Ask MBA Admit - Dr. Shel Watts

Hi,

I just joined this forum and woud like to know where I stand in terms of targeting MBA programmes in UK. I have already applied to some schools (results below) and don't want to spend an extra year to figure out the right category of schools I should be applying to.

My profile:
GMAT: 740
Current status: Indian citizen, UK Permanent Resident
Education: IIT-Bombay Dual degree 2003. GPA 6.91 (its low)
Work-ex: 3 year in India, 5+ years in UK. Total 8+ years. Currently working in UK
International work ex: Have been to around 30 countries for various assignments while living in UK
Sector: IT (too competitive for B-school applications I guess)
Company: Worked for Motorola while in India, now working for a small company (25 people) in UK
Designation: Services Manager (Reports to CEO).
Work profile: Resposible for programme management, professional services and applications development. Speaker in trade shows, etc ...
Extra-curriculars: Loads of them during and school and college years in the area of sports and performance arts. Currently involved in sports coaching in UK for juniors and also a non-profit club committee member.
Expectations: Want to work in UK post MBA in business development area to start with. Long term is not clear - may be UK or India. Definitely not US - have been there many times for work/holidays and its not my type.

Recent results: Insead jan 2012 R3 (rejected), Judge R1 sep 2012 (rejected), LBS/cranfiled 2012 (applied and waiting), Said 2012 (will apply). Thinking about ISB too (applied there 6 years ago, was shorlisted for interview but eventually rejected).

Should I be targeting a different set of schools? Waiting for comments from expert consultants ....

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

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Hi oblix123,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about your outcomes. But don't give up hope. From the info you have provided below, I believe you can achieve success in business school admissions.
Your undergraduate performance represents a weak spot in your candidacy that you must overcome, and your efforts as you put together an application should be geared to erasing any notion that you don't have strong analytical skills, which your undergraduate performance might imply to some admissions committee readers. You attended IIT, which of course is extraordinarily hard to get into, so it is very possible for you to persuade the committee that the undergraduate performance itself is not the defining metric that reflects your abilities or potential. Many things can help you in this effort. It helps that you have eight years of work experience, as it will be much easier with that much work experience to persuade the committee that the undergraduate performance is not very relevant at this point. Your GMAT score also reinforces the idea that you have strong skills. You should use your recommendation letters and essays to skillfully reinforce this same message - that you have top analytical skills and will bring excellence to the school.

The fact that you did not get into Judge is a flag to me that likely you did not put together a strong application, and that this was a part of why you did not have successful outcomes. I think that with a strong application you should have gained admission to Judge. A "strong" application would have included very compelling long-term goals and success (through the essays and recs) in demonstrating the strength of your leadership and analytical abilities.

So, take care this time around that you are putting together a strong application in the ways I mention above. I believe you can have good outcomes.

Best wishes,
Shelly Watts
MBA Admit.com
https://www.mbaadmit.com
Email: mbaadmit@aol.com

Hi Dr. Watts,

I am an Indian ( Male 22 )

Graduation: B.Tech ( Information Technology Major ) GPA 7.9 / 10. Did my bachelors in College of Engineering, Guindy Anna University Chennai.

Work:
* Management Trainee ( 3 months ) in Capital Finance Corporation, a family owned non banking financial company and venture capitalist company. As a management trainee i was exposed to various dimensions of business and i chose certain core areas to work on after the training.
* Current role : Managing Director - IT Angel Investments division and CSR Division.
Panelist - IT infra structure development team.

Entrepreneurship
During my college, i co founded a company along with my friend. Started with just 2 employees the company grew leaps and bounds in an year with a total of 12 employees and then we sold out the company to an industry leader. In the company i took care of the marketing, finance and customer relations division. I introduced unique marketing concepts which are now being pursued by companies in the similar industry domain.

