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With all the Round 3 applications submitted, it is that time of the year when I revel in the success of my students who so enthusiastically shared with me the news of their success. Also, it’s time to begin preparing myself for the next application season. As I take this year’s case studies with me into the next application season and build on those, I would also like for you to gear up for the Fall.

We all know that MBA application process is a time -consuming and challenging journey. If you are planning to apply in Round 1, NOW is the time to begin this journey. By planning ahead and starting early, you can make this process not only rewarding but enjoyable as well. You will thank yourself later for starting early.
Here is the step by step plan you can follow before the schools begin releasing their questions in June/July.

1. Conquer the GMAT:

First and foremost, get this biggest hurdle in your journey out of your way. GMAT is the biggest parameter you will need for making a list of your target schools. Most of you must already be preparing for it, and this sure will make your life easier later. For example, if you take your GMAT now, and do not get your desired score, you still have time to retake it before you begin focusing on other parts of the application package (school selection, resume, essays, and recommendation letters). Tackling both GMAT preparation and essays, recommendation letters, resumes with deadlines drawing close, and that too with the work pressure hanging like Damocles sword on your head, will put you under tremendous pressure, making it extremely challenging for you to produce quality work. Currently, I am working with a candidate who is simultaneously working on essays as well GMAT prep, along with his professional commitments. Obviously, he is not able to give his hundred percent to essays and requires frequent ‘wakeup calls’ from me for emailing me updated drafts of his essays. By planning ahead and allowing yourself sufficient time, you can avoid this unnecessary stress.

2. Begin Your School Selection Process:

You have got the GMAT out of your way by earning your desired score. Now begin researching your target schools. With proper planning, research and initiative, you can definitely pick out schools that will align with your credentials and aspirations. For school selection, you will have to consider many factors e.g. geographical location, loans, scholarships, key projects/courses, employment reports, and companies that are regular recruiters over the years. You should keep in mind the following criteria during your school selection process.

 Look at MBA rankings:

Based on your profile (work experience, industry, GMAT, goals, interests etc.), you should look at MBA rankings (US News, Financial Times, Business Week, etc.). This will give you some understanding of a group of programs that are strong in your field and where you are also competitive. Also, you will be able to categorize them into dream schools, reach schools and safety schools.

 Find your ‘Fit’:

Do your research and decide on which schools are the best ‘fit’ for your credentials and aspirations. You should research faculty, curriculum, student groups, clubs, and organizations that match your interests and goals. You may also try to read everything published by the schools. Try to find answers to the questions: “Will this school help me meet my objectives (in the areas of education, networking, and career)?” “What will I contribute to the school community?” “Will I be a good ‘fit’ for this school?” and so on. Based on this research, you should be able to shortlist some schools.

 Talk to Alumni and other experienced people:

Along with your research, you should also start reaching out to people with MBA experience: colleagues, friends, current students and alumni, etc. This will help you determine if their perspectives and experiences align with your findings or not. But make sure to talk to multiple Alumni because individual feedback may be biased. You can use the relevant information in your Goals essay and later in the interview to answer the question ‘why our school?’

 Visit Schools:

Attending MBA fairs, school information sessions, and school visits will provide you relevant information on your shortlisted schools. Attend a class or two, meet with a faculty, talk to students, and take a tour of the campus. In other words, get a feel of the school and see if you want be a part of this community or not. Again, while answering “Why our school?’ part of the Goals essay, you can cite interesting aspects of your visit (e.g. class visit, meeting with faculty, information session etc.) to demonstrate your preference/ interest for this school.

 Visit Forums:

Discussion forums are wonderful platforms where you can post your specific queries about school search or any other question regarding MBA admission process and get expert advice from admission consultants. Also, you can share your views/ experiences with other students who are active on these forums and are also finding their way around like you. I would suggest that you create a separate word document for each shortlisted school and write down the aspects of each school that you like (e.g. specific classes and professors, student groups, companies that recruit there etc.) and how that program will help you reach your career goals.

I am sure all this home work will prepare you well and give you enough confidence to finalize your list of 6-7 target schools.

