Ask Personal MBA Coach

Hi,
So, I did my MBA in HR from one of the borderline premier institutes in India.
Currently am a HR Manager working with a major sales and distribution firm in India. My role is of HR Business partnering for sales division of an entire state.
Prior to this, post my engineering I had 2 years of solid work ex with a major battery manufacturing firm in the role of product development.
I plan to take the GMAT and go for a second MBA with the sole purpose of transitioning my career out of HR, preferably into general management or strategy.
My query is, would my workex in HR be a major hurdle in getting admitted in the top B schools? Are professionals with work ex in HR given a differential treatment?
Also, will my workex in HR be detrimental to the career transition that I am planning to make while getting a job post the MBA?
Please help!

I havent found any examples of people with HR workex getting into the top B schools. would be great if someone shares such profiles.
Also can anyone guide me regarding whom or where should I talk with regarding my queries?

Here is my profile:
X-92%
XII- 85%
Btech from National Institute of Technology India - 7.31 CGPA
2 years of work ex in New product development role in major battery manufacturing firm. (Market Leader)
MBA in HR from borderline premier institute in India
3-4 years of work ex as HR manager in HR Business Partner role.


TIA

Hello Sir/Ma'am,

I'd like to kindly request you to evaluate my candidacy for Full-time MBA programs for the Class of 2021. Below is a brief description of my profile.

Background:
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Current age: 24 years
GMAT: Target 760 (Scored ~700 on mocks after a month of preparation)

Education:
Business graduate from a Tier 1 business management undergraduate college in India (Top 0.1% selected out of ~30,000 applicants based on a written aptitude test)
GPA: 63.3% on a percentage scale

Work Experience: ~3.5 years (4+ years at the time of applying)

1. Analyst, Ernst and Young in Gurgaon (India)
Duration: June 2014 – June 2016 (2 years)

-Member of the Ethics and Integrity Due Diligence Team - worked on 70+ due diligence engagements spanning across various sectors over 2 years

-Key engagements include:
Conducted pre-investment due diligence for one of the largest Indian e-commerce companies looking to acquire a popular online recharge portal for USD 467 million
Conducted pre-investment due diligence for a leading private equity firm on a USD 34 million investment in a real estate firm
20+ similar high profile engagements for leading private equity clients

-Received the KUDOS award in July 2015, awarded for consistent superior performance amongst peers in the year-end appraisal
-Received multiple emails of appreciation from the Partner and Senior Managers for exemplary performance on various projects

2. Co-Founder, Garment Manufacturing Company
Duration: July 2016 – Present
The garment manufacturing company is based in India and is engaged in manufacturing women’s winter accessories such as shrugs, ponchos, stoles, capes, mufflers, gloves and caps, among others as well as women's summer tops and dresses.

I started the company with my mother who works as the production and operations head and my father who works as the CEO of the firm. I directly manage a team of ~10 people, heading the business development and marketing functions.

-We have grown to 80+ clients (retail outlets) across India with an annual turnover of INR 6 million in ~2 years.
-We sell on various e-commerce websites which amounts to an annual turnover of INR 500,000.
-We aim to increase our customer base to 150+ clients with an annual turnover of INR 15 million over the next year.

Internship:
Worked with the strategy consulting team at KPMG India for six weeks during the summer before the final year of undergrad

Extra-curricular:
Strong volunteering experience spanning 5+ years at a specially abled children's school, old age home, juvenile prison as well as experience of teaching less fortunate children.

Letters of Recommendation:
1. Senior Manager at Ernst & Young with whom I had a direct reporting relationship over my stint of two years at the firm.
2. Top billing client with four retail outlets – have been dealing directly with the client since inception of the garment company.

Post-MBA goal:
Business development/Strategy role at an early/growth stage startup.

I would be highly grateful if you could guide me with the following queries:

1. Please evaluate my candidature for top 20 US schools as well as top 5 schools in Europe.

2. Please suggest areas where I can improve my profile over the next year before I apply to schools in September 2018.

Thank you very much!

Hello Personal MBA Coach,

Kindly review my profile and share your valuable inputs.

Profile: I completed my graduation in Fashion designing from one of the top 3 colleges in Asia in 2014 with a CGPA of 7.43. I have been working with the biggest apparel organization in India for past 4 years. Have a healthy work experience across 2 different roles.

Extra-curricular: I am a national level athlete and I am regularly involved in different sports.
Have also won national level quiz competitions. Have been involved with couple of NGOs during my college days.

