ISB Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hi All,

I have 12 years of experience in IT industry and 720 gmat score bot low academic score.

Class X- 56%
Class XII- 43%
Graduation - 50%

Do I hold any chance to get in to Indian B school

Thanks.

Dear Bonglu,

Thank you for sharing your profile. Below is my evaluation:

GMAT: Above Average

Academics: Below Average; your above average GMAT score compensates for your low academic scores to some extent. However, you will need to mention (potentially through the optional essay) the reason behind the low scores.

Work Experience: It seems you are a veteran in the IT industry, and assuming by now you would have got a significant exposure of working with clients from different industries and from different geographies on a multitude of digital transformation assignments and got a chance to lead engineering teams. You will need to showcase these leadership skills succinctly in the application. You should also mention how your experience would be beneficial to the cohort where a lot of students would want to get associated with the ubiquitous technology industry.

Post MBA Goals: You will need to state as clearly and logically why you want to pursue an MBA after so many years of work, and what sort of career goals do you want to pursue in a few years from now. Note: Your future career goals should be something where you leverage your past experiences and combine them with the management frameworks and tools you intend to learn from the MBA program.

I am an ISB alum, CO15, and have personally worked with applicants with similar backgrounds as yours in the IT industry and helped them crack schools such as IIM A/B/C and ISB in India. Please feel free to reach out to me at arijit.biswas@crackadmission.com / +91-9701215544 in case you want to have a discussion around how you can maximize your chances of getting into these schools.

Cheers and Best of Luck!

@Bonglu Hi, with your level of experience I suggest you consider applying for Executive MBA Programs in IIMs, ISB, SPJAIN, MDI, NMIMS and Symbiosis. Given you have good bit of experience in the IT industry, you should be able to articulate several instances from work where you handled projects and led your team as a strong and forthcoming manager or a cross functional stakeholder. Do introspect about any outside work initiatives you may have taken that can fill in the gaps in your profile to a great extent. Most of us tend to overlook certain aspects of our lives (personal and professional) that could come across as strong stories about our courage, perseverance and leadership skills. I cannot emphasize enough on the need to come up with a strong reason for "why do you want to do an MBA? And why now?", which I see you have not mentioned in the information you shared. If you can convince yourself on the above question, you are on the right path to convince your target B-School through your stories and your essays.




Hi All,

I have 12 years of experience in IT industry and 720 gmat score bot low academic score.

Class X- 56%
Class XII- 43%
Graduation - 50%

Do I hold any chance to get in to Indian B school

Thanks.[/quote]

Hello pawanbeniwal

Past scores look good and the GRE is great too.
Extracurricular activities seem dated and may not add much value.
The NIFT and retail experience will be the your stand out strength.
While applications from NIFT background has increased in the past few years, you will still have some advantage due to the diversity you bring in.
What are your goals though as that is missing.
Companies such as Amazon, Myntra are hiring from ISB for Category Management and Aditya Birla hires for their Leadership program (LEAP/LEAD) and might be a good transition into Madura/Nuvo.
If your career goals are sorted (AKA clear and realistic) you have a decent shot.

You may want to read here on what factors work in a profile and here to add to your research on career goals.

Best
Varun Sharma
+918452954888 (https://gmatclub.com/chat)
MBAkarma.com
info@mbakarma.com

Hello GMATHustle

The work ex and extracurricular are interesting, GMAT does not help you stand out.
But the thing I'd be worried about is the goals part- as it seems all over the place with no single direction and limited connection with the past. You may want to have a clearer and more realistic narrative here.

Best
Varun
MBAkarma.com

Hello GMATHustle,

Hope this finds you well.

Your GMAT score is a good 20 points below the average at ISB so that will have a bit of an impact on the outcome and increase the dependence on your overall profile and how well the same is articulated through your essays. We agree with the comment above - the goals are not focused and will need to be revisited.

All the best!

