Profile evaluation for NYU Stern, UVA Darden, Duke Fuqua, Berkeley Haas, HBS, Imperial, Johnson (Cornell), Cambridge Judge, LBS, Kellogg, Finance background, from India

gmatclub

Comments 6 comments

9 months ago

The response to GMAT vs. GRE should not be a crowd-sourced response. It entirely depends on which pattern works better for you. If GMAT, aim for a 695+; if GRE, aim for a 330+.
Keeping in mind that MBA is a general management program, you should be clear if MBA education is needed for the goals (AM, Risk) you have in mind. If the intent is to specialize further by pursuing FRM and/or CFA, then do you really need an MBA? Do not follow the herd.
- Dee
MBA admissions consultant and management consultant
catalysts.success@gmail.com

mbakety

thanks for the quick response!
agreed on the exam patterns.
CFA/FRM is only to up-skill my technical knowledge. But MBA is the ultimate goal, want to pursue leadership roles on the finance side.
What are my chances here?

MBA education cannot/should not be a destination; it is just a milestone on your very long journey. Hence, with full respect, I think you should bring more clarity towards your destination. Asset management or risk management in banks is not necessarily aligned with leadership roles in finance, and I am assuming that by this you meant a CFO role.

Steve Covey said, 'Begin with the end in mind.' Try working backwards from a CFO role X years later and see if you can draw a line to connect that with your MBA plan, present and past career.

This is a long conversation to be had. Without clarity on the path, recommending school names will be an error.

MBADecoder

Your profile is good and if you continue on the same growth path for the next 1.5 years, then you shall develop yourself as a strong candidate. The great thing is that you have 1.5 years time to build upon your profile - i would not worry about being perceived as "one among many Indian female candidates" even now, and this extra time in hand give you the opportunity to build your profile further. Think of how you can add to yourself on these 3 fronts:
professionally- good work performance, taking initiatives, achieving results, and any promotions always helps. B-schools want to see career progression, achievements and impact.
Academically- Your college CGPA is great, now get top scores in GMAT or GRE (either is ok, and Dee has suggested perfect scores to aim for)
Personally- take up extra curricular activities where you can mane an impact on others and also develop yourself through the experience. Toastmasters is great, but you could also take up some community projects where you do something for others. Could be at work or through an NGO - whatever suits your interests.
I would be happy to look at your resume and offer personal advice.

Namita Garg,
Founder, MBA Decoder
Email: contact@mbadecoder.com
Reach out to us for a Profile Evaluation : https://mbadecoder.com/services/free-pr ... valuation/
Helping applicants achieve their MBA dreams since 2011

MBAGuide

Hi! Your list of schools seems pretty arbitrary at the moment.
I would like to understand in detail how you really added value to your clients in the Finops role to even figure out what kind of roles and schools would be right for you. Also, as you may already know, you are a bit too early for Top MBA colleges abroad as Indians tend to be in higher age groups on average. Your academic performance seems good, but GRE/GMAT would make the picture clearer in terms of choosing the right target schools. If I were in the research phase before starting applications, I would first look at the types of jobs I am seeking and then back-calculate what parts are missing from my profile. That in itself is a rigorous exercise and requires a lot of bandwidth. 60% of the application consists of just this task (figuring out your goals vision strategy), so you know what narrative to present in the other 40%. Have you tried to gain a foothold in asset management/risk management in India? Proof of motivation can be a good sign in applications for top B-schools.

Get in touch if you want to run through your ideas

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

ARINGO

Hi mbakety
Priyanka here from ARINGO. Speaking about your profile, it looks strong, especially with your finance experience and promotions. Your GPA from a Tier 1 university and ACCA qualifications are solid foundations too. However, the over-represented applicant pool means you need to differentiate yourself.

I think your work experience is good, shifting focus to asset management or risk management pre-MBA would significantly strengthen your narrative. Your ECs are decent, but highlighting leadership roles and quantifiable impact will be the key. I would recommend going in with GMAT. Looking at your school list, you should aim for a score close to 705 or above. Once you have a score ready, I would also recommend that you classify your school list based on reach, target and safe to enhance your chances. Apart from that, be ready with answers to, what specific aspects of finance excite you most, and what unique contributions do you envision making to a top MBA program.

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