INSEAD Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hi there,
I would really appreciate an evaluation of my profile:

Gender: Female
Age: 27
Nationality: Australian
Ethnicity: Indian
Education: Bachelor of Commerce (high distinction average) and Bachelor of Laws (overall distinction average for the double degree) - not assessed by GPA in Australian education system
Awarded Dean’s Award in 2011 for ranking within top 5% of business school students. Selected for exchange semester at Emory University (Atlanta, USA) in 2011
GMAT: 680 (82nd percentile). Hoping to retake in a few months - timing is largely dependent on work commitments unfortunately
Work experience: 5 years. 1 year in investment banking at a global, British investment bank (based in Sydney). Have spent the last 3.5 years in the in-house Group Strategy team of Australia’s largest bank (market cap ~$140bn). Promoted within 2.5 years to Manager (first analyst to be promoted to Manager in under 3 years in the team). Experience developing corporate strategy and driving strategic initiatives incl M&A, new customer propositions, operating model changes.
Professional qualifications: Admitted as a qualified lawyer in Australia in 2017
Other interests: volunteer at a local charity retail store, very interested in music (played flute for over 6 years), developed and delivered a training program for analysts and associates at my company, part of a volunteer working group at my company to drive improvement in our cultural diversity metrics, Avid traveler, learning languages (studied Japanese for university entrance exams)

Thank you very much all!

Posted from my mobile device

Hello,
I am planning to apply in next year fall. I have one more year to improve my application. I would really appreciate an evaluation of my profile and suggest what can I do to increase my chances:

Gender: Female
Age: 26
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Residence in time of application: Canada (will be moving with skilled worker migration visa 3/4 months prior to application in November)
Education: Bachelor in Business Administration (Marketing major)

GPA: 3.2
GMAT: 680 (plan to retake)

Work Experience: 4 years in Trade Marketing (Territory Officer) at one of the fortune 500 FMCG company

Hilights:
- Worked in a challenging retail environment and gained +6% market share during my tenure
- got posted in rural locations to manage territory, extensive domestic travel for work
- lead a large team of 200 non management sales rep, brand rep and merchandising reps.
- worked with distribution network, sales, campaign execution and stakeholder management.
-was awarded a major national award as 'aspiring women leader of year' for my contribution in a traditionally male dominated sector from a geographically challenging place

Future plan:
- improve leadership and communication skill and start in consultancy
- don't want to be in trade marketing, want to shift to analytics

International exposure:
- worked with US Fulbright scholars as language assistant for 1.5 years in undergrad years (potential recommendation referee)
- Love to travel. Traveled solo across 6 countries in last 3 years.
- plan to take a language learning vacation in next few months

Other stuff: (not sure if relevant)
- Fluent in 3 languages-Bengali,English,Hindi. Moderate skills in Urdu and German.
- I have worked in rural Bangladesh and have experience of witnessing the forces of changes in an emerging economy. This would enable me to contribute in forum with my unique experience
- will be moving to Canada solo
-self made woman. First university graduate woman of family. From a middle class, conservative city where girls are not encouraged to be independent. Faced lot of resistance while pursuing non traditional career choice for a woman and an independent life.However, I have been persistent and succeeded in convincing my family. I also try to ensure rest of the girls of my family get the same opportunity. Women empowerment is an important issue to me

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Sydneysider56,

sorry for missing your post, and thank you for sharing your profile.

You have good elements to put together a strong application for INSEAD. I like your academics, your career progression and your extra-curriculars.

Regarding GMAT, what is your Q/V/IR split? If you plan to retake it in the next few months, what Intake and Round are you then considering applying by?

Regarding international exposure, besides your exchange semester at Emory, do you have any other international experience? Have you worked outside of Australia even if for just a short assignment? Where have you traveled for leisure? What languages do you speak?

Also, what are your career goals?

Thank you very much.

Warm regards
Alex

Hi sanjanazerin,

thank you very much for sharing your profile.

I would love to see your resume to understand more how your career progressed during your 4 years at the FMCG company.

If I understand correctly, you'll be moving to Canada around mid-2019, but this won't be a transfer within your company. Is this correct?

Could you please add more detail to your international exposure? Did your job with US Fulbright scholars meant working abroad? Which 6 countries did you travel to and for how long? Which language and in which country will you learn?

Thank you very much.

