Ask EXPARTUS

Hello,

I am holding a Twitter chat Tuesday March 8 at 9pm EST. Join me EXPARTUS tomorrow and get all your admissions questions answered.

Cheers,

Chioma

CEO, EXPARTUS (former HBS adcom board member & Author of The Best Business Schools' Admissions Secrets)
https://www.expartus.com
ChiomaEXPARTUS.com

Hey team EXPARTUS
And HOWDIEEEE.. to anyone who reads this...!!

Now I have a very specific situation (thats what i think ) so i am submitting my info to which i would love to hear from anyone who has the adequate knowledge to address my concerns
Heres my BACKGROUND

10th grade=> 73%
12th grade => 74% (a science student)

Then i took an year off as i did not get into the a decent engineering college..Trust me here- i got into many colleges but all of them were Pretty much CRAP (sorry for the curse but i am being bluntly honest here)
In the mean time I assisted my father during the day and studied during night..I am not sure that experience will count for business schools nevertheless i am very proud that i did that as at an early age i got to understand as to how someone who runs an industry actually functions..
The Gap year proved fruitful as i got into GGSIPU Delhi plus i got a pretty good and a decorated college in the Capital city..
Engineering was Good in fact great ..

Aggregate=> 71%(B.Tech In Information tech)
Now to be honest with you guys i was working with my father during my engineering years as well ..I would literally pick up documents and do other chores for him (Yes He Paid Me too)

Here is the real problem why i wrote this piece =>
My age is 23 years and 330 days
I will be 24 next month..!!


I graduated in June 2015..
And from DAY 1 i have been working with my father in our Family business..
Initially i was hesitant to join him as i was an IT engineer and my family is into Footwear business. Then I started to love my job [Common we make shoes and other footwear's for a living. Who would not love that right ]
Now almost an year later i feel like i need to grow my business outreach..
Trust me when i say this - Work is Fine..But the glitch is => "i want to take my family Business to places" Actually i want that to be Awesome instead of just Fine (sorry for the choice of words )
Hence i need an MBA..
And to much of my surprise my father stands right by me in this decision..! In fact He told me that its a very mature move..!!

I know most of you might think its too early for an MBA
But honestly guys Waiting for another 2 or 3 years will not take my business anywhere .It will be in a stand still.

Plus i think i have the added advantage of working with my father in my initial GAP year where i assisted him if it counts.

So it goes without saying => I DON'T ONLY WANT AN MBA ; I NEED AN MBA..!!

secondly i am a bit confused about this work experience thing ..!!
Most of the business schools require 2 years of work experience in there applicants ..
What does 2 years mean?
till the program actually starts or till the time you fill out your application
If i apply in 2016 for fall 2017 admissions then by the time i actually start my school in September i will be having 2 years and 2 months of experience.. I guess that would do..???

WHAT ARE THE SCHOOLS I CAN TARGET ???

Top 20 can i get in ?
Okay Top30?
Top40?
i am flexible as long as it in the Top 40-45
Common Guys Help me get into top 40 at-least..!!!! I don't want to wait ..!!
I am into manufacturing shoes and other footwear so anything related to marketing and advertising would be Fabulous ..Plus i like Advertising.
Now if (only if) i wait another year( which probably would not do any good to my industry ) then will it increase my chances of getting admitted..

GMAT => Appearing this October..I think i can get a good score..i will try for 700 maybe ..I will Dig that (i have started preparing)

now to the most important part=>

Community services => I am an active part of an Organisation which rescues street dogs and treats them until they are healthy..I have been a part of this organisation from my engineering days ..the reason i do it it i honestly believe in the work we do..We organise dog shows too..

Positions held => "I am not given any designations actually .. I am responsible for marketing and supply ..Plus sometimes manufacturing too. Family business comes with several added responsibilities too
The Post MBA goals => " I WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO MY HOME COUNTRY THE DAY AFTER I GET AN MBA . Off course i would like to do an internship however..But apart from that i have one any only one vision that is to Do Justice to my family business and take it to a level it deserves"

ANYONE WHO READS THIS Please Feel free TO POST any suggestions You guys Have for me... It will be really helpful..

Also i know that chetan2u Vyshak and Abhishek009 are Mathematics Wizards/Gmat experts and not admission consultants .But given that they have been super awesome in replying to every query i post(or anyone posts) i would love to hear from you guys as to what should i do..!! Any Advice guys?

