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sjaianand
Joined: 27 Feb 2012
Last visit: 10 Nov 2012
Posts: 14
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 2
Location: United States
Concentration: Strategy, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Kellogg PT '15 (A)
GMAT 1: 720 Q48 V40
GPA: 2.5
WE:Information Technology (Consulting)
25 Mar 2012, 12:31
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi,
Thank you in advance for taking out the time to evaluate my profile. I am sharing below my background so you can
i) evaluate my profile,
ii) suggest target schools and backup schools (I have a few in mind)
iii) identify strong areas and improvement areas (and subsequently how to address them)
I saw the below format adopted by one of the fellow members on this forum and that it helped understand the profile better. Hence sticking to the same format.
a) Work Experience: I have 90 months of work experience in the IT and Consulting area. I currently work for one of the Big 3 IT and Consultancy companies and am based out of US. I am a Project/Program manager and lead the Portfolio management office (PMO) for a $40 MN account. My consulting experience revolves around Project/Program management and also setting up Operations/PMO offices from scratch. In the past, I have successfully delivered complex programs running into millions of $$ and have also managed the Program Office of the CSO of one of the most reputed IT consultancies.
b) International Exposure: I have been based in the US for the past 2 years handling multicultural clients. I have also traveled for projects in the UK and have spent 1 year meeting and handling (by way of conf calls) clients in UK. I have spent 3-4 months in France while I was an exchange student and have traveled across Europe during my leisure time.
c) GMAT: I had taken the GMAT once in 2004 and scored around 660-680 range. Since it was more than 5 years ago, I dont think it counts. I am taking the GMAT again in a month from now.
d) Education:
I have
-a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management and
-a Bachelors in Electronics Engineering.
In my PGDBM I scored around a 6.ish GPA and in my Engineering, I secured a 1st class (60%-70%) in Mumbai university, which is considered extremely strict in scoring.(I dont know how to compare/present this in the light of other universities that may not be as stringent in thier scoring)
I am also a
-certified Project Management Professional (PMP),
-LOMA FLMI (L1) certified and
-a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (though a non practising one).
e) Activities outside Profession:
-I have been the Governance lead and an active organizing volunteer for the CSR wing of my organization from 2008-2010 during which I have organized many field trips to over 5 different projects that our NGO works with. I had laid out the governance model of the CSR and streamlined reporting, financials etc in those 2 years.
(I hope the fact that the CSR was my organization's social work, will not make it count under my professional activities. There was no compulsion to join and it was purely a voluntary choice).
-I was the Finance-in-charge and Sponsorship lead for the College committee for 2 years in a row.
-I led the Jamming (music) group at my organization in the years 2009-2010 where I brought together as many as 20 people every week and we played/created music.
-I have won umpteen number of singing competitions (solo and duet) and a number of Instrumental competitions.
I am trained in Indian classical music and can play 5 different musical instruments (only 1 of which I have recd formal training on, rest are self-learnt). 2 of those instruments, I have played and can still play at professional levels.
-I have led my college's musical club for 2 years. I was also a part of a band that was formed when I was in college where we created fusion music.
-I have represented my college as its contingent leader at many inter collegiate events.
f) Programs considered: I am very keen on a 1 year course like that of INSEAD, Kellogg 1Y. I am looking to start the program asap (Eg. starting Jan 2013)
I am 30/M/married and with a kid, dont know if that matters at all. Kindly do share a frank evaluation of my profile focusing on which areas need to be strengthened. Again, thank you very much for your help, support and time. Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you in advance for taking out the time to evaluate my profile. I am sharing below my background so you can
i) evaluate my profile,
ii) suggest target schools and backup schools (I have a few in mind)
iii) identify strong areas and improvement areas (and subsequently how to address them)
I saw the below format adopted by one of the fellow members on this forum and that it helped understand the profile better. Hence sticking to the same format.
a) Work Experience: I have 90 months of work experience in the IT and Consulting area. I currently work for one of the Big 3 IT and Consultancy companies and am based out of US. I am a Project/Program manager and lead the Portfolio management office (PMO) for a $40 MN account. My consulting experience revolves around Project/Program management and also setting up Operations/PMO offices from scratch. In the past, I have successfully delivered complex programs running into millions of $$ and have also managed the Program Office of the CSO of one of the most reputed IT consultancies.
b) International Exposure: I have been based in the US for the past 2 years handling multicultural clients. I have also traveled for projects in the UK and have spent 1 year meeting and handling (by way of conf calls) clients in UK. I have spent 3-4 months in France while I was an exchange student and have traveled across Europe during my leisure time.
c) GMAT: I had taken the GMAT once in 2004 and scored around 660-680 range. Since it was more than 5 years ago, I dont think it counts. I am taking the GMAT again in a month from now.
d) Education:
I have
-a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management and
-a Bachelors in Electronics Engineering.
