Profile Evaluation/ School suggestion request

Question

Hi Team,

I would really appreciate if you could take a look at my profile and give feedback.

Introduction:-
Aditya Kumar, Indian Male (26) with 5+ years of work exp in petrochemical industry in sustainability domain.

Education :-
Class X GPA 10/10
Class XII 93%
B Tech from IIT Kharagpur GPA 8.25/10
Majors in Mechanical Engineering and Minors in Economics

GMAT :- 700 Q49 V35 (planning to retake , target 720-740)

College Experience :-
Changed my stream from Mining to Mechanical engineering at the end of first year based on extra-ordinary academic performance.
Honorary award after graduation from IIT Kharagpur for Social and Cultural achievement in college, won several medals for drama and theatre performances.
Led case study and ad-design team of college to win medals in internal and external competitions

Work experience:-
I am working in ExxonMobil, one of world's largest energy companies. I have worked in different functions and geographies in the last 5 years.
- 2017-2018 worked in supply chain as EMEAF(Europe, Middle east and Africa) Logistics and Distribution analyst
optimizing costs and improving quality and performance. Did 2 month assignment in Brussels, Europe headquarters working with senior management to develop the corporate plan of >100M$
- 2018-2019 worked in supply chain as Global Sales and Operations Analyst
focusing on inventory management and sustainable and efficient supply chain models. Did 2 month assignment in Singapore, Asia Pacific headquarters working with global leaders of the company
- 2019-2021 moved from supply Chain to market development as Project Manager
developed sustainable packaging solutions for construction industry in India, creating light weight industrial bags reducing >10,000 Tons of plastic waste and creating sustainable business for all value chain partners
-2021- present promoted to South Asia Marketing Manager
Developed circular business models promoting recyclable solutions with major global companies like P&G, Kimberly Clark, HUL, Becton Dickinson, BBraun etc
Managing a cross functional(sales, marketing and technology )and cross regional (India, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia) team for the last 1 year

Post MBA goal :-
I wish to continue working in the field of sustainability, but broaden the scope and impact of my work. I want to work in geographies like UK, US and Europe where focus on sustainability, carbon neutrality and clean energy is fast paced and aggressive. I want to gain more skillset other than supply chain and marketing to become a well rounded leader in this field. I will like to get connected to the right network through the college alumni working in this domain which can give me entrepreneurial mindset in this industry. To summarize, I wish to become either a corporate leader or an industry expert in the field of sustainability and I feel MBA from the right college can give me the accelerated growth required.

Advice/guidance needed :-
1. Shortlisting colleges as per my post MBA goals - factors to consider
2. What should be the ideal GMAT score for the colleges shortlisted
3. What are the things to highlight for impactful essays and LORs
4. Applying in R2 vs R1 (if the GMAT score doesn't improve)

Do let me know in case any further inputs are needed.

Looking forward to your response and appreciate you taking time out for this.

Thank you!

Ranforce7 · Answer

No need to retake Gmat. You have good profile

Posted from my mobile device

mindhunter75 · Answer

Thanks for your comment !

Can you suggest me good b-schools in US and UK/Europe according to my profile and post MBA goals ?

Appreciate your response

Regards
Aditya

Ranforce7 · Answer

Simon, HEC praise, Roman, duke

mbaMissionJA · Answer

Hi AdityaKumar75 , the other poster is unaffiliated with mbaMission, so just want to note that it seems to be a fellow applicant responding. You have some really great global leadership experiences at a name brand employer, strong undergrad experience and a passion for sustainability. Yet, your goals, while admirable, are actually pretty fuzzy in what you've written. That makes it really hard to suggest programs or determine your relative profile strength. Do you have a target type of role/employer and geography that is a little more narrow than what you've described above? I'm not clear what you are envisioning for your immediate post-MBA job when you say: "I want to gain more skillset other than supply chain and marketing to become a well rounded leader in this field. I will like to get connected to the right network through the college alumni working in this domain which can give me entrepreneurial mindset in this industry. To summarize, I wish to become either a corporate leader or an industry expert in the field of sustainability." If you want to work outside supply chain/marketing, are you targeting a role in finance? Strategy? At a large company in energy, or a small one? Or a consulting firm? From what you say, I am really not sure. While essay topics do vary across schools, in the application process, most schools hope to hear you somewhere articulate clear goals and often, how their particular programs will prepare you to get there. So that would be the first thing I'd focus on now. Also, to the geography point...while there is some recruitment that happens globally at a school that might be far from the employer, the reality is that most schools will offer recruiting that centers on a somewhat regional basis. So narrowing down "US, UK, Europe" further (are you interested in Canada too?), might help determine schools that make sense a bit more. As a rule of thumb, European schools and Canadian schools have lower GMAT averages at the top programs than the most targeted US programs, but keep in mind that you are in a competitive category demographically (Indian engineer) so instead of matching those scores, you'll want to outperform if possible. It's not the only factor by any means, but it can be a difference maker in competitive situations, so if you think you can do a bit better and it won't take too much away from your apps, why not try?

