Ask Personal MBA Coach

Hello Expert,

GMAT - 710( QA 49 VA 36 IR - 7/8 AWA 6/6 )

Ethnicity- Indian
Male , 25 years old
Btech (Mechanical) - 2013 - 69% [ Under grad]
12th - 2009 -87%
10th (ICSE) - 2007 - 75%

Work Experience - 43 months as on Date will reach 48 months by August ( At the time of applying will have around 49-50 months work experience)

I am currently working as a business development executive at a startup and have worked with a government agency to design some training programs for their employees to effectively use social media for better E-Governance and have worked on building an android application along with successful launching of a online platform designed for certain companies. ( working for about 2 years here).Working alongside here , My father owns an advertising agency in which i play a role too because it is a family business and i need to look after when he is away and have helped create logos for the Government of Telangana. I am from Hyderabad , India and Telangana is the State. So i do not know how to leverage this work because in my own personal opinion I think it is great to have worked on a few government projects and design logos for it. The logo is evident on their websites and posters and all over the city . So i think i can give me some edge but any opinion regarding this will be considered. Prior to this i worked with Google for a year via a third party. I worked there as a business analyst.

EC

Sports - Swimming, basket ball , kabbadi , table tennis and badminton , Boxing .
Won the 1st Place in basketball at College (team event) .
Participated in multiple university and state level competitions . (table tennis)
Participated in a national level debate and Adjourned best speaker in a debate at a college level event.
Winner of an Extempore at a national level technical fest
Participated in multiple public speaking events and debates
The president of a Student Body in college for 2 years until the end of graduation undertaking lot of responsibilities and conducting multiple events
Organiser of the Sports Fest for 3 years along with a team under me and successfully organised multiple events. Along with Organizing as a sports player had to participate thus managing both organizing and playing.

I was the anchor for the Annual Day for 2 years and conducted the event in a splendid fashion
Class representative and event organiser for the college Fest for 4 years
Musical instruments learned - Keyboard , Guitar
Performed in the annual day and formed an own band during the college days and participated in college events.
learnt Classical singing for over 11 years and still learning
An active member of NSS during college and couple with the other activities i had , went on to form events to distribute food , books , clothes to the needy and have taught maths and physics to the needy .
Associated with an NGO as well , hope this help in application process


Academic Projects and Achievements

Always in the reckoning of the class - top 5%
95th percentile in CAT ( Management Exam in India) a neccesity to get in the reputed IIM’s ( Indian Institute of Management) and 90th percentile in XAT ( Management Exam for XLRI - Xavier School of Management)
Multiple projects in Robotics and designed various prototypes using basic principles of robotics and have done an internship in a PSU regarding steam engines

Final project in College related to Robotics – 6 degree Stewart Gough Platform
I have been to multiple industries such as steel pant , iron ore plant and a couple of thermodynamic industries to see the functioning of machines and an automobile industry as well to see the understanding of manufacture of components.
Softwares learned - CAD/CAM , Catia , Solid Works , Pro-E , Ansys (taught during academic rigour ) along with the normal C , C++ , Blue Java , MS office etc.




Q) Do you have a specific Company to work for? - I do not have a specific company to work for. My areas of interest are marketing and consulting . Of course every aspirant desires to be in the best of the best companies. Rather than working for a company would love to have company of my own down the line

Q) what do i want from my MBA? - I want my MBA to provide the knowledge n specific skills to run a business. It comes with experience i am sure but an MBA adds value and can make one think better in terms of the business. I would like to start a company of my own. My father has his own business and i want to diversify its services . A marketing related MBA would help me to make my company more reachable to cater to the needs of clients. At this stage my answer isn't clear and might be vague but i still haven't put a thought to it . Mostly like i wish MBA helps me better to run a business

Q) Mba full time/part time - I would want to do an MBA full time (2/1 year is fine) . I turned 25 last week so at the moment thinking i could use 2 years for an MBA unless a one year MBA suits me more. I am willing to relocate and looking for schools in India , US , UK , Singapore

Areas of Interest - Marketing / Consulting
Dream School – Kellog (Marketing)

What schools would you suggest to apply to based on this Profile assuming i still score a 710 in my retake . Targeting R1 this year , want to join a school in 2018

Other schools on my mind - Yale , Oxford , NUS , NTU , ISB . Also do i stand a chance at Harvard/ Stanford / Haas ( the elite ) if not what can i do to solidify my application for applying to these schools. I would like to apply to 6 schools One in India (ISB) , 3 In the United States , 1 in UK , 1 in Singapore , i haven't given much of a thought but any advice here would help

Target Score for Retake - 740 (QA 50 VA 40) , owing to my poor academics , i thought of giving the exam another shot and I represent a demography of very high scores

Regards,
HK


P.S - sorry for keeping it long , i might have missed out anything , feel free to ask something if it is missing

HK,

Thank you for your post. I believe you posted on other forum topics as well, so if you have any further questions please let me know!

