ISB PGP Profile review

Question

Hi, can you please do a profile evaluation for me:

Female / 27 
 10th (CBSE) : 87.4
 12th (CBSE) : 89.2 (Commerce + Maths)
 Undergrad : University of Delhi, B.A (Hons.) English ~6.8 CGPA
Work experience: Over 7 years (and counting) of corporate experience in the Learning Consulting domain, with over 4 years in one of the Big 4s
 Post MBA goal : Within Learning Consulting or related domain to leverage current experience

I have designed a range of learning assets for some of the leading industry giants. I have experience across transformation projects, change management, AI-adoption initiatives, government clients etc. 
The clients I’ve worked with span across industries such as automotive, shipping and logistics, mining, accounting, entertainment etc. 
I’ve also got significant experience in leading teams, knowledge management and dissemination and training deployment and delivery.

Outside of work, I am a fitness entusiast (ex weight lifter)< i've interned with NGOs to educate underpriviledged children in govt. schools. I've also lead the literary club for 2 years in Uni.

I’ve not yet appeared in GMAT, plan to do it next month or so. My target score is about 650-680. Currently somewhere in 500s in mocks.

Please let me know how the profile would look to an adm councillor and what areas to focus on in college application.

Thanks, appreciate all the help!

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Username1512 , Some thoughts on your profile evaluation and plans. The academic arc looks to be on the lower side from a GPA perspective - how was it relatively in your class? A higher GMAT score can help. Many non-enginners also perform better on the GRE in case you want to explore that. The professioanl profile is interesting though the details are scant. How has your trajectory been? Faster than the norm/at par? Where did you work prior to big 4? Also, have peers/seniors from your specific team (not the larger org) been admitted to ISB in the recent past? Do you manage a team? All these and more matter when it comes to evaluating your prospects. At a high level though, the experience will help you stand out but will also mean you have to ensure it's not discounted by showcasing business comprehenshion. The ECs sound fair but any of them ongoing? Recency is quite critical. Learning Consulting is a fairly niche space and post-MBA options are likely to be highly limited in this area, if any. From that perspective, you can also explore an EMBA instead if the purpose is career acceleration rather than industry/role change. Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out on mcb@mbacrystalball.com for further discussion.

Username1512 · Answer

Thanks so much, Manish, appreciate your response. From what I found based on my class average, 6.8 is a good gpa to hold in a BA (hons.) field within DU. But, I'm happy to be lead by you.

1) The academic arc looks to be on the lower side from a GPA perspective - how was it relatively in your class? A higher GMAT score can help. Many non-enginners also perform better on the GRE in case you want to explore that.  I don't want to muddle GMAT and GRE as of now. MY GPA was on the higher side compared to my peers in the class.  
 
2) The professioanl profile is interesting though the details are scant. How has your trajectory been? Faster than the norm/at par? Where did you work prior to big 4? Also, have peers/seniors from your specific team (not the larger org) been admitted to ISB in the recent past? Do you manage a team? All these and more matter when it comes to evaluating your prospects.  At a high level though, the experience will help you stand out but will also mean you have to ensure it's not discounted by showcasing business comprehenshion.  Reply:  I do have one peer who had the same professional exp as me who graduated from ISB in 2021ish. He started w the same org as me. Can you please explain more re this part " At a high level though, the experience will help you stand out but will also mean you have to ensure it's not discounted by showcasing business comprehenshion." 
 
3)The  ECs sound fair  but any of them ongoing? Recency is quite critical. Reply: I haven't participanted much on a one-to-one basis but at an organisation level I've been associated w some NGOs.
 Learning Consulting is a fairly niche space and post-MBA options are likely to be highly limited in this area, if any. From that perspective, you can also explore an EMBA instead if the purpose is career acceleration rather than industry/role change.  Reply: The reason, I'm looking for a similar field is so I can leverage my current experience. I was of the impression that the current experience is critical to the one's pursues. But if that ain't the case I can pivot slightly.

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Username1512 ,

It's not muddling when it comes to GMAT/GRE. It's about playing to your strenghts so do not brush it off as it can be a solid lever. On the relative GPA standing, try to talk to people from your class to get a firmer handle on this.

Since the work is in niche space, adcoms may not quickly/easily understand it or its business implications. So, focus on those aspects through your applications and avoid getting too industry-jargon heavy.

Do try to double down on the volunteer efforts in the limited time at hand.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

ISB PGP Profile review

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