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qigefei
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Joined: 11 Aug 2015
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Pls evaluate my profile 12 Aug 2015, 00:04
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GMAT: 760

Nationality: Indian

Undergrad GPA: 3.8 from a non-top Indian college

Postgrad: with merit from a top UK school (think LSE, IC, UCL)

Wore Experience: 2 years as management trainee at an international supermajor oil & gas company (think Shell, ExxonMobil, BP) up to now ([b]three years upon matriculation), focusing on strategic planning. Good performance and a promotion.

Target Schools:
1. HBS
2. CBS
3. MIT
4. Kellogg
5. Yale
6. Tuck

Pls kindly let me know whether my targets are realistic. Frankly I'm a bit concerned about my short work experience. How much impact does it have?

Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.
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Schools: HBS - Class of 2005
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Pls evaluate my profile 12 Aug 2015, 06:25
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qigefei
GMAT: 760

Nationality: Indian

Undergrad GPA: 3.8 from a non-top Indian college

Postgrad: with merit from a top UK school (think LSE, IC, UCL)

Wore Experience: 2 years as management trainee at an international supermajor oil & gas company (think Shell, ExxonMobil, BP) up to now ([b]three years upon matriculation), focusing on strategic planning. Good performance and a promotion.

Target Schools:
1. HBS
2. CBS
3. MIT
4. Kellogg
5. Yale
6. Tuck

Pls kindly let me know whether my targets are realistic. Frankly I'm a bit concerned about my short work experience. How much impact does it have?

Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.
Show more

Hey dude,
Good to hear from you and congrats on that totally awesome GMAT!

Before I can evaluate the rest of your profile I'm gonna need more info:
1. School name and Indian GPA.
2. Job title, main achievements, and progress in comparison to peers
3. Information about any volunteer work
4. Information about your ECs
5. Please write about your ST, MT and LT goals

If you can get back to me with all this, I'm sure I'll be able to help you out!

Best,
Jon
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qigefei
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Pls evaluate my profile 12 Aug 2015, 08:27
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JonAdmissionado
qigefei
GMAT: 760

Nationality: Indian

Undergrad GPA: 3.8 from a non-top Indian college

Postgrad: with merit from a top UK school (think LSE, IC, UCL)

Wore Experience: 2 years as management trainee at an international supermajor oil & gas company (think Shell, ExxonMobil, BP) up to now ([b]three years upon matriculation), focusing on strategic planning. Good performance and a promotion.

Target Schools:
1. HBS
2. CBS
3. MIT
4. Kellogg
5. Yale
6. Tuck

Pls kindly let me know whether my targets are realistic. Frankly I'm a bit concerned about my short work experience. How much impact does it have?

Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Hey dude,
Good to hear from you and congrats on that totally awesome GMAT!

Before I can evaluate the rest of your profile I'm gonna need more info:
1. School name and Indian GPA.
2. Job title, main achievements, and progress in comparison to peers
3. Information about any volunteer work
4. Information about your ECs
5. Please write about your ST, MT and LT goals

If you can get back to me with all this, I'm sure I'll be able to help you out!

Best,
Jon
Show more

Thank you Jon, in answer to your question:

1. GPA: 3.8 out of 4.0, from a decent but non-IIT Indian college. masters degree (graduate with merit) from a top UK university.
2. mainly strategic planning in deepwater gas exploration and production. First one to get promotion among all graduate staff 2013 intake.
3. Limited volunteer work, only a few months as volunteers' leader in a large exhibition during college days.
4. founder and president of a students' society in college, core member of a local alumni association.
5. thinking about banking (M&A) focusing on oil and gas industry.

Hope that's enough information.
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Pls evaluate my profile 12 Aug 2015, 13:33
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While I am also curious what school you went to, you have an attractive profile in terms of GMAT and GPA certainly. Your experience is good, though depending on how much leadership you have had at work, that will impact your chances at these schools.

Your one weak spot you would want to mitigate is extra-currics. Most others will have impressive things there and not having anything will hurt you. HBS would require a pretty strong personal story which I don't know about at this point of course. Most other programs are reasonable if you play your cards right and the materials are all strong.