GMAT (Oct’2017) : 700 (Q-50, V-34, IR-8, AWA-5).

Areas of interest : 1) General Management, 2) Marketing

I need your help in deciding which colleges I should apply.

Should I target US B schools for either R2 this year or R1 next year ? Employment after completing MBA is an important criterion to decide which schools to apply. From few current students I have heard really negative reviews regarding job scenario for international MBA students in US. The situation is not bright in even top 15 colleges. Under the current geo-political situation, will it be a viable option to try for any US school?

With my profile, should I apply in NUS and INSEAD? What are the job scenarios post MBA in Singapore?

Also, I will be looking for a scholarship. Earlier I was targeting top 15 US B schools. Though my profile is extremely unique, my GMAT score is on a lower side. Being from India would go against me. Are there any colleges in top 15 where I can expect admission with scholarship?

I am okay to give GMAT again and if required then wait for one year before applying.

My first shortlist of colleges is below. Should I apply to any of these colleges in R2?
1. Kellogg,
2. Ross,
3. Fuqua,
4. NUS, and
5. ISB

Kindly review my case. Also please let me know if you need any other input to review my candidature. Thanks!

Hi Scott,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I will definitely help me a lot.
in my first role I was working as a product manager. My key responsibility was to work on the brand's offering from concept till the final product reaches store. More like a brand management function. In my second role I am working as a planner and need to manage front end sales.
Though my background has been into fashion industry till now, i want to do my masters in General Management. I believe this will make me eligible for job across different industries. This is one of the primary reasons I am considering a two year course as of now. Also, I have had no international experience.

I can't take GMAT before Spring, so should I apply in NUS in this round? It is definitely not as fancy an option as Kellogg/Fuqua but has lot of potential in current time. Also, can you suggest how much time will it take to work on application for NUS, individually and with a consultant.
Will be great if you can shed some light on what are the criteria one should consider while deciding a consultant for a specific college.

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

Male
Age : 28
Nationality : Indian
GMAT : 740 (Q51 V38 IR 6 AWA 5)

Grad: Masters in Business Economics (Delhi University) with Marketing & Quantitative Techniques in Business as Dual Majors (Second Division)
- Elected Placement Team Member. Ideated and launched double internship program.

UGrad : BTech in Computer Science & Engineering from CSA University (First Class)
- Elected Sports Secretary, Student Engineering Society.
- Self-financed undergraduate education through part-time employment and scholarships

Work Ex : ~5.5 Years (India)

Family Business. (Two-Wheeler Dealership of TVS with 12 sub-dealership franchise)
Office Manager, June-2017 – Present
-Increased monthly sales by 20% by organizing various campaigns (Youth Apache RR 310 roadshow, Local elections vote campaign) in Q4 2017.
-Reduced the average turnaround time of bike service by 20 minutes through optimizing the entire process and efficient resource allocation without degrading service quality
-Individually sold ~90 vehicles to potential customers along with handling the sales team of 4

BHARTI AIRTEL LTD. (Policy & Regulatory Division)
Manager, Oct, 2015 – May, 2017
Bharti Airtel is a global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries. Report to VP of Regulatory (Policy) and was responsible for research, processes streamlining, & international regulatory.
-Saved $100m annual cost to the company by providing support to win legal case against Telecom regulator; by conducting benchmarking of regulatory service-quality parameters of 33 countries; conducting interviews of C-level legal & regulatory executives of top global telecom firms & key members of global telecom associations; analyzed and presented key findings to Airtel Executive committee. Received appreciation email from company’s founder.
-Identified a cost-saving opportunity to streamline the regulatory approval process of the company’s telco infra in India; led a cross-functional (in-house & external) team of 10 in implementing the solution which resulted in 70% cost-reduction. Spoken as the most innovative initiative in the year in industry.
-Improved the efficiency of international regulatory filings by building a model that used data from 12 sources to identify improvement opportunities or flag delays.
-Managed, coached & mentored a team of three junior employees; Started and led the training session for entire legal & regulatory team on various primary and secondary research techniques.

DELOITTE US-INDIA PVT. LTD. (Advisory Division)
Associate, Nov, 2013 – Oct, 2015
-Devised market entry strategy into Sub-Saharan Africa for multi-million dollar media conglomerate seeking new inorganic growth opportunities in television broadcasting in Sub-Saharan Africa.
-Initiated the concept of ‘Deal Tracker Platform’ to help senior partners pitch their clients looking for investment/partnership opportunities in 6 industries across the globe.
-Member of USI-TMT(Technology, Media & Telecommunications) Club; Conducted cross-functional trainings on new cutting edge technologies and emerging trends in TMT sector.

