Rotman Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Well I plan to apply to MiM programs also such as LBS and Duke. This would be my ambitious target though. Thank you.


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Hey,
Can some expert please review my profile

Background: Male, Indian, 26 years

Undergrad: Commerce

Professional Qualifications: CFA Charterholder, Chartered Accountant(Indian) and a Diploma in IFRS

GMAT: 680 (Should I rather just use my CFA and get an exemption?)

Work Experience: 4 years (all in India) + 3 Years CA Internship (not sure if its counted) as detailed below:

1. Audit Assistant, Full time (CA Internship) - 3 years
2. Fixed Income Analyst, Top Investment Bank - 2.5 Years
3. Corporate Asset Liability Management & Mortgage Loan Market Risk Management, Top US Bank - 1.5 years

Other Information:
1. One of the City level event heads for a National Level NGO (currently on-going)
2. Volunteered for a National level NGO for 1 year (teaching Orphans)
3. Volunteered as a member of Rotary clubs for 2 years

Post MBA Goals: Strategic Consulting

Hi Guys,

Would appreciate if an expert can evaluate my profile:

-Indian with 3 years of Work Ex after 3 years of undergraduate BBA from Tier 2 University with 2.9 GPA (screwed up my first year, but had 3.4 and 3 in the subsequent years).
-Have worked with two startups with one of them being the biggest in the food delivery sector and was in their first batch of employees straight out of college, thus worked in various divisions and set up the hygiene that followed. Managed teams and was responsible for service delivery.
-Currently working with a retail management consulting company in managing their client accounts and developing business.
-Still need to take my GMAT, good extra curricular activities in college. Raised money for NGOs and worked with a local NGO to support, grow and preserve our city's green cover (all in college)
-Already applied for PR for Canada, hence want to settle there for sure.
-Looking to apply for Rotman, Schulich, Ivey, Queens and Degroote (co-op)

Any help regarding what more can I do to enhance my profile for these colleges would be much appreciated.

Hello IshpalSingh

Your work ex looks good. It will help further if you can mention your career progress and key achievements in these 4 years as the school is more interested in your story than stats.
A CFA will definitely help, but will depend on what your timeline is.
Extracurricular also seem interesting but showcase your contribution/impact in these rather than a laundry list.
Rotman is going to evaluate your candidature on the 6 admission factors mentioned here
Career goals- Strategic Consulting is ok but do highlight what transferable skills have you gained in the last 4 years to make this successful transition. To research on the right set of career goals your could read this.
Needless to say final outcome will depend on how well you tie Acads+WorkEx+Diversity+Goals together in your written application.
Should you have further questions, feel free to reach out.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
Free Profile Review
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Hello IshpalSingh,

Apologies for the delay in response but we hope this finds you in time still.

Considering your current profile, the CFA qualification will definitely help. In the event that the same does not materialise, we suggest that you boost your GMAT score to a 720+ in order to have a competitive chance.

However, the CFA and GMAT scores only form one element of the application and your chances also depend on how well you are able to demonstrate your strengths and skills through your essays. Particularly, if you are looking to move to Strategy Consulting, you will need to focus on how your profile aligns with the same and how the MBA will help plug the existing gaps in your profile and make it possible for you to pursue your goals With regard to the extra-curriculars, try and focus on the impact you have had through your activities rather than merely enlisting the same as things you have participated in.

Hope this helped.

All the best!

Hello leonidas56,

Hope this finds you well.

The start-up experience and managerial exposure will certainly give you fine talking points (in terms of learning and skill-building) in your essays. Of course, you have not quite shared details with regard to how your career has progressed and the kind of achievements you have had and that makes it a bit difficult to analyze your profile in detail. The social-sector experience looks good; however, we are wodnering if there is more on the extra-curricular front.

Frankly, if you are looking to apply in the upcoming round, there is not much time for profile-building. At this point you need to focus on majorly two things:
- GMAT: Try and aim for a score upwards of 720 in order to differentiate yourself from the remaining applicant pool. The higher, the better.
- Reserve atleast 4-6 weeks for working on your essays as they not only need to demonstrate your progress and achievements till date but also speak of how the Rotman MBA fits into your current plans and the professional goals you have set for yourself. Remember, there should be a close sync among your experience, short-term goals, and long-term aspirations.

Should you feel the need for a detailed discussion, please do get in touch with us.

All the best!

