Hello ajt0310

2 years seems low for Sloan. It is not just about the number years, but with 2 years of experience, you may find it difficult to showcase enough career progress and achievements to compete with other candidates who usually have 4+ years of work ex. You may have to showcase why now and why not a couple of years later.
The GMAT is also low for the likes of Sloan considering your Indian background. This will be a major hurdle in your case.
The extracurricular seems pretty strong- writing novels. Highlight the personal motivation behind these, what topics you write on, and how has this contributed to your personal/professional growth.
I am assuming your writing background will also help you present a strong story in the essays, so that is a plus as well.
Coming to career goals, as mentioned earlier- the need for an MBA now is a question to answer, but more importantly, how does consulting tie in with your past experience. Even more importantly, how does current experience, MBA and short term goals (consulting) tie in with the long term goals. On the face if it, the goals and the narrative seems fragmented and disconnected (you may have a clearer picture in your mind, but it does not come out like that in the post at least)

Best
Varun Sharma
+919137133507
MBAkarma.com
GMAT Score Predictor
info@mbakarma.com



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Thanks a ton, Varun. Your suggestions would really help in the essay and why MBA?

Regarding other points, GMAT - I know its low and have been thinking about retaking it, with good preparation I can get 740-750. I'm targetting Haas, Kellog, and Ross.

Work-ex:
*My graduate rotation experience at Aditya Birla was sort of internal consultancy experience as each rotation would start with a problem statement for a given sector/business unit, and involve problem diagnosis, creating and deploying solutions. While each rotation (or project) differed in complexity and area of concern, they all were strategic and of high impact in nature.

*Entrepreneurship: I always had entrepreneurial bug, so when an opportunity to join the startup in space of fashion accessories came up (as Co-founder) 2 years ago, I immediately made the jump. For the last two years, I have dabbled across operations and marketing. Managed launch of 3 product categories, reworked marketing strategy to increase reach by 3.5X, took care of inventory planning and vendor management beside taking care of talent management. It has been a great learning curve until now, however, at times I found myself lacking in knowledge/expertise in taking things forward.

Regarding your comment w.r.t long-term goals - I do recognise that saying 'I want to start my firm in India' does sound a bit narrow, and doesn't fit into the narrative of why do I need a global education for that. Instead of that, I can rephrase it that I'm passionate about tech, and want to build a business at the intersection of fashion and technology in future.

I hope this thread is still active! I'm looking for feedback on my profile as far as an R2 applicant goes:

Background: 28F, U.S.

Education: BS Mechanical Engineering 3.75 GPA, M.S. Mechanical Engineering

GMAT: 720 (Q49/V38/IR7/AWA6)

Work experience : 1 year as a consulting analyst before switching to the engineering industry. Currently have spent 5 years in the aerospace and defense industry. I started as a design engineer, received two promotions in < 4 years, and now I am in charge of executing $1M+ test programs from start to finish.

Other: Teach an evening college level physics course as a professor part-time for the last 3 years. Aside from that I am all about the outdoors and preserving the oudoors! My outdoor interests include an active pursuit of the seven summits, and involvement in my running and rock climbing community for the last several years.

MBA / Post MBA Goals: I want to focus on entrepreneurship at Sloan and form a start-up focused on clean technology.

Hi DsDs,

Thanks for posting!

Overall, your profile looks fantastic - high GPA in a difficult major, 720 GMAT w/ 49Q, and significant accomplishments and responsibility in a technical industry. Your EC are also very relevant to your career goals - basically your story makes a lot of sense!

At this point, your candidacy is likely to come down to how well you communicate in your essays and articulate the importance of Sloan and how an MBA at MIT will help drive your career aspirations. Also, it helps to have networked with admissions or made a previous visit up, not 100% necessary but little things add up.

Are you applying to any other schools during R2? Happy to help with other questions you may have for Sloan or anywhere else.

