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May 2008:00 AM PDT
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What’s in it for you- Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with Jenifer Turtschanow, CEO, ARINGO. Come with your details prepared and ARINGO will share insights! Pre-MBA Role/Industry, YOE, Exam Score, C/GPA, ECs Post-MBA Role/ Industry & School List.
May 2110:00 AM EDT
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Most candidates submit a resume built for a recruiter. Admissions committees are reading for something else entirely. This session covers what adcoms actually evaluate, where strong candidates lose ground before a single essay is written, and why...
May 2208:30 AM PDT
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Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great and how you can present a strong MBA application. Explore the difference between our One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs, talk to our admissions team, and meet students.
May 2203:00 PM EDT
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May 2311:00 AM PDT
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May 2707:30 PM EDT
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10 Sep 2015, 01:44
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Today in our "YourMBAstory" section we are featuring Swati from Chicago who took the difficult decision to apply to top MBA courses when her daughter was just 9 months old. We find her dedication and structured approach to the application process really inspiring. Here is a chat with Kellogg admit Swati.
Apply MBA: Congrats on the Kellogg admit Swati. Thank you for agreeing to share your MBA application experience with the wider Apply MBA community. We would like to know a little about your background. What did you study as an undergrad? Where were you working prior to joining the MBA program? Where are you currently in school?
Swati: I did my undergrad in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, India and was working as a Program Manager in a leading IT MNC prior to joining my MBA. Currently I will be pursuing my MBA from Kellogg and set to graduate in 2017.
Apply MBA: So what prompted you to think about MBA after almost 12 years of being in the IT industry?
Swati: After being for 12 years in IT , I realized that I needed something extra to take my career forward , to grow beyond what I was doing and differentiate myself from the rest of the crowd. There were too many senior people in the vertical I was in, no matter how well I performed it was difficult to surpass them in terms of seniority with just experience alone. I needed something extra to differentiate myself and stand out of the crowd.
Also I was not getting roles that were challenging enough for me. There was a stagnation that had set in. Even if I wanted to shift companies I would probably have gotten similar roles.
Apply MBA: You prepared for your GMAT when your daughter was 9 months old while at the same time doing a full-time job. Undoubtedly it was tough for you, tell us a little on how you went about GMAT and your MBA applications? What support structure did you have?
Swati: It was tremendously tough. I barely slept 3 hours per day and my daughter was still on my feeds. My mom-in-law was a huge support for me. She looked after my daughter while I was studying and preparing my applications. However despite that since I was also managing a full time job , I had to make sure that I managed my time properly.
I never got a long stretch of study time (which is probably same for non-parents with full time job as well). So I broke my study time in small sprints. In GMAT , both verbal and quantitative sections are of 75 min in duration. So I too planned my study time in 75 min sprints. Even if I was doing just problem solving, I would set the clock for 75 min. If I had only 15 min of time , I would estimate how many problem I should be able to solve in 15 min and aim to complete those many in that time.
Second, I created a goal sheet. I created a month long view, what I would do and what I wanted to achieve on each day of the month. I would then track my goal sheets to see if I was achieving my targets. In case I was slipping I would modify the goal sheet to make it up in the next couple of days.
Third, I planned accordingly so that my GMAT preparation time would not be more than 3 months. It may be a personal thing, but for me prolonged preparation periods do not work as I tend to loose the tenacity at the end of it. So I had planned for the preparation time for GMAT to be 2.5 months. In fact at the end of 2 months I just wanted to give the test and finish it off. For 3 weeks prior to the GMAT exam day, I wrote one essay daily (topics were taken from the official GMAT book) and practiced Integrated Reasoning (IR). Some schools place importance on IR so I made sure that I did not neglect this part.
I also gave a lot of mock tests, almost 25 in 2.5 months. I developed tremendous speed because I gave so many mock tests. I bought exam packs from Kaplan, Manhattan, Veritasprep and of-course GMAT official practice tests. Manhattan was very difficult, I scored in 600s for Manhattan while I got in 700s for the others. So anyone scoring less in Manhattan should not be disheartened.
Apply MBA: What was your GMAT score?
Swati: 750
Apply MBA: When you were preparing for GMAT, can you give us a snapshot of what a typical work day looked like for you?