Warm regards
Alex

ARLeeConsulting
Thanks very much for your response.
Regarding my current GMAT split (680 overall): Q/V/IR is: 45/38/7. I am hoping to apply to round 2 - I believe earlier is better
Regarding international exposure, in addition to my semester studying in the US, I also completed my training program (~2 months) in London when I joined the international investment bank as a graduate out of university. During this time, although i was on training, i did do some work out of the London office due to an ongoing deal that I was staffed on, so I will flag this exposure. I am of Indian heritage but most of my family are based in Thailand, and I am a first generation migrant based in Australia. As such, I can speak Hindi and studied Advanced Japanese for my university entrance exams.
Finally, my career goals are to build on my experience in investment banking and corporate strategy, to join a management consulting firm after my MBA. In the long-term, I hope to rejoin the industry-side in a corporate strategy role, but I'd like to be exposed to multiple industries and geographies through a consulting firm in the immediate term. Building up that experience over the next 3-5 years I hope, will set me up well for my long term goal.

Welcome any feedback, particularly on the GMAT component, and my story for the application

Thanks!

Hi Alex,

Thank you for your prompt reply. Here is a by year snapshot of my tenure at the FMCG company (the company is globally second player in it's sector tobacco):

Year 1: I joined in an outskirt market
Year 2: I was posted in a metro market with more responsibility and exposure (it's not a promotion in designation, however I was posted within an year in a more important location because of demonstrating leadership attributes)
Year 3 & 4 : continue in that role
Year 5: I will be promoted in quarter 1, however, I won't be able to continue in that role for more than 6 months because of the Canada move.

And, yes you understood it right am not moving with a transfer. I am moving with immigration visa.

The language assistant job was a part time job during college in my home country. US Fulbright scholars would visit Bangladesh for research purposes and join a language program to help them settle here. I would be assigned with an individual scholar to assist with language learning. While working there I realized I am good at cross cultural communication and this experience inspired me to reach out and have more international experience.

I have traveled to Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia and Bhutan. All were 2 week solo backpacking trips. I mostly prefer to include extreme sports (bungee/rafting) and hikes in my travels

I am planning to take a 3 months long Spanish learning vacation in Mexico sometime in next year August to October. If you can recommend any other international experience I could plan in next one year to strengthen my application please do share

Really appreciate your help here

Regards,
Sanjana

Posted from my mobile device

Hi,

Below is a quick snapshot of my profile -

1 Indian Male, Age 25
2 Chartered Accountant - Cleared in single attempt with Top 50 Country wide ranks in 2 of the 3 levels (~150,000 students write the exams)
3 Internship with EY in Audit & Assurance as a part of the CA Course - Rewarded for performance
4 Post CA, 3.5 years work experience in various finance profiles (Customer Finance, Brand Finance, FP&A) with 2 top FMCG Companies (1st Promotion in 1.5 years, Job switch after 2.5 years)
5 CFA - All 3 levels cleared, Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting (CIMA, UK)
6 GMAT 730 (Q49, V40, IR8), 95th Percentile
7 Bachelors Degree majoring in Business Statistics with 3 CGPA and University Rank 1 in Business Statistics
8 Extra Curriculars -
a. Paid contributing writer for a finance blog - around 10 articles have featured on a page with readership of ~ 220k
b. Amateur Salsa dancer (hoping to get better by the day!)
c. Have completed few half marathons with sub-2 timings
d. Guest lecturer for Undergrad courses and CA students - only recently begun

My goal is to to get into a top MBA program (INSEAD is my dream school!) and then exit into Management Consulting. I plan to apply in 2019 for intake of Sept 2020.

I was hoping to get a quick assessment of my profile from experts (Would request honest reviews!) and a few tips on how I can develop my profile over the next ~1 year before applications, especially from an INSEAD point of view.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Hi Sydneysider56,

thank you for the additional details.

I would strongly recommend you to retake GMAT and increase your Quant score, since your current Q45 is a bit far from the INSEAD's recommended 70% - 75%. This could mean missing the Round 2 deadline, but you could also consider applying in Round 1 for the Jan 2020 intake (deadline Feb 20th). Not sure if this is an option for you though.

I think your goals make sense. Just make sure to clearly articulate why you want to go back to corporate strategy in the long term.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!
Alex

Hello,

Kindly evaluate my profile.

Gender: Male
Nationality: Indian
GMAT: 630 - Q46 V31 IR8 AWA-awaited

Education:
SSC - 80.92%
HSC - 75.40%
Bachelor of Engineering - 8.81 / 10 (CGPA) - University rank 11 / 2242 (branch wise - civil engineering) and 63 / 28175 (course wise-Bachelor of Engineering)

Work Experience: 5 years (2.5 years international)
-I work as a civil-structural design engineer (oil and gas sector) in one of the fortune 500 companies. Recruited via campus placements, I started my career as a team member in a large cross cultural and cross functional engineering teams and have worked my way up to an area engineer. I have provided design solutions to projects located in America, Russia and India.

