INSEAD Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hello--
Thanks for posting. I like your mix of quant background with the less-traditional children's startup experience. I'm not quite clear on what you've been doing since Funrento shut down (?), so ensuring your story is clear will be important, as will ensuring it doesn't sound as if you are applying for the MBA out of uncertainty on what to do next. ;) Your challenge will be tying it all together (past/present/future) into a compelling narrative that makes sense. Keep us posted if we can help further, and good luck!
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Hello there,

I think INSEAD will really appreciate your work experience outside of your home country, in Singapore, as well as all of the other international experiences, and your past academics. Additionally your industry/product line will be less common and memorable (VR/theme park) which could be appealing as you can imagine you'd have some interesting stories to contribute to class conversations. Lack of volunteering/community is a challenge (note do you mean you have none or just no certificates? As in many parts of the world volunteering is not something you can certify.... but you still share it in your apps.). The GMAT is a potential road block though and the area with the greatest opportunity to impact; have you considered re-taking with a prep course or tutor? That could be worthwhile, and applying after you improve some.... good luck, keep us posted!
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Hi All,

Would be grateful if someone can review my overall profile and give me an idea regarding my applicability to get into INSEAD. My Initial post-MBA goal is to be in one if the elite Consulting Company as I want to build my Career in Consulting. My Profile is as follows:

Indian Male

Xth : 78%
XII : 72%
Education : Graduate (Btech in Electrical & Electronics Engineering) from JNTU Hyderabad, CGPA: 7.9
GMAT : 720

Work Ex : 6+ Yrs in Utility Sector.
3.5 Years at Onsite Exposure (Still at Onsite).
Have been into the Roles of Business Analyst & Consultant .
As a Business Analyst - 2 Years
Consultant - 1.5 Years (Still in this role).

Supported Business Development Activities for my Company

Intern : 6 Months Intern from DRDO.

Extra curricular : Loads of Extra Curricular Activities, Have attended many Business Summits across the World.

What are my chances at INSEAD?

Also please let me know what are my weak points in profile on which I can work upon.

Thanks
Rahul S.

Hi Rahul,

It would be great to know more details about your work experience. What is your role, what are your achievements and impact? Where is your onsite experience?

Dear Namita,

Please find the below for my Work Experience & Required Details.

Work Experience:

Have been into the same company for past 6 Years. When I was in India, I have been into mainly US, UK & Turkey Projects. After Completion of 3 Years, I was transferred to Kuala Lumpur. Here, I have working for one of the Asia's Largest Electricity provider company. My role initially here was as Business Analyst and then I was moved into AMI (Smart Meters) as a Consultant for the same company.

Apart from this, I am leading one Project for a Vietnam Electric Company for Costumer Interaction, Requirement Gathering etc. I also was main lead for one of largest IoT (Internet of Things) R&D Lab in Malaysia where our Company had signed MoU with a Elite Malaysia University. I was lead for helping them to set up IoT Labs, Smart Home etc. I also managed Business Development Activities for my Company in Malaysia.

Attended many conferences across the World relating to my Domain.

Above are some points which I can remember now. But there few more other responsibilities which I have been involved into.

Achievement:

You mean Achievement in Extra-Curricular or Work Experience??

I have loads of Achievement in Extra- Curricular - Scored top 3 positions in At-least 5 National Level Symposiums on Paper Presentation, Project Presentation during my college days.
Scored 2nd position in National Level Entrepreneur Competition.
Was in College Team for Badminton & Cricket.
Lead in Cultural fest for our College.
Published Paper in IEEE.

Above are some of the Achievements which I can recollect now but there are certainly more. Need to see all my Certificates:)

My Current Onsite is at Kuala Lumpur.

Would be grateful if you can provide some insight on the above things. And what are the things which I should work on to build my Profile.

Thanks.
Rahul S.

