MIT Supply Chain Management (SCM) Master’s Program Review: How I got in with scholarship

Apart from MBA admissions, we have been helping masters applicants get into elite universities for many years. Among the strongest names in that list is MIT. Considering its formidable strength in the area of supply chain management, it’s a hot favourite for SCM enthusiasts.

MIT offers the highly respected and selective MIT Supply Chain Management (SCM) Master’s Program. This is offered in two formats, Residential (SCMr) and Blended (SCMb – hybrid online + on-campus). The focus of this article is the SCMr program.

Here’s a quick overview of what it offers.

MIT SCM Masters Program Review

MIT SCM – Class Profile

The program needs a minimum of two years of post-bachelor’s professional work experience. The preference is for those with 3-7 years of experience though that’s not a hard requirement; we’ve seen more experienced candidates get in as well as those on the lower end of the spectrum.

The average age at entry is reported to be 27 years and the class has 4+ years of experience. They boast a 45% women representation in the class. 31% class has an SCM degree while 52% come from a STEM undergrad background.

MIT SCM – Salary and Careers

The SCMr program reports an average base salary of $148K+ for the class of 2022 (45 students) and an additional $36K+ in signing bonus. The count top firms such as Apple, McKinsey, Accenture, Alix Partners and more among the recruiters.

Since the SCMr program gets the STEM extension, international grad gets a 36 months US work authorization. The program reports a staggering 97% graduates getting an offer within 3 months of graduating.

Technology and Consulting constitute 91% of offers. The job profiles are diverse – Supply Chain Manager, Data Science Consultant, Operations Manager, VP, Program Manager and more.

MIT SCM – Fees and Costs

The official estimated expense for 2022-23 (Tuition and other costs, including living expenses), is upwards of $111K. On top of that, other costs could range in $9K-$20K+.

MIT SCM – Curriculum

This is a 10-months residential program requiring 90 units for graduate subjects. A lot of these are required subjects under SCM, Analytics and Management electives. The program does offer choices in Finance focus subjects too.

One has to the option to do a Master of Engineering (MEng-SCM) or Master of Applied Science (MASc-SCM) degree. There is a choice to do a Capstone or a graduate thesis.

MIT SCM – Application requirements

Application requirements are quite similar to that of an MBA application with some differences, the biggest one that apart from GMAT/GRE, you can also use SC0x (online SCM Micromasters), with 85% or higher score.

Apart from these, you’ll need a resume, transcripts, 500 word Statement of Objectives, 2 recommendations, a 2 minute long video statement and IELTS/TOEFL (exempt for most Indian candidates if medium of instruction has been English).

MIT SCM Micromasters vs MIT SCM

While the MIT SCMr is a full-time, residential program, the Micromasters, hosted on the edX platform, is an online only option. This is an introductory course covering basic analytical methods, usage of statistics in supply chain and the likes.

The program is recognized by several universities in the MIT SCALE ecosystem as well as others including Purdue and Arizona State – you can earn credits at many of these programs if you’ve completed the Micromasters. It has had 1 Million+ enrolments. The course is free but if you want to get a certificate, you need to pay a fees (INR 1.25L).

At the heart of it, it is a great primer or introduction to the world of SCM. In itself, it may not be enough for a long career in the domain, but it sure can get you started towards one.

MIT SCM Application Success Story

What does it take to get into MIT SCM?

Nilay Kumar’s journey may give you many perspectives. He came to us on the strong referral of a classmate from IIT Bombay that we had helped get into an elite MBA with scholarship.

Nilay was looking for a masters degree in USA after his MBA from India. He shares his complete application journey.
 

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MIT SCM Masters Program Application Experience

How I got into MIT SCM with scholarship

by Nilay Kumar

 

I believe that I’m an “introverted extrovert”. I like to be around people most of the times, discussing and sharing about each other’s lives, but I also need some alone time where I can recharge myself by following my interests – Music and Sports.

I’m a self-taught drummer and an avid football fan, having played in bands and football teams throughout college. My life’s motto is to do my best, so I can’t blame myself for anything.
 