3. Build Your Resume:

Now that you are ready with your list of target schools, it’s time to work on constructing your résumé. MBA résumé is very different from a job résumé, so you will need a significant amount of time and effort in building it. MBA résumés are brief and concise stories of your skills, interests, experience and key accomplishments. Here I would like to quote Ross Admission Director Soojin Kwon, “For me, the résumé is just as important as your essays. Think of it as a trailer of the movie about you.” By making an engaging trailer ( résumé ), you are building Ad Com’s interest in your movie ( essays and recommendation letters).

4. Reach out to recommenders:

It’s also time to approach your recommenders. If you are applying to many schools, your recommenders will need time to work on those recommendation letters. They are busy people, so you may want to apprise them of this favor you would expect from them in the near future. I would encourage you to request a meeting with each of them to discuss the key themes you would like to showcase in your application. Also, your recommenders need to understand that they will not be using the single template for multiple schools because schools have their own set of questions that they expect the recommenders to answer with specific examples from the applicants’ work life.

5. Brainstorm stories for Essays:

After having accomplished all this, you may be wondering “My target schools have still not released essay questions. What do I do now?” Well, before B-school roll out their essay questions, you may begin brainstorming your ideas/stories for essays. Even though B-schools change their essay topics from one year to another, there are going to be concepts that are the same among business schools. For instance, all schools will expect you to write your goals essay, so take your time to identify your short term and long term goals. Make sure your goals are realistic as well as ambitious. Also, start thinking of your greatest leadership experiences, accomplishments, your background, life experiences, your greatest strengths (and weaknesses, too) and how these will help you add value to your target school.

Some of the most common themes you can organize your thoughts on are:


 Why do you want to pursue an MBA?
 What is your career goal post-MBA?
 Where do you see yourself 5-10 years from now?
 How will you contribute to MBA classroom?
 Why are you interested in the program?
 What are your biggest accomplishments and why do you view them as such?

By establishing your stories in advance, you will already have some raw material in hand which you can develop, edit and tailor to individual essays for specific programs. When the candidates sign up for my services in the summer, I require them to fill out a questionnaire of 25 questions pertaining to their goals, accomplishments, background , cultural experiences, strengths and weaknesses etc., so when the essays come out, we are able to use most of this material for specific essays for their target schools.
Thus, by planning ahead, you can make your MBA application process enjoyable and productive. Of course, you can teak the above plan as per your individual needs, circumstances, and preferences; however, the key is to strategize and plan ahead.

Good luck 

Profile Evaluation needed.
Following are my details. I am still researching about the MBA colleges.
After MBA, I am interested in working as MC.
Long term goal, Expand family business.


My GMAT score is 710.
Experience 50 months.
Age - 26
I am an engineering graduate in IT from top Indian university National Institute of technology Karnataka.
CGPA - 7.63/10

Hello,

Please evaluate my profile:

Pool: Indian Male/28yrs/Single/IT

Academics: Electrical engineer from IIT
GPA: 6.57/10 (not good as per IIT standards)
Extra Curricular:

College:
1.Few positions of responsibilities(head/sub-head) in cultural/technical fests and alumni meet at college.
2.Won few awards in intra college level socio-cultural competitions.
3.Won gold in intra IIT table tennis competetion(freshers), represented my hostel in different sports activities.

High School: won few olympiads at state level and national level. Represented school at national level painting competetion

Work Experience: 6years (2 years in BFSI, 2.5 years in Automated trading firm, 1.5 years in big data analytics firm)

Work Profile:
- No international experience but coordinated among teams spread across different demographies
- Worked mostly in high-tech domains

Area of interest : Finance, strategy, consulting, high-tech

Gmat: 710 (Q 51 V 34 ) IR :8

Volunteer Work: Few at organizational level for underprivileged kids (for 2 years). But currently not involved in any NGO/CSR activites.
Founded a start-up for artists( as I am passionate about the use of technology in arts)


This was my 3rd attempt at GMAT. Although I could have done better, esp. in verbal , I am in no mood of a retake now. I am pretty much exhausted by my work load and family life.

