MBA Crystal Ball

Hi Nitin,

Great to know you got into Kelley. I am strongly considering applying to
Kelley this fall as it's a top notch program for Marketing/Consulting. After
a technical role, I switched to my real estate family firm, currently the
Online Marketing Manager, and I'm looking for a Marketing focused Consulting
role post MBA. I am extremely interested in Digital and New Age aspects of
Mktg, and though most schools have not really included such courses as part
of the curriculum, I would like to broaden out my knowledge of business
along with such a specialization.

I believe Kelley is positioned to really help, with their Academy
experiences and superb faculty, what is your take on whether Kelley would be
a good fit for me? Plus, how much of scholarship did you get from both
Kelley and MBS, and is it doled out mainly based on GMAT+GPA?

Thanks much!!

Hi hifunda,
Kelley is just next to Kellogg, the best marketing school.
Being a top marketing school it attracts the best professors across the us and that's
Why you see such courses in marketing as digital marketing etc.
Scholarships are purely based on GMAT unless you have a extremely unique
Profile.

Hope that answers your question.
Good luck

Nitin

Yes you did thanks a lot for responding! Actually, they don't have a full course on Digital Mktg sadly, but Stern does..

in fact I will take the course on digital marketing thid fall

Hi Nitin, As you said, the scholarships are purely based on GMAT unless...

Can you give any idea about range of the gmat usually selected for scholarship. Also, please share the scholarship amount if possible.

~rps

gmat needs to be above 710 to be assured of any amt of scholarship, which varies from year to year but a decent scholarship should wave off 30-35% of your tution fee and living expense.

nitin

Hi Nitin,

How important is the GMAT in the entire admission process ? I have a 660 in the GMAT (on the lower side for an Indian), but I do believe I have a good work ex and profile apart from demonstrated leadership skills.

Hi rahulvsd,

I may be able to help you if you could share your profile and the schools of your choice.

-nitin

Hi Nitin,

Here goes my a brief of my profile


1. GMAT - 660 (Highest, written it multiple times and do not want to take it again)
2. Work ex - 13 months with Cognizant Technolgy Solutions as a developer. 16 months as a Product Evangelist at a software products company.
3. Undergrad 82 % - Electrical Engineering (SSN College of Engineering, Anna Univ)
4. Have led and formed teams at college and at work. Revamped a dead Entrepreneurship Cell at my college by taking it from a one member team to a 75 member team in one year. Received an award at college recognizing this. Have also received an outstanding student volunteer award for leadership skills in leading the ISTE (Indian Society of Technical Education ) cell. Have also led a team of 50 other training batch captains at Cognizant and conceptualized and conducted a one day fundraising cultural activity. Raised 5000$ (INR 2,50,000) for an orphanage.
5. Received an award and lot of appreciation from clients and peers at Cognizant for developing a tool that reduced testing time by 80% and brought down costs by 70% for my client (An insurance company based in the US)
6. Was more interested in marketing and sales side of a product and hence switched to my current role. Have been involved in creating marketing strategies for 4 different products (2 new products) in my current role. Have worked on getting more customer testimonials for the 4 products, have revamped the product blogs and have drastically improved our social media presence. Have also led a three member team carrying out market research for 3 different products

7. Led a marketing campaign for our first iOS app . When we launched the app first in Feb 2012, we had moderate sales. During may 2012, we changed our focus and targeted specific people who wrote on productivity (The app is a productivity app). We got featured in lifehacker and other big sites as well. Sales zoomed up by 1000% and the app vecame the first Indian App to reach top 2 in the iTunes store.

8. Have been leading teams of size 4 - 10 for the last 8 months now. Played a key role in expansion of the company and have also helped manage recruiting at all levels. We nearly doubled up our head count in the last one year.
9. Have also helped with operations and described as the "The GOTO Man" by my CEO.
10. Was the campus ambassador for Child Rights and You and worked with them to help create awareness for the Right to Education act. Have also been involved with the CSR arm of Cognizant during my stay there.
11. Worked as the Alumni officer at my Undergrad college for two months before my role at Cognizant. Have helped set up the process for the Alumni Scholarship for meritorious students from difficult background. Have been a member of the core committee Alum Association and was also part of the Scholarship committee and Election committee which oversees the election process for office bearers.
12. Have finished Level 1 Spanish certification and will be taking up Level 2 soon, Learning the sport of archery for last 6 months, keen quizzer since school days have won at multiple levels. Have also conducted quizzes at other colleges as well.

Schools am Targeting:
1. ISB
2. Ross
3. Tepper
4. Emory University
5. Kelley