Hi Piyush,

Thanks for the PM.

Here are my thoughts on your candidacy!

Considering that you graduated in 2017, it is GREAT that you started so early and already have the GMAT out of the way. (also congrats on that amazing GMAT btw). I think your undergrad accomplishments are solid and I think your work experience sets you apart from the typical Indian IT male which is also a very welcome PLUS!

In terms of whether you should apply for the 2020 intake - yeah I think you absolutely should. That would give you 3 years of WE by the time you matriculate and I think that is more and more becoming the new sweet spot. I think some schools may frown at the limited experience (Sloan, Fuqua etc) but most schools will welcome it.

Also, read this fantastic post by aerien on younger applicants.

That said, if I were you, I would start working on building solid accomplishments at work, which I can see can be difficult in a large organisation, but can you try taking ambitious projects and deliver them with strong results? Also getting some people experience (such as managing a team, working cross functionally etc) could also get you really cool stuff to write about in your essays.

For your question about whether you should change your industry? I don't know to be honest. Do you like your current industry? If so, why would you change it? Thousands of Indian IT male apply, but not all of them have 760 GMATs and great accomplishments, so I would work more on building stronger accomplishments if I were you. Also, in a new industry you will probably be a fish out of the water at the beginning and you may not get the opportunity to make strong and meaningful impact.

In terms of schools, it would depend a lot on your post MBA goals. For vanilla goals like tech or consulting, any of the top 10-12 schools should be great. Schools end up being pretty random, so I do not recommend certain schools more than others, but because you have very strong stats, I would recommend these schools in descending order of competitiveness - Booth, Kellogg, Tuck, Ross, Stern. If you are keen on scholarship, I am a BIG fan of McCombs and they have been generous in the past, same goes for the Foster school of business. Both have amazing MBA programs with a very strong tech recruitment foundation.
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Hi Souvik, Great initiative you have there!!! I have a few questions which have been bothering me for a while. I hope you could guide me through as I am a novice in the GMAT realm.

I am employed in an Indian Public Sector Bank for 2.5 years. Mostly, my work is involved around retail banking. But I am more interested to pursue investment banking in the coming years. Would an MBA help me in achieving that goal? If so, how much do I need to score on GMAT to get an admit to a moderately good school? Plus, I don't have good undergrad scores, merely 65% but I have secured some certifications in the financial sector, like NISM Financial Advisor, and some more, could such certifications help improve my profile? Another thing I want to ask, would it be wise to leave a government job, as it is considered the most financially secure job in India, to pursue higher studies?

It'd be a great help if you could ping back!!!

Hi Souvik!


Thanks for taking this initiative man, it'll be of great help!


Here's my profile:

Planning for 2019-20 batch, open to both one-year and two year programs. One year is preferred though.


Here is a little background on my profile:


Age: 25 (Indian Male)

Class 10: cgpa 83.2%

Class 12: 72.6.5%

Graduation: 69.3% ( BE in CSE from Panjab University)

GMAT: 690 Q47, V38.


Internships & Work Ex: 

*Infosys Ltd. (Feb '14- June '14)

*Infosys Ltd. (July '14 - Present) - 3.7 years.


 Extra Curriculars

 - Organised a lots of events at college Level.

 - Have been an entrepreneur at heart since college. Developed and flipped websites. Have invested at studied in 

   Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain. Have worked as a freelancer for some overseas clients. (Can get the recommendation

   letter from them.)

- Avid traveler and trekker. Have trekked to a few popular peaks including Mt Everest Base Camp.

- Intermediate Level Guitar player.

- Have played Cricket at college level.

- Team Lead at College Placement committee.

Concerns and Advice requested:

1) I'm planning to quit my job and start my own venture and I think I'd have 6-8 months of entrepreneurship experience, but that might not be enough to take my venture to success. However, I really want to pursue MBA in 2019 batch. Should I start my venture and give it one extra year and plan for MBA in 2020. In case my venture fails, will it be considered a negative point in my profile?

2) Another option is quit my job a little late(adding a few more months to my experience) and apply for a good university. Which one will be better?

Target B Schools: I haven't really researched much, but ISB, SP Jain, Brigham Young University are few of the preferred. Which other good business schools should I plan to apply. I don't have any particular location preference for the B School.


Thanks a lot!


Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

First off I am impressed that you typed the whole thing on your phone. I think I am getting really old. Anything more than 50 words, I hunt for my computer.

Instead of combing through your profile, which looks decent and typical (except for the GMAT - that needs to improve).

1) I'm planning to quit my job and start my own venture and I think I'd have 6-8 months of entrepreneurship experience, but that might not be enough to take my venture to success. However, I really want to pursue MBA in 2019 batch. Should I start my venture and give it one extra year and plan for MBA in 2020. In case my venture fails, will it be considered a negative point in my profile?


Not really. Plenty of ventures fail. More ventures fail than succeed. The more important question is, would you know whether your venture is successful from less than a year? To be brutally honest, I know LOTs of Indians who have done this - start a venture a year from school to show some entrepreneurial chops with the idea of it failing. It's the same scheme as joining or starting a not for profit (I was accused of that. To my critic's surprise I stayed in not for profits for half a decade). Regardless of whether your venture succeeds or fails you have to answer the question - Why MBA? Why Now? If not in the essays, definitely in the interviews. How would you answer? If you have an answer ready (I have some ideas here), great! If you don't, I'd try figuring that story out before quitting your job.

Target B Schools: I haven't really researched much, but ISB, SP Jain, Brigham Young University are few of the preferred. Which other good business schools should I plan to apply. I don't have any particular location preference for the B School.

