nsamantha wrote:
Hi,
I am planning on applying for Fall 2015 for MBA in the US.
My profile is:
GMAT - 690 AWA - 4 IR - 8
TOEFL - yet to take
gender: female
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
B.TECH (ECE) - 9.1/10
12th CBSE 85.8%
10th CBSE 88.4%
WORK EXPERIENCE:
• Assistant Systems Engineer at TCS with 13 months experience. (will have 24 months at the time of joining)
Role: iOS Developer(IT)
Other responsibilities:
a. Process management activities
Achievements: Appreciation from managers.
• Served as a Module Lead for a team for 5 during the project development phase of TCS training.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Awarded the school topper in Computer Science in 10th cbse examinations.
• Awarded the school topper in Elective in 12th cbse examinations.
• Awarded “Kudos” for consistent performance throughout the TCS training period.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR:
• Organized and participated in an event that involved teaching physics to government school children. Was part of creating the syllabus for this training program.
• Worked as a Committee Member for a fun event in college cultural.
SOCIAL SERVICE ACTIVITIES:
Volunteer at an NGO. I have held several roles and responsibilities here.
1. Information manager: Check for volunteer and student count on a weekly basis.
2. Centre Coordinator (Current role):
Role:
a. Coordinate with 15 volunteers and 15 students on a weekly basis.
b. Coordinate with other centre coordinators and volunteers on a regular basis.
c. Keep in touch with centre authorities and ensure smooth running of classes.
d. Address any concerns of students and volunteers.
Achievements:
a. Improved overall centre performance to 92% from 20%
b. Introducing Science and Computer science at the centre where only Maths was taught previously.
c. Introduction of a dance workshop.
3. Overall Events Coordinator (for a cultural fest held by the organisation):
Role:
a. Coordinate with 3 Event Heads and ensure smooth organisation and planning of events.
b. Coordinate with other teams like the Volunteer Management team and the Logistics team to ensure resource availability for smooth running of events.
c. Create a schedule for events that will enable efficient utilization of time, money, resources and inventory and ensure maximum participation from students.
d. Hold regular meeting and address any concerns of Events Heads and volunteers.
Achievements:
a. Handled 900 kids and 100+ volunteers on D-Day.
b. Introduced the concept of uniformity among cities. Coordinated with coordinators from other cities and ensured that all cities across the country hosted the same events & used the same inventory. Ensured inventory re-use among cities.
c. Effectively managed 1.5 hours delay and finished the events on time.
I know my work experience isnt much but i want to highlight my social service experience and get into a good university. I am pretty ambitious about getting into a tier 1 or tier 2 colleges.
Please let me know how i can play this resume to my strengths. Also what colleges should i be considering in the US?
Samantha,
What's the good part of your profile?(i) great academics
(ii) extracurricular activities & leadership outside of work
You can leverage these in your application through your essays, recommendations etc.
What's not so great:(i) GMAT score of 690, while competitive, doesn't give you an advantage f you're applying to the top 10 programs in the US. In fact, this is 10-20 points lower than the average GMAT of these schools.
(ii) Work experience - is not particularly different or unique; plus, you haven't been working very long.
What you can do to strengthen your application?(i) See whether retaking the GMAT is an option. If yes, aim to get at least 720. That will put you in the running for some top schools. A jump from 690 to 700 won't really help though.
(ii) If you don't want to retake the exam, then consider looking at a mix of ambitious and realistic schools. By 'realistic', I mean those ranked between 15 and 30. This will increase your chances of getting an admit. Do this only if you want to get an admit this year - if waiting another year is okay, then do so.
(iii) You need to be very clear on why you need an MBA this early in your career and what you plan to do afterwards. This is one area in which a lot of aspirants with less work experience falter. Don't make this mistake. Have very good goal clarity.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.
Warm regards
Gowri
Gowri N Kishore
Admissions Mentor & Verbal Faculty