Target B-schools : Chicago booth/Kellogg MMM/UCLA/Duke/Cornell/Darden/Ross/Tuck


Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Vidit,

I am sorry for the delayed response. With Round 1 deadlines 4-8 weeks away, it is busy time of the year.

Anyways, thanks for sharing your profile details with me. Here is my assessment of your profile:

Academic Capacity: Good ( 700+ GMAT score + 7.63 CGPA)

Work Experience: 4 years at BHEL. You have not provided any details of the position you have been working at , and the promotion/promotions you have received during these 4 years. So I do to get an understanding of your career progression. You also have worked as a consultant in your family business for one and half year on part time basis until December 2013.

Accomplishments/ leadership Experiences: Your resume shows some accomplishments and also some leadership roles you have handled

Extracurriculars: Your ECs are impressive.

Career Goals: You need to be more specific about your short term career goal. Your long term is to expand your family business. so why did you stop working for your family business?

Overall, on the basis of the details you have provided, I would say ,you have a good profile.

Good luck,

Hello Mshrek,

I am sorry for the delayed response. With Round 1 deadlines 4-8 weeks away, it is busy time of the year.

As you are aware, you belong to the most competitive applicant pool. Here is my assessment of your profile:

Academic Capacity; You have good GMAT, but average GPA

Work Experience: Six years of work experience is good but it doesn’t tell me anything about your career progression

Accomplishments/ leadership Experiences: Again, you have not provided any details of your greatest hits at work.

Extracurricular/Volunteer work: You participated in ECs in college, and also have some community service involvement in the past. Currently, you are not involved in any community service activities

Career Goals: You have not provided any information on your goals.

Target B-schools: Without having more details of your work experience, it is difficult for me to comment if you will be competitive for your target schools or not.

Good luck ,

Just gave my exam yesterday and got 600.
Not shocked as I was getting scores between 580 and 620 in MGMAT and GMATPrep tests.
Last GMATprep i got 670 Q50 V31.

My Experience of GMAT:
I felt that Quant was really easy and similar to GMATPrep. But verbal was tougher than GMATPrep and MGMAT tests.
SC was tricky, CR was the toughest and RC was medium. Just 1 RC was hard, rest 3 were medium.

Although I am planning to retake it in 2 months and apply in R2, but please let me know which schools are mod, ambi, etc. and other than these schools if there is any school which suits my profile and GMAT score.Below is my profile snapshot:

10th: 78%
12th: 85%
B.Tech. : 69%
5.5 years of work exp in IT company(Ranked as 14th in Fortune 500 companies list), headquartered in US.
Male Indian IT Guy
Not associated with any NGO though i run my own website for health awareness and cancer prevention and promote it through facebook.
I used to run my own website and I am an ethical Hacker and used to run my own website for ethical hacking but its closed now. not sure if it will help me or not.
My Target schools are Schulich, University of Illinois Urbana Champaghne, Carlson, Fordham, UIC and Depaul.

Thanks.

Hi Maam,

I am posting my stats over here for an evaluation from your side for the range of schools both in US and UK where I may be competitive. My targets are top 10 in the US and top 5 in the UK. However I would like you to guide me in choosing the appropriate " realistic schools" and if possible advise on the mitigating factors for attaining so.

Also I would like to point out that I have just started working so you could probably evaluate without the work ex part although rest assured I am trying mighty hard to put my work ex at credible standings.

As you can see below there is a rough 1.5 year gap after my graduation although this time was used to pursue something which would help me with respect to my long term goal in finance field.

Long Term goal: To start my own firm in Financial services.( Either in Dubai or India )


My Brief Stats are as follows:

UG: Btech NIT Calicut( Tier 2 Engineering College India ), GPA: 6.95/10, Highest GPA was 8.8/10, Class rank: 17/42, No of Distinctions in class( GPA 8 and above): 8

GMAT, GRE: Yet to give I am contemplating something around 700 or 720.

Actually my story goes as follows..

Before entering college I had to drop a year during my 11th grade because my dad got a transfer to a different part of the country & after completing my 12th grade I again took a year off for the purpose of coaching myself for the prestigious IITJEE exam.Thus as you can seen I was about 20 years old when I entered college.


