Darden Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hello - thanks in advance to anyone who will be willing to evaluate my profile. Darden has been on my radar for quite some time.

Background: Applying R1 for Fall 2019 start
Race: Asian, US citizen
Male, 28 years old

GMAT: 720 (47Q, 42V, not my best performance)
Undergrad: Top 100 state university (top 30ish out of publics)
Major: Finance
GPA: 3.3 (prioritized extracurricular commitments in college)

Work experience:
3 years in financial administration years with 1 major promotion (and management experience. Responsible for financial tracking, internal analysis, and collaborating with senior management to optimize budget and financial processes. In terms of my own development in this job, I went from primarily budget preparation and writing proposals to leading discussion with management on broader financial strategy and client relationships, and being point person to management for status updates.

Currently going into my 4th year co-leading the finance arm within the education sector. Responsible for managing all internal financial processes, applying to grant funding, and working with stakeholders that currently fund us. I've also spearheaded a strategic plan for pursuing funding so that we are now better equipped for grant applications and am now managing our consulting partnership to visualize and later
execute a 5 year plan (we have a consulting firm that has been hired on to help us).

Extracurricular:
Student government leader
Fraternity council president (leadership above all fraternities on campus)
Appointed to several leadership honor societies and student positions by my university
Post-college I was an alumni representative, career mentor to college students, tutor to local high school students, nothing spectacular

Post MBA: Strategy consulting, with a preference to firms that have solid social/public sector clients, but not a hard preference. Basically to be on the other side of table in the major project that I'm managing

Hi jinram,

Thank you for your post and for sharing your profile. I like your professional experience, and your overall GMAT scores counterbalance the less than average GPA for Darden. You mention that you have had Darden in your "radar" for a while. May I ask why? Can you identify the reasons why you find Darden's MBA compelling?

As with any top programs, the quantitative component of one's profile is only one aspect of the application. To make a strong case as to why you should be admitted, you must demonstrate your fit, which happens through a combination of quantitative and qualitative components. Darden's R1 MBA application is around the corner. I recommend you take the next two (2) months to prepare a killer application, clearly articulation your path (past and future), and how Darden helps you get there. Where else are you applying?

If you are interested in continuing the conversation with a 30-minute free consultation, please click here to coordinate.

Good luck!

Hey,

Please evaluate my profile and let me know my chances.

I am looking to transition to operations consulting post mba. Long term goal is to transform the operations landscape in the healthcare industry.

Indian Male 26 years old
GMAT: 760 (Q 49, V 44, IR 8, AWA 6)
GPA: 8.05/10 (IIT Madras)
Current Industry: Healthcare
Current function: Supply Chain
Work exp: 4 years (2.5 in Japan, 1.5 in Germany), Working for a Japanese medical device manufacturer in a global leadership programme.
Hobbies: Salsa (performed in Tokyo Salsa Congress), Snowboarding (Intermediate level), Windsurfing (beginner level)
Others: Actively engage in the CSR activities of my company, Publicity Head of IIT M technical festival, Member of Placement team

Hello vimalkanagaraj

Quantitatively speaking, you have a great profile.
Undergrad Brand, Past Scores, GMAT, Years of experience (in the sweet spot), international exposure and interesting extracurricular.
All of the above checks the box. But as you know, admissions is not a checklist.
Key for you specifically is execution and combining 'qualitative' aspects of your profile with the quantitative ones.
Namely, nature of work, career progress, achievements at work, business impact, contribution in extracurricular activities, clear, realistic & specific career goals that fit the profile of the B School.
If you tie in the above well in your written application, you have a decent shot.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Hi vimalkanagaraj,

As it was stated above you, quantitatively speaking you have a strong profile. I especially like your professional exposure to est and west (obviously great GMAT). Now, you must translate the quantitative data into a qualitative expression of your qualifications on a leadership, character, and values levels. Happy to get to know your story better. If you would like to continue the conversation, please reach out to schedule an exploratory call.

Good luck!

GMAT : Planning to give in 1st week of December, Average score in 3 mocks is 720, I expect and hope my final score will be 740+
Indian Male 27
Graduation : B.Tech Civil Engineer (2014)
2014-15 : Worked as a Civil Engineer with my father in his firm
Post Graduation : M.E Transportation Engineering (2015-17) from BITS Pilani
2017-18 : Worked as a Highway Design Engineer in an MNC(Canada)
Was given various responsibilities regarding preparation of DPR for Highways, Had to coordinate among various departments of the firm (Geotech, Structure, GIS etc), Have conducted various meetings in NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) & MORTH (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways), Conducted meetings in various cities for Land acquisition process, Have also worked in projects from Africa(But this work was completely technical)
2018- Present : Working as a Project Manager & Highway Engineer in a State Highway Construction firm
Leading the project as a Manager which involves construction of a State Highway worth 3 million $
Total Work Experience : 31 months as of now
Hobbies & Extra-curricular : Quizzing , Cricket (Won a Corporate Cricket Tournament in May), Trekking
Social Work : Have not done much social work but whenever I got the chance, I donated blood in Blood donation camps in my College, Work place
Post MBA goal: My short term post MBA goal is to work in a Management Consultancy firm (Preferably in Business Operations & Strategy )for 4-5 years
After that I would like to come back to India and work in Indian conglomerate such as TATA, Birla, Reliance

