Darden Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hi,

Name - Bharat Sethia
Nationality and Age - Indian and 20

Class X - 10/10 CGPA

Class XII - Commerce with Mathematics - 95.6% (Aggregate of 5) and 84.17% (Aggregate of 6). I fell sick for one of the additional exams and therefore, I couldn't appear for the same. I intend to explain it in my application as well.

Undergraduate Education - Bachelors of Arts (Honours) in Economics from Delhi University (3rd year student) - GPA 8.14/10 (aggregate of 4 semesters)

GMAT - 750 (Q50 V41 IR6 AWA5)

Work Experience - 1 Finance Internship with PwC India for 2 months, wherein I worked on automation of Finance function and on various projects to understand revenue models and collection cycles.

Extracurriculars and leadership - Head of Content Development for the Model UN society and Event Head for the Economics Society. Member of Poetry society and Intra-college sports tournament winner. Heavily involved in debating.

Community Experience - Volunteer Experience with CRY for 8 months, Research Intern with Privileged for Underprivileged, Volunteer Experience with Aastha Prayas

Post MBA goals - Work in the field of finance (investment bank preferably). I also intend to get a professional qualification (CFA).


Other information - I intend to apply to the Darden Future Year Scholars Program and other such deferred MBA programs.

Hi there,

From the first look itself, your profile looks well-groomed and competitive. Your CGPA of 3.56 and GMAT score of 720 collectively showcase your academic prowess and allow you to target most top b-schools worldwide.

Coming to your work experience, you have mentioned that you have a total of 4 years of work experience including an internship at one of the big four companies. Considering the fact that you are applying for an MBA program that is designed for professionals who have had at least 3-4 years of work experience, you are surely on the right track. Here, you have also worked with international clients which is always an added advantage as it highlights your broadened perspective and communication skills. However, to enhance your profile further, you can maybe talk about the kind of projects you worked on, how you were able to add value to your company, what skills you gained, and what unique skills you’ve picked up along the journey.

Talking about your extracurricular participation, you have had quite a few experiences during your undergraduate years, from holding leadership positions to actively participating in volunteering services. Having said that, you have raised a concern about your lack of extracurricular activities post-undergraduate, however, you need not worry, as there are many effective ways you can fill this gap in your profile. Firstly, I would suggest you enroll in any community/NGO service or under your company’s CSR wing. Secondly, you can take up a few online certification courses, and then you can date it back to a timeline spread over the years. This way you would be able to showcase your constant learning curve which is an important aspect valued by any b-school.

Most importantly, you can draw attention to the stronger aspects of your profile which can be achieved through your application. Your application is basically what differentiates you by highlighting your strengths and overshadowing your weaknesses. Additionally, it also carries a 30% impact on your admission prospects which is why I would stress you to pay more attention to the same.

Speaking about the top-notch schools that you can target under the MBA program, you can consider schools such as:
MICHIGAN, BERKELEY, DUKE, and HEC in the dream category (where your chances of acceptance are 40-50%)
Fordham, ESCP, WHU, and FSFM in the competitive category (where your chances of acceptance are 50-60%)

That said, if you wish to gain in-depth insights into the schools you should be targeting according to your profile, you can take up our Free Profile Evaluation service, the link of which is given below:

https://www.mim-essay.com/profile-evaluation

Here, you can also Book a Free consulting session with one of our consultants who through their expertise can gauge the competitiveness of your profile and help you plan a winning strategy to bag an admit from your target schools.

Hope this helped!

