Profile Review-Career Change

Question

Hello,

My profile is a bit long, and there is a reason for mentioning many things in my profile below. I want to have a clear understanding of where I stand concerning full-time MBA admissions. I do not have classic engineering or IT background. So I could not find any relevant sources to have a broad idea related to my prospects for MBA admission.

Nationality:  Indian (currently residing in the US)
 Gender : Male
 Age:  34
 Education: 
 Undergraduate Course:  Bachelor of Sciences (Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Sciences) from Aurora's Degree College (One of the Top 50 Degree Colleges in India) (GPA: 2.1- I have a valid reason for low GPA)
 Post-Graduation:  Master’s in Communications & Journalism (CGPA: 8.79/10)

Work Experience : 09+ years
(I have done two jobs a day from 2011-2014)

BBC World Services-India (July 2017- 2020) – Lead News Anchor & Multimedia Broadcast Journalist 
• Deputy team leader of the TV team.
• ENBA-National Award Winner-Best News Anchor (South India)-2018
• Lead Presenter of the service and Producer of BBC Telugu TV News (News show on International affairs, Business, and Human-interest stories).

DD NEWS (February 2016 –June 2017)
Position: Sr News Anchor & Sr. Correspondent 
• I led the morning business team and produced the finance shows.
• Presenter of the show-Candid Conversation, an interview program.

DD NEWS (February 2014 –January 2016)
Position: Business News Anchor-Correspondent) 
• Presenter of the show-Business Morning. It is an analytical show with experts on domestic and international stock markets. Analyzing the trends of Stock markets based on various factors that include P/E ratio, the growth trajectory of the companies, earnings per share, macro, and micro economy, etc.
• Presenter of an interactive show-Economy Today. The show focuses on the developments related macroeconomy of the world.

DD News, Hyderabad, Telangana – (August 2011 – January 2014)
Position: Assignment based Anchor-Reporter 
· News presenter for "State Scan in English," a news bulletin, and "News & Views," an interactive show on current affairs.

Dainik Jagran Cityplus (April 2012-2014)
Position: Senior Reporter 
· Led a team of reporters who cover various issues related to urban planning. My responsibilities included supervising the group of journalists and their works, recruiting new team members simultaneously.
· Reported over 300 stories in just 22 months having over 175 Bylines to the credit and managed to get the Government officials' response to resolve over 75 issues.

HYTV (June 2011-April 2012)
Position: Sports Reporter/Junior Anchor 
· I led a team of four reporters. Responsibilities include reporting, scripting, and analyzing sports news from across the world. I also supervised the overall operations related to the Sports desk.
· Presenter of the show "Sports Unlimited," an exclusive show for a panel discussion on various sports and games.
· Co-Producer and the Presenter for an auto show called 'Test Drive' in which the team reviewed the performance of the latest cars.

January 2021-Present 
· I am currently working as a Part-time Business Development consultant to an Engineering firm called Apex Advanced Technologies in Virginia.
· I am also a freelance writer for a production house that works for National Geographic and Discovery channels in South India.

Extracurricular Activities: 
· I represented India officially as an  Indian Youth Ambassador  to South-East Asian Nations. The Ministry of Defence, Government of India did the selection.
(The selection process is based on various exams, personal interviews, and overall performance as an NCC cadet in a leadership role.)
· National Cadet Corps (NCC) is an Indian Armed forces youth wing. I finished a three-year military training and two NCC certificate courses (topped the
exams) along with my regular undergraduate course (B.Sc). (As I was away for the training for almost half of my three-year undergraduate period, my
undergraduate GPA has gone down.)
· I rose to the rank of Senior Under Officer, the highest position in NCC, and led my Group NCC battalion.
· I formed an NCC leadership club in my college and trained my juniors in the nationwide best cadet competitions.
(Five of them won the awards in the later years)
· I was also a member of the National Service Scheme (NSS)-a public service program conducted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Government of India during my Undergraduate days. 
· My undergraduate institute awarded me "Best Student of the college" twice (I & III Years).
· I was a founding member of my college Cultural Club and Extracurricular activities club.
· I was the student representative for the Physical Sciences Stream.
· I am a trained Classical Dancer (Indian classical dance form-Kuchipudi) and won national-level awards.

GMAT/EA:  Scheduled to give Executive Assessment Test in a few days from now. I am confident of getting a decent score on the standardized test.

Target Schools : NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, and Columbia Business School. (NYU Stern and Columbia accept EA scores for their full-time MBA course)
I am planning to apply in the second round.

Post MBA Goals:  I want to get into the Business of Entertainment. I am looking towards a tactical role in formulating business management policies and strategies concerning the content operations in entertainment companies such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc.

After spending a reasonably long time in Media and journalism, I thought it is time for me to explore and pursue my longstanding goal of getting into the strategic management side of the world of Business in the Entertainment industry. I am explicitly looking towards the schools that offer such disciplines and have a prominent position concerning recruitments by the entertainment companies. The schools, as mentioned above, have specializations related to the Business of entertainment & sports and have active student clubs concerning Entertainment, Media, and Sports. Please evaluate my profile and let me know the areas I need to focus on in the application process.

Thank you.

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

Hi Venkatraman , Thank you for your detailed post. You have some great work experience under your belt. Despite your somewhat less common background in media/journalism, many of the same skills are essential for success regardless of industry. One of the most important things to do is to show how you have stood out as a leader and how you have leveraged analytical and/or out-of-the-box thinking in these roles. While applicants' chances of admission often start to decrease slightly each year after the 6-year mark, I would not worry too much that you have already surpassed 6 years of work experience, as military candidates often trend older and bring skills and qualities that schools highly desire! Even mid-'30s is fairly common here. We have worked with a lot of folks from military backgrounds to help frame their experience in the context of their applications and we also work with those from the media and journalism sphere. You will want to secure a strong GMAT to offset your lower undergrad GPA. Doing so, along with explaining your GPA in the optional essay section of your applications, will be key. Looking at your extracurriculars, you have several interesting experiences here. Remember that these should align with your overall profile and goals to paint a clear picture of who you are, what has defined you, and why you have made specific choices. Please reach out to scott@personalmbacoach.com if there is anything else you would like to discuss! I think you have a lot of potential to draft a very compelling application and we would be happy to help maximize your chances of success. Take a look at our comprehensive packages to learn more. Regards, Personal MBA Coach

Venkatraman · Answer

Thank you so much PersonalMBACoach for the evaluation. This gives me some idea about my chances of getting an MBA admission.

Regards,
Venkatraman

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

Of course Venkatraman ! Again, feel free to reach out to scott@personalmbacoach.com to further discuss your candidacy. We have been helping clients for 14 years with a 96% success rate and would gladly provide more guidance here.

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