Nakul Arora wrote:
Name: Nakul Arora
Academics:
10th ICSE: 91.6%
12th CBSE: 85.2%
IIT-JEE All India Rank: 4935
Qualifications: B-Tech Mining engg. from IIT-BHU Varanasi. 7.4 GPA. 2007-2011
Work Experience (Duration, Role, Company, Industry)
a) 2 Years At Teach for India 11-13: 1st year taught 32 3rd graders. Got my students to appear in 2 national level exams, the class average was highest across Teach for India. 2nd year, shifted to teach in a shelter home for street girls(wanted a tougher environment): Taught 33 students in a multi-grade mixed classroom. Did a bilingual musical with them to get them invested in classroom through their love for dance.
b) 1 year experience at Goonj 13-14: As a team member: Was responsible for various campaigns. Majorly designed and implemented their School to School campaign across 50 schools.
c) Teach for Bangladesh: 2 years
1.5 years as a Leadership Development Manager, had a team of 16-18 fellows(teachers) under me. Was responsible for their personal and professional development.
Was promoted to Academy Director(6 months): Led a team of 10 teacher trainers and curriculum writers in training a total of 50 teachers to be placed in government schools over a 6 week intensive training program.
d) Running my Hotel: Feb 17 onwards(8 months)
Came back to India to manage the family hotel for stable finances. Took the occupancy up from 20% to 60% average in 5 months as the result of which the hotel turned profitable. Setting up the hotel was one of my life goals.
Test Scores with breakup
GRE: Actual 322(Q: 161, V:161) (11/10/17)
I know the score is low, will be retaking it in 1st week of November. I was scoring 330 in my practice tests, panicked that day and messed my Maths score.
I can re-take this in 1st week of November and am confident of scoring 330(I was scoring 330 in all my practice tests including powerprep).
Geography / Class Start Year preference:
USA, 2 year programs. Starting in September 2018. Aiming for top 10 school only.
What makes your profile unique?
1) Have a Strong leadership work profile that demonstrates commitment to development sector: Education.
2) Profile also demonstrates how I have been working towards a goal of shaping myself as a leader through progression in the education sector and running a high intense project Academy as a director.
3) International full time work exposure: I choose to work in Bangladesh for 2 reasons: I wanted to put myself in a place where I was in a minority so as to challenge my nationalist bias and also get to experience what it feels like to be in a minority. 2nd, I wanted a micro leadership role in education space so as to discover my leadership style and further my ability to empathize with others. I also met all my goals as the academy director and have tangible data for the same.
4) Managing the Hotel has made me confident about my business skills and also, this coupled with the development work experience has made me realized that any for any large scale impact, the model has to be financially independent.
Goals(Have to get more clarity in them)
Short Term: Developing myself as a working professional by working in for-profit organizations in the ed-tech space or indirectly impacting education. Even consultancy roles in a similar space would be of interest to me.
Long Term: Setting up my own ed-tech organization in the for profit space and open-sourcing the technology so as to lead to wide-scale impact.
Extra Curricular:
1) Varanasi coordinator for India Against Corruption in College:final year. Organized candle-light marches and rallies.
2) Volunteered for Aam Aadmi Party: door to door campaigning for them.
3) I blog at justacrazydreamer dot com
4) Was selected to be a part of Tata Jagriti Yatra in 2011.
5) Have done a 10 day silent Vipassana Course 2 times.
Questions:
1) I initially had plans for doing a MPP and my profile matches that perfectly. However, recently due to my involvement in business and also, direct exposure to the financial logistics associated with setting up even a school has led me to change the way I perceive impact. Does my profile show cogency regarding the same?
2) I have just decided to do a MBA, thus I had already given GRE for MPP. Should I go and give GMAT or simply stick to my plan for improving my GRE score( I can crack 330+ as I was consistently scoring that in practice tests).
3) What's your take on my profile and any advice on questions I should think about in order to ensure that my answers are more coherent? I am aiming to apply only to the top 10 schools in the US in the following category: 2 super dream(2 of top 3), 2 dream(2 from rank 4-7) and 1(rank 8-10).
Hey dude,
Very good to hear from you! And very nice to see about your passion for education!
So first things first - the testing. It doesn't matter much these days if you do a GMAT or GRE (if you do a GRE just look at the GMAT equivalent) what DOES matter is that it is high, very high in fact. As far above the average as can me. As you have heard this before, but the competition from India is KILLER:
https://admissionado.com/mba/3-tips-for- ... n=mba_bloghttps://admissionado.com/mba/to-retake-o ... n=mba_blogNext, your profile is very good, but I don't know if it's Top 10 good. If your GMAT/GRE is high enough, I would certainly try. You're an IIT grad. Your profile is a bit different... but even with that higher score, I'd suggest opening up to Top20 schools. And spreading your school list over the range, and adding more schools will help you get an accept. Don't get stuck on Top10 only.
Your goals - They are a good start, but they need a bit of work. I would avoid anything "Startupy" in goals unless you have something very very precise and you know exactly what you want to do, and you can prove that you have the knowledge/experience to do it. So aim for something more classical - go with known firms that you love and aim for the top.
I hope this helps.
If you have any further questions, feel free to write.
Best,