My days as an engineering student at Manipal

The 4 years I spent at Manipal were quite significant in my personal development as I got out of my comfort zone & spent time away from home.

This allowed me to build self-confidence, improve my communication skills and learn how to be self-sufficient.

I studied Electrical & Electronics engineering which I found to be a tough and theoretically heavy discipline.

Being fond of action-based learning, I did somewhat okay academically and was actively involved in organising events for the college fest.

Getting placed in a UK based engineering design consulting firm (Atkins) gave me bragging rights amongst my batchmates and I got the opportunity to work on large-scale infrastructure design projects (Jeddah Airport).

However, as I was completing my first year at Atkins, I realized that I didn’t want to build my career in the technical field of engineering design and would rather pursue business management.
 

MBA from SJMSOM IIT Bombay

After preparing for almost 6 months, I was ecstatic to score 98.74 percentile in the CAT 2013 exam. I received interview calls from all the top 10-15 campuses except IIM ABC (my academics weren’t so great).

While I did want to pursue a general management MBA degree, I also wanted to leverage my past experience in engineering & project management to pivot towards Supply Chain Management/ Operations as an area of interest.

When researching about most of the colleges known for Operations, I narrowed down to SJMSOM at IIT Bombay (IITB) for a lot of reasons – brand reputation, great ROI (much cheaper than IIMs) and placements (a lot of companies came for Operations roles), advantageous location (proximity to corporates), small batch size (120) and student to faculty ratio of 4:1.

The 2 years I spent at IITB were immense in terms of shaping my thinking and preparing me for the corporate world ahead.

I learnt a lot about time management, and leading the Marketing club taught me a lot about leadership and building a network with the academia and the industry.

I also got exposed to global educational pedigree by attending a Winter Business Study program in Paris, France.

Within 2-3 months of the start of our MBA program, we had to prepare for companies coming on the campus to recruit for their summer internships.

I was fortunate to be selected by the second company on the campus – Johnson & Johnson (J&J), for their Supply Chain internship program.

The selection process involved a group discussion followed by 3 rounds of interviews involving guesstimates and VAQs.

Thanks to my amazing mentor and the support team during my internship, I was able to win the “Best Project” award offered only to top 3 interns out of a pool of 25 students selected from top 10 business schools in India.

This was followed by a PPO (pre-placement offer) from J&J, which I happily accepted.
 

Life as a Supply Chain professional

I’ve been working as a Supply Chain professional for 7 years now – 6 years with J&J and the last 1 year with PwC US Advisory.

I’ve gained extensive experience working across diverse roles in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare industry, including Strategy Consulting, NPD Program Management, and Digital Transformation Project Management.

Additionally, I have successfully led an entire Manufacturing Department with a team of 40+ operators, navigating through the challenges posed by the pandemic.

I was also part of J&J’s Global Operations Leadership Development program called GOLD, which included collaborating with a global team for an internal capstone project by visiting their global HQ in USA and other sites in Ireland.

The most challenging part of work was sustaining the improvements you worked so hard on designing. I learnt a lot on how to execute complicated projects and how to lead a team through challenging times.

And every time I was able to set a new benchmark or create new standards, it brought me immense joy and satisfaction.

The pandemic had exacerbated all types of Supply Chain disruptions. This led to the increased adoption of technology by the industry leaders to upgrade their supply chain performance.

While being a Digital Project Lead at J&J gave me a practical understanding, I wanted to dive deeper into the complexities of Supply Chain and its interaction with cutting-edge technology and analytics, to build more resilient supply chains.

I want to develop and lead supply chains that balance risk management with cost competitiveness.

Hence, to me it was very clear that I wanted to pursue a degree/program that was very focussed and specialized towards the technical aspects of the modern-day supply chains and operations. Doing another MBA would not be ideal as it would be more general/broad in its curriculum.
 

MIT SC0x Review

When researching about ways to upskill myself towards the more technical aspects of supply chain management, I stumbled upon the SC0x online course from MITx.

This course not only boosts your skills at the analytical methods generally used by logistics and supply chain practitioners, it also helps build your credential to apply to MIT’s #1-ranked Supply Chain Management Master’s Degree program.