In my PGDBM I scored around a 6.ish GPA and in my Engineering, I secured a 1st class (60%-70%) in Mumbai university, which is considered extremely strict in scoring.(I dont know how to compare/present this in the light of other universities that may not be as stringent in thier scoring)
I am also a
-certified Project Management Professional (PMP),
-LOMA FLMI (L1) certified and
-a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (though a non practising one).
e) Activities outside Profession:
-I have been the Governance lead and an active organizing volunteer for the CSR wing of my organization from 2008-2010 during which I have organized many field trips to over 5 different projects that our NGO works with. I had laid out the governance model of the CSR and streamlined reporting, financials etc in those 2 years.
(I hope the fact that the CSR was my organization's social work, will not make it count under my professional activities. There was no compulsion to join and it was purely a voluntary choice).
-I was the Finance-in-charge and Sponsorship lead for the College committee for 2 years in a row.
-I led the Jamming (music) group at my organization in the years 2009-2010 where I brought together as many as 20 people every week and we played/created music.
-I have won umpteen number of singing competitions (solo and duet) and a number of Instrumental competitions.
I am trained in Indian classical music and can play 5 different musical instruments (only 1 of which I have recd formal training on, rest are self-learnt). 2 of those instruments, I have played and can still play at professional levels.
-I have led my college's musical club for 2 years. I was also a part of a band that was formed when I was in college where we created fusion music.
-I have represented my college as its contingent leader at many inter collegiate events.
f) Programs considered: I am very keen on a 1 year course like that of INSEAD, Kellogg 1Y. I am looking to start the program asap (Eg. starting Jan 2013)
I am 30/M/married and with a kid, dont know if that matters at all. Kindly do share a frank evaluation of my profile focusing on which areas need to be strengthened. Again, thank you very much for your help, support and time. Hope to hear from you soon.
01 Apr 2012, 21:19
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey sjaianand:
I appreciate the breakdown provided. It definitely helped digest a number of components critical to your candidacy. I also appreciate the level of detail provided around your travels and extracurricular activities. The one thing I need a better understanding of is your goals. For the purposes of this evaluation, I am going to assume that you will follow a very traditional routes and look to move into management consulting after your MBA.
Another thing that your initial post told me is that you are not clueless. I believe that you have a level of sophistication that is partially the product of your international travels. What will separate you from the rest of your countrymen is the depth of this international experience, and more importantly, how you speak to it on your essays. To be completely honest, the trend that I believe (I have no significant dataset to back this up for now) I am witnessing is that Indian applicants who possess no significant international work experience are at a bigger disadvantage than most Indian applicants would believe. Some may challenge me on this, but by the end of this year I hope to have a data set large enough to justify my hypothesis.
Anyway, your international work experience indicates your ability to work with and lead a lot of difference types of people, in different environments, is something you have to stress your application. The fact that you are now you based out of the US will definitely bode well with American admissions committees. I say this because I believe that recruiters (and by extension admissions committees) definitely look favorably on Indian applicants who fit in well with their American colleagues and employers (ie. you are a known quantity in the office.) Anyway, for the sake of brevity, I will move on from this point as you have it covered.
Another thing that tells me that you are sharper than the average knife is your desire to accelerate your MBA experience. Given that you are now 30 years old and that you do not plan to be a career switcher, you need to focus heavily on maximizing your ROI. I assume that you are making a pretty good salary right now and it really makes no sense to take two full years out, especially with a family to support. So I am in full support of your desire to attend the one-year Kellogg program.
I also think that you should look heavily to programs in the European Union. A lot of the schools have over 90% international representation. However, what a lot of the schools lack are applicants who have spent significant time working in the US. You will be considered an applicant from India, of course. But your State-side work experience definitely looks even more attractive to admissions committees in the EU.
A few more points.
If you are going to have trouble breaking 700 on the GMAT (not because you are dumb, but rather because you seem to have a a lot of responsibility between work and family) you will also do better applying to programs in the EU (who don't go as ape-**** over super-high GMAT scores.)
Your corporate social responsibility experiences will not be discounted because you did then at work. In fact, I believe that it may work out to be the exact opposite. Think of it this way – business schools always claim to want the types of leaders who seek to use business as a tool to change the world. Of course, business and society are the two main subsets contained within "the world." So if you already used your workplace as a conduit for your social responsibility initiatives, you are doing exactly what they want. See how that works? You are a poet – and you didn't even know it! That rhymes, by the way. Word up.