Swati: Generally on a weekday, I would get up early, feed my daughter, make breakfast for her and leave for office (my mom-in-law would feed my daughter breakfast). My office generally got over by 5pm. Once office was over I would do either one of the things, give a mock test in the office itself or head home and prepare later in the night.
On the days I gave mock tests, I would book a conference room in office to give the tests - this kept distractions at a minimum. I did this couple of times a week, I would give a 3rd mock test on the weekend.
On days I would not give mock test, I would return home play with my daughter for some time and then go for a run. After my run , I would do another 75 min of sprint, feed my daughter dinner and put her to sleep. After she slept off , I would then again sit to prepare for GMAT , do it till 2am or 3am and then head off to sleep.
What helped to keep up my energy levels up was running, it really helped build up my stamina to cope with everything.
Apply MBA: What schools did you apply to?
Swati: I applied to Kellogg, Booth, Tepper, Kelley, Ross and Notre dame. I got admits from Kellogg, Tepper, Kelley and Notre Dame.
Apply MBA: So what criteria did you have for choosing these schools?
Swati: It was totally location based. I have a daughter, so I needed to have my family around, my husband couldn’t have moved right now. So I was pretty much fixed on schools around mid-west.
That was the reason I selected Ross despite not having any otherwise common alignment to select this school. Still I selected it as a backup due to its location.
My primary choices were Tepper and Kellogg based on their technical and career alignment with my future goals. But because I stressed too much on location, I could not choose schools like MIT.
However this may not be the case for international students, but as a parent this is the choice I had to make.
Apply MBA: Did you take help of application consultants?
Swati: Yes, I took their help for Booth and Kellogg
Apply MBA: How much did you interact with present students of the schools and what other kind of school research did you do?
Swati:I definitely interacted with at least 1 student per school . Generally I looked for students who were from similar technical background. I asked them pretty much all these questions (what you are asking me now).
I researched about the course from the schools’ websites. Once I got an interview invite, I researched even more about the technical orientation and “why this school” question.
Since I had a purely technical background, I looked for courses that had a core curriculum covering most of the other topics that I did not know (e.g. finance, operations). There are few schools where students need to take electives from day 1. That would not have suited me that well.
Apply MBA: How did the interaction with present students help you?
Swati:It helped me tremendously. Each and every student I interacted with were super helpful, they went out of their way to help me. They even gave pointers on what all questions one can expect for an interview, what kind of answers the schools expect. To give an example, for Tepper, they are very proud about Pittsburg. That was an insight that I got that I tried to remember during my Tepper interview. In another school, a current student helped me to prepare for the case interview that the school conducts.
These kind of finer details are not there in “gmatclub” and can be got only on interacting with the current students. So this step was very important.
Also the fact that you have interacted with someone from the school gives a good impression to the admissions committee on your commitment towards the school and helps you score in your essays and interview.
I also interacted with alumni of few schools. Specifically for Kellogg I got in touch with an alumnus who did the course with a 4 yr old daughter.
Apply MBA: Can you tell our readers how you went about your application process?
Swati: As I said before, I took consultants for Booth and Kellogg as I was based in Chicago and I absolutely wanted to nail these two. For the other schools I followed three things
1. I got the essays reviewed by a friend with an MBA , more specifically who had gone through the same process herself.
2. I got the essays reviewed by a friend who have not prepared for MBA degree but was good in English.
3. I also got the essays reviewed by another friend whose husband was an MBA, so she had some idea about GMAT/ MBA applications.
This helped me get an all round view and some great insights and fresh ideas.
I also datamined my life and wrote down points of all that I have done in my life. Academically, non-academically, volunteering, professional achievement. I even went through all my old emails to see if I have left out anything, any points that I could add to my essays.
Apply MBA: Do you want to share any nuggets of wisdom with our readers while preparing for Kellogg application?
Swati: Kellogg’s USP is collaboration. Everyone is very friendly and team work is of utmost importance.
So what Kellogg sees is that you are friendly, you are easy going, you can actually collaborate with people in your team. In the essays, video essays and interview, you need to come across as a person who can work in teams.
Essay evaluators, interviewers, all of them will be looking to verify that you fit into the cultural fabric of the school. If you think you can fit into the Kellogg culture and this is your dream school then you should come across as a friendly and collaborative person who can excel in teamwork and not necessarily how you were a boss to a lot of people and how you managed a lot of people.
_______________
Thank you Swati for sharing some valuable insights and several actionable points with our applicants. We wish you loads of luck for Kellogg and all your future endeavours!