HI Guys, I have been working in Sales at one of India’s leading Internet start-up (0 points for guessing) and am the youngest Area Sales Manager here in the entire company with 2 years of experience. I come from a Tier 1 college of Delhi University. I got a 720, 710, 660 in gmat preps mocks. Should I sit for round 2 for ISB or work harder for round 3? Also does acceptance rate decrease in round 3? What should be the score that i should target given my profile?

Hi, 710 is a decent score to give a shot at ISB given you have a decent profile and good credentials. How prepared are you as far as your application and essays are concerned? Round 2 is round the corner and it is your preparation that should determine whether you delay the application or not. To be safe, I always advise applicants to target earlier rounds (better prospects of scholarships and better chance at capturing the mind-space of the ad com with your stellar leadership stories )

Best Wishes!

Hi,

I plan to apply for ISB Round 2. Request for a profile evaluation please:

Age: 26 (Male)

GMAT: 650 (V31 Q48)

Education: Chartered Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst (Level II cleared)
XIIth- 93.4%(CBSE), Xth- 91.2%(CBSE)

Work Experience: Total 3 years of work experience. 1.5 years working in Reliance Retail Limited (Retail Industry) in Financial and Accounts department, 1.5 years experience working in Shree Cement Limited (Cement Manufacturing)

Internships (pre work-ex): 3 years of internship with Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP, Mumbai. Working in Statutory audit department and handled clients in Telecommunication and Media industry

Extra-Curricular: Under-19 District Basket Ball Player, Theater Play during high school

Post MBA Goal:
Short Term: Consulting/Finance in leading Multi-national firms preferably in investment firm.
Long Term: Investment Banker/Strategist in Leading investment firm.

Request your feedback & suggestions please!

Thanks in advance!

Hi , your GMAT score of 650 may prove to be risky for what would otherwise be a decent profile for a Finance background applicant. I would recommend you improve your GMAT score to 730+ range in order to aim for a "safe" zone. I am not really concerned about your verbal score here, but a quant score of 48 as a finance background applicant could raise doubts in the minds of ad com specially since you are targeting Finance consulting / Investment banking post MBA.

Best wishes

Hey I plan to apply to ISB in round 2. Pls evaluate my profile.

Age:24(female)

GMAT:660

Academics- 8.6 CGPA(10th) , 88.8%(12th) , 6.9 GPA (UG)

Education:- CIMA (level 3),b com from (delhi university)

Work experience:- total of 3.5 years of work experience.
2 years with EY, 1.5 years working on my own startup.

Work achievement:- Raised funding from investor for the startup.

Extra curricular:-
active member in college dramatics team.
Performed at National school of drama.
Founded and headed entrepreneurship cell in college.


Post MBA goals:- expanding startup operation. Taking the business international with the knowledge and insight that I'll gain from the program.

Posted from my mobile device

Hello,

I would really appreciate if someone can help with my profile evaluation for ISB PGP (round 2 this year).

Profile
Background:
31 years, Male, Indian (with unrestricted right to work in UK)
Academics:
B.E. – 7.42 (2010- 2014) – Instrumentation & Controls Engineering
MSc – Distinction, The University of Sheffield (2015-2017) – Control Systems Engineering
10th: CBSE 89.8%
12th: CBSE 79.8%
GMAT: 700 (V40 Q47 IR5 AWA6)

Work Experience: around 5 years
Volkswagen Group, UK : Feature Systems Engineer (September,2021 – till date)
- Current Role as Feature Owner for new features to be implemented on VW vehicles (Globally). The responsibility includes system conceptualization, implementation (system design) and testing the new features in the cabin. These implemented features are delivered to all the commercial vehicle programs of VW (worldwide).
- Responsible for regional divergence resolution of a feature (depending on the local laws of the regions) and regularly interacting with various stakeholders at different ford sites across the globe to come to a mutual agreement.
- Working within a team in which members are located across USA and Europe.

