MBA Crystal Ball

Hi,

I hv posted in all the forums that i know but have never got a convincing answer, so im posting my profile for you to evaluate....plzzz help me....

School: X & XII - 82% - CBSE
Coll: Mech engg - 6.6/10 - Bits Dubai
Work: Currently 3 yrs exp in HVAC Design in a Building Design company in Kuwait.
Ec's: A few in school in college part of the organizing committee in sports festival....won prizes for cultural events in inter-college and intra-college events.... currently part of the office cricket team.

My biggest prob is 610 in GMAT....should i take my chances and apply fr this years application.....bcz i know with the current situation in my office i wont have enough time to study which was the case when i attempted previously as well, I can mention this in my essays as well to show why my gmat was low.

But i need a definitive answer on should I apply, YES/No, you would be guiding my career if you can help me on this and another question is what are the other b-schools in india that i can apply to with gmat score as i dont mind doing a 2 year course as well, courses in which i have a realisitc chance of gettin though, or there is no chance at all and i absolutely have to give gmat again. Thanks, eagerly waiting for your reply.

sansd wrote:Hi,

I hv posted in all the forums that i know but have never got a convincing answer, so im posting my profile for you to evaluate....plzzz help me....

School: X & XII - 82% - CBSE
Coll: Mech engg - 6.6/10 - Bits Dubai
Work: Currently 3 yrs exp in HVAC Design in a Building Design company in Kuwait.
Ec's: A few in school in college part of the organizing committee in sports festival....won prizes for cultural events in inter-college and intra-college events.... currently part of the office cricket team.

Sansd,

Here are the responses to the multiple queries you raise in your post:

1. Unless you define what schools you are looking at and to what end, no one will be able to tell you whether you should go ahead with the application or not. It is, at the end of the day, your decision and should depend purely on what you want to get out of an MBA. Check out one of our guest posts for more insights on this point https://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/2012 ... -mba-hype/
2. For the list of schools accepting GMAT in India, a quick 2 minute google search will tell you the answer. Apart from ISB and IIMs, schools like XLRI, SPJain, Great Lakes etc all accept GMAT.
3. Coming to your profile specific question, it is a bit hard to give out a verdict for the reasons mentioned in (a) above. Nonetheless, a 610 GMAT score will definitely be a deterrent for most bschools of decent repute. My advice, just on the basis of the limited data, will be to work on improving that. There are tons of people who do GMAT with work - no amount of justification will be good enough to prove that you didnt get a good score because you didnt get sufficient time (unless ofcourse you are solving world hunger problem or some such :))

I am sure this too will not be a clear yes/no, but hope this helps.

Cheers,

Hi
I have read all the previous posts and they are amazing. Thanks for all your work. Here is my profile-

I have completed Engineering(ECE) from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore campus.

School - 81%
XII - 94%
GPA - 8.2

GMAT - 710
Work - 2.5 years of work experience in Embedded system and Networking Research with Center For development of Advanced Computing(CDAC, Hyderabad), a scientific organisation under Govt of India.

At work
- Have led a 2 member team for a Network research project from DIT, Govt of India.
- Have 2 international research papers published and one of them published in IEEE.
- Have developed a Wireshark plugin to make the development and debugging time required for MIH to be reduced by 60%

Recently, left my job to establish on my own. Have started a company, Apptiser Software Ltd which helps in development of Network protocols and mobile Apps.

- have been a cultural secretary, in the college (selected by college level voting) and been an active participant in all the cultural activities.
- have done resource management and relief work for Tsunami people in ground zero(Cuddalore - the worst hit Tsunami region) for 3 months in my college time.
- have taught Maths to 9th and 10th class students of a non profit school for children of poor families. Also helped them in generating funds for free mid day meals(generated funds of around Rs 1 lakh). Also got them a 80G approval for increasing the number of donations.

I want to continue with my start up in a better way post MBA. I have seen a need for MBA due to lack of management skills for running the company and taking it to a different level.

I am looking for ISB first round of application. please evaluate my profile. Also I would like to know if applying to some international universities would be helpful?(Although I don't intend to work there post MBA). I am also looking for some universities with scholarship so that I finish my MBA and continue my work. What is your opinion about it?

Thanks & Regards
Ankith

ankith13 wrote:Hi
I have read all the previous posts and they are amazing. Thanks for all your work. Here is my profile-

I have completed Engineering(ECE) from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore campus.