Hello abhinav918

The quantitative aspects of your profile look decent. Academic brand on the CV, work ex, international exposure and GMAT score (expected) all works in your favor.
The years of work ex is slightly lower than that of the class. Not a deal breaker by any means, but you will be required to showcase maturity.
The key for you is to not tie in the quantitative aspect of your profile with quantitative strengths- career progress, achievements at work, impact in extracurricular activities. IF you can do that, your have a good shot.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

GMAT: 750
GPA: 3.5
Major: Engineering (hard one)
Undergrad: US News Top 30
W/E: F500 company in an R&D role in the US (4 years)
ECA: Decent (not spectacular)
Post MBA Goal: MBB or FAANG
Age: 26
Demographic: Asian Male (not Indian/Chinese)

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Hi, so please assess my chances.

Undergraduate School: Trinity University
Undergraduate GPA: 2.33
Undergraduate Degree: History Major, Minor in Business Administration

Working Experience:(2 years) 1 Year Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Analyst, 1 year Financial Analyst at Doctor's Clinic

GMAT Score: 750

Other: Former Collegiate Basketball Player, Amateur Cyclist, Volunteer work in India


* Please also take note that Darden's 2019 GPA range was 2.1-4.0, and they view very highly the 750 GMAT I possess. Also being a Morgan Stanley Analyst is quite hard, acceptance rate hovers a 2%.

Hello vreddy1

Though your GPA makes things tricky, the GMAT might be able to compensate for it at some schools. If you have a valid reason (say health or stellar extracurricular during university)
At the same time, another big concern I see is the lesser number of years of experience.
While the brand on the CV helps, with just 2 years you may not have enough career progression or achievements at work to stand out and compete against people who have been in the industry longer. This poses a very valid question of 'Why MBA Now' in your specific case. Don't know your career goals to be able to comment on it but 2 years might seem slightly early.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

I want to enter MBB consulting without a doubt.


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Hello Experts,

I am Aalekh and I would like to have my profile evaluated for Dardens intake of 2020. I'll be writing my GMAT in June, 2019.
Age - 25 years and Nationality - Indian

1. Academics :
CGPA's(out of 10) of 10th , 12th and B.E (Undergraduate) : 9.0 / 6.74 / 6.64 (I screwed up here! My bad)
Enrolled myself in International School of Entrepreneurial Leadership (iSOEL) - Duration 6 months. 3 cohorts of 21 days. (excelled in this and even got funded after the same)

2. Work Experience :
(i)I have 3 years of professional work experience (4 at matriculation) as a Product and Project Manager in an IT firm, which deals in fantasy sports solutions. (For your better understanding, these are the projects that are similar to Dream 11 / DraftKings/ FanDuel / Etc.)
- I was responsible for driving new products and projects from concept to implementation, serving as a liaison between senior management, IT team and business stakeholders.
- I have worked with many Indian clients and worked as a project lead for the official fantasy sports for Arabian Gulf League (AGL). Big client. Nice guys
- I was the brain behind an internal product of the company (perfectlineup) that saved over a million dollars to the company till date. I actually wrote down the website content and algorithm for the same. It was fun.
- I have managed the completion of over 10 software development projects and worked on the internal product of the company at the same time in order to push the latest updates in all the projects that we made.

(ii)I have 3 years of work experience with my startup(C-Cube) that I co-founded when I was 19. Though, I know this experience won't count into the total work ex. (That's actually sad!)
- It was during my graduation. C-cube is a campus company inside the college premises, acting as a one stop quality chain store and a cafe bestowing students stationary requirements and food.
- We managed around $30,000 then and break-evened in the 8th month of operations. Kudos to my team!

(iii) Active President and Manager of Royal Vikings Football Club (R.V.F.C) registered in District Football Association, Indore, Mahdya Pradesh.