I graduated from a tier 2 Engineering college in India ( NIT), however I had serious health issues during my first year of college and hence i couldn't attend classes for half of the semester..( I received 7 F grades because of this..).I had a medical treatment from a pediatrician who advised me some period of rest before returning to college, hence I can provide some reasoning for this in my Essays as well as in some recommendation letters from some of my professors who know me quite well. Towards the end of my college I had began to do a bit of financial modelling and with sufficient interest I had taken up my final year thesis with a professor of my college for a financial modelling and optimization project.

I became interested in this field and again took up another 2 finance project under the same professor, all based on higher degrees of financial modelling and optimization ( He is now an Assistant Professor at IIM Indore). Since I needed time to put myself into this track I had to devote near to around 8 months solely for making out these thesis and subsequently publishing them into an International Finance Journal. These 3 projects have now been published.. Very Happy I have plans also to present them in a national or an international conference.

After 8 months of research in finance i decided to spend some time in doing social cause work and for around another 7 months was actively working for 3 to 4 NGOs( 1 international and the rest having offices abroad) in the field of Child rights, Environment protection etc..helping them with fundraising and campaigning. I was also subsequently offered to become a campus ambassador for a micro finance NGO in helping them find investors for the firms operations.( I am presently doing this apart from my full time work.

Most of the NGO work had specific outputs such has raising huge funds, roping in large no of investors, raising awareness on child rights to a larger section of the society etc.

Also the entire episode with the NGO's helped me realize and attain interpersonal skills such as pitching, managing investors etc.. which i am sure has incorporated itself into my work skills.

Thus after 1.5 years after graduation I joined for a job in Dubai at a reputed I bank.

Along the way I have taken CFA level 1 and 2 and FRM level 1 and 2 as well. Also I am planning to take up GRE Math ( apart from GMAT) as well some UC Berkeley extension courses to help rectify my academics.

Can you tell me whether I can make a shot to the top 10 schools with this profile or what steps are required for the same.


Hope you can help me out.

Hi Jairam,

I apologize for the delay in response.

Thanks for providing me details of your profile. Here is my quick assessment of your profile.

Academic Capacity: You have not yet taken your GMAT.

Given your academic performance in college (some F’s due to ill health early in college) and academic gap, you will need to aim for a high GMAT score ( 720+) to prove your academic prowess and your ability to handle academic rigor of MBA.

Work Experience: You mentioned that you have just started working, so you may want to work for at least 3-4 years to get good professional experience under your belt. Try to look for leadership opportunities at work so your career progresses at a faster rate than your peers. Accomplishments at work are necessary to build a strong MBA application

Community Service: You have good community service experience. Continue your involvement in voluntary activities as much as your work allows you to. Also, you have big beast to conquer- GMAT, and you need time and dedication for that.

I am glad that you are taking steps to improve your profile. However, I feel top 10 -15 schools will be a stretch for you, so I suggest you extend your choice to top 30-40 schools.

Good luck,

Poonam

Hi Poonam,

Thank you very much for my profile evaluation.

A little sad to see that I cant target for top 10. Could you tell me any mitigating strategies so that I could infact make an effort to the top 10 schools.
(Is the present evaluation done excluding my GMAT and Work Ex..?)

Would high GMAT Score or Good Work Experience do the trick..? Or should I go in for an alternative transcript, such as UC Berkeley Courses or take another 1 year masters course?

What do you think is exactly pulling me off the list? Hope you can solve my queries and help me out.

HI Jairam,

First of all, I would encourage you to get out of "top 10 school" fixation. You can a build promising career with a degree from top 30 schools as well. Your priority should be to determine which school is your best fit and is well aligned to your goals and interests .

As for now, I would sugegst that you focus on two things:

1. Work towards getting a strong GMAT score
2. Acquire 3-4 years of good professional experience by seeking more responsibilities at work and getting promotions ahead of your peers. Professional accomplishments are key to strengthening your profile and increasing your odds for good B schools.

Good luck,

Poonam

Hello!