Are you applying round one or two?
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Schools: HBS - Class of 2005
Posts: 9,229
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Pls evaluate my profile 13 Aug 2015, 07:05
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qigefei
JonAdmissionado
qigefei
GMAT: 760

Nationality: Indian

Undergrad GPA: 3.8 from a non-top Indian college

Postgrad: with merit from a top UK school (think LSE, IC, UCL)

Wore Experience: 2 years as management trainee at an international supermajor oil & gas company (think Shell, ExxonMobil, BP) up to now ([b]three years upon matriculation), focusing on strategic planning. Good performance and a promotion.

Target Schools:
1. HBS
2. CBS
3. MIT
4. Kellogg
5. Yale
6. Tuck

Pls kindly let me know whether my targets are realistic. Frankly I'm a bit concerned about my short work experience. How much impact does it have?

Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Hey dude,
Good to hear from you and congrats on that totally awesome GMAT!

Before I can evaluate the rest of your profile I'm gonna need more info:
1. School name and Indian GPA.
2. Job title, main achievements, and progress in comparison to peers
3. Information about any volunteer work
4. Information about your ECs
5. Please write about your ST, MT and LT goals

If you can get back to me with all this, I'm sure I'll be able to help you out!

Best,
Jon

Thank you Jon, in answer to your question:

1. GPA: 3.8 out of 4.0, from a decent but non-IIT Indian college. masters degree (graduate with merit) from a top UK university.
2. mainly strategic planning in deepwater gas exploration and production. First one to get promotion among all graduate staff 2013 intake.
3. Limited volunteer work, only a few months as volunteers' leader in a large exhibition during college days.
4. founder and president of a students' society in college, core member of a local alumni association.
5. thinking about banking (M&A) focusing on oil and gas industry.

Hope that's enough information.
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Enough? it's never enough infomration :)

But it's a great start.

So I see things I really like here, but I do think that focusing only on Top5-Top10 schools is a risky strategy for you. You have the GMAT/GPA, but not necessarily the high-profile school or job. And for a competitive pool like yours it can be enough to make Top 10 schools tough (like 80-90% of HBS Indian candidates come only from IIT/NIT). So my first suggestion, is that you choose three from your current list and then add three other schools in the Top 20. My person recommendations would be: MIT, Tuck, Kellogg.
And then or oil and gas: McCombs, Rice, maybe Tepper, maybe Haas.

I hope this helps,

Cheers,
Jon

https://bit.ly/mbafcGC
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WyseGyde
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Pls evaluate my profile 16 Aug 2015, 12:29
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Gigefei,

From a statistical perspective, your profile is attractive--a high GPA, postgrad work, and a very high GMAT. Sometimes, grad/postgrad work can supplement work experience. But of the schools you mentioned--particularly the so-called general management schools (HBS, Tuck, Kellogg)--2 years of work experience is very low and can even be prohibitive. There often needs to be something unique and differentiating in your profile with limited work experience, regardless of your GMAT score. (Our consultants have backgrounds at these programs and concur; I myself am a somewhat recent alum of one of these programs and entered with 3 years of post-bachelors work experience, but I was in the military before undergrad which is one of those differentiators and leadership factors which improves candidacy.)

That being said, there is a recent push at many programs to institute initiatives which skew younger. This is in part based on requests from especially finance-oriented companies who want younger talent. There is no guarantee that these programs will adjust admissions policies--just know that it's under consideration. Pushing for a banking role (or any other finance role) as you've stated may also bolster your profile, whereas it would be more likely that additional experience would be desired if you stated a move into general management or even consulting. But, as Jon pointed out, you're playing a dangerous game if you focus exclusively on those Top 10 schools while understanding that the limited work experience is a very real barrier which is more or less out of your hands. If you can supplement it with very real leadership experiences and initiatives that you've taken, though, it can only serve to help your chances

Just remember that the application is a full package--there's no single one that's perfect and being honest about the possible shortcomings (as you are) will help you understand what you need to do to overcome them. If you have any additional questions, please request an additional FREE 15-minute profile review from a WyseGyde admissions consultant. WyseGyde consultants have track records of success at top schools such as Wharton, Booth, Tuck, HBS, Columbia, Darden, and the list goes on. They could certainly help guide you along your MBA path…and the profile review is FREE!

Sign-up for your profile review or information at https://www.wysegyde.com or email us directly at [email protected].

We look forward to helping you reach your MBA and career goals!

--The WyseGydes