School - 81%
XII - 94%
GPA - 8.2
Ankith

Ankit,

Thanks for your kind words. Coming to your queries, here are my thoughts:

1. I obviously cannot pass a verdict here on your profile. But lets look at the pros and cons. Your work-ex looks good given the accomplishments you mention (paper, govt. company) and your venture seems to be a continuation of your work. You also seem to have a good balance of non-work related interests
2. You do have to think hard on the career progression. Unless properly justified, if you've not even spent a year at your new company, it is easy to construe that you were not clear when you started it. Second aspect is an average GMAT score.
3. Your motivation for an MBA is perfectly valid and most schools like to get an entrepreneur in their batch - provided there is a clear story linking your past to the future. And yes, an MBA will be a great place to build network, understand concepts/business and do the business full blow. You do need to research on which aspects of a particular bschool will help you on your pursuits - for instance, does having WCED at ISB help you?
4. There are definitely a lot of international schools that promote entrepreneurial culture. But if you intend to be back in India, and your business customers will be in India, then an international MBA may not be of much value. But if your clientele/suppliers are likely to be international, then yes, doing an international MBA is of immense value. The school selection is of course a more detailed topic and a bit beyond the scope of this forum.

In summary, you should strongly think of applying after ensuring that your story is consistent and you've thought it through.

Hope this helps,
Cheers

Hi,

I am applying for R1 btch for ISB this year and here is my profile for evaluation.

10th and 12th- 85.2% (from a small school)
Graduation: IIT Delhi, Biochemical Engg, 7.8 GPA

GMAT score: 750

Others: CFA Level 1 and NCFM modules

Work experience (2 years 3 months till date)

1. WOrked in a market research company for 9 months as analyst. Involed in mostly handling client requests, doing primary and secondary research and making presentations and reports

2. Working with JPMorgan India for the last 1.5 years as Equity Research Analyst. Involved in initiating companies, building models and developing investment thesis

Leadership:

Was coordinator of college festival; core part of the student governing body, part of publications team, led a project in school and won 'Young Scientist" award in national level science congress

Extracurrics:
Hold a diploma in music after learning for 12 years
Involved actively in music and dance in college and school and won several awards
Been working for an NGO for last couple of months

Any help with what to highight and what not to in my essays, and a profile evaluation would be very helpful.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Also i forgot to mention that i want to get into a PE firm in future. That is also what i intend to highlight in my essays. But since ISB doesn't have too many PE coming there, i am not sure if it is such a good idea. Any suggestions on that would be very helpul too.

Thanks

dattasd wrote:Hi,

I am applying for R1 btch for ISB this year and here is my profile for evaluation.

10th and 12th- 85.2% (from a small school)
Graduation: IIT Delhi, Biochemical Engg, 7.8 GPA

GMAT score: 750

Others: CFA Level 1 and NCFM modules

Thanks a lot in advance!

Dear dattasd,

Here are a few points that I noted:

1. The vitals for the profile (read GMAT, undergrad, work-ex quality) look good. Though the number of years is a tad on the lower side, but by the time you apply will be within the 80% median range
2. To your point on what to highlight - there's no cookie cutter here. You are the best judge. The guiding principles are to talk about the things/accomplishments you are proud of and also ensure that they have linkage to your career aspirations. If the school essays permit, you should also talk about activities not necessarily related to your career but those that give a glimpse into you as an individual (e.g. the music angle in your profile)
3. You do understand that there are very few and far between PE firms that visit the campus. And from what you describe, you may not necessarily be the only one who gets a shot at this. My understanding is that there are not more than 5-6 people who crack into PE from ISB. So if you believe that PE is where you'd like to head, the odds are a bit unevenly stacked and you'd do better to hedge your risks by applying to some schools that have more PE firms visiting campus. Having said that, the more beaten track to entering PE is either the investment banking or the consulting route as PEs cherish such experience more than fresh out of college folks.

In summary, my suggestion to you would be to do a harder reflection on the practicality of your post MBA goals and align them well with the school choice.

Cheers,

Hi,

Could you please let me know my chances in ISB with Gmat score of 650 (Q48 V31). Below is my profile, please suggest if I should go ahead with this score or retake the gmat and apply in second cycle.

-Personal details:
Nationality: Indian
Age: 24 years

-Qualifications:
B.Tech from UPTech University: 61.64
12th: 57.6
10th: 58.66

-GMAT: 650 ( Q48 V31)
-Geographical preference: INDIA or others if you suggest, considering I would prefer settled in India.
-Post MBA goals: Technical consulting

-Work profile

-Total exp: 4 yrs and 6 months as of now
-Current Job: Sr Engineer in Leading Telecom MNC (2yrs, 4 months)

-Working as Senior Engineer in in R&D.
-work includes s/w development including learning and performing POC's (proof of concepts) on new frameworks and implementing them.
-Joined it in may 2010 as Engineer and got promoted after 1 yr, 7 months. Following are the achievements

-Demonstrated capabilities as learning anything new very quickly - though, don't have any awards but it can be reflected, apart from leadership, presentation and other skills, in my recommendation letters from my manager and senior CTO of our group.
-Performing additional role of security expert for 3 of the sub products which involves analyzing performing security analysis and tests on these products, analyzing test reports and providing recommendations and taggging them as pass/fail.
-Recived Award for good performance and excellence - though it's a bit common here.
-Selected as a member of technical and journal group (started by manager): The goal was to arranging technical sessions and shairing techical articles etc. I was selected because I keep shairing new articles and technical things with teams i.e. keeps on increasing my technical knowledge. Only 4 members, including me, were selected for this group of which 3 were of project lead level.
-Current CSR spoc of my location and my name has been suggested for CSR spoc for whole NCR which includes 3 sites in Gurgaon and 1 in NOIDA - result expected soon.
-Started (founder) a book shairing club in the company.



