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23 Sep 2019, 19:53
Kudos
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Dear Team
I am a 33-year-old Indian male planning to write the GMAT soon for intake into the regular 2-year MBA programs. I have the following grades. I would be extremely grateful if I could receive your feedback on certain aspects, especially how realistic it would be for my aspirations.
1. Class X- ICSE -89%
2. Class XII -ISC - 86%
3. Engineering - Private Engineering college - CGPA - 8.46 /10
4. Masters in Engg (VLSI Design) - CGPA - 8.81/10
5. Work Exp - 8 years (now)
(a) 3 years with TCS
(b) 5 years (till date) with an Indian Public Sector Bank - working in several profiles. In the process, I have acquired certain certifications from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance -
(a) JAIIB (First Class) - June, 2015
(b) CAIIB (First Class) - December, 2015
(c) Certificate Course in Foreign Exchange - January, 2017
After my MBA, I would like to work in the Finance domain. I could also look at Consulting profiles, but Finance would be my first choice.
Target countries- Canada, USA, Europe, Singapore
Extra-curricular and other achievements -
I do not have much extra curricular activities -Was adjudged the “Best Table Topic Speaker” at Toastmasters International during my stint at TCS, ranked third in my M Tech course, was an associate editor of my college magazine, won a certificate at an in-house L&D and CTO initiative at TCS.
I have mediocre academic grades so far and do not have much leadership roles to write about. Should I do CFA level1 before I apply in 2020 ?
Please advise how good/bad is my profile for admission to the good B schools.
I am a 33-year-old Indian male planning to write the GMAT soon for intake into the regular 2-year MBA programs. I have the following grades. I would be extremely grateful if I could receive your feedback on certain aspects, especially how realistic it would be for my aspirations.
1. Class X- ICSE -89%
2. Class XII -ISC - 86%
3. Engineering - Private Engineering college - CGPA - 8.46 /10
4. Masters in Engg (VLSI Design) - CGPA - 8.81/10
5. Work Exp - 8 years (now)
(a) 3 years with TCS
(b) 5 years (till date) with an Indian Public Sector Bank - working in several profiles. In the process, I have acquired certain certifications from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance -
(a) JAIIB (First Class) - June, 2015
(b) CAIIB (First Class) - December, 2015
(c) Certificate Course in Foreign Exchange - January, 2017
After my MBA, I would like to work in the Finance domain. I could also look at Consulting profiles, but Finance would be my first choice.
Target countries- Canada, USA, Europe, Singapore
Extra-curricular and other achievements -
I do not have much extra curricular activities -Was adjudged the “Best Table Topic Speaker” at Toastmasters International during my stint at TCS, ranked third in my M Tech course, was an associate editor of my college magazine, won a certificate at an in-house L&D and CTO initiative at TCS.
I have mediocre academic grades so far and do not have much leadership roles to write about. Should I do CFA level1 before I apply in 2020 ?
Please advise how good/bad is my profile for admission to the good B schools.
29 Sep 2019, 11:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Magicnow,
Thank you for your post. This is a bit difficult to assess in a vacuum (i.e., without knowing what caliber of programs you are considering). That aside, one thing that jumps out to me here is the quantity of your work experience and how far removed you are from undergrad, especially if you are planning to apply next year.
Among U.S. programs, students tend to have an average of five years of experience, with middle 80% work experience ranges (10th to 90th percentile) at many programs ranging from three to seven years. The average age of candidates is generally around 28, with a middle 80% range of 25 to 30/31. European programs tend to trend about a year older on these metrics.
With that in mind, you are going to be a pretty noteworthy outlier if you're focused on full-time two-year programs, and in almost all cases, admissions committees would point you to Executive MBA programs as a better fit. There are a small handful of full-time programs for mid-career professionals out there as well, such as USC's IBEAR program.
Long story short, I would encourage you to research programs very well to determine fit across these parameters and others (i.e., that you are in the phase of career that a given program caters to). The more you stray from that, the more you will need to be an outlier to the plus side across other metrics, such as GMAT score and quality of essays, recommendations, etc.
All of this, of course, also hinges on the quality and specificity of your career goals, why MBA, why now, why XYZ school, how well you tell your story, the passion and purpose behind your goals, and so forth. You can read more about these cornerstones of the MBA application process here: https://www.avantiprep.com/blog/the-mos ... on-process
I wish you the best of luck!
Kind Regards,
Greg
Thank you for your post. This is a bit difficult to assess in a vacuum (i.e., without knowing what caliber of programs you are considering). That aside, one thing that jumps out to me here is the quantity of your work experience and how far removed you are from undergrad, especially if you are planning to apply next year.
Among U.S. programs, students tend to have an average of five years of experience, with middle 80% work experience ranges (10th to 90th percentile) at many programs ranging from three to seven years. The average age of candidates is generally around 28, with a middle 80% range of 25 to 30/31. European programs tend to trend about a year older on these metrics.
With that in mind, you are going to be a pretty noteworthy outlier if you're focused on full-time two-year programs, and in almost all cases, admissions committees would point you to Executive MBA programs as a better fit. There are a small handful of full-time programs for mid-career professionals out there as well, such as USC's IBEAR program.
Long story short, I would encourage you to research programs very well to determine fit across these parameters and others (i.e., that you are in the phase of career that a given program caters to). The more you stray from that, the more you will need to be an outlier to the plus side across other metrics, such as GMAT score and quality of essays, recommendations, etc.
All of this, of course, also hinges on the quality and specificity of your career goals, why MBA, why now, why XYZ school, how well you tell your story, the passion and purpose behind your goals, and so forth. You can read more about these cornerstones of the MBA application process here: https://www.avantiprep.com/blog/the-mos ... on-process
I wish you the best of luck!
Kind Regards,
Greg
29 Sep 2019, 19:47
Kudos
Bookmarks
Greg - Thank you very much for taking time out to answer my queries. I graduated in 2009 (undergrad), did Masters in 2011 and have been working since. I haven't appeared in GMAT yet; but truth to tell, I would like the top 20-30 US programs, 1-2 Canada or Europe (France), Singapore programs.
But I want a full-time program instead of the part-time and Executive programs.
1. With a very good score, is it possible to get into a very good program (say top 20-30 US B-Schools, top 1-2 of Canada or Europe-France) with my profile with a good scholarship ?
2. As I will be 36/37 by the time I graduate, will it be difficult/improbable to secure placements/jobs after the programs in the countries mentioned ?
3. Will a CFA level1 help me improve the overall profile before I apply in 2020 for 2021 intake ?
4. Moreover, could you please advise/give me a few pointers on how to research B schools (beyond the class profile details on the B-school website) ? I do not know many people who have graduated from B schools.
But I want a full-time program instead of the part-time and Executive programs.
1. With a very good score, is it possible to get into a very good program (say top 20-30 US B-Schools, top 1-2 of Canada or Europe-France) with my profile with a good scholarship ?
2. As I will be 36/37 by the time I graduate, will it be difficult/improbable to secure placements/jobs after the programs in the countries mentioned ?
3. Will a CFA level1 help me improve the overall profile before I apply in 2020 for 2021 intake ?
4. Moreover, could you please advise/give me a few pointers on how to research B schools (beyond the class profile details on the B-school website) ? I do not know many people who have graduated from B schools.