Love and respect to everyone
Stone Cold


P.S => i am posting on multiple forums a i am looking for any advices i can get

Hello

I am looking forward to apply in international MBA programs for fall 2017 session. Could you please give me insight which programs I should choose for a career in management consulting post MBA.
My Profile:
Nationality/Gender/Age - Indian/M/27
GMAT- 720 (50,38)
Academic qualification - BTech, IIT Roorkee
CGPA - 8.43/10
10th- 88%
12th- 88%

Work experience:
A total of 6.5 years experience in manufacturing an engineering sector.
Currently working as Senior Engineer in engineering department of the one of India's largest manufacturing company. This is a public sector company as well.
~6.5 years experience in thermal power plants set up, plants operations, manufacturing of various components and selection of their materials.
- Consultant to Design group for material selection
- Responsible for quality control of incoming material.
- Vendor development and material inspection.
- Review various metallurgical processes like steel making, forging, casting, weld repair, heat treatment.
- Part of material management team.
~ Done number of projects as a leader as well as member to enhance productivity or to save money for the company.
~Done a course on project management

International Exposure:
Did internship in Germany for 3 month during BTech
Worked with people from diverse nationalities and ethnic backgrounds.

Extra –Curricular activities/Achievements:
Published a research paper in an International journal of high impact factor
Won various awards in paper presentation contest during BTech
Received DAAD scholarship to pursue internship in Germany
Organized various events during college festivals.

Post MBA plans:
Work in management/strategy consulting


Kindly evaluate my profile and let me know which schools Should I target. I have shortlisted some colleges like Emory, Hass, Darden, Anderson, Tuck. Pls tell me what are the chances in these colleges and some practical colleges as well. I will also be applying for indian clgs like ISB and IIMs.



Look forward to hearing back
Thanks
Panbhl

Hello,

Can you please evaluate my profile?

US Citizen, Male, Asian American
Age at matriculation- 26
GMAT- 700
Undergrad School- Community College for 2 years then UC Riverside for 2 years
Undergrad GPA- 3.8 Transfer GPA & 3.15 at a 4 Year GPA- Combined GPA is roughly 3.47
Degree- Bachelors in business administration with a concentration in financial economics

Work Exp - Financial Advisor for 1.5 years at boutique financial services firm
Part of a team that specialized in working with business owners in areas such as: advanced estate planning, business tax planning, and succession planning. Took this job right out of college for one reason: I knew that my presentation skills, sales skills, and relationship building skills were lacking and I wanted to put myself in a position that would force me to improve those skills. This was not the scenario where a college grad joins a company and starts selling insurance.

After that I began working at AAA Insurance as a Product Management Analyst. I took this role because it requires the analyst to lead multiple projects while working with multiple departments to directly meet and exceed revenue, sales goal, and retention goals for the company. This role involves presenting recommendations to executives that would impact the company. I will have worked here for 2.5 years when I matriculate at an MBA school. Prospect for me to receive a promotion looks slim not because I am undeserving but because it takes a long time for people to get promoted (i.e. all the managers in my department were working for 7+ years before they got promoted)

Extra Curriculars-
I have been the Vice President of a Young Entrepreneurs Organization for 2 years. The objective of this group is to promote an environment for young entrepreneurs to network, incubate ideas, form partnerships and learn from experts (we host a monthly workshop where we bring in a speaker). My responsibility is to increase our member base and increase participation at our events. We have grown to 1,500+ members and average 25 members per event.

I take health and wellness seriously, I eat right and consistently exercise 3 days a week and play basketball 4 days a week. Not sure if I can incorporate that in any way.

I have formed a Volunteer Organization. This is simply an organization where I post volunteer events and get groups of people to come out. I typically volunteer a couple times a month and have been doing this for about a year.

Goals with MBA:
Short Term: Management Consulting
Long Term: C-Suite Executive

Target schools: Booth, Kellogg, Darden, Ross, Cornell, Duke, UNC, McCombs, NYU, Columbia and USC.

Hello Sir,

Please evaluate my profile and suggest points of improvement and my chances at the below listed schools

Name : Mihir Patel
Age : 28
Nationality : Indian
GMAT : 720 (Q49 V39 IR 6 AWA 5)
UGrad : BE in Instrumentation and Control with 71% (First Class with Distinction)
Work Ex : 6 Years (break up as below)

L&T CHIYODA Pvt. Ltd. (a division of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Pvt. Ltd)
Sr. Engineer, Jan-2014 – Mar-2015
Executive Engineer, Sep-2010 – Dec-2013
With L&T being India's largest Engineering and Construction Company, L&T-Chiyoda (a JV between L&T and Chiyoda Corp, Japan) is L&T’s main center for engineering.
Report to AGM of the Department and responsible for engineering & design for Oil and Gas Projects.
- Selected as Management Trainee (MT) from the pool of 1000+ Graduate Campus recruits who joined L&T in 2010)
(MT Scheme of L&T is aimed at identifying potential managers / leaders evaluated on the basis of several key parameters such as Leadership qualities, Vision, Interpersonal communication and Creativity through a series of aptitude tests and interviews conducted by Company level VPs).
- Reduced man hour consumption on preparation of deliverables by 20% by developing standardized templates and implementing effective automation using excel VB Macros