-Past Job: A leading VAS provider company (2 yrs, 2 months)

-Joined it as Technical trainee and got promoted to Associate s/w engineer within 5 months for excellent performance.
-Implemented the Reporting tool with a framework - I handled this project myself and I was the main guy responsible for this module. This demonstrated my quick learner attitude.
-Got involved in Fast Track programme which was for star employees. The program included studying the business and providing new idea and business. Though I left the company after 3 months and joined the telecom MNC.
-I can get good recommendation from here as well.


-Extra curriculars and Achievements:
Not as interesting in school and college

-Won many intra school competitions such as swimming and cricket (got a few certificates for swimming from school but don't know if they will be valid)
-As a team arranged cricket and volley ball tournaments but no certificates to prove.
-Involved with one NGO: Involved not so frequent visits and funding them and made efforts to fund them in company.

takinggmat wrote:Hi,

Could you please let me know my chances in ISB with Gmat score of 650 (Q48 V31). Below is my profile, please suggest if I should go ahead with this score or retake the gmat and apply in second cycle.

-Personal details:
Nationality: Indian
Age: 24 years

Dear takinggmat,

As your title suggests, I believe you are yourself considering retaking the GMAT. Nonetheless, here are my reflections:

1. 650 is definitely a low score for most top schools including ISB. That does put you at a disadvantage. Not saying this cannot be overcome, but it does put you on the backfoot a bit. So if you believe that 650 is not the correct reflection of your analytical/verbal capabilities, I would strongly recommend you re-take it. The idea is to always put your best foot forward - if that means delaying by a few months, it is still better than repenting later.
2. Your profile does have elements on which you can differentiate. For instance, working in the world's fastest growing telecom market both as a service provider and as a player; CSR elements etc. The flip side is that the nature of your work is in the software domain which is a very competitive and large pool of applicants.
3. You mention tech consulting as your goal - does that mean IT consulting the likes done be Deloitte, Accenture etc? Or something else? The challenge for you will be to think of how your current role/profile supports this transition and where does the genesis of this interest lie

Hope this clarifies some of the doubts obfuscating your vision.

Cheers,

Hi,

First of all I would like to thank you for starting such a wonderful interactive forum. These forums help aspirants like me to understand our chances and also help us in identifying the areas to focus on.

Below are my details,
Educational Qualification :-
Standard YearPassed Percentage Board/University
Xth 1999 70% State Board
XIIth 2001 78% State Board
B.E (E&TC) 2005 64% Pune University

Professional Qualification :- currently Working as a Senior Technology Lead for a leading Indian IT company.

From professional achievements point of view, over my past 7 years I have all the kinds of achievements and success stories to show case for, below are some of them

1. my experience is in the Business Intelligence domain, which requires continuous interaction with the business and provide the business with technical solutions/recommendations, so I do have a consulting flavor to my resume. I work on identifying trends/patterns/factors that helps in decision making of the CEO`s or any other executive. I work on showcasing what impact a given factor can have on the growth and future of a company(forecasting and planning).
2. I have been a top level performer throughout my 7 year stint with the organization and have received couple of promotions ahead of all the others in my peer group.
3. I have exposure for interacting with clients from diverse industrial sectors such as banking, health care, retail etc.
4. I was one of the finalists over couple of different organization wide program initiated to identify young leaders.
5. I am currently the Technology Lead for several different technology groups. I have completed certifications in technologies for which there are very few certified professionals across the entire industry.
6. I have been working on number of proposals, engagements, new initiatives, presentations etc to expand my employer`s Business Intelligence portfolio.
7. A Vice President from a leading North American bank will be acting as one of my referee for the application.

I am not mentioning any of my extracurricular and NGO activities because I have heard that ISB does not put emphasis on these aspects. So i would rather ignore these aspects from the application than include them.

The above can be the good part for my application, now coming for the not so good part GMAT. I had a total of 3 shots at the GMAT.
GMAT1 :- 620 don’t recall anything but somewhere around Jan-2008
GMAT2 :- 650 Similar to the above, somewhere around Jan-2012
GMAT3 :- 680 gave couple of weeks back(Q-47, V-34) awaiting other section scores. This could have been much better...but it is what it is. I do have reasons for all the low scores but would refrain from providng any. I would like to talk about these factors as minimum as possible.

My expectations from ISB program :-
I would like to continue to work in my current industry/domain itself but by focusing not only on IT consultancy but also on Business Consultancy. The Information Technology Management program at ISB is an ideal program that can help me set a good platform for becoming a complete Consultant(Technology and Business).

From all the above information provided, can you let me know how good a chance do I stand to get shortlisted for a Personal Interview.

Thanks.