The course is very well prepared and introduced me to various simulation and optimization methods with applications in the supply chain space.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning all the analytical methods and was able to score a perfect 100% score in the final exam.

I had enrolled in this course to boost my chances at applying for MIT’s supply chain management master’s program which is the #1 ranked program.
 

Why I didn’t go for GMAT waiver

While having a good score in SC0x did give you a waiver towards GRE/GMAT scores for applying to MIT, I personally wanted to build greater credibility towards my application as there would be a lot of competition from prospective candidates around the globe.

Hence, I decided to prepare for the GRE test after taking inputs from a lot of my friends. While I did prepare a bit for GMAT, I personally did not like its test format and scoring methodology.

I gave an actual GRE test without much preparation and scored 319/340. Upon discussing with current batch students at MIT, they said that while this is a decent score, if you really want to solidify your chances, you should aim for 325+ score.

So, I decided to study for almost a month using GregMat. I really liked his approach towards preparing for GRE exam using nothing but official materials only and charging only $5 per month where he would guide us for the exam. I had strong grasp on quant and had to focus only on the verbal part.

After learning a lot of GRE words and practicing using official materials, I gave my second GRE attempt in Nov 2022. I was relieved to see a score of 325/340 at the end of my test (165Q and 160V).

Seeing this score gave me a real big boost and I felt confident that I can secure a seat to some of the best master’s degree programs for supply chain management.
 

My big concerns: Second masters and low academic grades

I was a bit concerned while considering to go for a second master’s degree, something that is not quite common amongst my circle of friends and family.

I already had 7 years of supply chain experience working with some big brands (J&J and PwC).

My experience was slightly on the higher side as most master’s program look for 3-7 years of experience.

On top of that, my academics aren’t that great and I had a feeling I would experience a similar ordeal as I did after I gave CAT in 2013.

At the same time, a second master’s degree would cost a lot also, hence I was concerned on maximizing my ROI in terms of overall effectiveness and the advantages I would gain from another degree.

On a more personal side, having recently gotten married, I was also a bit disappointed as I would be away from India for almost a year.

But thanks to my amazing wife who has been supportive of my goals since the very beginning, I think we will be able to work through this challenge.
 

Why I needed an experienced admissions consultant

I considered my quest for a second master’s degree to be a big risk, specially since I was only aiming for the top colleges around the world.

Whilst I had a good experience preparing for applications at the top B-schools in India, upon discussion with friends who studied in American universities I realized that the application process, methodology and selection criteria would be very different from my experience with Indian universities.

Most universities abroad follow a more holistic approach and give a lot of importance to your statement of purpose, your video statements/interviews and also your resume.

My experience with most of these elements was very limited and quite outdated also. Hence, to give my best shot at applying to the top universities, I decided to enrol the help of an experienced consultant.

Upon researching most of the consultants online, I realized that I would like to work with someone that would be able to relate/connect with my story more easily and understand my concerns/challenges without any barriers.

So, I was more inclined on choosing an India based admissions consulting service that had experience in placing Indian students in some of the best universities in the world.

While searching on google, I found a couple of articles mentioning how consultants from MBA Crystal Ball (MCB) had helped students get admission into the SCM program at MIT, included one who was slightly older than 30.

This caught my attention and upon reading those articles, I was very impressed with how they had helped the students in their endeavours.

Further, I also found out that they had also helped my IIT Bombay batchmate, Utsav Basak, get admission into Michigan Ross with scholarship for his second MBA.

Hence, I decided to finalize MCB as my choice and eventually signed up for their MBA essay editing service for 1 school package.

I had been in touch with MCB right at the start of my preparation journey, when I was still researching on how best to prepare my application.

I had reached out to Manish Gupta over email with my brief intro and plan of action. He was quite generous and replied to my request with his inputs.

He was very encouraging of my pursuit and gave his feedback whenever I requested. So, when I eventually signed up with MCB, I was happy to be working with Manish.