Please evaluate my profile

29

Dual citizenship - Israel/U.S

Gmat - 700 (46Q\40V)

Bachelor's in Accounting and Journalism from Hebrew University
GPA 3.48
made deans list for the year of 2011
Won a national Social Entrepreneurship competition and founded a non profit (sustainability) while in school
Passed all 5 CPA exams on first trial (some of the exams had lower than 20% success rate for first timers)


Work experience:

Served for 3 years in the army as a combat medic, was awarded an excellence award during that time.

Worked 2 years as a strategic consultant in a local but selective firm that specializes in public administration

currently working full time at Ernst and Young as a CPA
Part time business dev and marketing at family business (art)

extra curricular:
Volunteers at the local chapter of an international non profit as a Digital consultant,
Mentors a startup in a local accelerator
Runs Marathons
meditator

Schools
Haas, MIT Sloan, Yale SOM, Johnson

Reach-Stanford GSB

Thank you for your help!

Hello Sir. I am Satyajit Chaudhary from India. I am a pass-out of IIFT Delhi 2012 batch (a Top-10 Indian B-School), currently working in Cognizant Business Consulting. I am in a tricky spot right now in my life & could really use some advice. In my 3 yrs in the industry, I have realized that my MBA degree lacks a global perspective & is pretty India-centric. As such, I was pondering over a 2nd MBA, a global one from a FT Top-25 B-School. I appeared for GMAT just to test myself & surprisingly scored 760 (Q-51,V-41, IR-8, AWA-6). But I got to know from different articles that US B-Schools don't usually prefer candidates in their early 30s or those with an MBA already. Unfortunately, I fall in both of those categories. That has left me completely confused. My profile-
Class X Board Exams- 92%
Class XII Board Exams- 92%
Graduation - B.Tech in Electronics & Communication - 82.9%
MBA - 3.4 on a scale of 4
Work Ex- 4.5yrs, currently working in Cognizant Business Consulting
Will be 32 by the time I join

Now more than a profile evaluation, I would like to know straight from the horse's mouth if such a profile can make it to a Top B-School, if such a profile has any prospects in the gruelling admission process. Wanted to know what you think of the prospects of such a client. Any help will be much appreciated...

PS- Scouring through forums, I see so many from India applying for their 2nd MBAs in their 30s (this is such a widespread phenomenon here). A lot of them must be getting through or else why would they keep on applying? So is this stigma really that prevalent?

Hello Eladavid,

Thanks for sharing your profile.

You have strong acads. You have entrepreneurship experience when you were still in school which is impressive. You have 3 years of military experience where you won awards and 2 years of experience as a strategy consultant. In addition, you are also involved in your family business in marketing and business development area. All this combined together makes you a strong candidate with varied work experience. You have strong EC’s as well. In short, you have an impressive profile for your target schools.

Now you need to decide why you want to do an MBA? What are your short term and long tern goals? The schools need to know how they can help you achieve your goals. Get started, put together your strongest hits/ accomplishments/ leadership roles and translate them into stellar essay that impress the Ad Com. You have military experience , so the Ad Com would want to know in what ways those experiences were unique. And lastly, even though 700 is a good score, it’s always better to get 730+ score. So if you want , you can retake it .

We can discuss in detail if you email me at poonam@myessayreview.com

Best,

Hello Satayjit,

Thanks for sharing your profile. Congrats on your stellar GMAT on first attempt.You have strong academics.

A lot of 30+ candidates are hesitant about applying, but I don’t think you will be rejected simply because you are 1-2 years older than your class mates. Harvard and Stanford may not be easy while MIT, Duke, Darden can be friendlier to post 30. You should be able to explain why MBA now ( In your case, why second MBA?)

You have answered the question about second MBA yourself . A lot of people are applying because they feel the first MBA didn’t fulfill their needs . The key is to convince the Ad Com about your need to do a second MBA.

From the details you have shared, it’s very difficult to say if you will be competitive for top 10 schools. I need to know more details about your work experience, career growth, promotions, leadership roles , EC's etc.

For more discussion, you may email me at poonam@myessayreview.com .