Best of luck.

-Scott

Hello Scott ,
Yes i did , will solely focus on a resume and the gmat retake and will get back in May

Regards,
HK

HK,

That sounds great. Best of luck! Looking forward to talking with you then.

Best,
Scott

Hi All,
I am also one of those aspirants, but my profile is totally different. I have already completed my PGDM from IMI Kolkata(2015). I know this sounds weird, but my dream of graduating from a premier b school has not been fufilled. To give about my past. I completed engineering in 2010 and worked for 1.5 yrs. Then I had to enter my family business, post which I went for MBA in 2013. I got around 85%ile in XAT and 80%ile odd in CAT in 2012. Unfortunately, could not get through better colleges. Although, IMI Kolkata is not bad, but, it's just that I am not satisfied with where I am right now. Had to go for MBA, since I had no job at that time(only family business). Since 2015, I am working in a food delivery startup called Swiggy as an Area Operations Manager. Hoping for some news during appraisal. Should I go for GMAT(based on my preparation) at end of this year or next year and then for second MBA(one year course if I get through) in 2019.?

I know I am the odd one out and also might not be amongst the young ones. Have attached a pic of what materials(soft copy) that I have. Apart from this, I also have OG GMAT 2016(hard copy). Would be obliged if you can share a few points as to how to go about with my preparation. My total experience at present is around 3.5 yrs(excluding 18 months of family business, which is mostly retail).

Highlights:
1) X-77.8%
2) XII-73.25%
3) B.Tech-1st division, 63% from Gautam Buddh Technical University, Lucknow(2006-2010).
4) PGDM- From International Management Institute Kolkata(2013-2015) in Operations Management.
5) From September of 2011 to March of 2013, I was in family business due to personal reasons.
6) Currently working as an Area Manager(field operations) in Swiggy, since August 2015 & also in CRY.
7) My biggest draw back is my age. I am already 30 yrs as on today.
8) Total experience-3.5 yrs(excluding 1.5 yrs of family business experience).

My concerns:
1) How Indian b schools or foreign b schools would see a candidate like me.
2) After completing PGDM in 2015, is the gap of 4 yrs(2019) sufficient enough to justify my decision.
3) Should I go ahead with my preparation, considering my age?
4) Can I add family business as work experience and will it be of any help to me?

Thank you for your post. Your startup job sounds very interesting. How do you like the work? The short answer is going for a 2nd MBA is perfectly fine, especially since the first is PGDM. Many schools (though not all) will accept it. The age does not help you but it won't keep you out of the running completely, considering some of the time was spent in school. The 63% won't be great though so you will want to study hard and try to get a high GMAT score.

1. Answered above
2. Yes
3. If you apply to a range of schools and work on a strong personal story then it would be a good idea. It depends on the programs you select though
4. If you have additional family business experience, putting in on your resume will help. Family business experience definitely helps, especially if you have leadership roles.

Good luck and let me know if you want to talk further.

Best,
Scott

Hello Scott ,
While working at my fathers business , i started my own business within the company dealing with a few government projects(collaborating with my father) and my role/business was solely into sales and distribution of goods and for about six months while working here,I also did an internship as a part time in another company as a Business Analyst and later went to full time at that company , dissolving the business because of quite a few reasons such as low profits high investment being one of them and some other personal reasons. How do i show case the transition from having your own business and then doing an intern elsewhere and join a company .

Is it a positive outlook for AdCom while reviewing my profile or will they be disheartened by it. I'm a fix as to what is the best way to put this story into one which actually helps me / gives me a leverage over a normal person working at an MNC

Regards,
HK

Thanks Scott,
1) I also knew 63% was low, but the toppers in our batch had around 73% and university toppers had around 82%. So, high scoring in that university is very rare. Not like those 95% in other universities.
2) Swiggy is a food delivery startup. Work culture and growth is good. Taking ownership of multiple things(mostly out of your KRAs), freedom to work and understanding things from hard core business perspective are few of the important things in this profile. I am an Area Manager and I am directly handling 7 Assistant Delivery Managers, 2 Delivery Managers, and indirectly, around 300 delivery boys of multiple areas.
3) Family business is a chain of retail stores(dealing with car accessories), which, in addition to my father, is now being partly handled by my younger brother. My role at that time was mostly looking after complete store operations. We also expanded to a new location within our city and increased our online presence by FB, Google+, Linkedin and own website.
Thanks for your guidance. Will surely get back to you if needed in future.