Rolls-Royce Plc, Derby, UK: Control Systems Engineer (Nov, 2017- August,2021)
- Worked as Systems engineer for designing control systems for wide body aircraft engines. (example of control system can be Engine Autopilot etc)
- Extensive knowledge of designing and developing safety critical system and software for electronic engine controller of the engine of an aircraft.
- Regular interaction with test aircraft team of customers such as Airbus, Boeing and gather engine system behavior of the test aircraft.
- Managing support engineers (dividing work etc, during plan phase of the IP) from external suppliers.
- Functional team lead for system verification for business aviation.
- Worked as part of Scrum team in capacity of system designer for a business aircraft engine.
- Experience in Model based software development and verification using Simulink.
- Working in diverse team of colleagues with more than 15 nationalities.

JSW Steel Ltd., India: 12 Months as Graduate Engineering Trainee (2014-2015)
- Worked as Junior Manager (Trainee) for Electrical & Automation maintenance in reheating furnace of hot rolling mill.
- Undertook a project by forming a quality circle with the technicians and modified transducer in the walking beam of furnace, reducing mill time by 50mins . This saved around 20 lakhs.

Internship/Industrial Placement:
- As part of my post graduate course in UK, spent 9 months in R&D department of a consumer electronics manufacturing company.
- Worked on a new boiler to be introduced in the European market.
- Involved in development of a timer feature for maintenance of boiler. This included development of an embedded system accessory that can be attached to the boiler for additional functionality.

Extra Curricular:
- Member of IET working towards chartership.
- Mentor for new graduates who joined Rolls-Royce.
- Published a paper on development of a wireless stethoscope during my final year of engineering.
- Handled operations of a subway restaurant during my Masters (part time job).
- Certified Subway Sandwich Artist , part time job during master's in UK(can make authentic subway sandwiches )
- Member of managing committee of technical club in college. Helped to organize tech fest.

Post MBA Goals:
Strategy, Program Management, Product Management


Thank you

Hi! Interesting profile indeed and a decent GMAT score , acads and extra curriculars.
I would urge you to highlight your strong team and project management skills in your essays. International work experience is highly valued in B Schools and especially brings a unique perspective to the ISB Cohort. Have a few very interesting narratives in your application to show that you meticulously handled conflicts, short project timelines, bridged communication gaps across teams and time zones and that you were a highly valued asset in which ever team you worked. In parallel, do have a good reason on why you wish to pursue PGP after having an MSc. What gaps will the PGP program help you fill in your career trajectory?

Very strong chances of making it to the ISB interview with well written essays.

Best Wishes!

Hey guys!

I wrote GMAT thrice - first in 2018 and then twice in November, 2021 but wasn't able to score more than 660(Q49/47,V32/34). I know it is a below par score but given my profile, I thought to get a second opinion. So, I would really appreciate if someone can help me with my profile evaluation.

Below are my details :
- 31, Male, India
- B.E. : 2008- 2012, Computer Science, VTU, Bangalore 76%
- 10th: CBSE 87%
- 12th: CBSE 87%
- GMAT: 660 (V34 Q47) 640(V27, Q49)
- WE: 9 years

Work Experience :
1. Aricent Technologies (now Capgemini): 2012- 2014, Software Engineer
Used to work on Base-station (BTS) for the client - Nokia Solutions Network. Key responsibilities were to enhance & debug legacy modules for a new 3G BTS and build new features for Packet Abis(NSN's proprietary interface).
Was awarded with best project award during the training period.
The only fresher in my batch that was hand picked for NSN's project and sent onsite within 6 months on floor.
Was awarded with best performance for 2 consecutive years and got promoted to senior software engineer in less than 22 months.