College
* During the college, i incepted the idea of a student-industry-alumni club exclusively for Department of Information Technology. The idea was taken forward and i became the first President of the Association. As a part of the association activities, i initiated an international technical fest and i conducted successfully with global participation. I also initiated an alumni scholarship scheme.
* Panelist in Entrepreneurship cell of Anna University. College provides funding and infrastructure to student found start up companies. Am one of the panelist along with faculty members and alumni.
* I was the campus placement representative of my class. I represented my class and brought 53 corporate companies to recruit my peers. During my tenure there was a placement percentage of 93% ( the rest of 7% went for higher studies, family business, etc.,)

Internship
Technical Intern : Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education Tamil Nadu State. During the intern i developed an attendance monitoring system for 400 colleges across the state.
Business Intern : Nandi Dall Mills Pvt. Ltd, a pioneer agro-based FMCG company. Developed a Distributorship model to its 300+ distributors across the country. The model is adopted and is in place now.

Reason for Masters
Short term goal : Need to work in international banks (wealth management, portfolio management ) and international angel investment companies. Again back to MBA.
Long term goal : Back to my rightful company and expand it as an international bank and international angel investment company.

Target Schools:
Imperial College London
CASS Business School
University College London
Judge Business School

How are my chances in these schools.

Also am looking for London School of Economics and Politics and London Business School. But these two require a GMAT score. Am planning to give my GMAT in the mid of Jan.

NOTE: Am looking for MSc Management.

Hi Dr. Watts,

Below is my profile:
Work Ex: 3 years as an analyst at the research department of a famous US hedge fund.
Goal: to move upfront in the same industry. basically move out of the research line to direct investing.
Age: 24, Female, Indian. residing in India
GMAT: 710 (Q: 50, V: 37) AWA: 5.5
Academic:
Master of Business Economics
Major: Econometrics and Finance
Year of Grad: 2009
GPA: 3.9
Bachelor of Business Economics
Major: Econometrics and Finance
Year of Grad: 2007
GPA: 4.0
During College: member of Environment Club & senior editor at the Department. Was also in the organization committee of a few events.
Post College: participated in CSR events at my workplace

There are two things that are bothering me the most. One is my GMAT score. This was my first attempt and I underperformed as per my expectations. I know I can get a score around 730 but I dont have time to retake the test. Secondly, my work experience is in the financial research line (what we call the "back office" in India). Whereas there must be many applicants who have worked on the trading floors of hedge funds or investment banks.

Could you please help me in shortlisting MBA schools where I stand a chance.
Am also particularly curious about the MFin program at MIT. Wondering if i stand a chance there.

Thanks in advance! And please let me know if you need further details to evaluate.

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

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Hi ksp,

I need a bit more information in order to respond about your odds at various schools. Most importantly, how large is the Capital Finance Corporation? If you can't give a precise $$ figure here, send a private message to me. That might matter. If it is large, that is great. If it is not, you can still make good use of this.

Your extracurricular activities sound wonderful and your professional experience sound great. You will need to use all elements in the application to try to override your GPA - that is, make sure your essays, resume, app form and recommendations are stellar. The GMAT should also be used to draw attention away from the undergrad performance (which I am assuming was not First Class Honors)... Try to aim for a GMAT score in the 740-760 range if possible.

Best wishes,
Shelly Watts
MBA Admit.com
https://www.mbaadmit.com
Email: mbaadmit@aol.com

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

Sign up for our Buy-1-Get-a-2nd-Set-Free Special - Valid until the end of November 2011.


Hi soko,

While you sound concerned about the fact that you are in the "back office" rather than in the front office of the hedge fund, you can make a lot of that work experience, particularly because you are a woman. Your work experience gives you a lot to work with. You sound like you have solid extracurricular activities to write about. Your GMAT is a little on the low side relative to the broader pool of Indian foreign national applicants who apply successfully to the top U.S. and European business schools, but as a woman you should have a little leeway with the GMAT (because right now, fewer Indian women apply to business schools). Your GPA is outstanding, and you can make a lot of good use of that in the essays. The MFin program at MIT is great and you may have better odds there. But you have an interesting profile and good credentials, so you should be able to apply to many schools successfully. I know it is expensive to apply from India, so you may need to target your applications, but schools to which I think you can be competitive (thinking of schools that have reasonably good finance programs) would include Columbia, Yale, Oxford, University of Chicago, NYU, Berkeley... Wharton may be possible... Schools like Ross, Tuck and Duke should be even better shots for you.