ARANCA INDIA PVT. LTD. (Business Research Division)
Analyst, May, 2012 – Oct, 2013
-Engaged in market research, competitor assessment, industry benchmarking, best practice mapping, market trends, company profiles, feasibility / financial reports, ad-hoc research for the global clients.
-Conducted training sessions for various online databases to the new management recruits.

OTHER:
- Started “The Declutter Campaign” to promote donation of unused household items to the underprivileged people
- Strong follower of Dota 2 (online multiplayer strategy game)


Post MBA goals : Management Consulting in Big 4/MBB (Sector - TMT) ---> Head of corporate strategy (Telecom firm) ---> Chief Strategy Officer (Global Telecom Corporation)
Interested in : General Management and Leadership

PS: Shifted from Airtel to Family Business to support my father's health issues (Underwent operation, etc. and is perfectly fine now)
Target Schools:
Kellog
Sloan
Ross
Fuqua

Stern
UNC
McCombs
Tepper
LBS
Kelley
Said

Hi. I am considering doing an mba and I would be most grateful for any feedback on my profile.

Background and nationality: British national (parents from pakistan but I have only ever been a British national.)

Education: Masters in math (MSc degree) from a top 20 ranked university in UK. Achieved 65% overall. I got 87% in my thesis.
The big downside to my application is my undergraduate degree. I did it at a very low ranked university in the uk and I only got a 2:2. My undergraduate was also in maths.

But I'm hoping my MSc offsets my poor undergraduate.

GMAT: 780

Work experience and leadership:
Since graduating I did an internship and then worked for a management consulting firm in the Strategy and Research Division. I then did an internship for the European Space Agency. After this I interned at a boutique bank in the Investment Banking Division.
For the last year and a half I have been working for the Government. I have been delivering and implementing government policy at the front line.

Community and others:
I am a personal advisor to the CEO of a very well-known management consulting firm in London. I do this around my Government job.
I have recently co-founded a charity which I am in the process of launching. It has got the relevant backing and should start gaining traction very soon.

My target schools are Harvard, Wharton and MIT.

I would be most grateful for an evaluation of my chances.

Hi...pls evaluate my profile. Thanks in advance.

Nationality- Indian
Gender- Male
Undergrad- B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering with 76.2% from National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur (Got admitted to this college by being in top 1%ile of the entrance examination)
GMAT- 650 ( Q-49, V-28, IR-4 AWA 5)

Post MBA Goals: I wish to have a career in Strategy Management after my MBA.

Further reasons for doing MBA is as follows :-

a. Better MBA experience - Diversity, pedagogy, international exposure .
b. Better Career Opportunities after MBA
c. Change in work location

Work Exp :
I have a total experience of 65 months with Siemens Limited
Key Highlights of Work exp:
• I am part of the project management team,which handles EPC(Engineering Procurement Construction) Projects with Government customer.
• My job involves handling services and supply of a project along with correspondence with vendors and customer.
• My job involves problem solving on a daily basis with respect to the issues on my project sites.
• I have experience of working with international vendors for example Siemens Germany,which is my parent company and also vendors from China, Netherlands.
• I am leading a team of 8 people, which includes 3 people at office and 5 at project site.
• I have spent 2 years at various project sites,which includes isolated places in the country,far away from any city and have led a team of 40-45 workers.
• My profile involves forecasting and planning of revenues and collections for my project and also resource management.
• I am a certified quality manager in projects.
Awards and Recognition:
• Received 'Star Puraskar' award for closing the project both technically as well as commercially.
Extra-Curricular Activities:
• Sports
 I was the Captain of my college football team which won the INTER NIT Football Tournament held at NIT Rourkela.
I was part of the team that was the finalist in the Football Tournament held at ISM Dhanbad.
I was part of the team that was the finalist in the Football Tournament held at IIT kharagpur.
I was the team leader of my branch,which won the annual athletics championship held in our college.
I was part of the college Athletics Team
I was the college 200 Meter running champion for 2 consecutive years.

• Organizer

I was in the core committee of the team that organized the annual athletics tournament held in our college for 3 consecutive years.
I was part of the team that organized the annual techno management fest
I was part of the team that organized the annual cultural fest.