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indraban
Joined: 08 Sep 2013
Last visit: 29 Apr 2016
Posts: 27
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 3
Location: India
Concentration: Technology, Operations
Schools: Sloan '18 (D) Wharton '18 (A$) Kellogg '18 (A) Anderson '18 (A$) Darden '18 (A) Yale '18 (D) Booth '18 (D)
GMAT 1: 760 Q51 V41
GPA: 3.3
WE:Project Management (Retail: E-commerce)
Products:
Schools: Sloan '18 (D) Wharton '18 (A$) Kellogg '18 (A) Anderson '18 (A$) Darden '18 (A) Yale '18 (D) Booth '18 (D)
GMAT 1: 760 Q51 V41
Posts: 27
Kudos:
8
30 Mar 2015, 19:40
Kudos
Bookmarks
Indian
Male
25
Education:
1. Merit List in Secondary with State Rank .
2. Merit List in Higher Secondary.
3. Integrated MSc in Physics from IIT Roorkee. [CGPA: 8.25, branch topper, silver medalist, scholarship holder]
GMAT
760 (Q51 V41 IR6 AWA5)
Co-curricular:
1. Publication in Physics
2. Internship in National University of Singapore
3. Lectures as teaching assistant
Extra Co-Curricular:
1. Finance Head of college festival
2. Finance head of College Social Service Team
3. Adventure Sports [Rafting, Rock Climbing, Kyaking]
Work:
1. Graduate Trainee, Flipkart India Pvt Ltd, Process Excellence [1 year]
Flagship Indian E-commerce company, Amazon of India, about to be listed in NASDAQ in 2016.
-Role involved setting up of new processes to drive efficiencies.
-Did a couple of projects both of which resulted in huge savings of the company and involved setting up of new processes based on data analysis in place of old ones.
2. Senior Analyst , Altisource, Product Operations [6 months]
NASDAQ listed company. Ecommerce for real estate.
-Role involved setting up of an online referral program and driving operational efficiency.
-Went out of comfort zone to learn coding and come up with an actual tech solution, to remove the entire manual process and come up with a product solution.
3. Senior Analyst, Altisource, Product Management [3 months and continuing]
-Was moved due to phenomenal response of the leadership to the MVP. Currently the product is generating good revenue for the company.
-Again went out of comfort zone to do an online course on Machine Learning and built a recommendation engine that simplified property discovery for Users.
-Ran a lot of A/B tests and multivariate tests to help launch a revamped UI.
Hobbies & extra frills
1. Novels, Movies, TV Series.
2. Knowledge gathering, completed a lot of MOOC (online courses ) from a variety of universities a lot of them on product management.
3. CFA Level 2 candidate.
4. Advised a startup on product solutions to its business problems.
Goals
Short Term: Product manager roles in Ecommerce companies and building a complete product end to end to drive value for company user and myself.
Long Term: Becoming CPO of a very well to do company, like Amazon /Ebay.
Colleges:
1. harvard
2. stanford
3. sloan
4. haas
5. kellog
6. wharton
7. booth
8. anderson
9. tepper
Queries
1. Please tell me if my profile is good enough for the above colleges.
2. I will have 3 years work ex by the time I join if I apply this year. Is it less?
3. I have no extra Social Service addon since the time I left college. Is this a negative?
Male
25
Education:
1. Merit List in Secondary with State Rank .
2. Merit List in Higher Secondary.
3. Integrated MSc in Physics from IIT Roorkee. [CGPA: 8.25, branch topper, silver medalist, scholarship holder]
GMAT
760 (Q51 V41 IR6 AWA5)
Co-curricular:
1. Publication in Physics
2. Internship in National University of Singapore
3. Lectures as teaching assistant
Extra Co-Curricular:
1. Finance Head of college festival
2. Finance head of College Social Service Team
3. Adventure Sports [Rafting, Rock Climbing, Kyaking]
Work:
1. Graduate Trainee, Flipkart India Pvt Ltd, Process Excellence [1 year]
Flagship Indian E-commerce company, Amazon of India, about to be listed in NASDAQ in 2016.
-Role involved setting up of new processes to drive efficiencies.
-Did a couple of projects both of which resulted in huge savings of the company and involved setting up of new processes based on data analysis in place of old ones.
2. Senior Analyst , Altisource, Product Operations [6 months]
NASDAQ listed company. Ecommerce for real estate.
-Role involved setting up of an online referral program and driving operational efficiency.
-Went out of comfort zone to learn coding and come up with an actual tech solution, to remove the entire manual process and come up with a product solution.
3. Senior Analyst, Altisource, Product Management [3 months and continuing]
-Was moved due to phenomenal response of the leadership to the MVP. Currently the product is generating good revenue for the company.