Best wishes,
Shelly Watts
MBA Admit.com
https://www.mbaadmit.com
Email: mbaadmit@aol.com

I need advice about how to proceed further with my grad school application.

I have a score of 650 Q44, V35 (disappointing, because I expected 700)
I'm aiming at Said, Judge, LBS MiF, Cornell and Kelloggs.
A bit about my background, CA and FRM holder working for over 5 years in a Big 4 (10th-88%, 12th-88%, Undergraduate : 62% in Accountancy Honours)

Does this profile give me a chance to be accepted at these schools?

Hi Dr. Watts, I would greatly appreciate it if you reviewed my profile:

GMAT: 750
Undergrad GPA: 3.15 in electrical engineering from Top 10 school
Master's GPA: 4.0 in electrical engineering from UCLA
Current Occupation: military officer (including a deployment to Afghanistan). Leads large scale teams (100+, formal leadership role) in the development of space systems. Consistently ranked #1 or #2 officer throughout my career.
Applying to: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Northwestern, Haas, and UCLA

Extracurriculars:
Post Grad:
1) Fundraising and Community Service Chair for a 600 member junior officer organization.
2) Garnered a community service award and title of Top Junior Officer Council in the Western U.S. for my organization.
3) Also, over the last four years, I've directly raised $25,000 to support military members, families, retirees, and charities in financial aid.
4) I volunteered for two weeks at an orphanage and an HIV/AIDS outreach center in India.
5) I'm also been an alumni interviewer for undergrad admissions for my school for several years.

During College: Heavily involved in ROTC (10-15 hours per week). Ultimately, served as Cadet Commander of my ROTC detachment. Responsible for training junior cadets to become military officers. Also, very involved (~10 hour per week) with a student-run company. Served on the executive board as the Assistant CFO and then the CFO. Company had annual sales of around $1M.

Career Goal: Couple my experience managing defense/aerospace programs and my engineering background to pursue a PM role in high technology at a company such as Google, Apple, etc in the Bay Area.

Primary Concerns:
Low GPA- My undergrad GPA isn't that great. Since then, I have gotten my master's in engineering with a 4.0 GPA. Also, I've built an alternate transcript of 2 accounting classes and an econ class (All A's). Do I need to explain my low GPA in the optional essay?