Hi there,
How is your GMAT prep going? When are you considering applying? And when was the MS, just so I can follow the full timeline? Overall your work experiences sound strong; INSEAD will appreciate your collaboration and strategic decision-making experiences, as well as your startup exposure. Actually in reading I assume you were not part of the founders of the startup correct? Which is fine just clarifying. You certainly made an industry change you'll want to address/explain, and I'm not sure what your post-MBA goals are, which is also relevant. Be sure to emphasize your international experience, which is important to INSEAD--- both living in India as well as US, and how you work with diverse contacts around the globe, and any other international exposure. Nothing is easy with a school like INSEAD but if you nail the GMAT and do a great job on your apps you would hopefully be considered. Keep us posted if you'd like to share a more in-depth story via your resume, we do offer free 30 minute consultations including resume look, at www.mbamission.com/consult. Good luck!
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Hello,
You are right; compared with other strong INSEAD applicants, lack of international exposure and community service could be drawbacks. However at least you have the semester in Australia, and other travel to draw from, so be sure to discuss those and most importantly-- how those experiences have shaped you. It sounds like travel is a passion of yours so draw on that and relate it to how you'll be interested in learning more about cultures from your classmates along the same vein. Your GMAT is solid and work experience respectable; likely the challenge is just that there are a lot of strong Indian male applicants to INSEAD, making it always a tough process. Worth a shot, work hard on those essays-- there are a lot of them, and shorter answers, on the INSEAD app so on the plus side-- good chance to make your story known! Don't be shy about including personal and life-influencing stories and experiences too to help you be remembered. Good luck!
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Thanks Somya!



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Hi Gyanaone,

Apologies for a late reply. Had left forum to focus again for gmat. Unfortunately, scored in similar range with IR score dropping by 2 pts.

I do not have experience of being posted at an international location. However, in my current role I work as HR manager for folks posted in 3 countries where I am required to travel frequently to these countries; on an average of 2-3 days per month.

I aim to apply for INSEAD, lbs, cambridge, kellogg(1yr) and Oxford.

What do you think are my chances?


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Hi All,

This is further to my earlier post. Despite second attempt at GMAT, scored didn't improve.

The colleges I intend to apply are - INSEAD, LBS, KELLOGG (one year), CAMBRIDGE and OXFORD.

Attached are snapshots of my CV.

Pls suggest my chances for these colleges considering my GMAT SCORE (690-Q51,V33,I8).

ST Goal: Consulting in top tier cos
MT Goal: Leading the People Practice for the firm
LT Goal: Starting my own consulting firm



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Hi hra, I am no expert and I won't comment on your fighting chances in your target schools - our friendly admissions consultants are the ones knowledgeable for that.
But I would suggest you improve your resume on the following points:
1. Make your indents consistent. On the line of "Jun 09-Mar 10" and below, the indents have changed.
2. As much as possible, no abbreviations (i.e. approx.)
3. Maybe it's just my personal opinion, but I felt overwhelmed with the various font styles (i.e. bold, underline, colored, italicized).
I get that you want to emphasize on certain points, but it came off overwhelming for me as too many points are emphasized.

Those are just my 2 cents. Might be best to ask other people for their opinion too. :D Good luck!

Crza - valuable points. A fresh perspective always helps. Makes sense to reduce highlights and highlight only things. Thanks for sharing ur 2 bits!


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Hi all,

I am looking to apply to INSEAD in R1 for the September '19 intake. So I still have about a year to go before the application. I have got the GMAT out of the way and am keen to understand what the gaps are in my profile so that I can use the next few months to work on plugging them.

Nationality: Indian
Age as on 2018 Sept: 30
GMAT: 750 (Q50, V40; IR 8; AWA 5.5)

Education
Graduation (2007-11): Bachelor in Engineering from top 10 non-IIT university in India. GPA 8.63/10 (First class hons.)
Post-graduation (2014-16): Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM. GPA 3.2/4.33 (top 30% of batch)

Work experience
Total work-experience during matriculation: 6 years
1. 2011-2014: Technology consultant at a big4 firm. Based in India. Includes an 8-month stint in the Middle East. Though there was no promotion, I was made the team lead after a year.
2. 2016-current: Strategy consultant at a boutique international consulting firm. Based in Malaysia. Worked on a project in Thailand too. Have been working as the lead consultant from my second project onwards, leading a team of 2-3 individuals.

International experience: Worked in India (26 months), Saudi Arabia (8 months), Malaysia (6 months) and Thailand (9 months).