Regards,

Personal MBA Coach

www.personalmbacoach.com
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Hello everyone.
I would like to know how good are my chances of securing admission in the MFin Program of MIT Sloan, MFA of LBS and MFE of UC Berkeley Haas.
Following are my credentials:
1. Age-20 Years
2. Graduation - Final Year student of Bachelors of Commerce-B.com.(Hons.), at Shri Ram College of Commerce (#1 UG Commerce Institution of India), University of Delhi. CGPA after 4 semesters - 7.6/10
3. Educational Background - Graduated from school with overall 94%. Scored 96% in Economics, 94% in Mathematics and Accountancy.
4. GMAT - 710 (Q48,V40,IR6)
5. IELTS - Overall Band 8.0 (S-7.5,L-8.5,R-8.5,W-7.0)
6. Work Experience - 1.Interned at an NGO, 2. Interned as a Sports Journalist for a soccer league, 3. Interned in the Sales and Distribution Department of Petronas India Pvt. Ltd., 4. In advanced discussion with EY for an internship in Risk Management.
7. Co-Curricular - Play soccer for the college team and also played for the school, A self-taught drummer, Winner of various competitions, debates throughout school years, Corporate Communication Head of the Internship Cell of the college in sophomore year, member of the Finance and Investment Cell of the college in junior year, member of Sports Cell in junior year, ranked 37th in my state in 5th International Maths Olympiad, member of BBC School Report Project during school years.
8. Skills - Excellent communications skills, learning Python and Data Sciences, learning Financial Modelling and Valuation, Will be appearing for an exam for certification in derivatives (beginner and intermediate levels) from the National Stock Exchange of India.

Thanks in advance!

Everything is great. But you will be competing with people having work ex/internships in core profiles in IB/hedge funds etc. I know many people who have completed CFA levels and apply for MFin. The acceptance rate of these schools is low, but you should definitely give it a shot. Just be clear in your essays and show how you can contribute to the school, your expectations from the course and whatever you did until now will help you get closer to your dream career.

Also go through the requirements of each course. For eg. MFE from Berkeley Haas requires
Experience with mathematical tools (Example: Matlab)
Experience in computer programming (C++, Python) and familiarity with computers as a computational and management tool
Experience with statistical and econometric applications (Example: R)
Experience with machine learning concepts
Excellent writing, speaking, and presentation skills (in English)
Recommended post-university work experience. Preferred but not required. The MFE also admits undergraduate students with strong academic background with little to no experience.

As you mentioned you are learning python and data sciences, ask yourself what proficiency will you achieve by the time you apply for the program? Since it's a 12 month course, It's pretty intense. You won't get time to learn something new.

I'm no expert, but I did a bit of research on this. You have a strong profile and relevant background. If you hit the right spots, you'll easily get into the program.

Thank you for your feedback.
Do you think that being just 20, and interning with MNCs will play to my advantage?
Thanks!

Yes that certainly will. But a lot also depends on the type of work that you will do at the internship. And I believe the companies will give you serious work (By serious I mean the kind of work that will help your profile with the adcoms and help you later during studies) only when you have the skills in demand. Being young is definitely an advantage, you might not realise this now, but companies prefer fresh minds over more experienced ones unless it's a profile that explicitly requires work ex. The average age is typically around 24, but that should be a source of motivation. You'll get to learn a lot from your peers.
That said have a look at the class profile on the websites of the course. For eg., in Berkeley's MBE program, there are plenty of Indians enrolled. Most of them are from IITs and have a non finance background (Mechanical engineering/physics/nuclear engineering/mining engineering). Even those who have graduated in the last few years were typically engineers but now they are working in the core profiles. It's a very prestigious program, probably one of its kind, and many companies recruit the graduates from this programme only.
I'm only giving example of MFE because I did some digging as I was interested in this course, but my profile lacks a lot of things.
Since you have made up your mind already at a very young age, that in itself is commendable. Give your best!

If my response helped you in any way, please hit the like button

Thanks a lot!
Yeah, in Petronas, I was a part of a team which was looking to reduce the operating costs of its distributors, so I believe that is a good example of the work I did. I am still waiting for EY's reply, but have other options also lined up, with great profiles.
I will be talking to admission department of Haas about the MATLAB requirement. But I guess they won't need it now, as no one in the industry uses it. Even UCLA has MATLAB mentioned on the website, but they said it is not necessary.
I am confident in at least getting an interview call from both of them.
Fingers crossed!!

No problem
I'm not sure about that, but a good way to start learning this stuff is by doing courses on Coursera. Machine Learning by Andrew Ng is one the best courses for beginners. It's a self paced course and he has taught the basics in such a simple way that you'll be able to pick up easily. There are other courses such as python and R designed specifically for finance professionals. Try to do those if you have time.

I have already started classes for Python and Data Sciences. But will definitely try the Machine Learning Course.

Thanks!

hi kindly evaluate my profile
im 32 male
10th 72%
12th 72%
engineering in metallurgy 76%
gmat 700 q47,v39,ir3,awa 5

work ex
6 months in IBM , main area of work was software and network testing
9 years 6 months in steel authority of india ltd ,during these ten years i have worked in different areas of continuous casting shop, mine main focus area was process automation causing reduction in labour cost and improvent in quality
improved the productivity and quality of steel from casters, led a team of 20 people to convert an existing slab caster in to bloom caster, managed logistics of the shop floor.

my reason for doing an mba is to diversify my field from steel sector to other manufacturing sectors , i wish to learn about marketing strategies and modern business practices

my hobbies are reading detective stories and playing cricket . i used to actively participate in various competition at college level , also i was the alumni incharge at my college

I think you have good work experience, and your engineering background is common for Sloan students. I assume based on your work experience that you're an Indian national. Particularly if you are male, you are in a very competitive cohort of applicants. I would focus on improving your GMAT score if you can.