Hey all- would appreciate a profile evaluation for UVA Darden EA/R1 2021 Fall
All the stats below will be at Matriculation 25 Male Indian born - American Citizen Undergrad: GPA 3.60 Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech GMAT: 720 (Q49,V38) - want to increase it with another attempt
Work Experience: 3 years at one of the Automotive Detroit 3 (GM/Ford/FCA) -
Part of the early career rotation program -Year 1- Worked in launch excellence as a Software Integration Engineer
Year 2 -Design Release Engineer (read Product Owner/ Part Owner) (new part for next gen cars) (>$1M) overseas supplier-Design decisions led to savings of greater than $1M.
Year 2 and beyond: — Assistant Program Engineering Manager- Owner of a whole vehicle an all its parts
Manage and lead all issues related to the particular program- remove all blockers and keep program on track (timing and budgetary)

Extra Curricular: Member of Advisory Board for Early Career Rotation Program within my company
Mentor for New Hires every hiring cycle Very Active in sports- especially Cricket: Play 2 different leagues and company team (sport big part of life)
Volunteering: Active volunteer at Junior Achievement Detroit - Spend one morning every month with a class of Middle Schoolers from inner city schools and walk them through a course of financial literacy, to guide them in making good decisions as they become young adults and help them understand the importance of a college education.
During undergrad: Part of the Consulting Group where we provided pro-Bono consulting services to small businesses across our school town.
President of the A sport Club
Joined the club as a freshman when we had 500$ and left it with 10,000$ where we regularly used to travel and play at regional and National conferences.

Why MBA? I have had an inclination towards leadership and management kind of roles since undergrad and always knew I will eventually do an MBA. After working with innovative ideas and designs in my current role I want to pivot to PM roles in Tech or get back to consulting - preferably strategy or management consulting where I can get a breadth of experience. Long term I want to work in Tech management /innovation. I am sure people leave their MBA with a different mindset than when they enter so this might change.

And please let me know if there are any other programs I should consider. Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

Hi MBAprep1997,

Thanks for sharing your profile!
From what you have described, You have a great academic profile!

As you mentioned you are not satisfied with your current GMAT score & going to give it another try, let me tell you that 710-740 is an ideal GMAT score for UVA-Darden and you have scored 720 which is perfectly acceptable! But if you feel you have underperformed and want to give it another try, you must go for an ambitious score.

Apart from the GMAT score, there are few more qualities which Darden is looking for which are as follows:

1.Ability to contribute
2.Problem solvers
3.A sense of passion & purpose
4.Global Awareness

One can clearly see a mix of 1&2 in your profile through your great impact in work. Out of all your extracurriculars, I would say highlight the ones which showcase how you are passionate about solving a compelling problem in society. But you definitely need to highlight 3&4 better. Your work at Deloitte should highlight the international exposure you may have gotten and how it helped you shape a global vision for your post-MBA goals. You seem inspired towards tech and innovation and digging in deep here can help you bring a sense of purpose in your story.

Coming on to the extra curriculum section, you have a good hold in sports but I am missing, again, passion. I would like to hear your story at length and find the impact in your profile that can become your USP.

For schools, INSEAD is a good choice if you want to go for consulting. To recommend more schools, I need to know your story better. If you'd like, we are happy to hop on a call with you to discuss your story in length and address the major hiccups of your profile. Also, you need to have a good understanding of the schools you are going to target. Feel free to connect with me as per your convenience.

Cheers!
Shantanu Sharma, Linkedin
Founder and Admissions Consultant, MBA and Beyond
Testimonials
Email: shantanu@mbaandbeyond.com
What s app: +65-97158525

Hi,

Please help in evaluating my profile :

Age : 25 years (Female)

Education :
Chartered Accountant (India)
CFA (Level II cleared) (90th percentile)
Bachelor of Commerce from NM College, Mumbai (Grade A)
Std XII (87%)
Std X (92%)

Work Experience:

3 years of internship with Deloitte as an Internal Audit Consultant
6 months with Future Group as a Business Innovator
2 years of work ex with Kotak Investments as a Credit/ Monitoring Analyst (Current)

Extra Currics :

Associated with a Rotaract club for a year
Represented school and college in district level throwball championships,
Dance (as a hobby)

GMAT - yet to attempt (ongoing prep)

THANKS!

