Profile Evaluation for Fall 2024 Intake

Question

Hey Everyone

I'm Parth, and I'm looking to apply for an MBA in the coming Round 1, for a fall 2024 intake. I've begun preparations early and I had specific questions.

About me:

Nationality: Indian

GMAT Score: 750 (Q51, V40) - attempted GMAT in July 2022

Education: B.Tech, Chemical Engineering, IIT Kanpur; CPI: 7.7 / 10.0; Average CPI at IIT Kanpur is 6.5.

Work Experience:

1) Associate Consultant at Bain and Company (October 2020 - September 2021) - part of Bain's Private Equity Group, helping PE funds evaluate potential companies for investment

2) Investment Analyst at India-focused Venture Capital Fund (October 2021 - Present) - key responsibilities include sourcing and evaluating startups, portfolio and board support, fundraising, thesis development, etc.

Extracurriculars:

1) Overall Coordinator at IIT Kanpur's Entrepreneurship Cell (2016-2019) - Led a 4 tier team of 150 students to promote entrepreneurship at IIT Kanpur (events, policies, etc)

2) International Research Publications: 4 publications - 3 of them focused on business. 6 citations across 2 papers, with an H-Index of 2.

Volunteering:

1) Worked with govt of Delhi to establish the world's largest COVID care facility in 2021, with a capacity of 10,000 beds. (July 2021 - September 2021)

2) Helped startup conduct the International Day of Yoga to break the world record for the session with maximum simultaneous yoga practitioners. Failed to break the record but managed to gather ~5k yoga practitioners. (May 2021 - August 2021)

Entrepreneurial Experience:

1) Pro-bono startup advisory firm (2021 - present): Helped 3 startups improve their business plans and raise funds from renowned angels and VCs. Total revenue of $2000.

Target Schools

Most Preferred: Stanford > Harvard > MIT Sloan > Wharton
Preferred: UCB Haas > Columbia Business School > Chicago Booth > Northwestern Kellogg
Safe Schools: UCLA Anderson > Michigan Ross > NYU Stern

Key Questions

1) Are my expectations around the schools realistic? Feel free to be as brutal and as detailed as possible across each school.

2) Given my undergrad CPI is 7.7 (though above the average of 6.5, might fall short of being in the top 20%) - should I make efforts to explain this in the optional essay or should I just let this slide in with my high GMAT score along with research rigour indicated by my publications? Is it really acting as a dealbreaker for my profile?

3) What are the observable gaps in my profile? (Note that I would have 4 years of work experience at the time of matriculation).

2) Given my undergrad CPI is 7.7 (though above the average of 6.5, might fall short of being in the top 20%) - should I make efforts to explain this in the optional essay or should I just let this slide in with my high GMAT score along with research rigour indicated by my publications? Is it really acting as a dealbreaker for my profile? 3) What are the observable gaps in my profile? (Note that I would have 4 years of work experience at the time of matriculation).

jeffreyadcom · Answer

Work Experience isn't inspiring confidence. A tendency to jump ship too soon! A year more at Bain would have offset this unstable feel to your profile.

Spend atleast 3 years in the current VC and aim to grow into leadership roles. At the time of applying, you should have atleast 4 years of quality work-ex.

Admissionado · Answer

pdchhaparwal : 1) Are my expectations around the schools realistic? Feel free to be as brutal and as detailed as possible across each school.

A: You will be competitive for all schools, but I would classify your "preferred" category as "reach" except for maybe UCB Haas. I would then bump up NYU Stern and Michigan Ross to "target" and not "safety." I agree with the previous post that an additional year of experience as a VC would help a lot for these ultra competitive programs. If you can hold off a year, that would make a big difference. 2) Given my undergrad CPI is 7.7 (though above the average of 6.5, might fall short of being in the top 20%) - should I make efforts to explain this in the optional essay or should I just let this slide in with my high GMAT score along with research rigour indicated by my publications? Is it really acting as a dealbreaker for my profile? A: I am not sure what you would explain in the optional essay that relates to your undergrad CPI. Unless there's some truly unusual or extenuating circumstances that had an impact, you kind of have no choice but to "leave" it. 3) What are the observable gaps in my profile? (Note that I would have 4 years of work experience at the time of matriculation). A: As noted, the extra year of work experience would help. Also, what are your career goals? You don't have to decide now, but having a clear focus for your essays and interviews will matter. I would like to let you know about our Advanced Planning Program. It's a great opportunity to get a few coaching sessions on how to improve your profile and gear up for the application process well in advance of the application season. You are best doing this while your profile is still somewhat fungible and certain moves can really optimize your chances at these competitive schools. Here is the info for you to peruse: https://admissionado.com/mba/mba-advanc ... g-program/