DODSAL ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Pte. Ltd. (Dubai, UAE)
Executive Engineer, Mar-2015 – Present
Dodsal Group is a leading EPC player in the Energy, Industrial and Infrastructure sectors with a strong track record of executed project in 22 countries the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and South-East Asia.
Report to Project Lead and responsible for engineering & design of Control Systems and interfacing with other department
- Led a team of two colleagues through all phase (conceptual design, procurement, detail design & Factory acceptance test) of a Safety System costing around $ 3Mn (approx. 0.5% of Project Cost).

Education
L D ENGINEERING COLLEGE, Gujarat, India
BE, Instrumentation and Control, 2010. Result: 71.02% First Class with Distinction.
- As a Department Placement Coordinator helped fellow students & juniors in improving their aptitude & communication skills by conducting mock placements & communication workshops.
- Member of Technical Festival Campaigning & Fund raising Team

Class X and XII : 88% & 82% respectively

Extra – Curricular
- Started & managed the first in-house e-magazine for I&C Dept. at L&T Chiyoda with a team of six fellow colleague
- Taught basic math to students of economically underprivileged group as a part of Teach India campaign by The Times of India during 2008-2009


Post MBA goals : Consulting in Energy (both renewable and Non-renewable) and Infra sector
Interested in : Business Analytics, General Management and Leadership
Target Schools :
1. Darden
2. Ross
3. Tepper
4. Tuck
5. Mendoza
6. Yale
Request to indicate chances for each school in terms of achievable, ambitious and safety option.

Thank you so much for reading and evaluating my profile.
Warm Regards
Mihir Patel

Hi Chioma

Can you please evaluate my profile. I am very interested in doing MS, or MBA, in finance from some good asian university. Also, can you please suggest me some schools?

My GMAT score is 640 (Q50, V26, IR6). I have also taken GMAT last year. My score was: 620 (Q49, V26, IR:5). I am in no mood in taking another GMAT :p . Got some other engagements as well.


Work Experience:
----------------

Regular Check Up Polyclinic (2013-Present)
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Description: I started a polyclinic, currently 3 clinics. We provide passive health-care services, such as dental, ayurved, and cardio.
Designation: Proprietor, Founder
Role: Founder , Entrepreneur- administrative and management , Marketing

NJ Solar Infra (P) Ltd. (2014-Present)
------------------------------------------------------
Description: We consult our clients on solar project.
Our consultancy services include: developing of financial models-using excel, calculating depreciation and carrying out techno-economic viability
Working with another solar consultants to raise funds for small rooftop projects based on net metering
Designation: Director, Co-Founder
Role: Co-Founder, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Marketing: B2B & B2C

BU Group (Jun-Aug, 2012)
------------------------------------------------------
Description: Focus on NDT testing
Designation: Intern
Role: Assisted company CEO (IITR Alumni)
Assisted the marketing team to carry out seminars in different companies and colleges for business development

WILLmed, Columbus, USA (May-Jul, 2010)
------------------------------------------------------
Description: tech startup, focusing on non invasive glucose-meter
Designation: Intern
Role: Conducted competitive analysis with application of strategic and management tools
Analyzed medical data using MATLAB
*On tourist visa
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Education:
----------

Graduation College: Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Ropar
Major: Electrical Engineering
GPA: 7.55
Year: 2009-13

XII: 79.6% (2008-09)
X: 86.4% (2006-07)
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Academic Achievements:
----------------------

2016 Course: EDP on solar energy, under Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Certificate of Completion
2011 IIT Sem: 4 EE204: Signals and Systems Course rank # 1, Grade A
2010 IIT Sem: 2 MA102: Mathematics: Calculus 3D, Matrices, Space top 10 students among 800, Grade: A+
2010 IIT Sem: 2 Environmental Studies top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 PH101: Physics top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 MA101 Mathematics: Calculus 2D, Matrices top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 EC101A: C++ programming top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 Engineering Entrance Exam Results:
Category- GENERAL
IIT JEE: top 1% among 400,000 applicants
AIEEE: top 0.5% among 1,000,000 applicants
UPTU: top 0.1% among 250,000 applicants
2008 Senior Secondary Class Rank-1, IX
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Projects:
---------
Year Place Topic
2012-13 IIT To develop different market models for trading RECs in India
2012 IIT Valuation of Options, using Black Schole Method
2011 IIT Analysis on Modeling and Simulink of DC Motor and its Driving System Used for Wheeled Mobile Robot, using MATLAB
2011 IIT Valuation of Ford Share Price using Kalman Filter
2011 IIT Developed shoes that charge mobile phone using piezeo-elctric material, awarded: 2nd among 12 teams, certificate of honor & Trophy
2010 IIT Developed mobile appication: encrypting messages
2010 IIT Developed Solar Mailbox
2008 Class XII Recycling of Aluminium slab
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Social Services:
----------------
Participation in Anti Child Labor Rally and Global Warming
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Extra Curricular Activities / Skills / Achievements
---------------------------------------------------
Tennis
2011: IIT Kanpur- Sports fest - Certificate of Participation
2010: Inter IIT meet - Certificate of Participation
2004: Saifco Tennis Tournament - Certificate of Participation

