Riese wrote:
Thanks to the topic initiator. I would like to share my profile here for evaluation. Some valuable advice to choose which business schools to apply for the 2020 MiM intake will be much appreciated. I know it is quite late to apply around this time. I would like to mention that it was around March when I decided to apply for MiM programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I think that focusing on my master's studies might be a good option now due to the impacts of COVID-19.
Background and nationality: Age 23, Bangladeshi
Undergrad Information:
Completed in June 2019. CGPA: 3.11/4.0, BBA (Major Marketing) from Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka (top tier uni in our country). The business school is arguably the best in the country with an acceptance rate below 2% in undergrad.
GMAT - 710 (Q47, V40) - First Attempt. I had to take the online exam on 28th April 2020. After reaching the exam centre on 18th April for my scheduled GMAT exam, I found that the exams had been closed for almost a month. Taking the online exam took a toll on my quant score.
IELTS - 8.5, Took on March 21, 2020.
Other Passed CFA Level I in 2018. I have registered for the level II exam, which got postponed due to COVID-19, in 2020.
Work experience and leadership
Started my internship in January 2019, and joined the same company fulltime as a senior executive before completion of my internship after two months in March. I got promoted to Assistant Manager after another eight months. I will likely be forfeiting another promotion around the end of this year if I move for my master's degree.
The company is a local IT firm, which is the only Local LSP of Microsoft and Gold Partner of SAP in the country. It specializes in industry 4.0 technologies like AI, ML, Data Science, IoT etc. I was part of the strategy team, which directly reports to the CEO/MD of the company. I played a vital role in planning for the SBUs, creating international partnerships and working on the IPO placement process of the company. If the IPO is successful, then the company will be the first one to get listed as a software technology company in the country.
As a leading sponsor company in the Startup World Cup (Biggest Startup Competition in the world) Bangladesh Regionals, the company gave me extensive international exposure to countries like the USA, UAE, India, China, and Singapore.
Community and others
I have been part of an organization, which worked for the education for street children in the city. As the coordinator, I managed a full team of 30 volunteers and made an impact on more than 150 children over three years. I am part of the Board of Advisors now.
Have many notable event organization experiences in undergrad.
Have completion medal for long-distance running, and Champion and Runners up accolades in Cricket and Football (Mostly intra-department ones as I took sports mainly as a hobby) as manager and player during undergrad.
Post Master goals
Would like to move into consulting and gain long term global experience in a top management consulting company.
My undergraduate results are quite uninspiring. Despite my CGPA being on the low end, I should be in 50th percentile of my class.
End note: I have been working fulltime from home now due to COVID-19. It makes time very scarce for me, and completing the exams has had left me little to no time for sleep in the last two months. I have LSE, Imperial, UCL, Cass, (you could guess that I would prefer to be in London, UK if possible) and Manchester Business School in my target school list. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could evaluate my profile and suggest me. (Please ignore any grammatical mistakes, as I am writing the post at 6 AM after being awake since yesterday with a full workday and a whole night of application research). Thanks in Advance!
Congratulations on clearing L1 of the CFA! As a tech-focused engineer in South East Asia, you come from a very overrepresented demo for the UK school list you mention here. That said, you also have some differentiating performance. Although your undergraduate grades are lackluster, your CFA clearance should make up for that somewhat. Schools like the CFA and the GMAT because they are level playing fields by which to evaluate candidates -- they don’t have to rely on a school they may or may not be familiar with to do the vetting for them. So if you have poorer academic credentials (and coming from your demo, that’s anything below the top 20% of the class), it’s good to counterweight that with third party academic credentials like the CFA and the GMAT that prove that you can handle academic rigor.
Your ECs are also better than most and show diversity of passion split between community engagement (children’s poverty/education issues) and professional/intellectual passions. You’ll definitely want to emphasize when you have been a LEADER with IMPACT rather than just a foot soldier taking orders from others. For instance, making a point to mention managing and coordinating 30 other volunteers is a good idea. Your impressive running accomplishments will look good on a resume but you should probably focus on the civic engagement for the essays - it will be more differentiating and it has more of an impact on others/the community. I know you say you are *very* busy with work (that’s going to be par for the course for other applicants to top-tier programs like the ones you are targeting) but you need to make time outside of work to stay civically engaged so that your ECs are still current and not just from college.
Your GMAT scores a little low for your demo. If there is a way to re-take them before you apply to the earliest possible rounds in the fall (when your chances will be highest), I’d advise you to do so. A higher GMAT score will also position you well given your undergrad history.
Much of your applications’ probability of success comes from strategic positioning (e.g., how you spin what you have already accomplished, why you need an MiM, how you will contribute to the MiM academic community while you are a student, and what you want to do post-degree). If talking to an admissions consultant might be helpful when thinking through this strategy, feel free to sign up for a free consultation here:
https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/
14 Jun 2020, 08:17
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