-Again went out of comfort zone to do an online course on Machine Learning and built a recommendation engine that simplified property discovery for Users.
-Ran a lot of A/B tests and multivariate tests to help launch a revamped UI.
Hobbies & extra frills
1. Novels, Movies, TV Series.
2. Knowledge gathering, completed a lot of MOOC (online courses ) from a variety of universities a lot of them on product management.
3. CFA Level 2 candidate.
4. Advised a startup on product solutions to its business problems.
Goals
Short Term: Product manager roles in Ecommerce companies and building a complete product end to end to drive value for company user and myself.
Long Term: Becoming CPO of a very well to do company, like Amazon /Ebay.
Colleges:
1. harvard
2. stanford
3. sloan
4. haas
5. kellog
6. wharton
7. booth
8. anderson
9. tepper
Queries
1. Please tell me if my profile is good enough for the above colleges.
2. I will have 3 years work ex by the time I join if I apply this year. Is it less?
3. I have no extra Social Service addon since the time I left college. Is this a negative?
30 Mar 2015, 23:16
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi - We are happy to offer you an assessment. You have given me a lot of information, but I admit I need more to give you a robust assessment without making some assumptions or overlooking some vital unknowns. I will simply let you know when I'm making an assumption or need more info to offer more sage guidance
So, first I am trying to assess just how much professional experience you will have at time of matriculation. Why? Because you need to demonstrate that you have had a robust career-to date, one that shows progress, growth, acceleration relative to their peers, strategic thinking, leadership, teamwork, management of people and/or projects, innovative thought/action, versatility, impact/influence, and integrity among other traits. If I am reading your content correctly, you are counting your 1 year of work when you were in your MSc program and serving as a Graduate Trainee, correct? Is that when you served in that role, or did you do that role after your MSC program? Regardless, that would mean you have 3yr 3 months at time of matriculation. Now, that all depends on IF adcoms will see that trainee experience as fulltime, which depends on just how immersive it was, how many hours per week you served in the role (was it fulltime?), and what your growth, contributions, and impact were. How you capture this experience in your resume will be very important. Your other experiences, technical as they are, are strong. Now, please know that you will be competing with a lot of other folks with a technical/IT background, especially folk from India. You need to distinguish yourself from the pack and it looks like you may be able to do that given your promotions and impact, and as you put it, getting out of your comfort zone and excelling. But again, and i can't stress this enough. boy is it ever going to be critical for you to capture your work experiences in a dynamic, layperson friendly manner. If you don't no amount of going outside your comfort zone will translate on the page (your resume). Additionally, you need to not only demonstrate that you are unlike all the other IT folks applying, but that you, as a younger applicant, are accelerated relative to your peers and ready for business school.
That naturally leads to a second metric that carries a lot of weight: your ability to establish ambitious yet realistic career narrative/goals. You need to convince the adcoms that you know what you are talking about to some degree, that you are ready to make this shift/advance/change in your career, and that their school is the right place for you to put that into action. Your goals are spot-on. They make a lot of sense and seem very thoughtful. Now, like anyone else who has a strong foundational framework for their narrative, you still need to vet the narrative and build it out a little to really give it the right level of detail and efficacy. but again, this is a very nice, logical, and yes, ambitious trajectory. One thing to be careful of...lots of folks referecne companies like Amazon. there are tons of "well-to-do companies out there...do some research. Think more originally. Keel Amazon in the mix, but add two other companies that are not on the beaten path, and quite frankly over-referenced in b-school applications
Let's move on to another metric that is important. You also have to build confidence among the adcoms that you will be able to handle the rigor of the coursework - this is shown through a strong academic performance in college (more easily shown if you did a quant-focused major) and a strong score on the GMAT exam. You are in solid shape along this metric. No issues here! Now, your verbal score isn't as high as it could be, but again it is fine. You'll just want to make sure your written application materials are very clear in order to further illustrate your verbal prowess (when not in times situations). It would also be great if your recommenders could remark on your verbal/communication skill.
Ok, let's now talk about your desire to be involved/give back - this is about extracurriculars during and after college. Schools care more about whether you were balanced in college than since college, because they believe that the way you conducted yourself in college is likely indicative of how you will conduct yourself in b-school. And they want folks who will want to do more than excel in the classroom. They want folks who will want to be a part of clubs/conferences, initiate activities, engage socially, etc. Right now, based on the info you have provide, it looks like - unless both your co-curricular and extra-co-curricular activities are all part of what you did college - you may be light in terms of your involvement in college, in which case you would want to write an optional essay to explain why. There may be reasons you weren't deeply involved in college...share that, candidly. It's possible that the two involvements you had were also super time-consuming on a weekly basis and you just need to get that story on the page...I don't know. I need to know more to assess this. It looks like you may also be light in terms of formal involvements since college. This really isn't heavily weighted in applications. It's also such a common area of weakness that we find it doesn't hurt applicants.