Collage Magazine, IIT
Member, Editorial Team - Magazine Copy

Drama
2004 School Drama - Delhi Public School - Certificate of Participation

Debate/GD/ Speeches
2007-09 - Reference Letter

Vocab Competition
Mother Dairy Spell Vocab Challenger, Reached round-2 - Certificate of Participation

Science Competition
Young Scientist Talent Search Exam, under category-A - Certificate of Participation

Art Competition
1998 Class-2 - Certificate of Participation
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Post MBA/MS plans:
---------------------------
short term: work in private equity
long term: start my private equity funds in India, focusing mostly on small companies that are still working on old management techniques.

Hi Expartus

Could you please help me in evaluating my profile?

Indian male
GMAT Score 700 Q49V35 IR5, AWA 5

X th : 92.4% out of 100%
XIIth : 94.6% out of 100%
Undergraduated ( NIT Hamirpur) : 8.51 out of 10 on CGPA scale.

Work Experience : 3 years+ in sales & marketing analytics
1. Business Associate in Sales and Marketing firm
2. Leading a team of 4 and in dialogue with clients on a regular basis.

Not impressive extra-curriculars

Target Schools : Kelley, Purdue, Tepper, Kenan-Flagler, Johnson, UCLA Anderson and other 10-20 ranked schools.
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I have applied to Kelley and Purdue in R1 but I am not sure of if I'll get the interview call. I am now comptemplating of waiting for one more year to improve on my GMAT score and profile in terms of work-experience, and extra-curricular activities.

Is it worth waiting for one more year to try for my target schools or settling for a lower ranked school (if I get selected this time) would be just fine given that my primary focus is job opportunities after MBA??

Best
Naval

Hi
Please evaluate my profile

Introduction:
I am a 36 year old Indian male working in UK for last 5 years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 10 schools for MBA in USA/UK/Canada/Singapore.

GMAT Score:
Planning to take GMAT May-2017

Education:
X th: 81% out of 100%
XII th: 90% out of 100%

- UG GPA: 82% out of 100% (top 10%); Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering; Madurai Kamraj University, Madurai, India

- Master's GPA: 4.6 out of 5 on CGPA scale; Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow, Russia.

Work Experience:
Total 10 Years professional experience as Engineer (5 years in India & 5 years in UK). At the minute working with Aircraft Interiors Manufacturing company in UK as Structural analysis Engineer.
No managerial experience. No promotions.
Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries.
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.
Extracurriculars
Learnt Violin for 5 years and Interested in Music – Classical & Carnatic; 3 stage performances at Chennai
Learnt Hindi and French
Was a member of College Cricket team in UG and was a member of University Badminton team in Master’s.
Was a good runner. Won prizes for running during school days
Won prize at debate competition during school.

MBA (interested):
Interested in MBA (1 year programs) or Executive MBA with scholarships.
Please advise what are my chances?
Post-MBA Goal:
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in manufacturing/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in manufacturing /technology.
Interested in General management & product management (both middle level and senior level post MBA)

Hello Expert,

GMAT - 710( QA 49 VA 36 IR - 7/8 AWA 6/6 )

Ethnicity- Indian
Male , 25 years old
Btech (Mechanical) - 2013 - 69% [ Under grad]
12th - 2009 -87%
10th (ICSE) - 2007 - 75%

Work Experience - 43 months as on Date will reach 48 months by August ( At the time of applying will have around 49-50 months work experience)

I am currently working as a business development executive at a startup and have worked with a government agency to design some training programs for their employees to effectively use social media for better E-Governance and have worked on building an android application along with successful launching of a online platform designed for certain companies. ( working for about 2 years here).Working alongside here , My father owns an advertising agency in which i play a role too because it is a family business and i need to look after when he is away and have helped create logos for the Government of Telangana. I am from Hyderabad , India and Telangana is the State. So i do not know how to leverage this work because in my own personal opinion I think it is great to have worked on a few government projects and design logos for it. The logo is evident on their websites and posters and all over the city . So i think i can give me some edge but any opinion regarding this will be considered. Prior to this i worked with Google for a year via a third party. I worked there as a business analyst.