-Worked in Munich, Germany in my company's headquarters for 18 months. My role in Munich was primarily a management cum design role. I got an opportunity to learn and manage various vendors and sub contractors and also deal directly with the client located on construction site in Russia. During this role, I was requested by Client to shift my base to their construction site in a small town in Siberia, Russia.

-From Munich I moved to Siberia, Russia and worked for 12 months as a field engineer, primary responsibility, supervising construction activities and providing design solutions to one of the largest (4 sq. km in size) petrochemical plants in Russia. My secondary responsibilities included those of a field engineering manager in which I was responsible for managing the influx and timely solutions of all construction issues (of all engineering disciplines). Both these roles were independent roles in which I directly interacted with Client's top construction managers (potential recommendation referee) and my company's top managers (potential recommendation referee). Worked with people of over 15+ nationalities. I am the youngest in my company(1100+ employees) to get such a role.

-Currently, I am working as an area engineer and am responsible for all civil structural design activities of a part of a petrochemical plant.

-I am the youngest in my department (140+ employees) to be nominated to my department's CAD managing team and during this role I implemented solutions in the department's CAD software to reduce man-hours of some laborious activities, thereby improving quality of the deliverable. The solutions resulted 30% reduction in the man-hours of those activities.

Extra-curricular:
-I was a part of my school's leadership team four out of six possible times and led the school leadership team two out of the four times. I was awarded a certificate of appreciation, first time in 60 years of my school's history, for the most commendable, selfless and dedicated service as a student leader.

-Organised and managed for two consecutive years state level technical event in my college, with a budget of over Rs. 800,000, which attracted participation of over 2500 engineering students.

-Was awarded by the VC of my university for providing implementable solutions for the improvement of the engineering course.

-Organised many outdoor team building activities for/with my colleagues during my stay in Russia.

-I regularly impart my services to my region's community kitchen.

Other (may be) important info:
Fluent in 3 languages (read, write and speak) - English, Hindi, Gujarati
Moderate in 1 language (speak) - Punjabi
Beginner in 2 languages - Russian and German (A1 level)
Traveled to 15 countries in last 3 years (2 - for work and 3 - solo travel). I always made sure to adopt the way of living of the locals of the region where I lived such as their dressing styles (e.g. lederhosen in Germany, local winter clothing in Russia) and food habits.

Future plan:
- Knowing that an MBA will open various doors, I, currently, would like to go in to project management of large scale oil and gas plants. If I have to venture in to other profiles, I would like to do sales/consulting.

Thank you!

Background and nationality :
* Indian
* living and working in Singapore for last 7 yrs
* Working in technology sector for 7+ yrs

Undergrad Information :
BTech Electronics 2008, Manipal, India
GPA 3.4/4

MS (electronics), 2012, NUS Singapore, Singapore
GPA 3.2/4

GMAT: n/a
Work experience and leadership
total work ex = 7+ yrs
Working as Senior product engineer in a digital security MNC , Singapore
Leadership :
* Innovation cell cofounder(1.5yrs) , managed 4+ team across Singapore,India and France
* President Toastmasters Club

Post MBA goals
* Product Management in tech sector

Anything else?
* Cofounder 2 Tech startups in Singapore
* Attended founders institute(startup accelerator) Singapore

Hello aru010

On paper the profile looks balanced. International exposure helps at INSEAD.
Past scores, though decent are not stellar, so back it up with a strong GMAT score. When are you planning to take it and what is your expected score?
With not much time between not and the next round (mid Nov) you may want to plan your application timeline accordingly.
Apart from the quantitative details shared, focus on the qualitative side in your application. Achievements at work and in your venture, extracurricular activities, impact on the business.
If you can tie these, well you have a good chance (still need a decent GMAT score though)

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Background:Indian Male 29.

GMAT: 730 (Q50,V37)

Education: Mechanical Engineer (7.72 CGPA) & a PGDM passout (67%).

Language: English, Hindi & Gujarati

Experience: 4.10 years
(with 4+ years experience in Digital Media Planning & Strategizing; clients include Reebok, Swatch, Citi bank, Ola; no inter-national)

Certification from Google and Facebook

Currently working as a Digital Media Planner on Citi Bank and Ola with Publicis Media.