Hi,

Please help in evaluating my profile :

Age : 25 years (Female)

Education :
Chartered Accountant (India)
CFA (Level II cleared) (90th percentile)
Bachelor of Commerce from NM College, Mumbai (Grade A)
Std XII (87%)
Std X (92%)

Work Experience:

3 years of internship with Deloitte as an Internal Audit Consultant
6 months with Future Group as a Business Innovator
2 years of work ex with Kotak Investments as a Credit/ Monitoring Analyst (Current)

Extra Currics :

Associated with a Rotaract club for a year
Represented school and college in district level throwball championships,
Dance (as a hobby)

GMAT - yet to attempt (ongoing prep)

THANKS!

sh1212:

Thanks for sharing your profile. One key, immediate question: when are you applying? Are you targeting the 2021-2022 application season or in a later year? If so, that's okay, but you have work cut out for you.

The good news is that your grades appear excellent. That's fortunate because that cake is already baked. You also look like your career is off to a promising start.

Constructively speaking, you need to beef up your profile is you want to have a shot at Darden. Do you have any other extracurricular activities besides what you have listed? Even though they are fair game, the ones you have included seem a little dated. Have you been involved in anything since graduation? It's important to show leadership and community involvement outside of an academic setting. If you are not applying until the fall at the earliest I strongly recommend you find an initiative or two you can get involved in to shore up this weakness.

It's good that you have included your internship experience and your 6-month period at Future Group, but those are not going to matter nearly as much as your 2 years wit Kotak Investments. What have you achieved there? Do you have any impressive accomplishments you can showcase in a CV/resume and in essays?

As I am sure you know, make sure you ace your GMAT! As a slightly younger candidate coming from a competitive demographic, you are going to need to show you have the technical chops to handle the rigors of the MBA curriculum. GPA is only one side of that coin.

Please reach out to us at Admissionado if you would like strategic help or application support. We offer free consultations for candidates getting ready for or actively involved in the application process.

https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/

Best,
Admissionado

Contact “dream school admit”. I had a much poorer profile and got a call this year (very competitive year). They do a free evaluation as well. Ask for Arvind. Good luck !

Posted from my mobile device

saiakshay18

Did you get an interview invite for Darden?

Yupe ! I had lost all hope but came in late last week.

Posted from my mobile device

Sounds great saiakshay18 All the best for your interview. You can check some of the latest Darden interview experiences at the following link.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/darden-197/i ... brief.html

sh1212

Have you tried our "What are my chances?" tool at the following link?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-are-my- ... 09854.html

Hi sh1212,

Your profile looks pretty good on the surface. Your academic potential is demonstrated by your strong academics during undergrad and CFA level 2 will add weight to your academic profile. I would recommend that you aim to get a GMAT score of 700+ to get a decent shot at Rotman. On a side note, I do not know if you’re attempting CFA level 3 but if you clear that, you will get a GMAT waiver for Rotman.

On the work front, I can see the versatility in your roles, you've done a variety of roles in various organizations, and it's great that you've got a lot of exposure in different companies and roles (with big brands!).You should demonstrate the roles and projects that you have undertaken and the respective impact to the organization's growth and progress. I need more information on your professional experience to gauge impact in your profile.

Well, your participation in sports shows your dynamic personality, you may want to highlight it (or other passions that you pursue in your daily life now) in your application and bring a more vibrant personality on your apps.

There are many unknowns in your profile related to Your post-MBA goals and many important aspects of your work experience and so I may not be able to give a good analysis of your profile for Rotman or other schools (I see you’ve shared your profile on many US schools as well). If you’d like, we are happy to hop on a call with you to discuss your profile in detail and also recommend you b-schools that can be the best match for your profile and goals. Feel free to book a free session with us as per your convenience.

Cheers!
Shantanu Sharma
Founder and Admissions Consultant, MBA and Beyond
Testimonials
Email: shantanu@mbaandbeyond.com
What s app: +65-97158525

Hello sh1212!

