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05 May 2010, 23:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
Gil/Vocaz,
I'd be quite grateful if you could review my profile and give me your recommendations.
Hi,
Certainly, hope you will find this useful.
The Basics
Male/25/Caucasian/American
Graduated with honors from a top 5 engineering school in 2008
Major: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
GPA: 3.23/4.0
GMAT: 760 (Q:49 V:44 AWA:6.0)
Academics appear strong given you have a good GPA from a top 5 engineering school. GMAT provides confirmatory evidence.
Work Experience
Upon graduation, I took a developmental position with a large independent refining company. Over the past two years I have been in three different positions. I had two positions as a plant engineer before I was promoted to a business analyst role in January 2010. While working as a plant engineer, I discovered that our feedstock supply was sub-optimized, built a model to optimize it and worked with management to implement my changes (a raw material savings of ~$1MM/yr). In my current role, I work directly for a VP and should be able to leverage this into a letter of recommendation. I will move out of my analyst role in December (hopefully with another promotion) and move to a different commercial role in the company.
Assuming you graduated around mid-2008, by December 2010, you will have completed 2.5 years at this company. Two promotions in that duration, coupled with impactful work under the supervision of a VP should leave you well placed in terms of “career progression” and “commercial/business savvy.”
Extracurriculars
I believe that education is the great equalizer for our society and I've spent the last two years volunteering as a pro-bono tutor, mostly working with local libraries (in different locations as I've moved around). Additionally, I designed and taught a six week ACT prep course for local high school students. I'm also looking into teaching some GED classes at a local women's shelter.
Returning to the community is always admired and acknowledged by the admission committees. Even individually, those contributions to the community are quite strong. When strung together by the “education” theme, they appear even more impressive. So, please make sure you highlight them appropriately.
Goals
I'd like to attend a top 10 MBA program (enrolling in Fall of 2012) and from there head to a top management consulting firm (possibly leveraging my experience into a job in VC, PE or F50 company down the road).
Questions
1. What are my chances of getting into a top program (Since I won't apply for another year, I'm still researching
schools)?
Assuming a strong set of essays and recommendations, our experience shows you have the right elements to be competitive at some of the top-10 programs.
2. What can I do now to strengthen my candidacy both for business schools and consulting firms?
For B-schools, I would recommend a continued focus on career progression - try to get people management or P&L responsibility in your next role. Also, look out for leadership opportunities either at work or through your extra-curriculars. These will help portray you as a driven and an enterprising individual.
Consulting firms look out for smart, high-performing individuals who are fun to work with and exhibit structured thinking. While it is not required to start preparing for case interviews now, reading some quality business publications e.g., The Economist, will provide you with a broader business knowledge-base and structured thinking which take time to build-up and will definitely help.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much!
Good Luck!
Manish
Manish Agarwal
Vocaz
I'd be quite grateful if you could review my profile and give me your recommendations.
Hi,
Certainly, hope you will find this useful.
The Basics
Male/25/Caucasian/American
Graduated with honors from a top 5 engineering school in 2008
Major: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
GPA: 3.23/4.0
GMAT: 760 (Q:49 V:44 AWA:6.0)
Academics appear strong given you have a good GPA from a top 5 engineering school. GMAT provides confirmatory evidence.
Work Experience
Upon graduation, I took a developmental position with a large independent refining company. Over the past two years I have been in three different positions. I had two positions as a plant engineer before I was promoted to a business analyst role in January 2010. While working as a plant engineer, I discovered that our feedstock supply was sub-optimized, built a model to optimize it and worked with management to implement my changes (a raw material savings of ~$1MM/yr). In my current role, I work directly for a VP and should be able to leverage this into a letter of recommendation. I will move out of my analyst role in December (hopefully with another promotion) and move to a different commercial role in the company.
Assuming you graduated around mid-2008, by December 2010, you will have completed 2.5 years at this company. Two promotions in that duration, coupled with impactful work under the supervision of a VP should leave you well placed in terms of “career progression” and “commercial/business savvy.”
Extracurriculars
I believe that education is the great equalizer for our society and I've spent the last two years volunteering as a pro-bono tutor, mostly working with local libraries (in different locations as I've moved around). Additionally, I designed and taught a six week ACT prep course for local high school students. I'm also looking into teaching some GED classes at a local women's shelter.