Let's now talk about your list of schools and fit with schools - right now, per your career ambitions, any top school would work for you. Fit needs t be more personal - it can be about class size, culture, programmatic offerings, global immersion opps, semester-abroad options, alumni networks, etc....It looks like you have done some research and though about personal fit - you categorized your schools into three sets. Nothing in your current profile tells me that you don't have the ingredients to have a fair shot at all the schools you listed. I like that some are reach and others are realistic. Nome are what we would call safety programs. But it is a good mix. We typcially suggest clients apply to 5-7 schools in a round. So this list seems large. You just may get tired doing so many apps and that exhaustiuon could make its way into your apps. Obviously the first seven schools are extremely competitive. To get traction at the, requires you to have more that the obvious ingredients. You must also have an incredible ability to connect with the adcoms...to make yourself me memorable, Being memorable is rarely about one' career, ambitions, or LORs. It's about how they convey themselves in their essays, and then hopeful interview. Life experience (god and bad)/color/depth/maturity/perspective makes one memorable. - this is very hard to detect from what you sent me, as this is a sense one can only develop about someone after talking with them at depth. It's what we work very hard to help clients integrate throughout their applications so adcoms see them as distinct, unique.
I hope you find my assessment helpful. If you would like to talk more over skype, just let me know. Thanks!
Kathryn Lucas, Founder
SQUARE ONE PREP
Direct: +1.917.705.4460
Toll Free: +1.888.702.3542
Mobile: +1.917.841.6833
skype: k_luuuu
https://www.squareoneprep.com/
So, first I am trying to assess just how much professional experience you will have at time of matriculation. Why? Because you need to demonstrate that you have had a robust career-to date, one that shows progress, growth, acceleration relative to their peers, strategic thinking, leadership, teamwork, management of people and/or projects, innovative thought/action, versatility, impact/influence, and integrity among other traits. If I am reading your content correctly, you are counting your 1 year of work when you were in your MSc program and serving as a Graduate Trainee, correct? Is that when you served in that role, or did you do that role after your MSC program? Regardless, that would mean you have 3yr 3 months at time of matriculation. Now, that all depends on IF adcoms will see that trainee experience as fulltime, which depends on just how immersive it was, how many hours per week you served in the role (was it fulltime?), and what your growth, contributions, and impact were. How you capture this experience in your resume will be very important. Your other experiences, technical as they are, are strong. Now, please know that you will be competing with a lot of other folks with a technical/IT background, especially folk from India. You need to distinguish yourself from the pack and it looks like you may be able to do that given your promotions and impact, and as you put it, getting out of your comfort zone and excelling. But again, and i can't stress this enough. boy is it ever going to be critical for you to capture your work experiences in a dynamic, layperson friendly manner. If you don't no amount of going outside your comfort zone will translate on the page (your resume). Additionally, you need to not only demonstrate that you are unlike all the other IT folks applying, but that you, as a younger applicant, are accelerated relative to your peers and ready for business school.
That naturally leads to a second metric that carries a lot of weight: your ability to establish ambitious yet realistic career narrative/goals. You need to convince the adcoms that you know what you are talking about to some degree, that you are ready to make this shift/advance/change in your career, and that their school is the right place for you to put that into action. Your goals are spot-on. They make a lot of sense and seem very thoughtful. Now, like anyone else who has a strong foundational framework for their narrative, you still need to vet the narrative and build it out a little to really give it the right level of detail and efficacy. but again, this is a very nice, logical, and yes, ambitious trajectory. One thing to be careful of...lots of folks referecne companies like Amazon. there are tons of "well-to-do companies out there...do some research. Think more originally. Keel Amazon in the mix, but add two other companies that are not on the beaten path, and quite frankly over-referenced in b-school applications
Let's move on to another metric that is important. You also have to build confidence among the adcoms that you will be able to handle the rigor of the coursework - this is shown through a strong academic performance in college (more easily shown if you did a quant-focused major) and a strong score on the GMAT exam. You are in solid shape along this metric. No issues here! Now, your verbal score isn't as high as it could be, but again it is fine. You'll just want to make sure your written application materials are very clear in order to further illustrate your verbal prowess (when not in times situations). It would also be great if your recommenders could remark on your verbal/communication skill.