EC

Sports - Swimming, basket ball , kabbadi , table tennis and badminton , Boxing .
Won the 1st Place in basketball at College (team event) .
Participated in multiple university and state level competitions . (table tennis)
Participated in a national level debate and Adjourned best speaker in a debate at a college level event.
Winner of an Extempore at a national level technical fest
Participated in multiple public speaking events and debates
The president of a Student Body in college for 2 years until the end of graduation undertaking lot of responsibilities and conducting multiple events
Organiser of the Sports Fest for 3 years along with a team under me and successfully organised multiple events. Along with Organizing as a sports player had to participate thus managing both organizing and playing.

I was the anchor for the Annual Day for 2 years and conducted the event in a splendid fashion
Class representative and event organiser for the college Fest for 4 years
Musical instruments learned - Keyboard , Guitar
Performed in the annual day and formed an own band during the college days and participated in college events.
learnt Classical singing for over 11 years and still learning
An active member of NSS during college and couple with the other activities i had , went on to form events to distribute food , books , clothes to the needy and have taught maths and physics to the needy .
Associated with an NGO as well , hope this help in application process


Academic Projects and Achievements

Always in the reckoning of the class - top 5%
95th percentile in CAT ( Management Exam in India) a neccesity to get in the reputed IIM’s ( Indian Institute of Management) and 90th percentile in XAT ( Management Exam for XLRI - Xavier School of Management)
Multiple projects in Robotics and designed various prototypes using basic principles of robotics and have done an internship in a PSU regarding steam engines

Final project in College related to Robotics – 6 degree Stewart Gough Platform
I have been to multiple industries such as steel pant , iron ore plant and a couple of thermodynamic industries to see the functioning of machines and an automobile industry as well to see the understanding of manufacture of components.
Softwares learned - CAD/CAM , Catia , Solid Works , Pro-E , Ansys (taught during academic rigour ) along with the normal C , C++ , Blue Java , MS office etc.




Q) Do you have a specific Company to work for? - I do not have a specific company to work for. My areas of interest are marketing and consulting . Of course every aspirant desires to be in the best of the best companies. Rather than working for a company would love to have company of my own down the line

Q) what do i want from my MBA? - I want my MBA to provide the knowledge n specific skills to run a business. It comes with experience i am sure but an MBA adds value and can make one think better in terms of the business. I would like to start a company of my own. My father has his own business and i want to diversify its services . A marketing related MBA would help me to make my company more reachable to cater to the needs of clients. At this stage my answer isn't clear and might be vague but i still haven't put a thought to it . Mostly like i wish MBA helps me better to run a business

Q) Mba full time/part time - I would want to do an MBA full time (2/1 year is fine) . I turned 25 last week so at the moment thinking i could use 2 years for an MBA unless a one year MBA suits me more. I am willing to relocate and looking for schools in India , US , UK , Singapore

Areas of Interest - Marketing / Consulting
Dream School – Kellog (Marketing)

What schools would you suggest to apply to based on this Profile assuming i still score a 710 in my retake . Targeting R1 this year , want to join a school in 2018

Other schools on my mind - Yale , Oxford , NUS , NTU , ISB . Also do i stand a chance at Harvard/ Stanford / Haas ( the elite ) if not what can i do to solidify my application for applying to these schools. I would like to apply to 6 schools One in India (ISB) , 3 In the United States , 1 in UK , 1 in Singapore , i haven't given much of a thought but any advice here would help

Target Score for Retake - 740 (QA 50 VA 40) , owing to my poor academics , i thought of giving the exam another shot and I represent a demography of very high scores

Regards,
HK


P.S - sorry for keeping it long , i might have missed out anything , feel free to ask something if it is missing

Hello,

I hope you are well.

Would you be able to spend some time evaluating my profile and recommending some top schools that I should focus on?

GPA: 3.5 (from a business school in Hong Kong; majored in Finance; graduated in 2012)
Citizenship: India but have been living in Hong Kong for ~9 years now
Work: 6 Years (by the time I enroll) of institutional business development for a top investment bank (MS/GS/JP)
GMAT: 710 (Q48/V38/IR3/AW5); this is my biggest worry.

