From Indian startup to Kellogg - My application experience

I have 5 years of experience working in the Indian start-up ecosystem and was looking to get an MBA from a top 15 B-school to not only get access to a solid network and brand name which would propel me towards my long term goal but also to get exposure to working in the US, which has been at the epicenter of the start-up revolution.

However, after speaking to multiple students and even consultants many suggested that I change my story and put in a consulting focus to make it more saleable to the US ad-coms. This did not ring true to me and I was uncomfortable with digressing from the main text. When I spoke to Rajdeep Chimni at Admissions Gateway he gave me the confidence to pursue my “Start-up theme” while showcasing how we could give it strategic direction.

I had a solid GMAT score but had completed my engineering from BITS and did not have the stamp of an IIT, besides which my GPA was a little on the lower side. Moreover, professionally I had been working with start-ups in India and not with a McKinsey or Goldman which have served as feeders to the top B Schools I was targeting.

Getting professional counseling helped allay these apprehensions and allowed me to focus on the positives such as two quick promotions and the right portfolio at work. The next step was figuring out the strategic aspects (rather than technical) of what I had done so far and how the same should be put forward to the adcom. I would advise everyone to treat the resume as the most important part of the application as it is during making the resume that stories for essays and interviews get clear.

Structuring the different elements of the applications is really important to ensure high-quality output in a timely manner. Adopting a structured approach to tackling the application process and focusing on one aspect at a time really helped to keep anxiety low. My biggest take away from the whole application process which I feel will serve me well for the rest of my life is to be concise and make an objective assessment of what ones story is, so that at end of it all it makes sense to the reader.

Rajdeep gave advice on knowing the schools as if I had spent a week there and so I really did intensive research on schools. This helped me evaluate their fit with my profile and also identify how I could contribute to the schools, which is a question that shows up in essays and even the interview. This eventually helped position my story specific to the school resulting in multiple admits.

Another aspect is dealing with setbacks. For e.g. I did not get an interview call from Wharton. I would just say that there will be ups and downs in the process so it is best to maintain focus and do the best you can on what you can influence rather than worry about results that did not go your way. I applied to 5 schools and secured admits to Kellogg, Stern and Ross and am really excited to be attending Kellogg this fall!!