Ayushii23 wrote:
Hi all,
I would appreciate an honest opinion about my profile for HEC Paris MBA Sep’21 intake. Thank you!
Background:
27 Years, Female, Indian
X – 92.8%
XII – 97.8%
Graduation- B. Com (Honors) from Hansraj College (Ranked no. 3 in the India for Commerce) – 78.4%
Professional Qualification- Chartered Accountant (Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants)
Other certifications- Investment analysis and portfolio management - (NSE, India)
GMAT Score- Yet to give. In coming 2 weeks. Aiming for 730-740
Work Experience:
3 years of post- qualification work experience of working with Big 4 firms – EY and KPMG India with exposure to Assurance and M&A advisory.
Currently working with KPMG India (for past 30 months) assisting clients across multiple industries (primarily e commerce, technology and manufacturing) and geographies (US, UK, Japan) in their strategic merger and acquisitions. I was promoted to a senior consultant in the first 12 months of my tenure at KPMG. Also, have managed team of 2-3 consultant and analysts across engagements.
At EY, I worked as a consultant in Assurance for 3 months where I was involved in assisting EY US team in conducting statutory audit for SEC / Non-SEC clients.
Also, as a part of pursuing the professional qualification I worked as a full-time trainee in Tier 1 accounting firm for 2 years and a small accounting firm for 1 year. Primarily worked in Risk advisory – performing enterprise risk assessments and internal financial controls procedures providing solutions to corporate to minimize internal business risks.
International experience- Have experience of working with cross cultural teams across multiple engagements as a part of my work-ex. But that has been virtual over calls and video conferencing, and I have not travelled out of India for work. Traveled in personal capacity to Singapore for 2 weeks last year.
Extra-curricular and volunteer experience: Cultural Captain in School; Executive Member of College Environmental Society and Volunteered for several CSR events organized by KPMG.
Post MBA goals: Short term - Retail/ brand strategy consulting. Long term – Leading brand/retail strategy for a company at a global level.
Hi
Ayushii23,
At the first glance itself, your profile stands out with exemplary achievements under your belt. Your undergraduate score of 78.4% showcases your academic capabilities. Along with this, you have also taken up major certifications which further solidifies your chances of acceptance into the top B-schools.
Talking about your work experience, you definitely have an upper-hand since you have worked in two of the big four firms for a duration of 3 years which sets you at par with your competitors because the schools are mostly looking for profiles that have big brand names attached to them. Here, you have also worked with international clients which is always an added advantage as it highlights your broadened perspective and communication skills. Your initial experience at small tier companies further acts as proof of how you gradually followed an upward trend, climbing up the ranks to success. To enhance your profile further, you can maybe talk about the kind of projects you worked on, how you were able to add value to your company, what skills you gained, and what you’ve learned in the process.
Furthermore, your participation in extracurricular activities is equally important as it will showcase a holistically developed profile which is what the schools are looking for. Needless to say, you definitely possess a decent hold on your extracurricular activities as you have been part of various CSR activities, volunteering activities and also you’ve held important positions in your college society. However, you can add more value to your profile by digging deeper into the various endeavors you undertook and how you went above and beyond to excel in the same. Here you have mentioned that you were an active member of the environment society of your college which again showcases how you are socially responsible. Furthermore, this can be taken up a notch by elaborating on the kind of events you organized, duties you performed, and most importantly highlight what were your major takeaways. All in all, these skills can contribute towards you being a great future leader which would automatically impress the adcoms.
Additionally, you have had work experience in the strategy consultant domain, which is also an area where you want to pursue your short-term and long-term careers. This definitely gives you an edge since you are already on track with your future goals especially since schools favor any hint of stable pattern and relevancy in the profile.
When it comes to your GMAT score, you have mentioned that you are aiming for a 730-740 which again sets a favorable situation for you because a GMAT score of 720+ and above will allow you to target most of the top-notch B-schools.
Most importantly, you have mentioned that you want to get admission in the MBA program at HEC Paris that comes under the dream category school wherein, you fall short a little on the extent of work experience you have when compared to your competitors who are going to have 4-5 years of work experience. Having said that, you can compensate for the same by highlighting the intensity of your work experience by laying importance to the kind of projects you undertook and the impact you created from the same. These aspects of your work profile would definitely allow you to win an admit from HEC. Nevertheless, you should also target a mix of other dream and competitive category schools so that you have more chances of getting a positive response from at least one or two schools.
Under the dream category( 50% chances of acceptance) you can target schools such as LBC, LSE and HEC.
Under the competitive category( 70-80% chances of acceptance) you can target schools such as ESSEC, ESCP, FSFM, and ESADE.
All said and done, while you have a good profile, there will be thousands of applicants out there with similarly great profiles, which is why your application would play a huge role in enhancing your chances of getting accepted into your target schools. You would need to highlight your profile USP’s and how you can be a great addition to the school whilst posing the right examples to legitimize your claim. Additionally, you need to ensure that your LORs and Resume, equally depict the strengths of your profile.
Furthermore, I would suggest that you apply in the upcoming round to leverage the first mover advantage and ensure a higher chance of getting accepted. That said, you can book a FREE 20-minute consulting session with our expert counselors who can help chalk out a winning strategy that would boost your chances of acceptance by a minimum of 3x! The link is attached below:
https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/Hope this helped !
_________________
Abhyank Srinet
Founder & CEO
(MiM-Essay)