Hi Dr. Watts,
I hope you are doing well, I would greatly appreciate a profile evaluation. A/A male, 24, desires healthcare management.
1. Work (24 months by Aug 2012)- Drug development scientist at pharmaceutical company
6 months at Macys as store support associate
2. GRE (out of 170): 164 quantitative 162 Verbal. Conversion tool says 710 GMAT. My GMAT is coming up shortly
3. Undergrad: Univ of Dayton B.S. Premedicine/Biochemistry 2009 GPA: 3.34 Member of Scholars program
4.-Elected Treasurer of Honor Society(100+ members) for 2 years, member for 3 years
-Relay for Life- organized fundraisers to support cancer research. 3 years
-Mentored/tutored inner city youth to promote the importance of college. 4 years
-2 years of volunteering at local children's hospital with terminally ill kids.
-Developed a successful marketing campaign (2007, while in school) for performing arts that is still in use today.
6. Schools- Northwestern, Michigan, Uchicago, Duke, ND, Yale, Indiana, Cornell
7. I attended medical school for a short time (family pressure) but left, not dismissed. I am wondering how the med school
experience would play in the admissions process.
I'm not sure what other info you guys require. Any help would be truly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Hi Dr. Watts,,
I hope you are doing well, I would greatly appreciate a profile evaluation. A/A male, 24, desires healthcare management.
1. Work (24 months by Aug 2012)- Drug development scientist at pharmaceutical company
6 months at Macys as store support associate
2. GRE (out of 170): 164 quantitative 162 Verbal. Conversion tool says 710 GMAT. My GMAT is coming up shortly
3. Undergrad: Univ of Dayton B.S. Premedicine/Biochemistry 2009 GPA: 3.34 Member of Scholars program
4.-Elected Treasurer of Honor Society(100+ members) for 2 years, member for 3 years
-Relay for Life- organized fundraisers to support cancer research. 3 years
-Mentored/tutored inner city youth to promote the importance of college. 4 years
-2 years of volunteering at local children's hospital with terminally ill kids.
-Developed a successful marketing campaign (2007, while in school) for performing arts that is still in use today.
6. Schools- Northwestern, Michigan, Uchicago, Duke, ND, Yale, Indiana, Cornell
7. I attended medical school for a short time (family pressure) but left, not dismissed. I am wondering how the med school
experience would play in the admissions process.
I'm not sure what other info you guys require. Any help would be truly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Hello Dr. Watts!

I would be grateful for some of your insight. I'm currently 23 and looking to apply in 2 years.

I graduated from the University of California-Riverside in 2010 with a GPA of around 3.21 (I fell off the path 3rd quarter of freshman year and spent the next 3 years trying to bring it up). During UG, I studied abroad in Hong Kong for a year and had extracurriculars (swimming for HKUST's swim team, volunteering with the international education center and with the Student Organization for Advising Peers).

During my senior year at UCR, I worked for a small company as an account executive doing pretty much a little bit of everything. I became the only sales person/account executive at my company in my last half year or there and pretty much handled all accounts except for Europe and Asia. I worked at that company for 1 year before switching to my current position, Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda.

Here in Uganda, I work with a small organization that helps orphans and disabled children. My primary duties right are now creating sustainable income generation activities and helping the organization restructure itself to create a sustainable and efficient management team and leadership system. Eventually, time permitting, we will also focus on expanding the programs offered by the organization.

As I haven't taken the GMAT yet, I can't give you a score. However, I do feel that I should be able to score at least 580-600 as of right now but will be hoping for at least a 650. But on the off chance that I end up with a score in the low 600s, how do you suppose my chances at some of the better MBA schools (Harvard, Duke (and their fellows program), etc.) and others like Babson would be? I know my mathematical background isn't as strong as many of the other candidates but I was wondering if my experience in Peace Corps would help even my odds.

I'd appreciate any advice!

Thank you!

Dr. Watts, please help me evaluate my profile:

Hispanic (Born and raised in Latin America, Cuba. Came to the US at 19) 31 years old at matriculation male/us
5 years full time work experience
GPA: 3.39 Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech
GMAT 650 (Q47,V33)


College Extracurricular:
(Worked throughout college to support myself and family)
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers member

Current Extracurricular:
Mentor middle school kids
Habitat for Humanity
Started a volleyball and a softball club

Professional Background:
5 years Real Estate Construction Management at multinational construction firm (Excellent recommendations including 1 from a client)

Goal: I'm looking into strong real estate finance programs, I want to get into Real Estate Finance or Development.
Thank you for your help.

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

Sign up for our Buy-1-Get-a-2nd-Set-Free Special - Valid until the end of December 2011.

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Hi arzad,

You would be a great consortium applicant. Your age is on the higher end, but I don't think they have an age limit for applying. Are you familiar with the consortium?

Your GPA is great because you went to a fantastic school. Your GMAT is on the lower side, but with the solid undergrad performance I don't think that will be an obstacle. I would need to know more about your work experience to know how you might fare at some of the top schools, but if you put together very strong applications, I think you could have some great outcomes at top schools.