Hi Scott,
Just to add, I am also working with an NGO named as "CRY". Don't know how much value will it add to my profile; but I always wanted to work for children, be it imparting education or giving them some support.

HK,

Thanks for the additional context. You are on the right track thinking about the need to explain these transitions. It is more complicated than just giving a quick answer on the forums though, so if you want to work on your profile and apps further, feel free to send me an email. I tend to spend more time diving into applicants' background and then customizing a story that works for each.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Best,
Scott

Justin,

Thank you for the additional information. The NGO work will help you for sure. I understand the grade distributions, as will admissions committee members. This will be taken into consideration.

Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss further.

Best,
Scott

How is the type of industry work experience for an applicant evaluated by the admissions committee? All of the schools give a breakdown of what sectors incoming students had work experience in, so I am wondering if there are quotas for each sector or if the type of work experience is more of a secondary concern compared to the overall strength of the application package.

The reason I ask is because I work in an industry that typically is not represented well (it is not finance, consulting, startup, or science) and I am wondering if that will be an asset or a challenge when it comes time for me to submit my applications. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

mrkirby131

Great question! The industry does matter, because schools tend to assemble a diverse class of students across industries. As you pointed out, consulting and finance are two very popular industries. While I work with a lot of applicants from the industries you pointed out, I also tend to help a lot of non-traditional backgrounds. The benefit of such is that there is not as much direct 1:1 competition so it may be easier for you to shine. It all depends on the rest of the application though. It is hard to say without seeing your resume, but feel free to give me some more information in this forum and I'll give you further thoughts.

You can also email me your resume if you prefer: scott@personalmbacoach.com

Best,
Scott

For those of you who are awaiting the Columbia Business School essay release, stay tuned! CBS should be releasing their essays very soon. Last year they came out at this time so hold tight and watch for essay analyses once the questions are released.

Best,
Scott

Update: Here is the CBS analysis!

https://www.personalmbacoach.com/single ... n-Analysis

Hi Scott. I'd love some advice on schools I should be applying to.

• Age: 26 (at intended date of matriculation, Fall 2018)
• Gender: Female
• Work History:
  
  • Human Capital Consultant at a Big 4 in their Analytics/Data Science practice (3 years): Have worked on very innovative projects, known as an "expert" internally for a couple specific data science skills. Top 20% in terms of performance. Promoted once, have won 6 small awards over three years. Have taken on leadership roles at work including co-leading a national community of practice for an in-demand capability (built a SME network, designed and organized nation-wide trainings) and serving on the national recruiting team for my practice.
  • Prior to this, had a very brief analytics/research-focused stint at a startup, was only the 14th person and had some good accomplishments there but left for the consulting role motivated by higher technical rigor + opportunity to develop people skills.
  • Had four summer internships during college, two of which were with a non-profit in India.
• Education:
  
  • Engineering undergrad at a "Little Ivy", 3.39 GPA, Cum Laude, Dean's List (multiple semesters), named scholarship recipient
  • Attended on an almost full-ride as a 16-year-old international student from India, was also working 20 hrs/week all through college.
  • Think my GPA doesn't quite reflect my academic potential. I had ~3.7 my first two years, which plummetted junior year because of my grandfather's illness, subsequent death and financial pressures on the family. Have a D and a few withdraws on my transcript, would love some advice on how to best address this in my applications.
• GMAT: 760 (99th percentile; V42, Q50)
  
• Post MBA Goals: Immediately after my MBA, I would like to return to consulting and work on transforming novel data science solutions into scalable products. Longer term, I want to be a product strategy leader at an analytics-focused tech firm.

Thanks!

Thank you very much for the detailed post. You have a really impressive profile and I think you can target top schools. Feel free to email me separately if you don't want to list the company, but which firm do you work for? That will have a small impact on your chances.

While the GPA is on the lower side, the personal extenuating circumstances will be taken into consideration. The high GMAT as well as top performance at work means you should be targeting M7 programs. Booth, Sloan, and Wharton are good options though we could adjust depending on your goals.

What are your thoughts for post MBA goals? I have a lot of human capital consulting clients who choose to go into org management or org design, either internally or in another consulting capacity.

Feel free to reach out to discuss your profile further.

Scott@personalmbacoach.com

Best,
Scott