Returning to the community is always admired and acknowledged by the admission committees. Even individually, those contributions to the community are quite strong. When strung together by the “education” theme, they appear even more impressive. So, please make sure you highlight them appropriately.
Goals
I'd like to attend a top 10 MBA program (enrolling in Fall of 2012) and from there head to a top management consulting firm (possibly leveraging my experience into a job in VC, PE or F50 company down the road).
Questions
1. What are my chances of getting into a top program (Since I won't apply for another year, I'm still researching
schools)?
Assuming a strong set of essays and recommendations, our experience shows you have the right elements to be competitive at some of the top-10 programs.
2. What can I do now to strengthen my candidacy both for business schools and consulting firms?
For B-schools, I would recommend a continued focus on career progression - try to get people management or P&L responsibility in your next role. Also, look out for leadership opportunities either at work or through your extra-curriculars. These will help portray you as a driven and an enterprising individual.
Consulting firms look out for smart, high-performing individuals who are fun to work with and exhibit structured thinking. While it is not required to start preparing for case interviews now, reading some quality business publications e.g., The Economist, will provide you with a broader business knowledge-base and structured thinking which take time to build-up and will definitely help.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much!
Good Luck!
Manish
Manish Agarwal
Vocaz
06 May 2010, 05:37
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thank you for the advice you are giving to engineers.
Here is my profile. Would appreciate your candid inputs on my chances into part-time or full-time programs.
UG from IIT (top engineering programs in India) GPA 9.1/10 (3.6/4 depends on the formula you use). Class rank 2. 1st rank gpa = 9.2/10
Grad from U of Illinois GPA 4.0 with one conference and one journal publication.
(class rank not available for grad school)
Both in mechanical engg.
GMAT 700/90% overall (Q49, V35) and AWA 5.5
Seven years of experience as mechanical engg in a fortune 500 company. The experience has been of increasing responsibility. Project leadership and management experience; people management experience in the last two years. Several patents granted and many pending applications. Volunteering and leadership experience in organizing multiple employee engagement events for the last 3 years.
As I have proven my thought leadership, I need to enhance my skills in finance and strategy. After MBA, I would like to move into product management and business strategy. (possibly within my current company, but not necessarily).
Target schools: kellogg, booth, ross,
(only focused on PT).
Questions:
1) are the target schools realistic for me (if you could, please suggest others in mi\il\in)
2) am I short changing myself by focusing on PT
3) please point out other areas of weakness
Here is my profile. Would appreciate your candid inputs on my chances into part-time or full-time programs.
UG from IIT (top engineering programs in India) GPA 9.1/10 (3.6/4 depends on the formula you use). Class rank 2. 1st rank gpa = 9.2/10
Grad from U of Illinois GPA 4.0 with one conference and one journal publication.
(class rank not available for grad school)
Both in mechanical engg.
GMAT 700/90% overall (Q49, V35) and AWA 5.5
Seven years of experience as mechanical engg in a fortune 500 company. The experience has been of increasing responsibility. Project leadership and management experience; people management experience in the last two years. Several patents granted and many pending applications. Volunteering and leadership experience in organizing multiple employee engagement events for the last 3 years.
As I have proven my thought leadership, I need to enhance my skills in finance and strategy. After MBA, I would like to move into product management and business strategy. (possibly within my current company, but not necessarily).
Target schools: kellogg, booth, ross,
(only focused on PT).
Questions:
1) are the target schools realistic for me (if you could, please suggest others in mi\il\in)
2) am I short changing myself by focusing on PT
3) please point out other areas of weakness
06 May 2010, 16:14
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Gil,
I would appreciate your help in evaluating my profile for 2011 application.
Personal: Indian Male; just turned 31; living in US for last 5 years
GMAT: 710 (V38/Q49); AWA 5.5
Education:
Undergrad in Industrial Engineering from India; GPA 3.712 [Dept. Rank 1]
Dual MS in Industrial Systems Engineering and Engineering Management from one of the Big 10 schools; GPA 3.83 and 3.95 respectively
Work Experience:
2 Years in India for an Automotive Company as a production engineer
-1 year as a rotational training engineer and 1 year as a design engineer
2.5 Years in US in with heavy equipment [offshore rigs] manufacturing company as an operations expert
-Worked on several projects ranging from more than $20M of capital investment in different areas to project manager for a major software roll out
Worked on operations consulting project with 7 different small Midwest companies while in graduate school
Strengths:
Strong background in manufacturing/operations
Good/Decent GPA
Weaknesses:
1) Weak ECs: No community service in US but very active in training/educating employees at corporate level with good results to show. Some community work during undergraduate years.