Work Achievements:
1. 2011-14: Received highest performance rating for 2 consecutive years in the big4 firm. Also received awards for client appreciation and team work.
2. 2016-17: Helped the firm in developing proposals in bidding for consulting projects. Contributed to winning projects worth USD200k. Note that at my level, one is not expected to work on proposals. So this is something I have done beyond the expected responsibilities.

Extra-curricular activities/achievements
1. Elected member of sports committee during PGDM.
2. Campus champions and national finalists at several case study competitions during PGDM organised by corporate such as Deloitte, Panasonic, etc.
3. Member of the IIM sports team for three different sports.
4. Worked as an online columnist at 2 leading sports websites in India. Authored 120+ articles. Still engaged with one of them, but not very frequent.
5. Former columnist at one of India's leading satire and humour websites.

Community Service
1. Was part of the corporate social responsibility team of the big4 firm. Worked with several local NGOs. Awarded a certificate of appreciation by the firm
2. Have been involved as a volunteer with a few other NGOs. However, I have no documentary proof of my involvement. Hence, not sure if this would count.

Post-MBA goals
Short-term: Top-tier strategy consulting for 2-3 years
Medium to Long term: Start-up on my own

Recommendations
Have a query here. I can get a recommendation from my manager in the first company with whom I worked for 2 years. He can write a strong recommendation and is currently the director at the firm. Will this be a good option for a recommendation? Or will it be weakened by the fact that it was about 5-6 years ago?

Please let me know what are the areas I can improve upon over the next year to improve my profile.

Not sure if I should apply (underconfident due to score)

Background and nationality: Indian, Male - 24 years old
Undergrad Information: MIT, Manipal - Mechanical Engineer, although I have always worked in Business roles
GMAT: 690 (Q48 V37 IR7 AWA6)
Work experience and leadership:

3 years work experience as of September 2017, currently working as a Growth Hacker (Head of Growth & have direct reportees) for an Indian startup that has secured a funding of $65 mn till date. Started off as a business analyst, then moved to digital marketing & further heading new customer acquisition, now taking care of the entire user journey. Directly impacting to $10 million p.a in revenues through business strategies implemented from my end

Have previously worked with Amazon as a Transaction Risk Investigator, directly impacting company's bad debt & customer experience.

Post MBA goals: Get into consulting/product management

Recommendation: Can get one from an Insead alumn (in the top x% of the batch) who is my direct supervisor

Sounds good! Good luck on that GMAT prep!! Be sure to take a good handful of practice tests and study from your mistakes and how you did on those as part of your prep. Understood re: startup; I would definitely emphasize the business line you initiated as well. Keep us posted on how we can help/advise!
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Hello,
Congrats on getting the GMAT under your belt, and on planning ahead as that will only benefit you overall.

You have a lot of strengths to your profile for INSEAD, including:

-solid work experience, team lead experience, consulting experience etc
-international work and life experience as you detailed across a number of countries
-GMAT
-undergrad grades (looks like that diploma gpa was just ok)
-awards, recognition at work
-some examples of initiative taken as mentioned
-extracurricular and community involvement (note: documentation not generally required)

In terms of weaknesses and challenges, nothing jumps out as a major weakness, but there are of course a large # of male engineering grads applying from India... that said you will be fairly differentiated given your experience since university, so that is not a huge concern, but of course you're not applying from say an under-represented country or anything. Overall there is just the challenge that INSEAD admissions is quite competitive overall in any case.

To your q on recommenders--- ideally someone more recent would be preferred yes.

Re: what you can work on in the coming year.... consider:

a) current, consistent community involvement with a cause you are passionate about
b) considering and cultivating relationships with potential recommenders
c) researching post-MBA goals, connecting with others at firms you are interested in etc
d) research INSEAD And any other schools..... talk with at least 3-4 students/alum and get a good feel for the program and student culture, read student blogs, research curriculum etc.

All of the above will help when the time comes for putting together applications. Good luck and best wishes!
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Thanks a lot Jen for the detailed evaluation. I am already researching the curriculum and structuring how that can fit into the story of my post MBA goals. Will work on the other points too.

You are most welcome, happy to help! Keep us posted if we can help further in the future.
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