Dear Readers, check out our free mobile app right now. It is designed to help busy professionals do fast and easy research on B-schools and save time by organizing the MBA application process. Also get essay tips and application guides in the app. Download from App Store or Google Play.
So what is YOUR MBA STORY? If you have secured admits to sought after business schools, be kind to your fellow applicants and share your success story with us. Write your own story and send it to us or we will interview you, transcript that interview and publish in our blog. Either way send an email to [email protected] and we will get in touch.
Apply MBA: Congrats on the Kellogg admit Swati. Thank you for agreeing to share your MBA application experience with the wider Apply MBA community. We would like to know a little about your background. What did you study as an undergrad? Where were you working prior to joining the MBA program? Where are you currently in school?
Swati: I did my undergrad in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, India and was working as a Program Manager in a leading IT MNC prior to joining my MBA. Currently I will be pursuing my MBA from Kellogg and set to graduate in 2017.
Apply MBA: So what prompted you to think about MBA after almost 12 years of being in the IT industry?
Swati: After being for 12 years in IT , I realized that I needed something extra to take my career forward , to grow beyond what I was doing and differentiate myself from the rest of the crowd. There were too many senior people in the vertical I was in, no matter how well I performed it was difficult to surpass them in terms of seniority with just experience alone. I needed something extra to differentiate myself and stand out of the crowd.
Also I was not getting roles that were challenging enough for me. There was a stagnation that had set in. Even if I wanted to shift companies I would probably have gotten similar roles.
Apply MBA: You prepared for your GMAT when your daughter was 9 months old while at the same time doing a full-time job. Undoubtedly it was tough for you, tell us a little on how you went about GMAT and your MBA applications? What support structure did you have?
Swati: It was tremendously tough. I barely slept 3 hours per day and my daughter was still on my feeds. My mom-in-law was a huge support for me. She looked after my daughter while I was studying and preparing my applications. However despite that since I was also managing a full time job , I had to make sure that I managed my time properly.
I never got a long stretch of study time (which is probably same for non-parents with full time job as well). So I broke my study time in small sprints. In GMAT , both verbal and quantitative sections are of 75 min in duration. So I too planned my study time in 75 min sprints. Even if I was doing just problem solving, I would set the clock for 75 min. If I had only 15 min of time , I would estimate how many problem I should be able to solve in 15 min and aim to complete those many in that time.
Second, I created a goal sheet. I created a month long view, what I would do and what I wanted to achieve on each day of the month. I would then track my goal sheets to see if I was achieving my targets. In case I was slipping I would modify the goal sheet to make it up in the next couple of days.
Third, I planned accordingly so that my GMAT preparation time would not be more than 3 months. It may be a personal thing, but for me prolonged preparation periods do not work as I tend to loose the tenacity at the end of it. So I had planned for the preparation time for GMAT to be 2.5 months. In fact at the end of 2 months I just wanted to give the test and finish it off. For 3 weeks prior to the GMAT exam day, I wrote one essay daily (topics were taken from the official GMAT book) and practiced Integrated Reasoning (IR). Some schools place importance on IR so I made sure that I did not neglect this part.
I also gave a lot of mock tests, almost 25 in 2.5 months. I developed tremendous speed because I gave so many mock tests. I bought exam packs from Kaplan, Manhattan, Veritasprep and of-course GMAT official practice tests. Manhattan was very difficult, I scored in 600s for Manhattan while I got in 700s for the others. So anyone scoring less in Manhattan should not be disheartened.
Apply MBA: What was your GMAT score?
Swati: 750
Apply MBA: When you were preparing for GMAT, can you give us a snapshot of what a typical work day looked like for you?
Swati: Generally on a weekday, I would get up early, feed my daughter, make breakfast for her and leave for office (my mom-in-law would feed my daughter breakfast). My office generally got over by 5pm. Once office was over I would do either one of the things, give a mock test in the office itself or head home and prepare later in the night.
On the days I gave mock tests, I would book a conference room in office to give the tests - this kept distractions at a minimum. I did this couple of times a week, I would give a 3rd mock test on the weekend.
On days I would not give mock test, I would return home play with my daughter for some time and then go for a run. After my run , I would do another 75 min of sprint, feed my daughter dinner and put her to sleep. After she slept off , I would then again sit to prepare for GMAT , do it till 2am or 3am and then head off to sleep.
