ISB PROFILE EVALUATION THREAD - Post all Profile Eval Requests Here!

Hi,
You academic profile is quite strong.
The career break is something you would have to explain. Plan your thoughts well, over explanation might be a dampener. A clarity of goals and how all your previous work experience falls into place would be important.

All the best!


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Hi,

That's a great GRE score.
The career arc concerns me a little. You started off in operations, studied for 2 years for IAS and then got into software development- not the area of your study. I hope your career goals are not in a third direction. The adcom would definitely hope to see some coherence there.
My second observation would be about your career growth. In a way, your career has kicked off since March 2020. Show that you have done some impactful work since then- taken initiatives, and helped your team/client/company achieve key milestones.
Also, studying for civil services is a dream many MBA aspirants have borne before they gave up their efforts to get back to the corporate. So, rest assured you are not alone in this journey. Try to show some personality growth and development during this period. If you were involved in some noteworthy extra curriculars, say volunteering, then do bring it out in the application, always demonstrating the impact you could create.

Hope that helps
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Hi Rajkumar,

That's a good profile in the making. The undergrad GPA is low, so a higher GMAT score (720+) would help in mitigating the negative impact.
The work experience sounds good and somewhat differentiated. seems like you have a client facing role- always good to have on the resume. That allows you to show some leadership skills valuable in the admissions process - stakeholder management (even within your own teams), good communication, client focus, result orientation, to name a few.
Your ECAs are good as well, although they are common among applicants. The depth of your experience and the impact you achieved will be important here. You have a year's time in hand- if you are not already pursuing some ECAs/ volunteering work/ or are actively involved in your company's ECAs, now is the time to join them and build some experience there. This will help to build a well rounded profile.

All the best for the GMAT. Get done with it by March-April so that you can focus on your application after that. Taking it early will allow give you buffer time in case you need to retake.
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Can any experts please guide if I have 10+ years of experience in IT and currently working as a senior Finance Consultant (Business Analyst), what should be my Target college - ISB PGP or IIMA PGPX / IIMB ??

I have read multiple articles that ISB Avg work Ex is very low compared to IIM's and also, senior level positions are more interested in IIM's....is this true. Don't we get good senior level positions with this experience in ISB PGP ?
Need some serious thoughts where to apply and target.

Thank you for the response. Would you say that ISB is worth a shot for me with this profile? Or should I just focus on CAT and applying overseas?

Hi, you should absolutely apply to ISB and to other MBA programs overseas if you so desire. Going abroad or staying in India for an MBA is a personal choice and it really depends on where you want to be post MBA.

Another thing that matters whether you apply in India or abroad is the strength of your profile. The stronger your profile is (Academics + work + ECAs), the higher you can aim when applying to b-schools abroad. So if you have MBA on your mind, continue to build on your profile - it will help you to target more competitive programs.



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IMHO, you can apply to all three b-schools. You can apply just once in a year, so its better to maximize your chances of an admit by applying to more b-schools in one cycle, as eventually the decision to admit you rests with the admissions teams only.
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Hi Bhargu999 hope this finds you well
think I evaluated your profile earlier for the US Top 15.

Though your background as a medical practitioner is certainly an advantage during the competitive admissions process, your goals narrative is vague and needs to be further shaped. For example, you will need to strongly address why you want to get into healthcare consulting given your prior choice of career in dental surgery.

In order to demonstrate your ‘fit’ with the PGP, you must connect the cases/projects you have worked on to draw insights about the section of the healthcare industry you are most interested in (post-PGP). As a dental healthcare practitioner, how would your experience and knowledge of the on-ground problems in the (pharma) industry make you a valuable resource at MBA as well as in roles that you will pursue thereafter (especially consulting)? This narrative will carry most of the weight in the admissions process.

Pro Tip- Your candidacy will be stronger if you demonstrate how ISB fits into the picture with your healthcare goals. Showcase thorough research into the "uniqueness" of the ISB PGP program from a healthcare sector viewpoint to stand out. Reach out to the school, alumni, and industry recruiters to get a read on your post-PGP healthcare consulting career expectations. Use the conversations to add authenticity to your goals essays. Reading into their responses can help you set the right expectations.

