Profile Evaluation - Indian; Male; Power Sector

Question

Hi Please have a quick look at my (long :roll:

) profile. After my profile description I've posted pretty specific questions. Please have a look at them and help me in deciding. GMAT Score - 730 Undergraduate GPA - 8.51/10.00 Undergraduate Course - B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar NIT, Jalandhar, India Work Experience - 2 years as on 01.08.2013 in NTPC Ltd. as an Operations Engineer Job Responsibilties: Safe and efficient operation, complete monitoring, and control of a 500 MW unit; ABT Management (Commercial Aspect of Power Trading in India) - Regulating the generation of 11 units (~4600 MW) in accordance with the DC and SG, keeping in view the grid frequency in order to optimize generation so as to maximize the profit and PLF of the entire Plant. Leadership at Work: Head of 5S Management Committee for premises producing 1000MW; Team Lead (6 members) for the Boiler Group in the Recommissioning of a 500MW unit (Not usually given to someone as young as me); Supervisor of a team (of 16 technicians) responsible for the ground healthiness of the plant equipment in order to ensure maximum efficiency of the plant. Accolades at Work: Letter of Appreciation from GM(O&M) for emergency handling of a fire in the plant leading to savings of approx. Rs. 50 million; Conducted Work Study on the ABT Management and implemented changes which led to increase in revenue of the plant by approx. Rs.450 million per year; Suggested improvements in operation practices and plant efficiency leading to savings of approx. Rs. 80 million per year. Extra Curricular Achievements - International: Won 1st prize in NASA International Space Settlement Design Competition, in the entire world; Won Runner's Up position in Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition by AIAA at the Asian Level; Selected as a DAAD-IAESTE Scholar for a paid internship in Germany during 3rd year of engineering. National: Played Basketball representing my university in the National Level Inter-University Basketball Championship. University Level: Organized various cultural festivals in the university; Compere at various collegiate events in the university; Captain of the university basketball team; Secretary of Hostel Mess Committee etc. High School Level: Science and Technology Secretary Middle School . Social Roles - Actively involved in the CSR activities of my employer; Co-founded evening school for the children of uneducated construction workers in my university. Publication - “Design of Habitat Structures Planned to be Built on Moon” in CTB2020, KU . Career Goal - Short Term: Work in the energy consultancy sector for a few years in a firm that is the leader in this area for eg. McKinsey, BCG, A.T. Kearney Long Term: Start my own company which will first provide consultancy on renewable energy sources and then venture into renewable power generation. My specific questions are - 1. Please evaluate my profile. How Strong or Weak it is? Areas of Improvements? 2. I have not narrowed down to a list of B-Schools I intend to apply to but I do want to target schools only in the top 20 of the world. My dream school is MIT Sloan. Other preferences are NYU Stern, Kellogg, Columbia, LBS, ISB, INSEAD, HKUST. Please tell me whether I am being too ambitious keeping in mind my profile. 3. Is a work experience of 2 years less than required for the above mentioned schools keeping in mind my profile? If so, please tell me where I am lacking and areas of improvement. Also, please advise whether I should increase my work experience and then apply to my dream schools? Thank you in advance. Anticipating a positive and encouraging reply.

Admissionado · Answer

Hey there kartikdatwani, So let's jump straight into things and have a look at your profile first, and then I'll get to your questions... sooooo. PROS: Amazing GMAT, Great GPA, NIT (not as good as IIT, but still not bad

), real leadership CONS: Not IIT, Tough applicant pool, low work experience, volunteer work could be stronger. 1. So basically your work experience for what it is is pretty strong. And everything else is in place (GPA GMAT) for you to do well. But STILL you are coming from a VERY competitive applicant pool, and should not underestimate how many other amazing Indian Tech candidates there are, and how many the AdCom sees. 2. I think that your school list is on the ambitious side, which is fair enough if that is what you decide to do. All the schools on your list are competitive or tougher, and you have no safe schools. On your list, LBS will probably be the toughest school to get into. Given your goals in energy, I'd also consider Duke and Haas, and maybe add a school like Anderson of Tepper which although not a total "Safe school" should still be a bit easier than the schools on your list while remaining in Top 20. (although I would suggest adding one or two outside the Top 20 - maybe Rice, McCombs, which are fantastic energy schools) 3. Good question. Two years is a bit on the low side, and can work against you a bit. On the other hand you DO already have some leadership experience which is very good. The average experience at most of these schools is 4-5 years WE, and you will be giving yourself an advantage if you wait (plus you could improve your volunteer work).

kartikdatwani · Answer

Hey Thank you Jon for such an honest reply. Almost all the consultants I've talked to, so far, have encouraged me to apply this year. One consultant even went to the extent of telling me that I'm not a part of the "Indian-IT-Male" demographic, hence, my chances are pretty good for the above mentioned schools. From my study for the Critical Reasoning section of the GMAT, I know that this line of reasoning is faulty and specious :wink:

. I will take your advise to broaden my search in order to determine whether Anderson and Tepper will be great for me. Would you say it is advisable to apply this year to a few of the schools - from the list - in which my chances are at least good if not worse? I understand that I am from a VERY competitive pool, keeping that in mind which schools from the list do you suggest I apply to this year? Also, as you've said I too believe that I have ample opportunity to improve my volunteer work, but I am confused about the contribution of volunteer work to the strength of the application. Can it be the make or break decision point for the Adcom? Also, which kind of volunteer work gets the most attention from the Adcom? Please answer these follow up questions. I really appreciate your reply. I can't stress enough about how lost I am at this juncture of time. Your reply comes as a relief.

Admissionado · Answer

You got it my friend, Well I do try and tell it like it is.

Again I think you CAN apply this year, because you have a good profile, BUT I think next year is better because 1. You can get that extra boost of work experience 2. You can improve the few things to improve 3. You can begin your applications not at the end of August, but at the beginning of July. I don't know about this whole you "not being an Indian Tech Male guy"... I can see why you got a high score on the GMAT

But again this decision should probably be taken in consideration of personal/professional circumstances of which I am totally ignorant, so I defer to you there, dude. As for applying to SOME of the schools this year - TERRIBLE idea! I'm serious. If you apply, you go all out. Because otherwise then you will have doubts about "oh, what if I applied there" or you will have regrets "I should have applied there..." The best way to apply is to all the schools you want to in R1. It's the safest, gives you the most time to react, and the best potential for scholarships. So of you decide to apply this year, go all out! As for the volunteer work, you are right that if you "progress a bit" in volunteer work, it won't help THAT much, BUT if you do something of a totally different order (I mean run some fund-raising for a big NGO.. say the Red Cross... found your own NGO, get some massive leadership experience, get some managerial position is some important NGO, yes it can help a LOT. You have a great profile, and what differentiates a GREAT profile from a FANTASTIC one is all the extra stuff. The best candidates not only do well in work and school, but are involved in an almost inhuman amount of other activities (volunteer, social, religious, politics, extra currics) and that makes them really stand out. Aim for making a big impact on the organizational level, and that will really help! And I hope this post helps too...

kartikdatwani · Answer

Thank you Jon. It does help a lot.

Admissionado · Answer

Glad to help!

Good luck, and just out of curiosity, let me know what you decide...
Best,
JF

Profile Evaluation - Indian; Male; Power Sector

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