2. Bugfree Travel: 2015-2018, Founder
So I got bit by entrepreneurial bug and thus, left Aricent to start my first startup called Bugfree Travel- a marketplace for travel agents. The idea was to make travelling and travel booking really easy & seamless for travelers, remove the middle agents as well as the unwanted commissions and markups, and reduce the total travel cost as well as burden of planning.
Received some traction in the beginning but things got harder with time, especially after months of low revenue and thus, eventually we failed miserably and ended up shutting it down. Major reasons of shutting down were, of course the low revenue, lack of funding, not so credible team and most of all lack of planning, vision & execution.
During those 3 years, I managed to create several strategic alliances with domestic & international travel operators, attended several OTMs that gave a lot of exposure, travelled to 15 states in India & met the real players on the ground level that actually manage the most basic of a travel itineraries.
Pitched the idea to several VCs but wasn't successful in raising funding.
In a nutshell, it was a bittersweet journey but except knowledge & exposure, I couldn't really get anything out of Bugfree

Before I talk about my next experience, I need to tell you that this was the time when I had applied for ISB for the first time. My score was just 640(Q49, V27) but I had spent a good amount of time in the application. So, I thought let's just apply. So what I mean to really say is that this time I will be a re-applicant!

3. Foreignerds: 2019-Current, Founder
After being dejected and heartbroken because of my failed startup, low GMAT score and rejection from ISB, I had just lost my way and starting thinking to join a company but one fine day, during a conversation with another startup founder, I realized that I have few sales & marketing skills that got built because of my journey in Bugfree and the same skills could be put to a better use and thus, Foreignerds, a digital transformation agency, was born.
I had a decent idea about software development and digital marketing, and thus, I thought I could help other startups to avoid mistakes that I did and may be earn a decent living. That was my only goal at that point of time but little did I know about what God had in mind for me. Within first year we clocked revenue of $80,000 USD and increased the team size from 4 to 12. This was small but gave me enough motivation to continue.
Next 2 years, we worked smart and created several partnerships with accelerators, incubators, PR agencies, consulting firms, marketing & development agencies in US, UK and Canada. These partnerships gave us access to a huge pool of funded startups and stable white label work every month and thereby, increased our revenue to $450,000, team size to a whopping 78, and our service offerings to 12.

Why MBA & ISB?
I have a great offer at hand and I am 99% convinced to take an exit. Major reason being I think I have got the maximum I could get out of Foreignerds! Given that it was bootstrapped with virtually zero investment, it has reached to a stage where the number of challenges have also increased exponentially, for most of which my plans have failed repeatedly, and it has become absolutely hard to maintain the same level and cross a certain level, I feel that after doing & learning things the hard way, now it is the time to learn things from the experts.

ISB's PGP program is really compact, pretty immersive and can have a really big impact on someone's personality. The amount of diverse exposure that ISB offers alone can impact the way one thinks, perceives a situation or handles it. Moreover, ISB has a global appeal as well as reach that can help one to build a network and leverage it if there is an opportunity.

Extra-curricular: Not much to say in that area
- Have been an active participant in drama & theatres since school. Haven't really won anything though!
- A lot of awards and certificates for volleyball (district, state, zone level) and cricket (club level)
- Active member of a pet care NGO

Hello aditijain1507

If you get a 710+, then the score should not be your reason of delaying the application.
But what I understand is that you have mock scores and have not yet taken the actual test.
Considering this fact, I am not sure how will you be able to complete the test as well as the application in the ten odd days left till R2 deadline.
What is your progress on the application?

Best
Varun
MBAkarma.com

Hello rishabh0326

While your past acads are decent and work ex can help you stand out, the GMAT does not inspire confidence.
Also, if you are looking for profile evaluation at this stage, not sure how far ahead are you with your application and whether you will be able to complete it in time for R2.
I'd recommend a retake and try in R3 or next year. Looking at your work ex you have enough time to further improve and have better chances of getting in.

Best
Varun
MBAkarma.com

Hello 2345

The startup experience will surely help. Will it compensate for the low GMAT score? Tough to say without knowing more details about the nature of the startup and your success here.
Extracurricular look dated and not sure if they will add a lot of value.
Career goals need to be debated whether an MBA is needed at all, again depending on details around your startup.

Best
Varun
MBAkarma.com