Your GMAT is great.

Your ECs are good. But your professional experience and goals narrative would make or break your case.

Your questions

- Is 750 GMAT sufficient for my profile?
Yes
- People’s management: I manage interns and Consulting Dentists for some specific cases. Do you think this counts?

Adcom would be more interested in the richness or quality of your healthcare experience and your vision for your future, rather than how many people you directly managed.

- Having a Dental background and clinical experience, will I be at a disadvantage in the admission process?

No. But you need to create a strong "why PGP", and Goals narrative.

- I will apply in R2 this year. Would I be at disadvantage for not applying in R1? Should I wait until next year to apply in R1?

You are ok applying to R2 with a solid application and interview preparation

- What are my chances for ISB?

Hard to predict without going deeper into your work experience and your goals narrative.

Feel free to reach out should you need candid advice.
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Hi Regime hope this finds you well. I know this is very close to the deadline, but I hope my advice can help you in some way

Congrats on your impressive GMAT score.

Missing Goals- You did not mention your post-PGP goals. Without that, it is unclear why you would want a PGP/MBA at this point in your career.
If you have worked on interesting projects and handled responsibilities, these experiences will help you to demonstrate consistent progression and learning.

Application Strategy- As you may know, schools look beyond academics, the GMAT, the undergrad pedigree, and the employer brand to judge your potential. It would help if you showcased a "hook factor" in your profile, especially since you come from an over-represented pool.

You are a relatively young applicant for PGP; however, 41 months is ample time for someone considering a top MBA to grab projects and professional opportunities that add a new dimension to one's portfolio. If you missed having that realization earlier, and in case you do not convert ISB this year, you should surely re-apply with a solid strategy.
If you are ok with dedicating another 1-2 years working to enhance your profile, you can have another fair shot at top B schools. This profile enhancement must be a take-off point in your career graph. For example, you could get into an early-stage start-up in an impact role (closer to your post-MBA goals).

Feel free to reach out should you need advice.

Best wishes
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Hi ayushiiiarya hope this finds you well. I know this is very close to the deadline, but I hope my advice can help you in some way

Not sure if you were able to retake your GMAT, however, I would like you to know that schools look at your performance on individual sections of GMAT. Since you did very well on Quant, you need not worry as yours is a relatively differentiated profile. To back your candidacy, you have a good academic pedigree as well.

Your profile looks very promising on the surface, but you did not mention your post PGP goals. A critical aspect of the application would be to defend how ISB fits into your career trajectory between your Energy background as an analyst and your post PGP short- and long-term goals. As a young applicant to PGP, you can pretty much expect to be cross questioned on your goals strategy during your interview so definitely prepare well for that.

Your ECs look impressive.

Best wishes
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Hi raj94knp hope this finds you well. I know this is very close to the deadline, but I hope my advice can help you in some way

You did not mention your goals. Your experience in Indian Oil would be highly valued as long as you are setting goals (or targeting roles) that align well with your career trajectory so far. Similar to how at each job one needs to focus on the transferable skills from prior job experiences, you would also have to convince the admissions committee (and later the companies) that you have a solid basis for choosing an industry or role for your post PGP career.

With 6 years of work experience, you should be able to show strong career progression with your company with multiple examples of leadership and team management skills. A strategically carved narrative in your essays can make all the difference at this point.

You did not mention your role in Indian Oil. For convenience, I am assuming it is either a functional engineering or procurement/project mgt role. General management roles or operations mgt are much in line with your profile. Alternatively, your goals could be ambitious too such as Management Consulting as consulting companies are always looking for candidates with strong industry experience. It would be wise to deliberate on what would you like to do in the long term and break down the trajectory into possible career paths with a plan A and plan B so as to give yourself some flexibility (also to the Business schools).

My suggestion would be to talk to alumni/experts to understand how to plan the transition from a PSU to the B School to the private sector. An exceptional applicant would draw insights from these interactions and use the takeaways in his interviews to his advantage demonstrating a conscientious strategy for his own transition.