Other points to note:
- Have shown a 'habit of leadership' throughout life (high school, university, and work); see below.
- School Captain
- Overall Student Life Award at university for leadership and community integration
- Officially recognized as one of the most promising juniors in Asia (elected to sit on multiple leadership committees)
- Became responsible to cover the largest institutional clients in Asia just after 2 years at work (based on performance); our coverage even got recognized with a "best client service" award by the client directly.
- Specially selected by our international CEO of our business to lead a project based out of Asia
- Have gone through exceptional circumstances back home to reach where I am (none of my parents are educated, extremely poor background but went to one of the best high schools in Delhi, Dad passed away at an early age)
- Worked part time during university to support myself
- Don't have exceptional community service but actively mentor students at my secondary school back home and juniors at university)
- Trained for and ran a marathon
- LGBTQ
Would appreciate your thoughts on (apologies, in advance, for the long list of questions):
1) I have taken the GMAT multiple times but I am unable to do better under time constraints (and historically, this has been the case too). Is there a way I could address this? I am confident that I have the intellectual horsepower (at least for business school) when time is not a constraint.
2) What would be the ideal short-term goal for me to highlight? I am afraid that my real goal is too...different from what my current background would permit. Should I stick to a goal in the investment management industry alone? I understand that AdComs think carefully about whether a candidate will be able to achieve their immediate goal.
3) Given the Indian citizenship (Hong Kong resident for 9 years) and a relatively low GMAT, should I even target the top 10 schools? Ideally, I would really like to make it to a top 10 US-based school - don't want to spend USD 250k(!!) anywhere else, really - but I am conscious of the competition from Indian male candidates.
4) Should I have one recommender from London and one from Hong Kong? Or do you think it would be better to have both from Hong Kong (since AdComs prefer to have people working close to you)?
5) Any 10-20 US-based school that you would recommend for someone who wants to return to Asia? I don't want to work in the US.

Thank you your thoughts, in advance!

Dear Expartus,
Could you please evaluate my profile?

male, 24, Indian
GMAT : 690 (Q50, V33) (86%) Awa 3.5 IR 4
CGPA: 6.59/10 ( NIT - Warangal - One of the top 10 institutes of India, at the time of study )
Work Exp: 2 years 8 months
Software Developer in world's one of the best CVAS company - OnMobile Global ltd.
School - 80.6% (CBSE)
Jr. College - 91.8% (BIE AP)

Note : Studied Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and pursued career in Computer Science Software Development.

Professional achievements:
Initiated and developed a new platform independent Tool - Increasing the productivity of whole team by a third.
Initiated and created a new tool for security management in cross platform teams using a self thought framework ( different from what i work in)
Took complete end-end handling of a product , from development phase to deployment and development of new features in the same from start.

Jr College achievements:
Secured All India -3589 rank out of 12L students appeared for AIEEE.
School Achievements:
Secured All India 7th rank in Inter KV Math Olympiad.
Placed in Top 1% of Physics Astronomy Olympiad.

Extracurricular Activities:
Self thought - Tennis , Table Tennis ,and Badminton player.
Charity NGO - Teaching orphaned high school kids on life skills and sciences.
Freelanced teaching for college students.

I am considering these schools for Fall 2017 in Marketing.
Can you please throw some light on what all colleges i can apply for and have chance to get scholarships in the same.
Am planning to write GMAT again in 2 weeks. - aiming to score 720+ .

Thanks,

Hi Expartus,

I'm considering applying in round 1 this year for full-time MBA programs enrolling fall 2019 and would love to get a profile evaluation and general thoughts on my potential career path. Any evaluation or advice you could give me would be much appreciated. Also curious if I'd gain anything from waiting another year, getting some more experience in my current role and getting some more community involvement.

White male, 26 years old

Education:
"Southern Ivy" (Duke, Emory, Vandy, etc.), graduated in 2014, Mathematics and Economics BA, GPA: 3.25 (started out pre-med which did not go well. Started to do better when I switched to math and econ, but suffered family tragedy fall of senior year which hurt my grades and recruiting as well)

GMAT:
770 (50Q/46V/8IR/5AWA)

Work (all at private, family-owned diversified holding company with $20B+ revenue):
-1 year as a business analyst in the Operational Excellence department in the automotive division. Acted as a liaison between business operations and IT development for the development of enterprise mobile applications, completed heavily statistical analysis to complete the business cases for these applications as well as justify a multi-million dollar acquisition, created operational tools for field use and trained several GMs on their use.
-2 years as a manager in the Financial Planning and Analysis department in the same division. Promoted to manager 3 years ahead of schedule for being recognized as a top performer. Managed a contractor and intern. Currently in charge of budgets and forecasts for several smaller portfolio businesses and on the leadership team of these businesses to provide insights that drive strategic decision-making.
-2 years (at matriculation) as a senior analyst in an elite corporate strategy & development group at the holding company level responsible for portfolio management, M&A, diversification strategy. So far led primary due diligence for several minority investments as well as played an integral role developing a strategy for the Company's extension into the clean technology industry (renewable energy, food and agriculture, water conservation, etc.). Interface regularly with C-level leaders, board members and external parties (banks, PE firms, Consultants, VCs)