Leadership:
Event coordinator

Very active in volunteering with NGOs in AIDS awareness and help sector.

Insta Influencer with 6K+ followers

Posted from my mobile device

Hello Mananshah73

Quantitatively speaking the profile checks most of the boxes.
I'd recommend to focus on the following-
1) Showcase international motivation through your work experience
2) More than years and industry highlight your career progress & achievements at work
3) Similarly for extracurricular activities, more than a laundry list, focus on your impact and contribution here
4) Talk about your clear and realistic career goals and why an MBA (that too from INSEAD) is a must have for the fulfillment of long term vision of your career
5) You already have a PGDM, then why another MBA (will tie in with career goals above)
Focusing on these points will also help you bring out the 'qualitative' strengths (something that is missing in the info shared by you)

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

lease review my profile, I'll be applying to schools starting in 2019:

I am 24 years old, Indian female.

X- 94.4%
XII- 94.8%
B.E in Chemical Engineering- 9.01/10 CGPA from a top state university
GMAT - 660 (Q47 V34 IR6) (not too pleased with the score, might go for a re-take)

Work-Ex- 36 months with a leading multi-national insurance firm. I work in the loss prevention and risk management domain for various commercial and energy enterprises (oil & gas and mining). My job involves a fair bit of travelling and client consulting in various parts of the world, I perform property audits to improve the quality of risk and at the same time assist the company in deciding if we should be writing this business or not.

I like what I am doing right now and I believe than an MBA will widen my opportunities and give me an outlook that can make a bigger impact in the market.

Extra Curricular- I have been training in classical dance since I was seven, I have even taken it up professionally while I was in college performing with various troupes in events such as BRICS summit, Kyoto to Kashi etc. Additionally, I was the dance team head in college.

I was a part of a youth group which consisted of individuals from various colleges across the city, we organised events to raise awareness towards social issues.

I am passionate about public speaking and actively associated with the Toastmasters Club at my work place, currently the Associate President of the Club.

Lastly, I like writing - I have an online blog that I started earlier this year as well as Newsletter that I am editor of at my work place. Other active interests include yoga, fitness and literature.

Awards - Employee of the Quarter, Triple Crown Award (Toastmasters Org.), Best Final Project (College, IIChe)

Papers - 2 published papers while I was completing my undergrad.

My major concern with respect to the application is my GMAT score (My target score was 700-730 while prepping). I want to attempt it again and hopefully cross the 700 mark. Although, I don't think considering the time constraint, I'll be able to do so.

What would be my prospects like if I apply with my current score?
Is there anything that would strengthen my application further especially with respect to scholarship options?

Posted from my mobile device

Hi athena18,

Thanks for your post. You are current in your assessment that as of right now, there is a good chance the GMAT could hold you back from INSEAD, which can be quite competitive and also gets a lot of Indian applicants. Your grades look strong and you have a few extracurricular involvements, but I also am not seeing a lot of professional leadership (perhaps just because I don't have your CV or know your full work history). The GMAT would be the factor you have most control over, and to be honest plays a big role in scholarships too. And there's virtually no downsides to retaking if time allows. If you aim for the Jan deadline there is enough time to retry! (or even later, the Jan intake).

One other factor that I'm not sure of is whether you have international experience, though you mentioned your company is multinational... but INSEAD does appreciate global perspective and experience as well, fyi. At this point you may want to broaden your school list to safe options and/or try another GMAT attempt! Keep us posted if we can help further, and good luck!

Hello athena18

While retaking the GMAT is a must (aim for a 700+ at least), other things that you should consider are-
1) A stronger career goals narrative. From the information shared, not sure what your long term/short term career goals are and why you wish to study at INSEAD. See if reading here helps.
2) Showcasing an international motivation in your application
3) Highlighting the depth and quality of your work experience through career progress and achievements (awards are results and not achievements in themselves)
4) Same applies to extracurricular activities. These can add brownie points to your profile, but more than a laundry list focus on your contribution and impact in these activities.
Make sure you have a healthy mix if Dream/Target/Safe schools on your list.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Hi guys, please review my profile. please tell me how can I strengthen my profile?? Should i do CFA?

background:
Asian from eastern europe( very small country)
male
25 y/o
Working in Procter & Gamble for 2 years as a financial analyst, before that worked in Johnson&Johnson as a junior product manager for a year.

Stats:

undergraduate GPA - around 2.0

GMAT - 700

IELTS 7,5/9

Major - Finance

Target school:
Insead

Posted from my mobile device