ECs are not great, but they don't break an admit at ISB

Feel free to reach out for advice

Best wishes
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Hi 197369 hope this finds you well. I know this is very close to the deadline, but I hope my advice can help you in some way
But first, definitely make sure you have at least a 670+ (or Q49+) when you apply to IIM A or ISB (whether R2 or R3)

As someone from the manufacturing domain myself, I assure you of your profile's potential at top B Schools.

Admissions depend on how well you have crafted your narrative in your application. Addressing the following points in your essays and the interview would show you in solid light.

1. Demonstrate that you are a planner. Show how all the decisions you made since your education and choice of career were inspired by a vision to achieve the goal. What is your goal, and what keeps you going in life? How are your post-MBA goals related to what you have done so far in your career?

2. Showcase growth trajectory and willingness to hustle. Clearly explain how you were awarded increased responsibilities in your career year after year, such as managing bigger teams, decision-making, etc. Use examples to show how you influenced people, managed conflicts within groups, motivated people to expedite projects and influenced senior management to make the right decisions.

3. Share your personal story and the factors that shaped your persona. All B Schools want to know your personality before they can commit to you a place in their next cohort. Take time to reflect on what values and experiences you would bring to the school due to factors that influenced you due to your family background and circumstances during your formative years. Talk about any diversity or community initiatives you may have taken at/outside work. Say how you will continue to make relevant, meaningful contributions to society in the future.

The key to acing an application and the ISB interview is to showcase a crystal-clear understanding of post-MBA prospects. I suggest speaking with folks working in your post-MBA target roles. An exceptional applicant would draw insights from these discussions and use the takeaways in his essays and interviews to his advantage, demonstrating a conscientious strategy for his transition. Some roles folks with manufacturing backgrounds consider exploring are Supply chain/operations design, supply chain product (design or operations), Analytics and Business Finance (especially at startups if finance interests you but you have no prior experience in finance), and Strategy & Ops consulting or corporate strategy for startups or corporates in a specific industry.

Feel free to reach out for candid advice and to get better understanding of roles post MBA.

Regards
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Hello poptyPing

ISB is going to evaluate your profile on 4 factors- Academic Potential, Work Ex, Diversity and Career Goals.
Let's see where you stand against each.
Academic Potential is decent with past scores and GRE.
Work ex shows only quantitative details (role, years) and is completely missing qualitative details (career progress, achievements). Unlike academics, work ex is not as straightforward to measure. How you present it is going to matter a lot. (this will also decide whether the break can be compensated or not)
Diversity is anyway low considering the software background. Is there anything that could help offset it, perhaps any extracurricular activities worth talking about?
Career goals- (the most important piece of admissions puzzle) are missing for a complete profile evaluation.
You need to work on understanding the importance of all of the above before you can put forward a strong application.

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



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Hello rajkumar98

Pretty well balanced profile, Past academic scores (decent), GMAT (target score is above par), work ex (shows potential of good storytelling), extracurricular (add some diversity to offset the low diversity due to IT background).
One key element missing is career goals. Make sure you are weaving a narrative that is realistic and clear to the school.

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



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Hi Team,

I have 3+ years of working as a data scientist (ML/AI)
Class 10: 95%
Class 12: 98%
Engineering: Top 5 college (IIT Kharagpur)
GPA: 9.29/10 (Dept Topper)

GRE: 325 (V157, Q168) AWA: Yet to receive

In extra curricular activities, i have
1) Secretary - Gymkhana at College
2) Dramatics Club Member
3) NSS member for 2 years

- Not many achievements to show in work profile. Same designation since my graduation (no promotions, but good projects applying latest AI ML techniques)

Hobbies:
Badminton
Travel

I would be grateful if you have any feedback for me. Thanks in advance

Your GRE score does not do justice to your otherwise outstanding academic profile. See if you can re-take GRE and push the score at least 3-4 points up.
--
Ashish.
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Hi sk1310 hope this finds you well

Your profile does not seemingly have any weak points, but it does not have any exceptional aspects either, except for the IIT tag. A strong GRE score of 330 and above will make you stand out further.

