Profile Eval please. Indian Applicant

Question

Hi all,

My brief intro

Nationality: Indian

Xth-81%
XII-83%

Bcom hons(Calcutta University)-58%

Work ex- 3 years (2 years family business, was responsible for adding and marketing various new products in the product line offered. Traveled extensively across India and established an excellent network for these product. After that 1 year as Prop Derivative trader trading STIR markets and Fixed income markets)

CFA level 2 cleared, FRM cleared. Also cleared the first 3 levels of MS finance course from ICFAI university.
Extra Curri- Descent(Rowing,Tennis. Involved with an NGO which works for upliftment of Underprivileged children.)

I plan to apply for class of 2012-14. Plan to give GMAT and targeting a score of around 720.
Post MBA I want to continue working in Financials services Industry. As a part of a trading desk or into Research. My long term career goal is to be a part of the hedge fund industry. Can you guys please throw some light on my profile and suggest whether its suitable for the following B schools:

1)Chicago Booth
2)NYU Stern
3)UCLA Anderson
4)University of California at Berkeley: Haas
5)Michigan Ross
6)Cornell

Please throw some light on whether my profile is competitive for the selected Bschools, and what are the areas which needs to be improved.

Regards
Abhishek Jain

bakfed · Answer

There are a couple of things that pop into my mind as I read your profile. Your work experience is going to come under scrutiny for a variety of reasons. Working for a family business is a lot harder to describe in your application than it is for someone who worked in a corporate environment. Mainly because family is no matter what, family. You have to choose your recommendations very carefully and make sure you don't target your family members for these letters. Your 1 year as a trader is short, in comparison to other finance folks, so you're going to have to find some way to distinguish yourself among the vast majority of finance guys. As you would probably guess, Booth and Haas are probably going to be long shots. Both of these are great schools, but being one of the top 5 b-schools (Booth), it makes anyone's application look like a crapshoot. I think you would still have a pretty tough shot at Anderson, Stern, and Ross. Johnson may be a good fit right now and perhaps those in the 15-25 rankings (UNC, USC, Georgetown, etc.) I think the biggest obstacle in your application would be distinguishing yourself and talking about your work experience. If you can somehow make your essays stand out, then you should have a shot at landing an interview.

lapras · Answer

Thanks bakfed. Your post gave me a good idea about where I stand. As far as the stint in family business is concerned. I had to join it during my college years itself, as my father had an accident. He was unwell most of the time so I had to join in. I don't know whether this would change the way adcoms think abt it. Even during that stint I not only handled the product line which was present but also diversified. Added various new products nd developed a market for the same subsequently. I can get good recos confirming the same. Will that be of any help?

bakfed · Answer

Anything would help, really. I'm not saying that people who go into family business aren't 'worthy' or 'deserving' to go to a top b-school (hope I didn't offend you). Anything that you describe about your family business will help the adcoms better gauge your ability to lead. The only reason I'm mentioning about family business because students didn't have to go through the same vigorous interview as those who worked for a corporate job. Not only that, family tends to cut you some slack and there's rarely a case for parents to fire their own kids. I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons that basically made AdComs a bit more weary about family businesses. However, anything that you have to share (or should share) with the adcoms, you shouldn't be afraid to say it. Anything that can help diversify your own profile is a positive thing. So yes, to answer your question, yes it'll help.

Profile Eval please. Indian Applicant

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards