Profile Evaluation Request: Female Civil Engineer

Question

Hi,

Please can you give a feedback on my profile and advise if I am targeting the right schools? I have not seen many civil engineering profiles in Harvard or Stanford (or I may be wrong!)

An Indian female civil engineer

B.Tech in Civil Engineering - a locally reputed university (not IITs or NITs) - First Class with Distinction - Probably within top 10%

M.Sc in Civil Engineering and Construction Management - Top University in the UK (Dubai Campus) - First Class with Distinction - Probably within top 3%

I did my Full time Masters along with my Full time job.

GMAT - 700 (46Q,41V)

Work Experience: One year worked as Admin Assistant to the director for 3.3 Billion dollar company in UAE handling general administration of the retail division in the worlds largest retail business - I dint have my engineering certificate at that time due to some glitches from university.

Then worked for a small sub contracting company for another year handling waste water treatment project sales for UAE - conducting site visits, developing turnkey solutins, sales negotiations, developing techno commercial proposals etc.

Currently working (2 years) as utility engineer in the UAE for a top global design consultancy (think AECOM, ARUP, CH2M etc.). My current job is basically to design the utility networks like potable water, sewerage, storm water etc. for new master planning projects or infrastructure projects in GCC, coordinate with other departments, manage CAD technicians and deliver the design package after QA procedures.

I am working towards Chartered Engineer membership from ICE - a civil engineering professional body in the UK (Similar to P.E. status in US). Received ICE Emerging Engineers Award UAE - winner of 2015 and finalist of 2016.

Short Term Goal - Enter into advisory services for infrastructure/energy sector. Gain a global experience - interested in general operation/corporate strategy consulting and asset and risk management consulting for infrastructure.

Long Term Goal - Return back to India and get into advisory services for policy making in government sectors.

Extra curricular/Leadership Activities (Not very impressive though!) :
- Female recruitment/hospitality head for techno cultural college event
- Student Council Secretary General for Professional body
- Charity activities like organising white washing for orphanage, amusement trip for kids.
- Volunteer in distributing food and essentials every Friday to the underprivileged construction workers in UAE.
- Responsible for logistics and event management of annual event of Women Business network in the company.

International Exposure: Working in a multinational company in the Middle East. No international travels professionally but personally traveled to 9 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Target Schools: Harvard, Stanford, Tuck, LBS, INSEAD. Please recommend any other school fit for my profile and align with my goals?

Vibranture · Answer

Hello there,

Thanks for posting a detailed profile.

You seem to have good unique work experience that will help you stand out. However, as of now several elements in your profile such as GMAT, non-IIT undergrad and only 2-3 yrs of work experience tend to place your overall profile on the lower side to be competitive for most of your target schools. If you are aiming for top US B-schools, you will need to raise your GMAT by 20-40 points and write impressive essays.

I'd suggest looking at the class profile of top MBA programs, esp. the GMAT score and shortlisting the schools where your score is about 20-40points higher than the class average. These would mostly be top 20- 30 ranked schools.

Currently, INSEAD seems more plausible given the diversity in your profile and international experience. In fact, one of my student from an engineering design firm in the Middle East recently interviewed with INSEAD for Jan 2017 intake. Another female student I helped joined Jan 2016.

In case you would like to discuss more, please email me at

Hope this helped

Good luck!

Good luck!

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

A few reflections on your profile:
 
  The nature of your profession alone will help you grab instant attention given the gender biases it crosses. The work content itself is more important. Whether it is office based designing and coordination or field based for instance. That will ascertain the weight that gets attached to it. 
  The overall academic arc seems to be on the average side though you have good grades but the brands are not strong. The GMAT as well additional certifications can help overcome that to some extent - so if feasible, it is definitely worth a re-take.  
  The post-MBA story while logically sensible could be another stumbling block. Infa advisory firms rarely hire MBA grads; Energy consulting roles are few and far between. So make sure you have done your research and are not aiming for something impractical/too ambitious here.  
  For reasons mentioned  here , we do not speculate on school selection. Your profile does have good content though and if you play your cards right, you should have a shot at some good schools out there.

Hope this helps some.

Cheers,

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

I think your data points will be challenging for the schools you have listed. You are below the ever rising GMAT avg scores at the schools and although you have performed well in college, your school will not be seen as a premier program. I think your gender diversity will help but I would really focus on raising your GMAT score and making sure your career goals are well aligned for your target schools

CIVILENGINEERF · Answer

Thanks for the prompt reply. Vibranture

The way I see it is I cannot do anything about my undergrad university now. My post-grad - I have a solid reason for selecting that particular school. I did my full time Masters along with my full time job and hence had to choose the school accordingly. I consider this as a big positive, which is why I am 26 years old with 4 years of work experience and a Masters degree. Do you think I can drive my application in that direction?

My GMAT score is my first attempt. I might retake it. 
My verbal score is 91 percentile and that would be sufficient? Can my low quant score be compensated by my strong quant profession?