I had interacted with Manish Gupta from MCB. Overall, I had a very nice experience working alongside him. He had a great way of communicating clear requirements and gave good feedback that helped me stay on track.

Through our regular connect sessions, he gave some great ideas to make my essays and video statements more fun and relatable.

I remember him suggesting to add the line “While the whole world was scrambling for toilet paper, I was busy ensuring no mother in India faced any shortage of baby care products” to my video statement.

I was really pleased with his understanding of operations, supply chain and also how he was able to push me to be very specific in my thoughts, ideas and motivations to pursue a second master’s degree.

I think that was the most important thing that made me introspect deeper and develop a really authentic and relatable statement of purpose.

I believe without his guidance, ideas and constant push on being very specific and covering the key highlights of my profile, I wouldn’t have been able to bring out the best in my application.
 

Eyes set on one school – MIT

I was very clear that I only wanted to apply to MIT. Their master’s degree program in supply chain management is quite easily the best in the world and their curriculum had a great amount of focus on building technical skills coupled with action-based learning through a capstone project partnering with industry.

Another big criteria in selecting only MIT was the expected ROI. At this stage of my career, I felt I need a big-step up to justify the 1-year break as well as the college investment.

Considering all these factors, MIT’s SCM Residential program seemed like the perfect fit.

Thankfully, I knew a couple of alumni of the MIT SCM program through my IITB and J&J

network. After talking to them about my aspirations, I was able to learn more amazing things about the program (global & diverse cohort, enriching capstone projects, MIT SCALE conference & Sloan certifications) and felt even more strongly about applying for it.

They advised me to talk passionately in my application about what supply chain problems do I want to solve in today’s VUCA world and also mention how I can give back to the program community leveraging my past experience and skills.

I had submitted my application (SOP, Video Statement & Resume) to MIT before the end of Jan 2023. I received the final result before the end of Feb 2023, so roughly a month to share the final results.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw that I was granted admission to MIT and also selected to receive the SCALE scholars fellowship.

I felt a lot of gratitude and happiness after the final result.

I had only applied to MIT and was able to get in with scholarship. This was unreal!

I am super happy to be able to pursue my education at such a reputed university and I’m already looking forward to an enriching learning experience.

To submit my application before the Round II deadline (Jan ’23), I had planned to achieve my target GRE scores by end of Nov ’22 and begin working towards my application from Dec onwards.

After working with MCB admission consultants for almost 4 weeks, I was able to finalize all the materials required for submitting my application before the Round II deadline (Jan intake).
 

Some lessons from my journey that may help you

I believe the key highlights that differentiated me from other Indian applicants were:

• Diverse experience with two big companies (J&J and PwC)
• Global exposure during college (Winter Study Program in France) and industry (J&J GOLD Program)
• Leadership traits during college (Head of Marketing Club) and industry (led the manufacturing dept.)
• GRE score indicative of quantitative and verbal abilities
• Well-thought statement of objectives
• Good extracurricular achievements (won international recognitions during college and industry, published case stories online, recognised as best student leader by Unilever)

In hindsight, I learnt a valuable lesson through the application process – don’t stop until your story feels authentic and real.

I would have probably spent a lot more time, maybe 3-4 months in advance, thinking and perfecting my statement of objectives. That would have made me complete the application process a lot quicker with fewer changes.

As I embark on my new journey this year, I have nothing but good memories about the last 1 year where I envisioned being able to study at one of the best universities in the world.

It was a challenging road to the top, from putting myself back into the mindset of studying for GRE, to managing all of the preparations along with my daily job as a consultant.

But nonetheless, I’m extremely happy and grateful with the end result and cannot thank Manish enough for his support and guidance in making this dream a reality.

For those who are aspiring for an MBA or a master’s degree, I have one advice – do what you love and love what you do.

If you truly are passionate about pursuing an MBA / Master’s degree and you know why, how and when you want to pursue it, trust me you will be able to achieve it.

Just do your research, prepare yourself mentally for the road ahead – GMAT/GRE/CAT exams and the application process, and give it your 100%. And I’m sure that you will also be able to make it to your dream colleges.

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