To answer your question on impactful essays and LORs, I'd say: lots of things can help you do great ones, but specifics again can be very key here. If a recommender says "Aditya is so wonderful, you really should take him," it's not nearly as helpful as if this person says: "Aditya is one of the very best I have ever worked with. His sharp problem solving helped us identify an unexpected solution to a pricing quandary we'd been working out for months before he joined the team...but even better, his thoughtful questions in meetings changed the way we approached our project planning to separate what we needed to do vs. would have liked to do in ideal circumstances, and streamline the most critical elements at a time when the company had fewer resources in the pandemic." I'm obviously making this up, but hopefully this shows you that the details make a difference! The same rule applies to your essays. When a school asks why them, for example, you don't want to be generic but quite specific. For more tips, see our website mbaMission.com! As for timing, it's hard to say because that depends on the program, but generally -- apply when you're ready and consider deposits that you might have to do if you submit across rounds and hear from one school before another you like better accepts you (but that's a good problem to have I suppose). Hope this is helpful! Rooting for you! Julie-Anne Heafey Senior Consultant mbaMission

guest1405 · Answer

must retake GMAT. Poor, dishonest advice given by ranforce.

Ranforce7 · Answer

I think retaking GMAT is just a lazy advice by admissions consultant to make their work easier. They just try to sell GMAT to schools.
And improve their stats.

Posted from my mobile device

NextGenNerd · Answer

Hi everyone!

Please share your thoughts on my profile.

Demography:
29-year-old Indian Male

Education:
 Undergrad
 - Bachelor in Engineering: Computer Science. Visveshwaraya Technological University, India (2011-2015)
 - Grade: 69% Aggregate. 1st Class
 - Got a full-ride merit scholarship for 4 years of engineering as I come from a low-income background and scored more than 90% in 12th standard (Physics: 89, Chemistry: 93, Maths: 91)
 Graduation
 - Masters of Science: Computer Science. University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (2017-2018)
 - Grade: 2.1 . First Class
 - Got a scholarship of 4000 euros for educational excellence in engineering

GMAT:
760 (Q50-V42-IR:8-AWA:4)

Current Role:
Senior Software Engineer 
-Design, develop and maintain enterprise-level software applications

Work Experience:
 Dublin, Ireland (4 years)
 -Worked for an Investment Management firm as the lead software developer to build in-house technology products
 -Contributed to the design-development-testing and production phases of an enterprise-level Trade-Order Management System with a team of 4 international software developers
 -The system effectively manages more than $600 million per month in transactions and handles more than $200 million on a single day during portfolio rebalancing

Bangalore, India (2 years)
 -Worked for a Management Consulting firm as a Decision Scientist
 -Worked with multiple fortune 500 clients to provide data-driven insights and actionable recommendations

Extracurriculars:
 Captain of the University Volleyball Team (2012- 2015)
 -Led the team to win our first state-level tournament in 9 years
 -Won various regional tournaments across Karnataka, India
 Trekked the Himalayas (2017)
 -After 3 months of intense training, trekked to Roopkund, Himalayas
 -This expedition was with a team of 20 people, ascending from 7000 feet on day 0 to reaching 16,000 feet on day 9
 Active Tennis player
 -Won the club championship for doubles and the most improved player of the year award in 2019
 
Languages: 
-English
-Hindi
-Kannada
 
Post-MBA Goal:
-short-term: Switch from tech to consulting, get into MBB. Ideally continue to stay in the finance and tech space
-long-term: Work in strategy roles/ leadership positions in mid-sized fin-tech firms

LOR:
- Strong letter from my current CEO

Target Schools:
Havard, Booth, Kellog, Tuck, Columbia, LBS, INSEAD

Strengths: 
 - 4 years of international experience. Living in Dublin, worked mostly with the Irish and the germans
 - Worked on niche investment tech products. Quant and tech-heavy. 
 - Wore multiple hats in terms of working with Traders, Brokers, external lawyers, international software developers, and data vendors
 - Implemented multiple software from whiteboard to live environments
 
Weakness:
 - Mostly worked in small teams. Haven't led teams of size 10 or more professionally. 
 - Relatively less exposure in terms of presenting to / convincing stakeholders.

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