Extracurriculars:
-Pro Bono consultant at an eCommerce retail store, creating the business plan, social media marketing strategy, and pricing methodology
-Half marathon participant in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program. Raised $2000 for cancer research
-Finalist in my company's internal StartUp business plan event
-Mentor at Big Brothers/Big Sisters Atlanta

Post-MBA Goals:
Ultimately I want to become the CFO of a well-funded start-up in my current industries of expertise (Cleantech, Auto). To get there, I want to work in Finance at one of the external parties I regularly interface with (PE or VC if possible) unless the opportunity presents itself to be a finance leader at a start-up right out of my MBA. I think working in M&A at a particularly flexible, family-owned Strategic provides a different, interesting perspective.

Schools under consideration:
I have two routes I'm considering, since I actually really like my current job:
-Shoot for the stars (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago) where I think the the value would justify leaving my current role and paying the tuition
-Go to the one year MBA at my local university (Emory, where I think I can get close to a full scholarship), continue working part-time or take 1 year off and come back to my current role.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Posted from my mobile device

I'm super keen on applying to B-School, with my top choice by far being HBS. I'm also applying to MIT Sloan, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Wharton, and at least one school abroad in Europe. HBS is by far my first choice, however, and I'm definitely looking to partner with an admissions consultant ASAP to help with my application for this specific school ASAP. I'll make a choice based on the initial evaluations I get, and decide based on who has the best advice/insight into my profile.

My main concern is my low GPA and jumpy career history (circling around the sales/PR/marketing drain, and switching industries from toys to SaaS (tech), before settling in Sales/SaaS 3-4 years ago). I've accomplished a lot at the companies I've worked for, received 5 promotions and held leadership roles for the last 3 years, but it's still not very impressive.

During undergrad, I was seriously ill, once homeless, and worked full-time while studying, so I'm hoping this will shine a brighter light on my dim academics and inconsistent profile. I want my themes to be 1. failing, and then picking myself back up again to show tenacity, and 2. overcoming obstacles, and now wanting to start my own company to make the world a better place.

Academics:
- 3.29 GPA, social sciences
- 730 GMAT (RETAKING aiming for a 780)
- Completing HBX CORe (Harvard business 'prep' course) soon with a goal of an A (4.0) average
- Undergrad was at Harvard Extension School (I'm not sure how this is regarded at HBS? It's part of Harvard University, but obviously much less impressive than Harvard College or any other Ivy League college)

Work Experience:
- American, 3 years of international experience (Germany - working language proficiency)
- 8 years of professional experience, 4 years in people management/leadership roles
- Managed 15 people at maximum, now managing around 5 people (switched companies, and now growing the team from 0 to 5)
- 5 promotions, from intern >associate > senior associate > team lead > senior manager > head of sales
- Starting my own company, in the very early stages

Life Background:
- Aged 30
- Experienced a life-threatening illness and homeless during undergrad - hence the low GPA
- Also worked full-time during all of undergrad, taking classes at night
- Decent amount of volunteering experience
- "Theme" of my application is overcoming hardship/life threatening illness/and homelessness, and now wanting to start my own company and make the world a better place

Qualifications
Xth :-64%
XII th:- 82%
Graduation :- 65% English (Hons) Humanities
Current work:- income tax inspector
Age:- 24 years
Nature of work:- not related to corporate work experience in anyway, it is government sector work. The work is divided into two categories

Assessment Section 
A job in this section includes work related to desk job details that come with the title of Income Tax Inspector.
You will be responsible for assessing income tax that people, company or partnership firms are liable to pay.
You will also have to handle refund claims and TDS (Tax Deduction at Source) queries Non-Assessment Section 
A job in this section will subject you to field work.

Inspectors employed in this section can be a part of the rapid response team that conducts raids.

The ITIs who are given non-assessment duties usually have to perform only clerical duties.

Their job is limited to filing official paperwork and occasionally accompanying raid teams

My query:- I always wanted to do an MBA as it was my dream to work for a private company. Due to financial constraints, I was not able to apply for MBA in foreign universities. I had no interest in Indian MBA as I always wanted to work in a foreign country. Also Indian MBA had very low chances to get me placed in a foreign firm. Private firms in India without an MBA gives very less salary and high load which would not have given me time to make my profile for foreign MBA.
Therefore, I decided to pursue a government job and finance my future MBA from that money.
I intend to do an MBA after 5 years. I can score score very well in GMAT and TOEFL from official mocks that I have given. I am interested in doing MBA from Canada so that I can get permanent residency. I am aiming for "average" b schools in Canada only.
Please I am in dire need of help. I have 5 years at my disposal. Please guide me on how can I make my profile in these 5 years so that the adcoms don't reject me. Also honestly tell me whether I am eligible of doing MBA from an average Business School in Canada only.
Thank you and God bless you !

