~70 members
6. Extra curriculars: Nothing significant to showcase

As you can see my profile is quite common. So I am planning to build my profile and apply to B-Schools for 2014-15 batch. By that time my overall work experience will be 10+ years. Will this be a dis-advantage if I apply to IIM-A/B/C (executive MBA), Oxford Said, INSEAD and Cambridge Judge? Also can you please suggest other B-Schools (in India and Europe) where I can apply?

Regards
Kaushik

Hi Kaushik,

Your work experience is decent & impressive. As per the B Schools selected by you I would recommend you to go for IIMs as they fit perfectly with your work experience and requirement. Most of the Business Schools including the IIMs consider applicants with more than 6 years only for their Executive MBA program.

Apart from work experience and academics, IIMs also focuses on your extracurricular activities and your professional achievements and recommendations which are to be highlighted in front of the adcom either in your essays or during Interview. Needless to say that you would need a more than average GMAT score, strong essays that lay down your short/long term visions, clarity of thoughts, display your leadership and analytical abilities and critical thinking.

The average work experience required for Oxford Said is 6 years and by the time you apply your experience will be of 10+ years. The Admission Committee of Oxford Said is generally not keen in admitting applicants with more than 6-8 years of work experience.

Another Business School that you should definitely consider applying to is ISB PGPMAX Program.

Your profile is definitely not common. Everyone’s profile is unique and there is never a singular parameter that business schools make their judgement on. If you are targeting the IIMs, you will have to be among the top yourself. One of my friend from a similar kind profile as yours had strong technical experience from a different domain instead of pure IT background and he got an admit in both HBS and LBS. All he did was he showcased his profile and essays in a very good way in front of the adcom.

Have a look at https://www.general-ed.com/IIMs-admissions-process to learn more about IIM Essays, the do’s and the don’ts and what you should highlight most.

Also visit https://www.general-ed.com/BSchool-Selector to enter the information as you posted in the question. The link helps you to select the right Business School based on your input and https://www.general-ed.com/chances-of-bschool gives you a fair idea of your chances of successful application for a particular Business School.

Feel free to post any other query or concern that you might have.

Regards
Neha Singh
https://www.general-ed.com/

Hi All,

Are you confused which Business School is the right fit for you or where all you have a fair chances of getting admit.

I am sure this tool can help you to answer all such kind of questions. Try chances of B-School selector tool to know your chances of getting admission in top Business School https://www.general-ed.com/chances-of-bschool.

Cheers!
Neha Singh
https://www.general-ed.com/testimonials

Hi MBA aspirants,

Get information about applying in top b-schools like: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, INSEAD, LBS, MIT-Sloan, Duke, Ross, ISB etc. and attend the mock interview session to understand the interview process in Bangalore on 21-April-2013.

Also, get your free profile evaluation done. To register, click https://bit.ly/c4mpwT

Cheers!!
Neha

Hi Neha,



can you please evaluate my profile and suggest me areas of improvment?


1. Brief Description of my current job:

i've been working as a software engineer in CGI information systems for the past 30 months.


2. Job Role and Responsibilities:

1. Insurance product development and maintenance of an insurance portal for 6 major US and Canadian Insurance Majors. from 2010 oct to 2012 jan.

2. Working for insurance product consultant from 2012 Feb till date.

3. Member of Fun At Work at CGI BFSI, which aims to relieve all members from stress.

3. Proposals and Achievements:

1. Architect and Developer of a Tool Report Online which is a replacement for IBM classic tool that helped in saving 30,000$ per year.

4. College / Graduation

1. Completed Graduation in Electronics and Communication Engineering from JNTU with 3.5GPA.

2. Office Bearer of Student Body: "VEDA" for 2.5years.

3. Editor of a College Magazine "Trishna".

4. Organized National level Tech Fest in 2009.

5. Winner of State level debate.

6. Hosted Freshers Day, Anti Ragging Conference, a national level tech symposium.

High School was solid stats with 91%.

5. Extra Circular Activities

1. Blogger from 2007, blog on social issues.
2. Designed and Developed VEDA website during Graduation.
3. Support of Green Peace : A NGO against Global Warming.

6. Additional Exp

1. Worked for development of Retail chain management and business development in "Ravi Sweets and Bakers" for 6 months.

Targetted Programmes

1. General Management.
2. Marketing Managment.

Aimed score : 705+

Colleges Aimed : University of Illinois, University of Vergina, HBS, MIT;

GMAT : yet to give.

please suggest me areas of improvement and also any other institutions which i had to consider for my MBA Applications?

Post MBA : interested in Joining any firm as a marketing manager.


Im planing to join in 2014 that gives me another year to achieve if i lack in any particular area.

thanks in advance for evaluating and suggesting !!!!

Hi Krrish,

You have an excellent profile and a remarkable corporate exposure. As per your profile and area of interest Kelley, Kellogg and Thunderbird are the B-School where all you can apply along with the the list of b-school you have mentioned below. The only downside is that the numbers of applicants with profiles like you are around 4-5 times than the cumulative number of seats in these top Business Schools.

The Business Schools you have chosen are excellent but I will suggest you to apply few more which I have suggested above as they have good acceptance rate and employment record. Also get in touch with the alumnus of B-School which you are targeting to know more about the B-School admission procedure.

You would need to cleverly prepare yourself for questions like the reasons you want to switch from IT to management, your rationale behind applying for a specific B school, so on and so forth.

The next step for you is to focus more on your GMAT and application essays, recommendations for these Business Schools.

Please visit https://tinyurl.com/cnpsl4a to see more about online Essay Evaluation and Interview Preparation.

If you happen to be based in Mumbai, you can attend a MBA workshop by the alumnus of ISB along with alumnus of various top global B-Schools during the dates mentioned in this links https://tinyurl.com/cjy62uh

Feel free to post any other query or concern that you might have.

Cheers!
Neha Singh