Please evaluate my profile

Question

Hi,

Would really appreciate if there is feedback for me while I aim for a top MBA program:

Work EX: 7 Years Total Experience into Banking IT Domain.
Currently working with Credit Suisse Singapore as full time IT Specialist for Electronic Trading. The role remains challenging on day to day basis as we deal with all latest Trading terms like "Algorithmic Trading, Low Latency/High Frequency Trading, Dark Pools etc.". A lot of interaction with Sales and Trading teams at both CS and clients side. But, at the end of day, role remains an IT role. 
Previous Experience in India with BlackRock (2.5 years) and Wipro (1st Job, 2.5 years).

GMAT - Scheduled for 21 Sept, aiming at 700-710 as per current preparation.

Target Schools:
INSEAD , Oxford, LSB ,HKUST, and other 1 year top mba programs.

PROFILE:

Financial Services Business Analyst with 7 Years of Experience across the Electronic Trading Industry of Capital Markets, on
both Buy Side and Sell Side for Equities Trading. Interested in the continuously growing interdependence between Finance
and Information Technology, and the creation and use of electronic solutions for meeting complex business needs.

E X P E R I E N C E 
CLIENT ONBOARDING SPECIALIST : Credit Suisse (Singapore) 2014 – present
Electronic Trading IT Specialist for Asian Equities for Bank’s Institutional brokerage business.
Working directly with external clients (Asset Managers/Hedge Funds/HFT Firms etc) & Traders
catering to their electronic trading needs in today’s capital markets.

SENIOR ANALYST : BlackRock (Gurgaon, India) 2012 – 2014
Part of Aladdin Technology Team – BlackRock’s coveted Asset & Risk Management platform.
Worked on Electronic trading setup for Exchange and market connectivity with major sell side
brokers and exchanges, Straight through Processing of trades.

PROJECT ENGINEER : Wipro Technologies (Bangalore, India) 2010 – 2012
Software Specialist for 2 major Financial clients, Experience in Software development, testing and
support for client’s critical trading applications.

E D U C A T I O N

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY: Amity University (Noida, India) 2005 – 2009
 Majors in Computer Science & Engineering
 GPA 8.3/10
 Was awarded Admissions Scholarship

A C H I E V E M E N T S

COMMUNITY WORK:
 Head of BlackRock India’s CSR Group – BlackRock Gives. (2013-2014)
Was the youngest employee to ever lead the initiative. Responsible for overall BlackRock
India’s CSR Strategy and budget. Executed multiple projects with Non-profits and lead
employee engagement.
Volunteer work with Credit Suisse in Indonesia, Singapore. (2014- present)
 Founding Member of Wipro Care (Wipro’s CSR Initiative) Noida (2011-2012)
 Delhi Lead Coordinator for NGO Vibha (2012-2014)
 Volunteered with CRY-Child Rights & You, India’s largest NGO working for Child rights
issues, for 5 Years. Won the Long Service Volunteer Award on International Volunteer’s
Day in 2011.

SCHOLARSHIPS
 Amity Scholarship - awarded for high academic score during University admissions.
 Indian Oil Merit Scholarship- awarded to Top 2000 students in India for 10+ Studies.

EXTRA CURRICULAR
 Head of ‘SUN Club’at Amity University, Selected by Sun Microsystems Inc. for promoting
open source technologies in the University.
 Won 1st prizes in Web Designing, Best Project Display and PowerPoint Presentation
Competitions held by various institutions at Amity University.

S K I L L S

Client Onboarding/Management for Electronic Trading – End to End Flow for Equities, Business
Analysis and Requirement Gathering, Integration/Functional Testing, Trading Systems, Algorithmic
Trading, Dark Pools, Direct Market Access, Colocation, Smart Order Routing, Straight Through
Processing, Order Life cycle, FIX Protocol, Linux, SQL.

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

Hi Ankit, it looks pretty good, I really like that you have community service in your profile. It helps, but the situation remains, you are an Indian in the IT function, the largest applicant pool. And that is very rough in terms of acceptance rate.

Do you have any kind of international aspect to your profile? That would be particularly important for Insead.

By the way I remember working with someone who did a similar job, and it felt like it took me 2 weeks to understand what he did, so that I could articulate his accomplishments.

Farrell Dyan Hehn, MBA
Admissions Consultant & Verbal Strategist MBAPrepCoach.com

ankitmittal2003 · Answer

Hi Farrell,

Thank you for your reply. Regarding the international aspect of my profile- I would say that I work in Singapore after having worked in India in the start of my career. So, it should be considered as a international work experience.

Actually, I would say that my IT role is very critical in the today's ever changing electronic trading world - the skill in this role remains niche and very well paid in the industry. Having said that, my short term goal after MBA is do to Electronic Trading Sales in an investment bank or a Fin-Technology company like Bloomberg etc.

Can you suggest if this helps in having an edge compared to the mass pool of Indian IT applicants?

Really appreciate! Thanks again.

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

Hi, I did not mean to insult you or anything I was just saying that it was quite complicated to get a grasp on what he did, and on top of that, how he did it well.

Of course, the Singapore thing will count as International work experience and that's definitely going to help. Will you meet language requirement for INSEAD?

I forgot to mention in my last message, I would do whatever you can to get a 740. 730, but 740 even better. The LBS GMAT average 700, and as an Indian IT applicant you want to tack on quite a few points to that average. I hate to say this because it's a real bummer for me and it doesn't seem fair but if you need to get some help on either side of the exam it would be well worth the investment.

I think it would be interesting that you want to go into IB sales, but only to the degree that you can articulate this well in the application. It's very important for you to get the application done right. I honestly think that's the best way you can separate yourself at this point aside from the GMAT.

Farrell Dyan Hehn, MBA
Admissions Consultant & Verbal Strategist MBAPrepCoach.com

ankitmittal2003 · Answer

Hi Farrell,

Thanks. I am working hard to pull my GMAT prep from ~700 to around 740-750 but SC in Verbal is a bit of challenge that I am continuously facing. My exam is on 21st Sept and have nearly 4 weeks left now. If I can do well on SC, I can surely touch 740.

Rest I clearly understand now, that my applications needs to be worked hard so as to put my case forward in a manner that it stands out in the Indian IT male pool.

Thanks,
Ankit

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

I can definitely help with the sentence correction situation.

I hope that you're not applying this round, I think it's a recipe for disaster to work on the GMAT & the applications at the same time.

Farrell Dyan Hehn, MBA
Admissions Consultant & Verbal Strategist MBAPrepCoach.com

StratusDonna · Answer

Agree that emphasizing your international exposure could help you stand out, and also looking to highlight to impact in extracurriculars.

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