Best wishes,
Shelly Watts
MBA Admit.com
https://www.mbaadmit.com
Email: mbaadmit@aol.com

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

MBA Admit.com: Proudly, one of the most affordable top-quality MBA admissions consulting companies, with prices nearly 50% lower than our direct competitors.

Sign up for our Buy-1-Get-a-2nd-Set-Free Special - Valid until the end of December 2011.



Hi judeo15,

Does your A/A stand for African American or Asian American? Regardless of which it is, you have some great credentials to work with. Your GRE score should put you in shooting range for the top MBA programs. Your undergrad GPA is solid. The only downside is that you received the GPA from a school that is not considered first-tier by some observers, but the upside is that you had a hard major, so the admissions committees will likely still see that as a good performance. You have lots of extracurricular activities to be writing about, and that is a plus. Overall, I think you should be able to put together some great applications. If you are African American, you should be considering applying to some consortium schools as you may have better odds of getting a scholarship. Schools like Columbia, Wharton and HBS are ones you can consider also, and your odds will depend on your broader record (I would need more details than the high-level ones you provided here in order to be more specific about your odds)... I don't think the year in med school will hurt you in any way. If anything, it is good that you can say you are committed to following your passion and you have realized that your passion is something else.
Let us know if we can be of any assistance at MBA Admit.com

Best wishes,
Dr. Shelly L. Watts
Founder and CEO, MBA Admit.com
Email: mbaadmit@aol.com
https://www.MBAadmit.com

From Dr. Shel Watts, https://www.mbaadmit.com

MBA Admit.com: Proudly, one of the most affordable top-quality MBA admissions consulting companies, with prices nearly 50% lower than our direct competitors.

Sign up for our Buy-1-Get-a-2nd-Set-Free Special - Valid until the end of December 2011.


Hi swbluedevil,

I will need to give a longer response soon... But as a short response, I can say that a prior client of mine who had a somewhat similar background to yours received admission to Harvard and Wharton, so I think you will have solid shots at the very best schools.

And while you may want to write a short note about the undergrad performance, at this stage you should be defined by your performance in the Master's program... just make sure to reference that Master's performance in the essays.

More soon.

Best wishes,
Dr. Shelly L. Watts
Founder and CEO, MBA Admit.com
mbaadmit@aol.com
https://www.MBAadmit.com

Thanks, looking forward to the longer write-up!

Hello Dr. Watts!

I would be grateful for some of your insight. I'm currently 23 and looking to apply in 2 years.

I graduated from the University of California-Riverside in 2010 with a GPA of around 3.21 (I fell off the path 3rd quarter of freshman year and spent the next 3 years trying to bring it up). During UG, I studied abroad in Hong Kong for a year and had extracurriculars (swimming for HKUST's swim team, volunteering with the international education center and with the Student Organization for Advising Peers).

During my senior year at UCR, I worked for a small company as an account executive doing pretty much a little bit of everything. I became the only sales person/account executive at my company in my last half year or there and pretty much handled all accounts except for Europe and Asia. I worked at that company for 1 year before switching to my current position, Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda.

Here in Uganda, I work with a small organization that helps orphans and disabled children. My primary duties right are now creating sustainable income generation activities and helping the organization restructure itself to create a sustainable and efficient management team and leadership system. Eventually, time permitting, we will also focus on expanding the programs offered by the organization.

As I haven't taken the GMAT yet, I can't give you a score. However, I do feel that I should be able to score at least 580-600 as of right now but will be hoping for eventually a 700. But on the off chance that I end up with a score in the 600s, how do you suppose my chances at some of the better MBA schools (Harvard, Duke (and their fellows program), Dartmouth, etc.) and others like Babson would be? I know my mathematical background isn't as strong as many of the other candidates but I was wondering if my experience in Peace Corps would help even my odds. After service, I will have just under 4 years of work experience.

I'd appreciate any advice!

Thank you!