Profile evaluation please

Question

Hi,

I plan to take the GMAT in November 2012 and am targeting a score of somewhere in the region of 730. If you could please take a look at the below profile and let me know some schools where my application would be competitive, I would be very grateful.

Nationality : Indian
Age: 26

Undergratuate: Bachelors in Engineering (3.2 GPA)
Postgraduate: MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (regarded as the premier B School in India), among the top 5 students of my batch (3.4 GPA)

Work Experience: 2 years in Investment banking with a global banking giant

Extracurriculars: Asia level quizzer during school, strong debater having won several regional championships (currently the debating champion in my organisation), All India National Talent Search Scholar

Postv my MBA, I would like to work in either consulting or return to Investment Banking.

I was thinking of applying to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, Yale and Chicago Booth. Please let me know if these schools are long shots for my profile and if there are some other schools in the US that I might look at.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

Arpan

OasisGC · Answer

Hello,

GMAT -- You should ideally score 720+ in your GMAT for top 10 schools of US.

BIGGER CHALLENGE -- I see a bigger challenge for you to prove WHY second MBA especially from b-school such as IIM. I really can not make out from the limited info, so am not sure why you want to do the second MBA ?

Your essays have to be SUPER STRONG to prove the above mentioned point, I am not saying that schools will reject your profile, but you must be ready to prove to adcom as to why you need another MBA ?

Your work ex - there are literally hundreds of applicants with similar background (work ex), you will have to differentiate yourself (how unique your exposure was within the same field ? what extra ordinary contribution did you make at job ? leadership experience, if any

Hope this helps

arpan31289 · Answer

Thanks a lot for the review. I fully agree that it would be difficult to convince adcoms regarding the double MBA, basic reasoning is chance for a global exposure and career focused decision (I would ideally want to move from investment banking to consulting) and the fact that my previous MBA was directly after my undergraduate with no work experience in between hence it was difficult for me to appreciate the course content and its applications before I actually stepped into the corporate arena...but now 2 years down the line, I have a solid idea of where I want to be in the future which I can probably combine with my prior MBA experience to get the best out of this education....obviously i need to develop a lot on this but basically this is my line of thought....please let me know if there is anything specific that I should be looking to highlight when I explain this. Thanks a lot again.

mirfan2 · Answer

Let me start with what is going against you so that you may work on and hopefully, this will help you with your application. Unfortunately, you belong to an over represented demographic and your competition will have excellent stats. There are many Indian/IT/Male folks out there, the challenge for you will be to differentiate yourself from your competition. For that you'll need to do a lot of introspection and effort to build a personal branding strategy that brings some unique factor - In B-school speak you need to build competitive advantage by differentiating yourself. Until you are able to do that any top school is going to be a stiff ask based on the information you've provided.

arpan31289 · Answer

Hi Irfan,

Thanks a lot for the review. Just to clarify, in terms of profile, I was not involved in the IT aspect, I used to work on active deals and have attended quite some client meetings and taken part (albeit small) in some major deals. If you would be so kind so as to advise if there is any particular area that I should be looking to highlight in my essay, I shall be very grateful.

Thanks a lot again.

Regards,

Arpan

mirfan2 · Answer

The deal experience is a good start. If its a transnational deal that's even better ( then you can demonstrate you're global exposure here). Admissions officers are interested in knowing you the person and your unique experiences. More importantly how have those unique experiences shaped your personal and professional attributes. In an admissions essay you combine all these experiences/accomplishments to build a theme ( a story line) , you use that story line in a strategically smart manner. 
For example, I have a lot of leadership and managerial experience in sales and I have leveraged that sales experience to do funding raising for an NGO. 
Another one : I am working on environment related CSR initiatives at my work place and I may have a deep personal concern for the environment, so most of my activities outside of work a dedicated to this cause. You can demonstrate this in your essays, resume and the admissions interview. 
 In this manner your attributes are being expressed in your day job and what you do outside as well. One important thing to note that you shouldn't over do it i.e. if you wear many hats such as Manager, Community service volunteer and political campaign worker, be sure to use only those attributes that tie in to your overall theme, so that these attributes are being expressed in a strategically smart manner. The strategy that I talked about can be termed as a personal branding strategy where you market your strengths (build a profile around them) demonstrate your accomplishments and community service experience that refer back (in a subtle way) to these strengths. One activity that you may want do is to write down all your big accomplishments and strengths on a piece of paper and see if you can build a story line around them.

arpan31289 · Answer

Thanks a lot Irfan, thats really very helpful.....in terms of deal experience I was involved only in transnational deals (like the IPO of Samsonite that happened last year)

so, I will try to build around that....one final question...I am not very strong on the CSR front....I mean that I used to be the all Asia ambassador for Teri (Tata Energy Research Institute) in lieu of a top 4 finish in their global environment quiz but that was a long time ago post which I have had no active CSR contribution....can this be a potential pitfall or can I work around it if I can highlight some of my other strengths. Thanks a lot again, your advice has been really great. Regards, Arpan

mirfan2 · Answer

I used CSR as an example. In your case, use old experiences as an example ONLY if its relevant (i.e like a 80% hit) to your overall storyline, but you'll be at a risk because something that happened four years ago has lost a lot of luster. On the other hand, community service is something that one can always improve upon, but don't start community service work right before your application it gives a out a negative vibe (not cool at all) to the adcom. There is another test called the so what test . For any accomplishment that you want add to your story line ask your self.... so what ? (this could be professional, personal or extracurricular) If I add this to my application so what ? 
 Additionally, you may want to leave out a 4 year old accomplishment from your essays, but you can always throw it into your resume or when the interviewer really presses for more info, you may pull this one out as well, but remember for resume or interview you must use the STAR technique when you mention any activity. (SITUATION, TASK, ACTION, RESULT)

arpan31289 · Answer

Thanks a lot Irfan....thats great help.

Varun84 · Answer

Hello Everyone,

I need a frank opinion on whether should I apply for the top 15 univs in US. My profile :

GMAT : 1st attempt in October 2011 : 680; Q 48, V35
2nd attempt in June 2012 : 740; Q 49, V42

Work Ex : 5 yrs experience with Siemens Power Engg Ltd. as a Mechanical Turbine design engineer. I can show a decent (not extravagant) progress and professional achievements. But I do not have any international professional experience or exposure.

Education (Weakest area of my profile) : B.Tech : CGPA : 6.03 on 10. I can show plenty of extracurricular in college.
12 th : 72%; 10th : 70.2%

Other achievements : Member of winning team of the Space settlement design competition at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida in 2004.
Cleared CFA Level-1 in June 2011.

Pls let me know your frank opinion regarding my chances at the top 15 American univs. Also I would appreciate any suggestions on some good univs across the globe within my reach. I will also be trying for ISB and any suggestions from you guys for ISB would be most appreciated.

Thanks !

Varun

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