Profile Evalutaion for 2022

Question

Hi, I would like to get a sense of my profile below.

Nationality and Gender:
Indian Male

GMAT Score:
690. Q50 V33 IR8.

Education:
Undergrad: Bachelors in Engineering from NSIT, Delhi, Stream - Instrumentation & Control. GPA 7.4/10
CFA Level 3 Candidate (Taking Level 3 in May 2021)

Professional Experience (3.5 years):
2016-2017 - Worked as a Research Analyst for a KPO primarily for a US Consulting company with >75 projects ranging from Retail to Technology sectors. Was the lead analyst on >20 projects, right from handling client calls/requests to deliverables.
2017-2018 - Gap year (Took break for CAT, Didn't happen)
2018 - Present - Working as a Credit Research Analyst with one of the top rating companies. 1 Promotion here. Been top performer in the team all through. Awarded Performer of the Quarter 2 times in a single year. Worked on multiple pilot projects. Additional responsibilities such as Client Deliverables and Training of new joiners in the team.

MBA Objective:
Would like to move into Investment Management (PE, WealthM) or IB. Gain experience and come back to India and open my own IM firm.

Schools: (Some may be out of reach)
Cornell, NYU, Darden, Rotman, NUS, Tepper, Ivey

Questions:
1. Overall assessment of the profile with respect to the schools.
2. Should I give another shot at GMAT and aim for a higher score?
3. Anything I should focus on in the essay part.

Admissionado · Answer

madkat : Thank you for reaching out! 1. Overall assessment of the profile with respect to the schools. The U.S. schools will be tough, NYU Stern in particular is going to be a stretch. NUS is not a bad option since the GMAT can be optional and is therefore not a critical component of hte application. 2. Should I give another shot at GMAT and aim for a higher score? Absolutely. While you are tantalizingly close to a 700, you really do want to get closer to 730, if possible, given your competitive demographic. That would take tons of pressure off of the need to overperform in other components of your background. If you are not applying until the fall, you have no reason not to take the exam again. The other thing is that your verbal score is low so every few points you do better the disproportionally great impact it will have on your overall score. 3. Anything I should focus on in the essay part. This is a loaded question! We spent tons of time working with our clients on how to approach your essays. They are the x factor for so many candidates coming from highly selective categories. It's impossible to say what you should write about in your essays solely based on the information you have provided. There has to be a theme and an interdependence throughout your entire application. Most people tend to talk about career accomplishments, personal stories and everything in between. I can say with certainty you will need to address your gap year in the optional essay for each school. It's great that you are thinking about all this somewhat earlier in the process. If you are interested in this type of service, I strongly urge you reach out to us for a free consultation so we can better understand your background and walk you through our essay support packages. https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/ Best, Admissionado

dangerduck · Answer

Hi Admissionado! I came across this very interesting thread and I also would like to know my chances of getting into the top B-Schools (Harvard, Wharton, Yale, MIT). Im interested in the 2-year MBA programs across these schools.

Background and nationality: I am a male Indonesian who got very lucky to be able to experience an undergrad education in the U.S. After graduation, I come back to Indonesia to pursue my passion in Finance.
Undergrad Information: Univ. of Illinois Urbana - Champaign majoring in Finance 3.60/4.00 GPA, senior position in an investment club.
GMAT: 700
Work experience and leadership: 4 years of experience in the consumer products industry, 1 year in food consumer products (got promoted 6-months in), 3 years in Philip Morris International (tobacco, got a promotion and multiple employee awards, foreign-country assignments to Pakistan & China to represent my division)
Community and others: Leadership position of my local community table tennis association, swimming instructor for children (in the past), passionate in stock value investor (been investing for a long time with decent CAGR returns)
Post MBA goals: I want to pivot and pursue my passion in investments (thinking of getting into GIC, Blackrock, Temasek)

Let me know if you need more information

Admissionado · Answer

dangerduck : Thanks for reaching out to us and sharing your profile! Based on my surface-level review, Harvard and Wharton will be very difficult. Your scores (GPA, GMAT) - while good - are not strong enough and I am not seeing the uniqueness or strength of accomplishments to overcompensate. MIT will also be very competitive but you might have a shot. Yale, which tends to want high grades and GMAT scores, will be more in reach because it is a tier or two below the others. Have you also considered NYU (Stern), Michigan (Ross), Cornell (Johnson) and others on that level? These are great programs with strong finance programs, and will more attainable. If you are interested in improving your profile between now and the application season, I would start with retaking the GMAT. A score of 700 is solid but effectively the virtual minimum you would need to get into your top choices. For someone of South Asian descent, you really could use a 730+ especially since your GPA is solid but not outstanding. As for your accomplishments, can you share more about what you have done in ECs? You hold two great volunteer positions but how deep did you get in them? Was there anything major you achieved that could be considered game changing from an admissions perspective? I would also like to know more about what you have accomplished at work besides being promoted. I strongly recommend you reach out to us for a free consultation if you are serious about applying in the fall and are genuinely interested in application support services. For someone with a great background and, I am sure, interesting stories, you could benefit from an expert consultant to both help you improve your profile from now until the end of the summer and then help you put together killer applications! https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/ -Admissionado

avinash1105 · Answer

Hello Sir/Madam,

It would really help me if you can take a few minutes to go through my profile and help me evaluate my changes of a fit into the top b-schools in US.