CIVILENGINEERF · Answer

Thanks for your prompt reply.

1. My work is office based design for now. But I am working towards my chartered (equivalent of PE in US), which means I would have to have all-round experience including site work, commercial and contractual experience and people management.
2. The way I see it is I cannot do anything about my undergrad university now. I did my full time Masters along with my full time job and hence had to choose the school accordingly. I consider this as a big positive, which is why I am 26 years old with 4 years of work experience and a Masters degree. Do you think I can drive my application in that direction?
3. At least for now, I do not want to change my field, because I love to work in infrastructure and I am pretty satisfied with it. However, I don't know if I will change my mind once I see the wider angle of opportunities while I do MBA.

Thanks again!

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

You certainly can showcase your approach in #2 that may be a good topic to highlight in your optional essay. On the GMAT side a 700 is a good score but remember you are applying to some of the top schools in the world so sometimes good is not enough. Of course a higher score would theoretically give you a better chance at admissions, not that you can't get in at a 700 but if you want to optimize your chances I would recommend retaking to get to or above the averages at these schools especially since this was only your first attempt, which is great so you can probably improve with a bit more prep

Vibranture · Answer

Please see my answers below:

The way I see it is I cannot do anything about my undergrad university now.  Yes, and that is why you should try to give your best shot in other parts of the application you can control- e.g GMAT, essays, resume, recos etc.

My post-grad - I have a solid reason for selecting that particular school. I did my full time Masters along with my full time job and hence had to choose the school accordingly. I consider this as a big positive, which is why I am 26 years old with 4 years of work experience and a Masters degree. Do you think I can drive my application in that direction?  Unfortunately most schools wouldn't count/ give much importance to part-time work experience. So don't bank on it too much.

My GMAT score is my first attempt. I might retake it. My verbal score is 91 percentile and that would be sufficient? Can my low quant score be compensated by my strong quant profession?  You will be evaluated against people who have excellent GMAT scores. Competition at the top schools is tough and they can cherry pick candidates, so your work ex. would help you only so far.

My suggestion:
1. Retake GMAT and apply only with 730+ to top schools
2. Reassess your school options. Find a good match/ fit without looking at rankings

You might like to read:
 How Alok landed with up to 100% scholarship from US B-schools (GMAT 710) 
 Indian applicant success story: Said Oxford (GMAT 680)

CIVILENGINEERF · Answer

Hi  Vibranture 
Thank you for your time. Please forgive me if I am shooting too many questions. I have just started the process and am still struggling to get the first step steady.

I would like to clarify that I did my FULL TIME Masters with my FULL TIME job travelling about 300kms! There are only few universities offering postgraduate studies in the UAE. I had do the study along with my job as I did not have enough financial stability to leave my job and study. Even with my job I had to dedicate 80% of my salary on tuition fees alone! If you ask me if it was worth, I would say yes! I got a better job and met my academic requirements for chartered status from ICE.

Now do you think it would be a positive to mention this in the application?

Thanks for the suggestions but...

I am not in a position to compromise on the schools. I am aiming for top b-schools - whether I get in or not is a different issue, but thats my aim. The opportunity cost to leave my current job, move to US and do an MBA in tier 2 school doesnt make sense, especially considering my financial situation. I hope you understand what I am trying to convey.

As I said, I might retake the GMAT. However, I don't want to mess with my essays and recommendations trying to score an extra 20-30 points. I do recon the top schools do give heavy weightage on the GMAT, especially when you are from a over represented pool.

Greatly Appreciate your efforts to help out people like me!

CIVILENGINEERF · Answer

Thank you for your time.

Yes I understand your point. It is just about improving my chances and not giving them a reason to overlook my application.

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hi there,

Sounds like you're set on your school targets, and if tier-1 is what you're after, I highly encourage you to retake the GMAT. Further, you'll need to focus in on how you can demonstrate your leadership in the workplace. I'm sure you have a plethora of examples, so it's all about crafting the right story - find ways to highlight your advisory capacity within your consulting firm, discuss your leadership in your community, etc. Your Master's degree is an important part of your story. Be clear about why that decision was the right one then and why this decision to get second Master's degree is the right one now - the AdComm will want to know this for sure.

Hope this additional guidance helps. Take a look at our  our free resources  to help you prepare for your R1 applications. Should you want to discuss how we can help your application stand out from the crowd, sign up for free consultation below - we'd love to chat! Best of luck!

Vibranture · Answer

Sure, go ahead and mention about your masters and the relevant circumstances in the appropriate section in the application. Regarding the school choices, I can tell you from my own experience (as an Indian applicant and alum from a Top US B-school) your post-MBA career would depend a lot more on being proactive and building a strong network (plus a bit of luck!) than so much on the ranking of the institute

Good luck with your applications!

Profile Evaluation Request: Female Civil Engineer

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