HI
I am 30 years old female working in IT sector and have a testing profile.
Current Company Techmahindra
Total experience: 8 years
I have worked with good clients and worked in Banking, capital markets, telecom and retail domains. My major experience is with finance domain.
SSC 84%
+2 86%
B.Tech in Biotechnology 78%
I have worked with various NGOs during engg. Period and initial Infosys days. I have worked for mostly upliftment of children.

I have not written GMAT but GRE.
Scored 321 - 166/170 in Quant and 155/170 in verbal and AWA 3/6.
I converted GRE into GMAT and score comes out to be 670.

Please evaluate my profile.

Posted from my mobile device

Hello Ckal

A good B-school will evaluate your profile on admission factors mentioned here.
If we break down your profile this is what we get (based on the limited info provided)
1. Academic potential- Past scores are decent (not stellar). Same is the case with GRE. Don't fret too much on conversion bit. This score is average for Rotman (and below average for ISB as mentioned by you in the other thread). Especially when you belong to an over-represented and super-competitive applicant pool (Indian. IT. Male). So with your background, you will need strengths in other sections of your profile to differentiate yourself and become a strong candidate (see other sections below)
2. Quality of work ex- My friend IT, 8 years, TechM are all stats. What schools are more interested in is what have you done in those 8 years. What has been your career progression? What are your achievements? How have you positively impacted the business of your organization? That will matter a lot if you wish to stand out.
3. Diversity- With your background you will need to put in a stronger effort in highlighting your diversity. Extracurricular activities will have to be stellar. A good EC is where you have a long term/serious involvement and an impact on your life or the life of others.
4. Career goals- By far the most important piece of the admissions puzzle. What are your goals and why is an MBA an absolute necessity to reach these goals? Unfortunately this info is missing. You could supplement your research by reading here.
You will need a spike in at least 3 of these factors to get an admission.
I don't see a spike in Acads (average performance), Work Ex (incomplete info), Diversity (incomplete info) and Career Goals (missing info).
Based on additional info it may be easier to give a meaningful feedback. However with current given info you will have to put in extra effort in your application for Rotman. Whereas ISB is going to be a challenge.
Should you feel the need to discuss this further let me know.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
Free Profile Review
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Hi Ckal,

My foremost suggestion will be to bump up that GRE score. You are in direct competition with the Indians, specifically those who belong to the IT sector. This is an overcrowded space and you would want to have an upper hand over others. A better GRE would definitely help.

My other advice also speaks to your IT profile. As one applying with a common profile, you really must differentiate yourself from other IT applicants. How do you do that?
By giving more details about your profile and explaining how the work you did was not just that of a "tester's" but that you were also keenly observing the larger business picture and making contributions to business. We'd like to understand your achievements and the kind of impact you made on your organization. Secondly, with substantial work experience behind you, adcoms will be keen to know your leadership capability and your career growth. You've not provided these details here, so I will wait to hear more before I offer you some school specific advice.

Hi CKal,

Thanks for writing in.

There are few aspects to your profile that we should explore in a bit more detail - namely what kind of leadership achievements do you have at work? Do you have client management experience? How else have you managed to distinguish yourself?

If you have good answers to the above, you might have a competitive application to Rotman, though your GRE is a bit on the lower side, and will affect your application adversely.

If you can improve your GRE/GMAT, that will make your application easier.

Feel free to set up a call with us if you wish to discuss further.

Best,
Karthik

Hi

I belong to the Indian IT male category. I took my GMAT in may 2016 and scored 690(V40,Q44). This was my 3rd and best attempt at GMAT.

My profile is as follows:
1) Total work experience of 5 years with a product based Japanese company in Bangalore as Senior Software Engineer. Got 3 promotions in 5 years.
2) Got 9 months of international experience as I worked onsite in Japan. I worked in strategy based role in Japan and my work was to negotiate with Japanese clients on release dates of my product and features to be accomodated. I also used to work on risk management . I also had to negotiate with Australian clients for coordination. Also, I got my first official managerial experience during my stay in Japan as I had to manage my offshore team of 13 members and check the progress of work. I also had to coordinate between onsite and offshore members.
3) Studied in top 25 engineering colleges in India and got GPA 7.5
4) Got 86% in 10th standard and 84% in 12th standard