My profile at a glance :

Nationality : Indian
Age : 24

Higher Secondary : 9.7/10
Senior Secondary : 97.8%
B.Tech : Computer Science Engineer. CGPA 8.72/10. VIT University. One of the top 20 Engineering schools in India. Initially was too focused on Entrepreneurship hence had a low GPA but once I realised I wanted to go for higher studies, I put my whole and soul into studies with the last two semesters giving me 9.5/10 and 9.8/10 in GPA.

GMAT : 730 Q50 V39 IR6 AWA4

Internships: 2
JPS Precast : Business development associate intern.
Novartis : Summer Intern.

Work Experience : 31 months at Novartis(Pharmaceutical Industry). 12 months as an Associate, 16 months as an Analyst and 3 months as a Manager.

Impact at work :
1. 2 promotions in 2 years. Currently performing the role of a Digital Operations Manager(Need a minimun exp of 5 years. So probably the youngest in the firm).
2. Represented my firm at the Bio Asia Conference.
3. Was part of the young leaders connect with the CEO.
4. Youngest person to receive the Above and Beyond Gold award.
5. Winner of the CIE - IIIT Medtech Hackathon. Developed a quantifiable mechanism to track the progress of alzheimers and the impact of medicine in curbing the same. Was offered an opporunity with a seed fund to take the idea forward. Could not because the the idea belongs to the firm since we represented the firm.
6. Part of a major initiative to completely transform the way patients are hired for clinical trials. Currently active in 3 different countries and very soon to expand to most of Europe and Americas.
7. Part of the first team of college graduates ever to convert the internship at the firm.
8. Led a team of 4 in streamlining the process to induct fresh grads into the firm and was part of the hiring team as well.
9. Organised several events for the firm both in the cultural and team building space.

Most Impactful achievement :
Developed a platform that automates the documentation required while recording clinical trials. The tools saves almost 2000 hours per annum. And it is currently used by almost 80% of trials in the organisation. Given that COVID has halted most of the work around the globe, this tool saw tremendous traction and really made an impact in the way clinical trials are documented. Given that clinical trials consume the most amount of time in a for a drug to release into the market, it made a huge difference that too with COVID all around.

Accomplishments outside work:
Gained admission to one of the most competetive high schools in the country with a merit scholarship. The conversion rate of which is 8%.
Won INSPIRE scholarship for being in the top 1% of students in Senior Secondary.
Organised and oversaw the execution of Kids festival, probably the first of its kind for a public school children, which saw several dignitaries attending and it soon got expanded in scope to several other schools.

Extracurriculars/Hobbies :
I am the founder/author of a Familial Public Charity trust and we try to provide for the educational requirements of the less previleged.
I am also one of the co founders of an agricultural startup with a business turover of almost $100k in the very first year.
I really love to Fish and travel.
Was part of a NGOs while in college.

Thats pretty much on a high level about me. I would really appreciate if you could tell me what schools are within my reach(I know that being an Indian with a 730, M7 may be out of my reach. I have always dreamed of placing myself with the likes of Ross, Darden, Stern, Anderson). I am looking to go into consulting post my MBA.

Thank you for your time and inputs in this regard.

Admissionado · Answer

avinash1105 : Thank you for sharing all of this great information and congratulations on all your success to date. Ross, Darden, Stern and Anderson are all good target schools. You might even have a shot at some of the M7s if you play your cards right and get a little lucky. You are on the slightly young side but you have many things going for you including some interesting ECs and coming from a blue chip company. One thing to note - I would reconsider communicating consulting as a post-MBA goal. Since it is such a popular path, it is rather bland. You need to come up with a more creative narrative to help separate yourself. You good grades and an acceptable GMAT score for your competitive demographic, so why make your essays so generic sounding? I suppose you could talk about healthcare/pharma consulting, but what if your ultimate goal? Why big dream do you have that consulting would help you achieve? We are particularly good at taking someone's profile and personalizing their story so it stands out. Feel free to reach out to us if you are genuinely interested in our application support services. https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/ Looking forward to hearing from you, Admissionado

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