3. Achievements -
(i) Lead a team of 400 volunteers in Global Investors Summit, Madhya Pradesh in 2014 organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)
(ii) Winner of a national level group dance competition held at IIM, Indore
(iii) Ideated, executed and marketed an android application, which we developed as a college major project. It had 15,000+ downloads on google play store and 150+ 5 star ratings.
(iv) Secured 4th position among 107 colleges in National Entrepreneurship Challenge (NEC) held at IIT, Bombay
(v) Semi-Finalist of National level football tournament held at BITS Pilani, Goa.
(vi) Winner of Nodal RGPV Football tournament

I have mentioned above the most important achievements of mine. Apart from these, there are many other co-curricular activities wherein, I have worked as an E-cell leader, organizing various events during my college days. I have worked with Young Indians (Yi - Indore Chapter) and participated in many awareness programs and college fests, specially dance and football. I can get 2 LOR's from my employer.

Not to forget, one of the MAJOR factor for my profile still remains folded. THE GMAT! Let's see what happens.
Now, I request you to shoot your kind advises for me. I would really appreciate if you can guide me through this. Thanks in advance.

Regards!

Hi Aalekh,
The application process is very holistic, so there's not one factor that is weighted more than others. From a work perspective, I think your profile looks very strong. Sounds like you've had great leadership and accomplishments, plus cross-functional work, and the fantasy sports industry is not as common, so that might add a bit of interest to your application. I love the startup experience too, definitely find a way to highlight that and what you learned from it. Outside of work, it seems like you've been quite involved too, so I consider those activities to be strong as well. Where your profile is weakest is academics. Unfortunately you can't change your GPA (by the way the Bachelors one is all admissions looks at). So, getting a high GMAT is very important for you. For Darden, you want to be significantly above their 718 average, like 740. It might also help to take some additional pre-MBA coursework (even online) to "replace" any particularly low grades on your transcript (especially if you had low grades in quantitative / business courses).
Other than the GMAT focus, Darden is a unique program, so make sure you've fully researched their approach, offerings, and student life.
Good luck!
Kate

Thanks for your reply and kind advice mbaMissionKate,
I'll try taking some additional coursework. Could these be on the MOOCs such as coursera, Udemy, etc? The low grades that I received during my engineering were in the subjects that would be of least interest in business schools, I guess. These were the subjects that were pure technical as per my majors (computer science) is concerned. So, should I still take additional courses in highly tech stuff in computer science, which actually would benefit nothing to me or should I focus on courses related to business studies?
Also, could you tell me more about the background checks that Darden does? I am asking this because, I want to be prepared with all of the documents beforehand (be it EC's or any of my achievements).

Thanks.
Kind Regards!

Yes, the coursework could be MOOCs, though make sure you can provide some proof of completing each course, which may require you to pay a bit. I see your point about the technical courses, so I would focus on foundational business courses (accounting, stats, econ, finance, etc.) or courses that would help prepare you for your post-MBA goals.

Re. background checks, assume that the school can request proof of anything you state in your application because they can! And when you submit your application you are signing your name asserting that everything is truthful. At a minimum, schools usually check basic things like your employment dates, titles, salaries, bonuses, prior degrees and sometimes your criminal record too. But again, it is fair for them to verify anything you state on your application.

Good luck!
Kate

Yeah, I could do the foundational business courses that you have mentioned above. These are the specific one that might help me during my MBA and yes, indeed it is fair for the schools to have a background check. I was just wondering about the intensity of the same.
Thanks for your reply again, Kate.

Kind Regards!

26, male, Indian Sikh.
Business economics graduate from Delhi University (first division). I've derived that my GPA is 3.7 (kindly correct if wrong)
GMAT: 740 (Q51, V39, IR8, AWA6)
Work experience:
Full time 2.5 years, freelance 1.5 years.

I freelanced with a production studio as a cinematographer and a video editor for 6 months. They hired me full-time and promoted me to the post of senior producer because I was good at dealing with clients. This lasted for 6 months too.
Then I left for Mumbai to assist in ads and films to learn more. I was freelancing as well. I was the assistant cinematographer in Kapil Sharma's "Firangi". Was part of many short films as well.

Then I joined my family business of medicine exports. It involved handling purchase and negotiating rates and payment terms. Soon I started travelling to Imphal to manage a pharmacy as it's conflict struck area and hiring someone local was tough.
Additionally, I became a mutual fund distributor in Jan last year. I have a sizeable AUM under me. I am also a stock trader. I still freelance as a cinematographer.

In college I used to make short films on social causes. I'd write, shoot, direct and edit myself. The topics ranged from communal differences, eve teasing to organ donation. I screened the organ donation movie in my college and about 50 viewers pledged their organs after the screening.
I also won numerous awards in -
Street theatre
Best photographer
Best cinematography
Best short film (director)

I wish to get into financial consulting post MBA.

What is the deal breaker here? I've been told that my work ex won't count since I've mostly worked for myself or my family (albeit full time).

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