Ok, let's now talk about your desire to be involved/give back - this is about extracurriculars during and after college. Schools care more about whether you were balanced in college than since college, because they believe that the way you conducted yourself in college is likely indicative of how you will conduct yourself in b-school. And they want folks who will want to do more than excel in the classroom. They want folks who will want to be a part of clubs/conferences, initiate activities, engage socially, etc. Right now, based on the info you have provide, it looks like - unless both your co-curricular and extra-co-curricular activities are all part of what you did college - you may be light in terms of your involvement in college, in which case you would want to write an optional essay to explain why. There may be reasons you weren't deeply involved in college...share that, candidly. It's possible that the two involvements you had were also super time-consuming on a weekly basis and you just need to get that story on the page...I don't know. I need to know more to assess this. It looks like you may also be light in terms of formal involvements since college. This really isn't heavily weighted in applications. It's also such a common area of weakness that we find it doesn't hurt applicants.
Let's now talk about your list of schools and fit with schools - right now, per your career ambitions, any top school would work for you. Fit needs t be more personal - it can be about class size, culture, programmatic offerings, global immersion opps, semester-abroad options, alumni networks, etc....It looks like you have done some research and though about personal fit - you categorized your schools into three sets. Nothing in your current profile tells me that you don't have the ingredients to have a fair shot at all the schools you listed. I like that some are reach and others are realistic. Nome are what we would call safety programs. But it is a good mix. We typcially suggest clients apply to 5-7 schools in a round. So this list seems large. You just may get tired doing so many apps and that exhaustiuon could make its way into your apps. Obviously the first seven schools are extremely competitive. To get traction at the, requires you to have more that the obvious ingredients. You must also have an incredible ability to connect with the adcoms...to make yourself me memorable, Being memorable is rarely about one' career, ambitions, or LORs. It's about how they convey themselves in their essays, and then hopeful interview. Life experience (god and bad)/color/depth/maturity/perspective makes one memorable. - this is very hard to detect from what you sent me, as this is a sense one can only develop about someone after talking with them at depth. It's what we work very hard to help clients integrate throughout their applications so adcoms see them as distinct, unique.
I hope you find my assessment helpful. If you would like to talk more over skype, just let me know. Thanks!
Kathryn Lucas, Founder
SQUARE ONE PREP
Direct: +1.917.705.4460
Toll Free: +1.888.702.3542
Mobile: +1.917.841.6833
skype: k_luuuu
https://www.squareoneprep.com/
indraban
Joined: 08 Sep 2013
Last visit: 29 Apr 2016
Posts: 27
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 3
Location: India
Concentration: Technology, Operations
Schools: Sloan '18 (D) Wharton '18 (A$) Kellogg '18 (A) Anderson '18 (A$) Darden '18 (A) Yale '18 (D) Booth '18 (D)
GMAT 1: 760 Q51 V41
GPA: 3.3
WE:Project Management (Retail: E-commerce)
Products:
Schools: Sloan '18 (D) Wharton '18 (A$) Kellogg '18 (A) Anderson '18 (A$) Darden '18 (A) Yale '18 (D) Booth '18 (D)
GMAT 1: 760 Q51 V41
Posts: 27
Kudos:
8
31 Mar 2015, 00:13
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Kathryn,
Your answer blew me away.
For the first time I felt, I have to do a lot of ground work and that my profile is not conveying what it is supposed to convey.
Some takeaways:
I am using too many jargons and technical terms to mention how I went out of comfort zone. I will have to work on that.
I am not able to convey my experience properly.
I am also not able to convey my leadership prowess.
The recommenders have to be informed to specifically write about my communication skills and I will have to put in essay that I communicated with people from 5 countries.
All in all your inputs were highly valuable to me and I hope I am to leverage them properly.
Thanks a lot. I am indebted to you for your candid opinion.
Just for info:
1. The graduate trainee was a full time job after college. The company used to give that designation to freshers out of college.
2. All my co-curricular and my extra-curricular were during college . I haven't done much after that.
3. When I shifted company after the first year, the hiring company gave me a designation push so I directly landed to a senior analyst bypassing the analyst designation.
Your answer blew me away.
For the first time I felt, I have to do a lot of ground work and that my profile is not conveying what it is supposed to convey.
Some takeaways:
I am using too many jargons and technical terms to mention how I went out of comfort zone. I will have to work on that.
I am not able to convey my experience properly.
I am also not able to convey my leadership prowess.
The recommenders have to be informed to specifically write about my communication skills and I will have to put in essay that I communicated with people from 5 countries.
All in all your inputs were highly valuable to me and I hope I am to leverage them properly.
Thanks a lot. I am indebted to you for your candid opinion.
Just for info:
1. The graduate trainee was a full time job after college. The company used to give that designation to freshers out of college.
2. All my co-curricular and my extra-curricular were during college . I haven't done much after that.
3. When I shifted company after the first year, the hiring company gave me a designation push so I directly landed to a senior analyst bypassing the analyst designation.