Extra curriculars:
1) Played cricket tournaments for company.
2) I made a lot of contributions in Japan by promoting game of cricket. I used to represent Shizouka prefecture(Tokai area) in cricket and played in Japan Cup(national level cricket tournament in Japan) too. I used to play in a diverse team with players from Australia, Japan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka along with Indians. We also encouraged Japanese people to get involved in cricket. At start, there was only one Japanese who used to play for us. By the end of my term in Japan, we had almost four Japanese people playing for us.
3) I, along with my teammates, also made contributions to Japanese society by setting up our cricket club in Japan. We also raised funds of approximately 1,000,000 yen with the help of Japanese government(local City Halls) to purchase cricket equipment for our team and setup cricket grounds. Also, with the help of Japanese government, we were able to setup two cricket grounds in Japan where our club can practice cricket and the game can be promoted among locals too. We were handed over the possession of one of the grounds last year and the work of the second ground is still in progress.
4) Learnt N5 level Japanese. I am able to read, write and understand basic Japanese.
5) Worked for approx 2 years for different NGO's.
6) Represent my team in office while discussing issues faced by team infront of higher management.

Can you please let me know my chances in Rotman?
If not Rotman, what are the other options in Canada that will be best for my profile and score?

Hello powarparamveer

You definitely have some positives going for you.
Remember your profile is made up of admission factors mentioned here. That is what Rotman will evaluate you at.
breaking it down, let us start with the not so good-
Although a higher GMAT will help you stand out, especially in the large and competitive Indian IT Male pool or applicants. However, for Rotman it may not be a deal breaker, but higher will solidify your chances.
Diversity is also on the weaker side due to (repeating myself here) IT background. However, your extracurricular activities look stellar. Japanese language, tremendous passion for cricket, I'm sure you have great stories to tell in your essays. These will help you stand out.
Coming to work ex- International work ex will add to your profile, highlight your cross cultural experiences. Again, your role is great and negotiation part can have great stories, but also showcase your career progression and key achievements (real business impact of your work)
Lastly my friend, what are your career goals? This is the most critical piece of the admissions puzzle. You need to have clear goals that absolutely need and MBA. You could get some pointers by reading here.
To conclude you need a spike in GMAT (no spike)+ Work Ex (can have a spike with the right stories)+ Diversity (can have a spike with the right stories) + Career Goals (missing info).
Some some things are great (Work Ex, Extracurricular), some are iffy (GMAT, IT background, Goals). You are at a level where execution will matter immensely- how you tie in all of the above in your written application.
Should you feel the need to discuss this further, let me know.

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
Free Profile Review
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Hi Varun,

Thanks a lot for evaluating my profile and giving me a detailed information as to where I stand with respect to different parts of the application.
Regarding my career goals, as I have worked in a product based company and have complete knowledge of the technical side of the product, I want to expand my knowledge on the business side of the product life cycle so that I can have a complete authority on the product. So I want to be a product manager after I am done with my MBA.

Hello powarparamveer

Career goal is pretty realistic and organic. Just make sure in your application you tie it up with a need of an MBA (why you cannot progress on this path continuing your current journey) and Rotman (or your choice of school).
In Rotman's specific case key for you is execution (doubly so as your GMAT will not be able to compensate)

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
Free Profile Review
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com

Thanks a lot Varun. I will try to make my essays as strong as possible and hope for the best.
Do I have better chances to get into Ivey, Queen's(Kingston) or UBC?

Hi Powarparamveer,

Good to hear from you. Great EC's. This will be a value add to your application.

With regards to your overall candidature, this is what I see:

1) You belong to a crowded applicant category.
2) Your GMAT is in line for what is expected for Rotman. However, as a member of a competitive applicant pool (Indian IT Guys), a higher GMAT will be beneficial. GPA is about average - though I don't think it will have a huge impact - positive or negative.
3) With regards to your work experience, it is good that you have been promoted frequently. That shows that your company values your contribution. The question here is - how does this track record compare with that of your peers?
4) What kind of products have you built? How does it connect with your target industry? How relevant is your current area of application to the business world, to your target industry, and to the MBA experience in gerenal?
5) What about your leadership at work?

Your answers to 3, 4 and 5 above will determine the strength of your application to Rotman. Outside of Rotman, you should be able to consider most top Canadian Business Schools.

All the best. Feel free to reach out using the link below if you wish to talk to us.

Best
Karthik

Hello powarparamveer

You have a decent shot at Ivey, Queen's(Kingston) or UBC.
As I said, though not a deal breaker it is just your GMAT that makes your profile slightly 'iffy' apart from that good chances at Canadian schools.
No doubt execution of essays/LOR/interview is key.
All the Best

Varun Sharma
+919137133507
Free Profile Review
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com