That's an odd choice. You have 2 solid Indian school and a pretty remote school in Utah - that does not add up to me. Start your research. It would be hard to recommend schools without knowing what you really want. At first all schools will look and sound the same. First figure out your final GMAT score. If it is 690, take 5-6 schools which has a GMAT average of 660-680 and figure out which schools appeal to you. Talk to current students, alums and industry folks who are doing the stuff you want to do. Only then you will be able to feel vibes and make a more informed choice. Hope this helps!
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Appreciate it. This thread serves as a community learning. I don't think I will be able to evaluate your profile over PMs/email. You could post a sanitised version here - nobody would know. Unless you are a celebrity, in which case, why would you go to business school?
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GmatHopeful2021 - quick question before we proceed further. A 750 GMAT with your split (which is great BTW) is MORE THAN ENOUGH for an Indian female such as yourself. Why would you waste time retaking? The only other Indian woman I have seen do such a thing is kmwantstogoschool who wanted to improve her quant (750-770 - she's crazy!).

One more thing: which schools did you apply to and what were the outcomes? If it was just Yale, it does not mean anything!
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Name: Hitarth Parmar

GMAT: 710 (Q48, Q39); IR - 8; AWA - 5.0. [Recently appeared for my GMAT on 16.02.2018]

Work Experience: 57 months [as on 01.04.2018] at a Public-sector Oil & Gas industry in India. I worked for 53 months in Operations & Maintenance department as an Officer, and was responsible for managing the Routine Maintenance Schedules, Breakdown maintenance with Root Cause Analysis and Report Generation; was responsible for a critical design change which was universalised in the company.

Recently, I have been transferred to Projects department since 3.5 months and been looking after Project Scheduling, Planning, review and approval of procedures, materials, managing and co-ordinating with other agencies (Consultant, contractor, inspection agencies).

Extra-curriculars: Have won a team event at a national level sports fest in the game of Table Tennis; was associated for 1 year with an NGO.


Question:
1) I expected a better GMAT score than 710 - I used to receive around Q49 and Q50 as well as V41 and V42. Basically, I think I have room for improvement and wish to appear once again around May. Is that a good time to appear for the GMAT or should I concentrate more on Essays, LoRs and such?

2) Considering that I have my work experience in Projects and Operations and thereby plan on pursuing MBA in Operations/Project management, should I aim for a better score in Quant? (something around 49-50)

3) Which are the best schools for MBA with specialisation in Operations and Project Management? How good is ISB for the same?

Your help will be thoroughly appreciated.
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May I request for profile evaluation ?
2010 - Grad, Computer Engineering, Delhi College of Engineering.

Work experience

2011- 14 months work experience with bank of America in Business Intelligence. (Resigned from Job)
2011-2013 - Prepared for Civil Services. Not able to get through.
2014 - Co founded a national NGO for differently able.
2015- Co founded, a partnership firm to teach cadets for NDA at schools under defense ministry.
2016 - Co founded a start up for providing free quality material for competitive examinations in hindi language as it comprises of 45 % of our population. For the same raised pre seed funds from DTU IIF.

Sports profile

2011- Silver at National Championship in Para Table Tennis.
2012- Speaker at International Conference for London Olympics at Delhi University.
2013- Represented India at Para Table Tennis Thailand. World rank 72.
2016- Successfully negotiated with Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), Sports Authority of India (SAI) and International Para table Tennis Committee (IPTTC) for National championship of Para table Tennis which was due in India since 5 years and no one was ready to provide any solution. I intervened and helped in formation of national body to take care of Para Table Tennis under TTFI. Consequently, we were able to win medals in Para Asian Games (1 Bronze), Thailand Open, 2017(3 Bronze) and Jordan Open (9 medals, highest in India). Recently I have been able to get funds allocated for national championship which was due 5 years and also presented a separate budget for Para Table Tennis of 1.5 crore which is about to pass in a month. Presently I have been selected as players representative for Para Table Tennis but it is not a legal sanctioned post.

Which MBA school I stand a chance for scholarship ? GMAT :700

Posted from my mobile device

Name: Abhinav
Nationality: Indian
WE: 49 months (Oil & Gas) ( Project Management & Tech Operations)
I have been involved in construction & commissioning of an LNG terminal
GMAT: 710 (Q-50, V-36)

Extra Curricular:
1. Represented the university in various cricket tournaments
2. Prepared a technical review paper
3. Was the university sports secy
4. Organised a few events at the university

Academic Background:

B.Tech(Petroleum)- 74.6%

Awards & Achievements:

1. Was among the top 1% performers in the organisation
2. Was placed at the highest paying company from the university and I was among the top 5% of my batch ( i dnt know if this is an achievement )
3. Was a part of the school team in the district level tournaments conducted by the hyderabad Cricket asssociation

School Preference:

I am mainly looking for a 1-year (at max 15-months) MBA program preferably in English speaking country.I want to work in the general management or operations vertical. I am looking for colleges in any country , where in I could get into these business verticals. I have been waitlisted at ISB , but could no cut through after that.

As far as what I've experienced , i understood that the colleges generally pick those students , whom they would find no difficulty in placing. Can you please suggest me some good colleges ,where in my profile would suit

The colleges , which i am looking into are

NTU
NUS
ISB

Thanks in advance.
Abhinav

How is your GMAT Prep going? Your experience looks really interesting (with startups etc) and I think ISB would be happy to take you in if you crack a 730 or above on the GMAT. Is there a reason you don't want to apply to American schools? i think you can make a strong case with your differentiating work experience and with a high GMAT score, I don't see off-the-top-of-my-head glitches on the top 10.
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