Posted from my mobile device

Hi,

1) I am confused with the GPA conversion system of Indian percentages to U.S GPA (4.0 Scale). what is Indian Bachelor's 59.5% to U.S GPA(4.0 Scale).

2) How likely a profile like this will fetch me an MBA from top Business Schools in the U.S/INDIA & is my GMAT score good enough for me to secure a seat?


Profile

Xth - 82 %

XII th - 81.3 %

B.Tech - Dropout (2009-2013) RVR & JC College

(U.G) B.A - 59.5% (2013-2016) BR Ambedkar Open University (in Top 10 out of 120 students)

M.B.A - Dropout (2017-2017) JBIT

Graduated from ISB-C.B.A - (2.6/4 GPA) (2017-2018) Indian School of Business.

Trained In Advance Business Analytics from IIT Hyderabad


GMAT: 640 (Q47 V32)


Experience: 3.5+ (from 2016)
Founder: OffersWave ( started in UG - 2014) (Sold out to Surya Sol - 2014)
Coupon Aggregator
Founder: LocalWalt (Failure -2015)
Local e-commerce
Founder:FIXU (Raised Funds From : FACEBOOK, KHUSAKI, KP INVESTMENTS) (2016-2018) Merged With ZOBIT.
Handyman Aggregator
Co-Founder: Block-Z-Labs (2018- Present)
Blockchain
Co-Founder: EVISONV2- Technology NGO (2018-Present)
Smart Glasses for the BLIND


Awards:
Karmaveer Chakra - 2019
Global Young leaders Fellow instituted by ICONGOs & United Nations - 2019
Nominated in top 3 ALL INDIA for Rising Star Awards in AI/ML category 2019 by Nasscom
All India Top 100 Startups by The August Fest - 2016
Table Tennis 2nd price in College Championship - 2012
Carrom board 1st price in class-X


Extracurricular
Mentor entrepreneurs : given Guest lectures in 25+ Institutes & 1500+ Students ( VNR, ICFAI,CGCHS, etc)
Started a Technology NGO for the blind and helping 500+ people from Devnar School
Conducted 3 blood donation camps in my village
President of the college's annual cultural festival
Cryptocurrency Investor/trader.
Building a Tech Innovators Community.

Preferred colleges

ISB
Ceibs China
Kellog
university of Chicago
Columbia business school
MIT
TUCK
LBS
UCLA: Anderson
university of Michigan ross

Post-MBA goals
Career acceleration in the current Startup.

Profile Assessment - Rotman MBA & Said MBA.

Indian Male

2012-2013
Diploma in Economics - Distinction - London School of Economics (London, UK)

2012-2016
BBA (Finance) - GPA 3.99/4 - Distinction - Hult International Business School (Boston,USA; San Francisco, USA; Shanghai, China; Dubai, UAE)
Valedictorian/Dean's List for 6 continuous terms/On boards of Hult Consulting and Finance Clubs
Interned at a Consulting firm in Boston & at an Asset Management Firm in London

GMAT: 720 (Q49/V39)

Work Experience:

2013-2015
BAT Team Leader
Bloomberg L.P. (London, UK)
Led the EMEA BAT Analytics Team.

2015-2017
Senior Associate Consultant
TISX Global (Boutique Financial Consulting) (Mumbai, India)
Strategy Consulting for SMEs.

2017-2020
Lead Principle - M&A, ECM
TISX Global (Boutique Financial Consulting) (Kolkata, India)
Led M&A and ECM assignments amounting to INR 1.73 Billion.

Target Post Rotman/Said:
Investment Banking or Asset Management (Impact Investing/Real Estate)

Have seen several application with GMAT scores over 720 being rejected by Rotman & Said. What are my chances?
Also, what about the "fit" in terms of what Rotman & Said require of its students/applicants?

My motivations for Rotman - Right in the centre of the Canadian financial services industry. Easy immigration policies of Canada. Top tier 2 year MBA in Canada. Have already attended a couple of classes by Rotman faculty at Hult, and they were impressive. CDL as well, is an amazing opportunity.
My motivations for Said - Couple of really close friends over there who gave amazing reviews. Love the opportunity to belong to a college as well as the business school. The Oxford setting is lovely, love the regatta. The name recognition of Oxford.