Schools providing CV review before application

Question

Was searching for schools which do a CV review before application.
The general idea is to assess the student's profile and determine whether he/she fits with the type of candidate the school is looking for.

Now I dont know how truthful these reviews are but then they are still worth a try.

There are three schools that i could locate.I am attaching my CV and the responses below:-

1.Oxford:

Dear Subhajit,
Thank you for your email and CV which I have read with interest. You do have the qualities we look for in an applicant by way of academics and work experience. Your GMAT score is fine.

In terms of the application we recommend spending about 3 weeks over your essays they are your opportunity to showcase yourself and make the Admissions Committee want to interview you. Also do ask a friend to read them and give you feedback. The references are important so I would advise choosing them carefully. Chose someone who knows you well, who will be honest about you, and will sell you to the school.
Kind Regards,
Gisela

2.Cranfield:

Dear Subhajit,

Thank for your interest in the Cranfield MBA.

You would be required to attain a TOEFL score over 100 (iBT) a PTE academic score of 68 or an IELTS result in Band 7. The course is very intensive, with interactive lectures and a good command of English is required to be able to participate fully.

3. London B school

Dear Subhajit,

Thank you for submitting your CV for review.
Having reviewed your profile, I can confirm that you may be a good fit for the London Business School’s MBA. Please see the most recent class profile. A new online application form and application deadlines for the programme starting in August 2014 is now available. To be considered for admission onto the full-time MBA programme, we require a good undergraduate degree or equivalent professional qualification. However, we may consider candidates who do not have a degree if they have worked in a position with a high level of responsibility.
Our collaborative style of learning, which draws from the diversity and excellence of each cohort, is a key feature of our MBA Programme. As such, we expect our students to have sufficient high quality and relevant work experience so as to be able to actively contribute to the learning of others.
We prefer this work experience to be gained after graduating from your undergraduate or post-graduate degree. We may consider work experience obtained while studying for a degree, but the strength of your case will depend on the quality as well as the length of your work experience. Unfortunately, this can only be assessed once we receive your completed application, not before. The average work experience of our students is 5-6 years.
Admission may be granted to candidates who are establishing their careers and who present superior academic credentials with outstanding evidence of leadership through professional and personal experiences.
A good GMAT score is also required. All applicants, without exception, must take the GMAT. It is an important worldwide standardised tool that we use to gauge a number of things in regards to your suitability for the programme. You can visit www.mba.com to schedule your GMAT.
The accepted range for GMAT is 600-780. Our average for the programme is 700 for both non-native and native English speakers and we advise candidates to aim for a score of 650+ in order to submit a competitive application. However, the GMAT is just one of several admission criteria. Just as a high score does not guarantee admission to the programme, a below average score does not necessarily eliminate a candidate.
I hope this information is helpful Subhajit; please feel free to contact me should you have any further queries.

Kind regards
Cleo

Requesting members to add to this list if they find any more schools. You are also welcome to post in your feedbacks regrading the same.

Below is my CV/resume attached. Its prepared from the template provided by oxford.
Members may also comment on how justified they feel the above comments are??

Regards
Roop

Attachments

Subhajit Dutta_Resume.doc [49 KiB]
Downloaded 1198 times

domotron · Answer

I had an LBS CV review a while back. You need to take these with a pinch of salt. They won't review your CV thoroughly at all. I have a feeling all they do is to make sure you are in the ballpark in terms of suitability for their program. For instance, if you do not hold a degree and they strictly said must have undergrad degree or equivalent, they will probably let you know that you are not suitable. Just bear in mind that getting a review that says you are eligible to apply is very different from you are competitive for this school.

P.S. Work on that resume. You really need to condense down to 2 pages or even better, to one page.

P.S. Work on that resume. You really need to condense down to 2 pages or even better, to one page.

mappleby · Answer

This x1,000! Not sure how strict schools are in the UK but most places the standard is 1 page. You have a little more work experience than average so maybe you could go to 2 pages but honestly you have tons of wasted space on your resume. You could make that 2 pages with just formatting. I bet with some decent editing getting down to 1 page would be easily achievable.

roopPreps · Answer

@ mappleby...

your comments are appreciated.....would work on that...n yeah my CV needs a bit of formatting....would try n squeeze it up to 1.5 - 2 pages...

roopPreps · Answer

@ domotron i agree with u on the "Salt Intake" part.. :-)

..nyways u have any idea of any US b schools offering such services....true that they dont review the CV's that thoroughly but then again it can be a good starting point to begin the application process. If you see the difference in response styles of the two reviews that i posted, you can see that Crainfield was a lot more specific whereas Oxford reply was more general...what do you make of that??

domotron · Answer

I have not come across any for US schools, at least not the ones I am applying to.

I don't think Cranfield was that much more specific other than relaying its TOEFL requirement frankly. These reviews really do not indicate whether you are competitive or not. I don't think schools really want to discourage applicants. Maybe it's a cynical view but they all want more applicants so that they can build a diverse class, make them look more selective, and, of course, take your application fee.

Ward2012 · Answer

Definitely EMBA programs do this, but not so much full-time in the US (at least the top programs.) There are too many applicants and too small an admissions committee staff to do this.

You might be able to get an "informal" review over the summer when things are less busy. I've heard of this at Tuck.

Ward2012 · Answer

Actually I forgot that Fuqua has the pre-interview option to candidates. It's more than just a resume review though.

roopPreps · Answer

have updated the CV review provided by London Business School... Again LBS gave a very generic review(as was expected). :?:

MBAbot · Answer

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Schools providing CV review before application

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