There are ways to make your application strong, such as, by reflecting on the challenges from your formative years or in your job and telling how you overcame those challenges. B Schools evaluate your candidacy objectively and fairly. Not everyone begins life at the same level. If you have had any unique challenges in your background despite which you made it to IIT, make sure it comes across well in your application.

Also make sure your career progression shows clearly in your essays, despite your lack of promotions. Rather than the change in job titles, focus on incremental responsibilities, increased challenges in a variety of projects, promising outcomes, and stakeholder management over the last 3 years.

You did not mention your goals. Assuming that you may be interested in Product or tech-oriented consulting roles, do deliberate why would you need a PGP/MBA at all with your level of expertise in AI/ML. This should also get you to think about reasons that truly motivate you to apply to ISB. Think of goals that are aspirational but also inspirational at the same time. How can you utilize your skills to solve a problem in the future?

Best wishes
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Hi guys ,

Requesting a profile evaluation. PFB my profile:

10th : 93.42%
12th : 70%
Bpharm + Pharmatech MBA : 3.54/4 GPA (4th rank in a class of 90)

GRE : 317 (V - 157, Q - 160)

Work Experience : Total 4 years 3 months

Boutique Strategy Consulting Firm (1 year 8 months) - worked across various corporate strategy, distribution strategy, entry strategy for FMCG and Healthcare clients

Highlight : Won best new entrant of the year and fast track promotion within 8 months

Brand Management at one of the leading beauty E-commerce platform: ( 2 years 7 months) Handled a key FMCG account and handled multiple brands across makeup, hair and skin categories (launched 2 new brands) and recently moved to strategy and operations role within same firm looking at overall business performance and operations

Promoted after 2 years, got awarded certificate of appreciation for my contribution.

Extra curriculars:
- Volunteered at an NGO teaching under privileged kids
- Member of multiple organizing committees in university
- College representative at Indian Pharmaceutical Association ( national level)
- Won awards across various inter and intra college business competitions

I am aiming to apply for R3. wanted to understand if I stand any chance at all

Posted from my mobile device

Hi guys ,

Requesting a profile evaluation. PFB my profile:

10th : 64%
12th : 62%
B.E: 64%
GMAT : 640 (Q-48, V-29)

Work Experience : Total 7 years 7 months

Working as Vendor Operations and Technical solutions Manager for a Fortune 500 MNC. I have experience in Vendor Operations Management and Business Development for Online Travel Industry, Google Shopping and Digital Marketing.

Highlight : Received 6 promotions across three different companies in the past 7 years.

Integrated 50+ new partners on Google Hotel Ads which resulted in 28% revenue growth.
Managed campaigns for Tier -1 partners with a daily budget of 100K+ USD.

As a Vendor Ops Manager, managed Sampling Strategy, Review Strategy and conceptualized Quality Framework for Google process.

Currently, managing vendor operations for a team of 15 folks and led financial planning and analysis, budget management for an operation of 10 TVC workers across 2 sites to meet budgets while maximizing support for customers.

Won best performer award 8 times during 4 years of my time with my first company.

Extra curriculars:
- Volunteering at an NGO for wildlife, tiger and nature conversation.
- Previously has worked as volunteer for a book bank for 6 years (providing study materials to underprivileged kids)
- I am half marathon runner, have ran 15+ half marathon in the past 4 years.
- I am long distance rider, have covered more than 20000+ KMs in the past 3 years.

Future Goals: I would like work excel in operations management and getting good exposure from a reupdated b-school will help me to achieve the same.

I am aiming to apply for R3. wanted to understand if I stand any chance at all.

Hi Ankur,

Sharing some thoughts on the details you have shared here:

1. Your academics and GMAT are both kind of low. It would be recommended that you should write the GMAT again aiming for a higher than the regular average (710/713) for the school for a stronger academic representation. Maybe instead of going ahead with an application with this score, you could attempt the GMAT again and consider an R1 application in the next cycle.

2. You have a good list of accomplishments from your work experience, so that becomes a plus. Try to integrate your work experience with your aspirations and extracurriculars well in the application - that would help you stand out.

All the best!



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