Seriously, you seem like a very well-rounded individual. Like a boss, you know Six Sigma principles and Indian classical music. The next thing I expect to hear from you is that you can dunk. I'll look for that in your reply to me. If I had a little sister, I would let you date her! But you are married and I don't actually have a sister. Okaaay, moving on .... before this gets weird. lol.
If you would be interested in speaking further about your candidacy, and of course how I can help you, please e-mail me at [email protected].
Respectively,
Paul Lanzillotti
I appreciate the breakdown provided. It definitely helped digest a number of components critical to your candidacy. I also appreciate the level of detail provided around your travels and extracurricular activities. The one thing I need a better understanding of is your goals. For the purposes of this evaluation, I am going to assume that you will follow a very traditional routes and look to move into management consulting after your MBA.
Another thing that your initial post told me is that you are not clueless. I believe that you have a level of sophistication that is partially the product of your international travels. What will separate you from the rest of your countrymen is the depth of this international experience, and more importantly, how you speak to it on your essays. To be completely honest, the trend that I believe (I have no significant dataset to back this up for now) I am witnessing is that Indian applicants who possess no significant international work experience are at a bigger disadvantage than most Indian applicants would believe. Some may challenge me on this, but by the end of this year I hope to have a data set large enough to justify my hypothesis.
Anyway, your international work experience indicates your ability to work with and lead a lot of difference types of people, in different environments, is something you have to stress your application. The fact that you are now you based out of the US will definitely bode well with American admissions committees. I say this because I believe that recruiters (and by extension admissions committees) definitely look favorably on Indian applicants who fit in well with their American colleagues and employers (ie. you are a known quantity in the office.) Anyway, for the sake of brevity, I will move on from this point as you have it covered.
Another thing that tells me that you are sharper than the average knife is your desire to accelerate your MBA experience. Given that you are now 30 years old and that you do not plan to be a career switcher, you need to focus heavily on maximizing your ROI. I assume that you are making a pretty good salary right now and it really makes no sense to take two full years out, especially with a family to support. So I am in full support of your desire to attend the one-year Kellogg program.
I also think that you should look heavily to programs in the European Union. A lot of the schools have over 90% international representation. However, what a lot of the schools lack are applicants who have spent significant time working in the US. You will be considered an applicant from India, of course. But your State-side work experience definitely looks even more attractive to admissions committees in the EU.
A few more points.
If you are going to have trouble breaking 700 on the GMAT (not because you are dumb, but rather because you seem to have a a lot of responsibility between work and family) you will also do better applying to programs in the EU (who don't go as ape-**** over super-high GMAT scores.)
Your corporate social responsibility experiences will not be discounted because you did then at work. In fact, I believe that it may work out to be the exact opposite. Think of it this way – business schools always claim to want the types of leaders who seek to use business as a tool to change the world. Of course, business and society are the two main subsets contained within "the world." So if you already used your workplace as a conduit for your social responsibility initiatives, you are doing exactly what they want. See how that works? You are a poet – and you didn't even know it! That rhymes, by the way. Word up.
Seriously, you seem like a very well-rounded individual. Like a boss, you know Six Sigma principles and Indian classical music. The next thing I expect to hear from you is that you can dunk. I'll look for that in your reply to me. If I had a little sister, I would let you date her! But you are married and I don't actually have a sister. Okaaay, moving on .... before this gets weird. lol.
If you would be interested in speaking further about your candidacy, and of course how I can help you, please e-mail me at [email protected].
Respectively,
Paul Lanzillotti
sjaianand
sjaianand
Joined: 27 Feb 2012
Last visit: 10 Nov 2012
Posts: 14
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 2
Location: United States
Concentration: Strategy, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Kellogg PT '15 (A)
GMAT 1: 720 Q48 V40
GPA: 2.5
WE:Information Technology (Consulting)
02 Apr 2012, 20:50
Kudos
Bookmarks
Dear Mr. Paul,
My sincere thanks for providing a detailed and honest feedback on my candidacy. I agree with the point you mentioned about the EU schools. I am right now concentrating on my GMAT which is in a month from now.
Again, many thanks for your time and patience.
PS: I dont dunk (being 5'6), however I was the vice-captain of my school's basket ball team
but that ofcourse was a long time back... )
My sincere thanks for providing a detailed and honest feedback on my candidacy. I agree with the point you mentioned about the EU schools. I am right now concentrating on my GMAT which is in a month from now.
Again, many thanks for your time and patience.
PS: I dont dunk (being 5'6), however I was the vice-captain of my school's basket ball team
but that ofcourse was a long time back... ) 