MiMEssay · Answer

Hey pdchhaparwal, Let me begin by mentioning that you have a good GPA of 7.7 , as anything above 7 allows you to target all the top schools. In fact, the brand name of IIT Kanpur is extremely valuable. The major focus will be on your work experience, and there’s a strong b rand name in Bain & Company . I suggest you add quantification to showcase the impact you’ve made in the business and with clients as well. You must also quantify your leadership ability in terms of the number of people you currently lead. In fact, you have strong extracurriculars that also need to be quantified as they can add brownie points. You must also quantify the number of start-ups you have helped and the impact you’ve made. This will add to your entrepreneurial experience. If you are aiming for finance, you can try putting financial modelling courses in your profile. This will showcase that you are a CFA level candidate and strengthen your profile. Your chances of getting an admit at MIT, Stanford, or Harvard will be a bit low as they require exceptional profiles like having your own startup that is earning millions, or, let's say, running an NGO and helping thousands of people through that. But again, you can definitely take a shot at it. I strongly suggest you target schools like: 1. Northwestern 2. UCLA 3. USC Marshall 4. NYU Stern 5. Chicago Booth 6. Duke 7. Cornell If you need more help, we'd be happy to setup a call and give more pointers on how to improve your profile and the right schools you should target. You can setup a call via this link: https://bit.ly/3DSH5km

MBAandBeyond · Answer

Hey pdchhaparwal , Thanks for sharing your profile. To address your queries. 1. With a strong GMAT score like yours and a branding of IIT, your profile will be a good stand for top B-schools. Schools such as Stanford and HBS can be stretch. However, at top schools, competition is really tough, so you will need extensive branding to get into your ‘most-preferred’ list. 2. When having a branding of IIT and a strong GMAT score, your CPI wouldn’t matter much. Rather than justifying your CPI in essays, you can use it to demonstrate other strong aspects of your profile, which might eventually initiate an interesting conversation with the AdComs. 3. A strong profile is a mix of a lot of parameters. When considering your ECs, I see amazing work which will definitely diversify your profile (Since AdComs look for diverse applications). You haven’t mentioned your post-MBA goals. It is important to be clear and precise with your short and long term goals in order to align them with the schools you are targeting. You will also need strong LORs to give your profile a strong base. I agree with the above 2 posts, you should gain at least 2 more years of experience and then apply to business schools. In order to evaluate your profile better and give you a fair overview of your profile, feel free to schedule a free profile evaluation call with us at your convenience. Cheers! Neha Hadke Strategy Manager MBA and Beyond Testimonials Meet our Panel of Consultants. Email: neha@mbaandbeyond.com

LemonEd · Answer

Hello

Your profile is quite well rounded across all mentioned areas.

1) Your GMAT score certainly qualifies you for all your target schools

2) While the IIT-K brand is a really strong one, your CPI could take some schools from your most preferred category out of the 'reach' status

3) Your work experience, while impressive, could fall just short (in terms of number of years) for some schools across all the categories

4) Your extracurriculars are impressive although somewhat uni-dimensional

We would be happy to work with you in presenting your story to AdComs in the most compelling way possible.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to get a FREE detailed profile evaluation.

Regards

Prashant Pinge, ISB '02
Founder & Principal Consultant, LemonEd
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P: +91 8108 533 522
E: [email protected]

LemonEd is a boutique, results-driven admissions consulting firm that helps applicants gain acceptance to the world's best MBA programs.

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