What helped to keep up my energy levels up was running, it really helped build up my stamina to cope with everything.
Apply MBA: What schools did you apply to?
Swati: I applied to Kellogg, Booth, Tepper, Kelley, Ross and Notre dame. I got admits from Kellogg, Tepper, Kelley and Notre Dame.
Apply MBA: So what criteria did you have for choosing these schools?
Swati: It was totally location based. I have a daughter, so I needed to have my family around, my husband couldn’t have moved right now. So I was pretty much fixed on schools around mid-west.
That was the reason I selected Ross despite not having any otherwise common alignment to select this school. Still I selected it as a backup due to its location.
My primary choices were Tepper and Kellogg based on their technical and career alignment with my future goals. But because I stressed too much on location, I could not choose schools like MIT.
However this may not be the case for international students, but as a parent this is the choice I had to make.
Apply MBA: Did you take help of application consultants?
Swati: Yes, I took their help for Booth and Kellogg
Apply MBA: How much did you interact with present students of the schools and what other kind of school research did you do?
Swati:I definitely interacted with at least 1 student per school . Generally I looked for students who were from similar technical background. I asked them pretty much all these questions (what you are asking me now).
I researched about the course from the schools’ websites. Once I got an interview invite, I researched even more about the technical orientation and “why this school” question.
Since I had a purely technical background, I looked for courses that had a core curriculum covering most of the other topics that I did not know (e.g. finance, operations). There are few schools where students need to take electives from day 1. That would not have suited me that well.
Apply MBA: How did the interaction with present students help you?
Swati:It helped me tremendously. Each and every student I interacted with were super helpful, they went out of their way to help me. They even gave pointers on what all questions one can expect for an interview, what kind of answers the schools expect. To give an example, for Tepper, they are very proud about Pittsburg. That was an insight that I got that I tried to remember during my Tepper interview. In another school, a current student helped me to prepare for the case interview that the school conducts.
These kind of finer details are not there in “gmatclub” and can be got only on interacting with the current students. So this step was very important.
Also the fact that you have interacted with someone from the school gives a good impression to the admissions committee on your commitment towards the school and helps you score in your essays and interview.
I also interacted with alumni of few schools. Specifically for Kellogg I got in touch with an alumnus who did the course with a 4 yr old daughter.
Apply MBA: Can you tell our readers how you went about your application process?
Swati: As I said before, I took consultants for Booth and Kellogg as I was based in Chicago and I absolutely wanted to nail these two. For the other schools I followed three things
1. I got the essays reviewed by a friend with an MBA , more specifically who had gone through the same process herself.
2. I got the essays reviewed by a friend who have not prepared for MBA degree but was good in English.
3. I also got the essays reviewed by another friend whose husband was an MBA, so she had some idea about GMAT/ MBA applications.
This helped me get an all round view and some great insights and fresh ideas.
I also datamined my life and wrote down points of all that I have done in my life. Academically, non-academically, volunteering, professional achievement. I even went through all my old emails to see if I have left out anything, any points that I could add to my essays.
Apply MBA: Do you want to share any nuggets of wisdom with our readers while preparing for Kellogg application?
Swati: Kellogg’s USP is collaboration. Everyone is very friendly and team work is of utmost importance.
So what Kellogg sees is that you are friendly, you are easy going, you can actually collaborate with people in your team. In the essays, video essays and interview, you need to come across as a person who can work in teams.
Essay evaluators, interviewers, all of them will be looking to verify that you fit into the cultural fabric of the school. If you think you can fit into the Kellogg culture and this is your dream school then you should come across as a friendly and collaborative person who can excel in teamwork and not necessarily how you were a boss to a lot of people and how you managed a lot of people.
_______________
Thank you Swati for sharing some valuable insights and several actionable points with our applicants. We wish you loads of luck for Kellogg and all your future endeavours!
Dear Readers, check out our free mobile app right now. It is designed to help busy professionals do fast and easy research on B-schools and save time by organizing the MBA application process. Also get essay tips and application guides in the app. Download from App Store or Google Play.
So what is YOUR MBA STORY? If you have secured admits to sought after business schools, be kind to your fellow applicants and share your success story with us. Write your own story and send it to us or we will interview you, transcript that interview and publish in our blog. Either way send an email to [email protected] and we will get in touch.