Your academic profile looks solid and is in line for Darden. Although the content of your work experience is strong in terms of analyst and consulting internships, the number of years is on the low side. Focusing on a high GMAT score will certainly put you in a more competitive position. Your application essays and letters of recommendation will need to articulate how the variety and depth of your experiences matches up with the requirements of Darden's program - and how you will be able to contribute to the class and school. It will also be helpful to showcase leadership and teamwork in your professional and extracurricular endeavors.

Best of luck!

Hey, There!
Background and nationality
My name is Vinay and I'm from Bangalore, India. I would be applying for my MBA in a month or so and request some input on my selection of universities. I've added the details of my profile as briefly as I could. My shortlist of colleges is given at the bottom of the comment. I'm also wondering if I should apply to universities outside of the US and love some advice from you.

GRE
- 330 (V-157; Q-170; AWA- 3)


Undergraduate

Completed my Bachelors of Business Administration from Alliance University, Bangalore in Finance with an aggregate of 81.5% ( First Class with Distinction )


Work Experience
4of Years work-ex, with the deep domain of equity research and valuation
Equity Research Analyst at Sarthak Returns ( June 5th, 2017 – Date ) – Sarthak Returns is a Stock Market Advisory Company based in Bangalore. Responsibilities here include
- Technical Analysis, Fundamental Analysis, Equity Research, Proprietary trading, Handling clients accounts, Blog writing.Was Handling a team of 3 people directly reporting


Certifications

NSE Academy's Certified Investment Analyst Champion (NCIAC) & NCMP Level 3
NISM-Series-VIII: Equity Derivatives Certification Examination
NISM-Series-X-A: Investment Adviser (Level 1) Certification Examination
NISM-Series-X-B: Investment Adviser (Level 2) Certification Examination
NISM Series-XV: Research Analyst Certification Examination


Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Volunteer with Youth for Seva ( July 1st, 2016 – September 30th, 2016 ), a Non-Non-Governmental Organisation. The work involved teaching Spoken English and Basic Computer Skills to Primary and Middle School children. This continues till date in a Part-time effect, with overall service time over **Five Hundred Hours**.
• Organised “Mock Stock”, a stock market simulator, in an inter-college event.
•Co-Founded a start-up in the college days - Started with the platform-based company for travel (Air and Bus) with Hotel booking. It was improved based on blind spots, Started renting out textbooks. That rented out students' old books and paid them a share of the earnings, thereby enabling students to make money off books they do not need.
•Co-Founded a niche-based stock research firm meanwhile I was working as an equity research analyst.
• Have pursued Young Leadership program from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, the program was for the one-year duration with blend learning from both online and offline.


Post MBA goals
Short Term
Work for Investment Banking field

Long Term
Start an Asset Management Company

Please evaluate my profile so I know if I should try for Darden, I'd love to hear your thoughts about my profile?

Background and nationality
Come from a small town in the south and am a white male, first generation college student

Undergrad Information
Tier 2 state school and studied accounting with a 3.6 GPA
Also got a MS Finance at McCombs with a 3.5 GPA

GMAT:
1st Try: 650 (V: 39 / Q:39)

Work experience and leadership
Worked full time as an accountant and consultant to small businesses throughout undergrad while attending school full time
1 year in equity research at middle market investment bank (think Raymond James, Blair, etc.)
2.5 years in M&A investment banking at a small boutique firm in Chicago
Was hired by a former client who took a CFO job at a public company to come in as a "utility player". Title is officially in Investor Relation and Strategic Planning but the role is really Corporate Strategy

Community and others
Volunteer consultant to small businesses under the national organization SCORE
Selected by my company to be a "Venture Fellow" at a Venture Capital firm that our company invests in as an LP so I'm working with the VC shop's leadership team to help them assess VC opportunities in the industry I work in

Undergrad Leadership
Vice President Accounting Society
Leader of Elite Leadership group (~5% of university is accepted to this group) on campus
Vice President of Business Constituency Council (group of undergrad students that acted as an intermediary between the students and the Dean to enact change across the business school)