Hi,

Here is my profile. Would love to hear feedback w.r.t MIT Sloan and also other suggestions for colleges which would make the most sense for me.

About: Indian, Male, 28 years old

Education: Bachelors in Electronics from IIT Madras, 86.5% cumulative score
10th: 92.4%, 12th: 90.2%

GMAT: 730

Work Experience: Total 4 years 7 months till date + 10 months gap in between as explained below

3 years in a well known Tech MNC as a system software engineer. Worked in the core driver development department. Gained a complete working knowledge of SDLC. No international exposure but have experience working with international teams.

Quit company to start my own IT services firm. 10-month gap after quitting and before incorporation of my company. Time was spent mainly on product development and getting the first customer

The startup has recently been rendered dormant (after operating for 1.5 years) due to market acceptance challenges. We were working on location related software solutions for clients. At our high point, we had 9 customers and an estimated revenue of INR 15,00,000 (USD 20,000). My biggest mistake was lack of planning at the start due to nil business expertise in top management. I did not anticipate competition and did not have a clear understanding of customer requirements.

Although the startup stint has failed, I have gained immense experience. I led a development team of 4 developers and 2 interns, created a sales pipeline and employed 2 sales executives for regular lead generation and client conversion, did a lot of networking by attending many local events and club meetings, was (and still am) part of a number of startup related https://gmatclub.com/chat groups etc...

Extra-curriculars: I have done Assistantships during college, organized events. In 2017, I conducted a month-long Android workshop in a local reputed college. I have also participated as a mentor in the Smart India Hackathon 2017 & 2018 where I guided a team of undergrads.

Post-MBA goals: I have developed a strong taste for entrepreneurship and as a long-term goal, I want to build large businesses. However, at the moment repairing my career is a top priority. I would like to learn corporate strategy & sales & marketing from an academic perspective and would like to engage in similar roles after MBA. I am more inclined towards planning and strategy (owing to my failures in startup and the interest I have generated in this area), but I am also keenly interested in sales & marketing.

Anything else ?
I want to qualify for a top MBA program and I am hoping the startup stint will get me there. I am from India where startup culture has not taken off as much as in USA. However, when considering international MBA programs, I believe there would be too many people having failed startups, applying for MBA. I am concerned about the uniqueness of my profile. I am also not sure how the failed startup would play out in my favor.

Hi All,
Would appreciate a profile evaluation. Targeting R1 next year.

Background and nationality: Indian Female

Undergrad Information: B.Tech - ECE. Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University(MSIT). CGPA: 9.0(one of the toppers of my stream)
10th : CGPA 10 (95%)
12th : CGPA 9.3 (88%)

GMAT: 760

Work experience and leadership : 4.5 years at present in a techno-functional role. Working as a Senior Software Engineer in Infosys Ltd serving domestic and international banks. Have worked with private, public sector and international banks, all at client site. Currently heading all clients in Africa and Sri Lanka region (about 2 years of international work ex). Regarded as a domain expert and have worked as a team lead in multiple project implementations.

Awards: Top Performer in the Entry Level Training, Most Promising Joinee Award, Listed as Infosys Pride Factor, Awarded by multiple clients for contribution to the project.
Was the head of Self-Governance Team in Infosys for a year.

Community and others : Associated with Leaders for Tomorrow and part of their project – Igniting Young Minds to provide life skills to the disadvantaged; Member of Help Age India in higher secondary for care of disadvantaged elderly.
Recently Joined Toastmasters. Awarded as Best Table Topic Speaker in the guest meeting. Event Head of Technical Fest in college ensuring a footfall of more than 2500 people in the event. Member of the organization committee of Infosys Finacle Fever’15.

Post MBA goals: Consulting.

Thank you for your help.

Hello everyone,

I am new to GMAT club. And I hope I am posting at the right place. I want my profile to be evaluated for both MFin and MBA programs.

I am an India, age 26.