2) Leadership Experience: Top performer in company but do not have direct reports. However I work with several different groups in a large company on a regular basis.
3) Age: 32 at the start of college is greater than the average age for all schools
4) Manufacturing focused background.
Interested in: : Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Haas, Columbia, Tuck, Yale
Post MBA, I wish to work in the area of operations management or operations/general consulting
Given my background and the interest areas, my questions are:
a) What are my chances in each of these schools?
Based on the information you provided, an assumption of strong essays and recommendations, our experience shows that you may be a competitive candidate at Yale & Columbia, competitive-to-stretch at Tuck & Haas, and stretch at Stanford, Wharton & Booth.
b) Will my work interest post MBA affect my application to a school which is well know for other specializations e.g. finance, entrepreneurship etc.
In our experience, admissions committees do not negatively view candidates who plan to pursue post-MBA careers that are different from the school’s perceived areas of strength. Therefore, as long as you do a good job explaining why their school is the perfect choice for you, things should work out alright.
c) Is 7 too many to apply in the same round?
It is important that the essays, recommendations and supporting materials (e.g., resume) be prepared to the highest standards. If you believe that applying to 7 schools in the same round will spread you thin and negatively impact the quality of work, you should consider the following options:
- Apply over multiple rounds and uphold the quality
- Engage a friend/family member/professional admissions consultant to assist you and shorten the time required to sharpen your application materials to the desired high standards
Thank You
You’re welcome. Good Luck!
Manish
Manish Agarwal
Vocaz
I would appreciate your help in evaluating my profile for 2011 application.
Personal: Indian Male; just turned 31; living in US for last 5 years
GMAT: 710 (V38/Q49); AWA 5.5
Education:
Undergrad in Industrial Engineering from India; GPA 3.712 [Dept. Rank 1]
Dual MS in Industrial Systems Engineering and Engineering Management from one of the Big 10 schools; GPA 3.83 and 3.95 respectively
Work Experience:
2 Years in India for an Automotive Company as a production engineer
-1 year as a rotational training engineer and 1 year as a design engineer
2.5 Years in US in with heavy equipment [offshore rigs] manufacturing company as an operations expert
-Worked on several projects ranging from more than $20M of capital investment in different areas to project manager for a major software roll out
Worked on operations consulting project with 7 different small Midwest companies while in graduate school
Strengths:
Strong background in manufacturing/operations
Good/Decent GPA
Weaknesses:
1) Weak ECs: No community service in US but very active in training/educating employees at corporate level with good results to show. Some community work during undergraduate years.
2) Leadership Experience: Top performer in company but do not have direct reports. However I work with several different groups in a large company on a regular basis.
3) Age: 32 at the start of college is greater than the average age for all schools
4) Manufacturing focused background.
Interested in: : Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Haas, Columbia, Tuck, Yale
Post MBA, I wish to work in the area of operations management or operations/general consulting
Given my background and the interest areas, my questions are:
a) What are my chances in each of these schools?
Based on the information you provided, an assumption of strong essays and recommendations, our experience shows that you may be a competitive candidate at Yale & Columbia, competitive-to-stretch at Tuck & Haas, and stretch at Stanford, Wharton & Booth.
b) Will my work interest post MBA affect my application to a school which is well know for other specializations e.g. finance, entrepreneurship etc.
In our experience, admissions committees do not negatively view candidates who plan to pursue post-MBA careers that are different from the school’s perceived areas of strength. Therefore, as long as you do a good job explaining why their school is the perfect choice for you, things should work out alright.
c) Is 7 too many to apply in the same round?
It is important that the essays, recommendations and supporting materials (e.g., resume) be prepared to the highest standards. If you believe that applying to 7 schools in the same round will spread you thin and negatively impact the quality of work, you should consider the following options:
- Apply over multiple rounds and uphold the quality
- Engage a friend/family member/professional admissions consultant to assist you and shorten the time required to sharpen your application materials to the desired high standards
Thank You
You’re welcome. Good Luck!
Manish
Manish Agarwal
Vocaz
great job with the feedback