10th: 86%

12th: 83.4%

GRADUATION
B.Tech. in Computer Science from IP University, Delhi with an aggregate score of 72.6% (First Class)

GMAT: 740

WORK-EX:
Working with Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG) (World’s 5th largest group) for past 2 years as a Software Engineer. Involved in different roles for 2 years. Was a JAVA developer for the first 12 months and worked on a project related to automobile industry wherein we tracked all the activities of major automobile players (like Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen etc.) and their manufacturing plants. In this project I proposed a module which involved scanning of invoices, of which I proposed the algorithm, to potentially reduce the effort at customer’s side. This brought a business of 60.2 Million INR to organization. Received Star Performer of the Year award for the initiative taken.
In lieu to this initiative taken, after 1 year in the organization, I was shifted to Business Intelligence Team to use the critical data like revenue; budget etc. of the organization to track down the lacuna’s to suggest possible changes to be made for organization’s benefit. Working under this team, I proposed the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) which shall mitigate the re-work done in few teams in the organization. Upon review it was implemented in the organization. I inked down the proposed SDLC and got it converted in form of a research paper, published in a prestigious journal.

Total Work-Ex at the time of ISB 2016-17 application will be 2 years 8 months.

OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE
Went with project leader and other team members for installation and demo of the project to the client for duration of 3 months in Hungry during my tenure as a JAVA developer in initial 12 months

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EXPERIENCE
In last year of under-graduation, founded a tech company along with 2 friends, to develop websites and applications ranging from android to ecommerce website. The company is registered in the name of www[dot]crebertech[dot]com. The company generated a revenue around INR 1 lakh. Currently serving as the business head in the startup.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR
I have categorized extra-curricular into following categories.
Scholastic Achievements:
• Have 5 research papers being the 1st author published in prestigious journals with a high impact factor. For one of the research paper published, was selected as a reviewer at the same journal (Science Alert) where mostly doctorate and post-doctorate professors are selected.
• Was selected to represent my school in a competition of Mathematics and English conducted by University of New South Wales.
• Winner of 3 state awards in technical events conducted at Delhi College of Engineering (DCE). Runner-Up in 4 technical events conducted at Delhi College of Engineering.
Dramatics
• Winner in 1 competition and runner up in other organized in IGIT.
• Played Football at National Level. Represented Delhi and scored a hat trick and helped team to reach semi-finals. Was also adjudicated Man-of-the-tournament by sports head of IIT during an intra-college football tournament in my college.
• Organized literary events during college fests in the year 2011-2012-2013. Recoded higher participation with each successive year.
Debating and Literacy
• Winner of 3 State level debate competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering.
• Winner of 3 State level extempore competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering.
• Winner of 3 State level essay competitions organized at Delhi College of Engineering and 1 essay event organized in my college.
• Contributed to college and school magazines and remained an active blooger in my organization monthly newsletter.
Social Initiative
• Involved with an NGO for past 3 years. Working as a treasurer now. During my time I organized events to raise fund for the NGO and used the same money to prevent cow smuggling and prevent slaughtering of cows in the small villages of Haryana.
• A short 3 months internship at AIESEC under the program Iccha, to help slum children identify the basic cause of malaise. Helped them identify major pollutants and areas acting as a breeding ground of mosquitoes. Drafted a survey on the area visited and was adopted as a blue print by the local residents to palliate the waste.
• Worked for 5 months at Children Home, Delhi Government foster home to orphan kids. Provided pedagogy to students and was involved in various teaching drives organized at foster home during those 5 moths.
• Active member of CSR committee of my organization. Awarded for an active role in donation and social drives.

My target schools are Yale, Booth, Ross, Anderson, Tuck, Stern, Hass, Insead, Kellogg, ISB, Stanford GSB, LBS, Tepper and Johnson. Is it too ambitious or can I count some of them as moderate ? if yes, which one ?

Hi Vipul,

Thanks for posting all the key details of your overall profile . It was my pleasure reading them. All the aspects of your profile ( academic ability, international experience, entrepreneurship experience, EC's ( sports, dramatics, debates, research papers, voluntary work) are so strong that any school will love to have you if you present your story in an effective and convincing manner.However, your selection of schools will depend on what your goals are and which schools will best fit your goals and interest .

Good luck on your application.

Poonam