Class 10: 95.80 % ( School rank 1, district topper, state rank 11)
Class 12: 85.00% ( School rank 5)
UG: NIT Jamshedpur, B. Tech: 82.90% (Top 20% of the batch)
PG: MBA in Finance (Minor in Operations), FMS, University of Delhi, 75.44% (Rank 4, Top 2% of the batch)

Yes, I am targetting a second MBA or an MS in Finance (yet to decide and I am inclined towards Finance)

Pre-MBA work experience: Associate Applications Developer at Oracle Financial Services Software, 20 months
- Worked on Retail, Corporate and Islamic banking modules
- Improved functional performance in liquidation, standing instructions etc.
- Improved loan processing timing from 7 days to 2 mins
- Improved credit rating performance and profile evaluation time
- Worked on Java & Scala programming langauges

Internships
1. Department of Space, ISRO, 8 weeks
- Worked on developing Real-time disease outbreaks system, working on Python 2.7, wrote more than 13000 lines of code
2. Axis Bank, General Management Intern, 8 weeks
- Improved the Prime Plus product by removing and adding certain features, and rebranding it

Post-MBA work experience
- No experience, I will start working in April. Just beginning an early preparation for GMAT and learning more about the International B-Schools
- Placed on campus in a Financial Analytics firm
- Also targetting off-campus companies for roles in IB, Equity Research etc.

Projects
1. Equity Research, Company: Equitylevers
- Worked on developing the overall company analysis model
- Prediction, valuation etc
2. Financial Modelling, Academic Project at FMS
- Building Markowitz portfolio using 25 listed stocks on NSE, Sharpe ratio; 1.33
- Predicting USD-INR exchange rate using OLS regression
- Predicted Customer credit default and churn in telecom industry using logit & probit models

Software/Tools: Excel, MATLAB, Pythion 2.7 & 3.6, Python libraries - Pandas, NSEpy, Numpy, Matplotlib etc.

Extracurricular - Mostly college level
- Rubik's cube
- Drawing & Painting
- Football

Positions of Responsibility
- Heady Boy at School
- Coordinator of events at tech fest of NIT Jamshedpur
- Placement Cell of NIT Jamshedpur
- Restructuring Committee at FMS Delhi

Any other info is needed?

- I took CAT (an exam similar to GMAT in India) 2016 - Secured 99.87 percentile in CAT
- I have not taken GMAT yet (expecting 720+ )
- Please comment about the chances.

Please evaluate my profile
GMAT 730

Nationality Indian
GPA 7.5 (ENGINEERING FROM SRMS IN EC DEPARTMENT)

NO WORK EXPERIENCE

Posted from my mobile device

Hi All,
This is my first post and would appreciate a profile evaluation. Targeting R2 2019 or R1 2020.

Background and nationality: Asian Male

Undergrad Information: Top 5 Liberal Arts College GPA: 3.6

GMAT: 750

Work experience: 2+ year working as software development engineer at Microsoft (Azure SQL Data Team) and about to transition to either a US-based autonomous driving company as software engineer (think of Cruise, Zoox) or a fintech start-up in Southeast Asia as AI engineer with a product management track. Question: which one is better from MBA admission perspective?

Extracurricular: started own student club on campus (100+ members) , college alumni interviewer, community involvement

Post MBA goals: Tech or VC

Thank you for your help!

Background and nationality:
- Indian, permanent resident of Canada, currently living in Canada

Education Information:
(1) B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering, Tier 2 university in India (GPA: 8.7 / 10)
(2) Master of Engineering, Simon Fraser University - Canada (GPA : 3.92 / 4.33)

GMAT: Don't have the score yet, targeting for 730+

Work experience and leadership
- When I apply for MBA:
(1) 2 years as Technology Consultant
(2) 1 year as Software Engineer
(3) Fellowship as Product Manager
- Volunteer:
(1) 2 years as Technology Project Lead
others:
- Was an exchange student in USA during high school
- Good knowledge of Artificial Intelligence
- Received scholarships in Undergrad and grad degrees
Post MBA goals
Goal: Become Product Manager in FAANG
Backup: Management Consulting in MBB

Is my GPA low for MIT? What are my chances of getting in Sloan?

Hi ssn92,

You have great GPAs in both of your programs, so I don't see those being an issue for Sloan. Hopefully you can add the GMAT to your list of strengths once you receive your score! If you don't reach 730, or even if you do, and feel you could have scored higher, take it again since Sloan will accept your highest score.

Sounds like you have reasonable goals that fit with your background and skills. I do worry a bit that your past work experience could seem jumpy or disjointed...So make sure you can draw connections between those experiences.

Also, if you don't have any current extracurricular activities, then that is an area to try to improve before you apply.

Otherwise, if you're able to visit Sloan's campus before you apply, I recommend that. If not, try to connect with students and/or alumni through your networks.

Good luck!
Kate


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