Ask Jennifer@Accepted.com: Application-writing advice for the best global B-schools

valiant_fighter

Hi,
I have three questions here....

1)I have heard from many of my friends that if we enroll for admission counselling in GMAT coaching centers, it will backfire rather than being an advantage. The essays they are preparing for all of their students will be more or less same and the colleges can easily find it. So the colleges usually dont prefer applications like that...and it is better to prepare everything by ourself....

Is it so guys? Is it better to go for admisssion counselling than doing all the application work by ourselves?

2)I have lot of extra curricular activies - like volunteering and organising various events in college and later in my office, handling some posts in student unions in college, playing in college volleyball team etc...But I cant show any proofs for none of these, as there are no certificates or so....

My question is that still I can quote all those in my applicaiton and will they give weightage to it?

3) Am planning to take GMAT on sept 26....but by Sept 15th, the first round of ISB Hyd admisssions will be over....and I am particular to get admitted in 2008 itself....I heard that chances are less in second round...

so my question is whether i can enhance my chances by a better GMAT score in the second round? or any thing i can do for improving my chances?

Thanks in advance...

Accepted

Quote:

Originally Posted by valiant_fighter

Hi,
I have three questions here....

1)I have heard from many of my friends that if we enroll for admission counselling in GMAT coaching centers, it will backfire rather than being an advantage. The essays they are preparing for all of their students will be more or less same and the colleges can easily find it. So the colleges usually dont prefer applications like that...and it is better to prepare everything by ourself....

Is it so guys? Is it better to go for admisssion counselling than doing all the application work by ourselves?

2)I have lot of extra curricular activies - like volunteering and organising various events in college and later in my office, handling some posts in student unions in college, playing in college volleyball team etc...But I cant show any proofs for none of these, as there are no certificates or so....

My question is that still I can quote all those in my applicaiton and will they give weightage to it?

3) Am planning to take GMAT on sept 26....but by Sept 15th, the first round of ISB Hyd admisssions will be over....and I am particular to get admitted in 2008 itself....I heard that chances are less in second round...

so my question is whether i can enhance my chances by a better GMAT score in the second round? or any thing i can do for improving my chances?

Thanks in advance...

Hi, valiant fighter,
1) You should definitely not work with an admissions counselor who writes the essays for you. Your voice, your experiences, and your insight need to come through clearly in those essays to help you stand out. But please do not lump all admissions counselors together in your assumption that the essays they prepare "will be more or less the same." Accepted prides itself on ensuring that each applicant differentiates himself and tells the story only he can tell.

2) The honor system applies for all portions of your application. You may only write the truth about what you did and in what activities you participated. You may even need to write the name of a reference for each of these activities so that if for some reason the admissions committee wants to confirm your participation, they can. Do not make the mistake of leaving something out because you feel you cannot prove it. By the same token, do not make the mistake of putting something false in because you feel the admissions committee cannot prove it.

3) If you have not yet taken the GMAT, I do not believe that you can submit your application until you do. If you have taken the GMAT already and are seeking to boost your score, you may wish to contact the admissions office to see if they will allow you to submit first round and then update them with your new score within two weeks. This may just work in your favor if you are able to boost your score significantly. If they do not allow you to update your score in this way, then, yes, you will have to submit second round.

Best of luck with the applications!

Regards,
Jennifer Bloom, CPRW
Accepted - Helping you write your best!

From pre-application consulting and strategizing to essay and letter of recommendation editing, resumes, mock interviews, and wait-list tactics - we guide you through the application maze.

aammiitt

Hi Jennifer,

First of all accept my heartiest thanks on providing useful insights on various facets of application. I need your views on my profile and chances of admits in the schools that I will mention in the post. My profile is as follows:

* 5 Years in IT( A big name in Asia).
* 3.8 GPA
* GMAT(740/49/42)
* 2 years of work-ex in USA.
* Currently the team-lead of a 8 member team.
* Average community works( Volunteer community activities in US, India & Engineering College)
* Okie extra-curriculars( District Champion, University Team Captain, Club President)
* Short term career Goal : Strategy Consulting
* Schools shortlisted till now: Darden, Ross, Mccombs, Emory

Please give me your opinion about my profile and which area do you think could be a potential stopper. If you can also put some light on the the essays of Darden/Ross and their expectations, it will be a great help.

Thanks,
Amit

mlapse

Hi,

I have a question. My current job title is that of Senior Consultant. However my manager and my client both consider me a project manager which is the role i am playing.

the apps ask only for the job title. what should i do in such a case?

thanks in advance

deveshk84

Hi jennifer

Please look at my profile and assess my chances of getting into a top10 school.

Personal Background
Age – 23, Male
Born in a business family and first in my family to graduate as an engineer.

Educational Background
I am a Mechanical Engineer.
I graduated in 2005 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) GPA 3.15
Recipient of Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Award for B. Tech. Session

GMAT
720 (Q50-99%, V36-80%) Overall - 95%

Work Experience
2 yrs in Fortune 500 MNC in Oil and Gas Sector in India. Currently, I am a Marketing Executive looking after channel sales and marketing of lubricants.
Lots of initiatives taken at job to highlight leadership.
I supervise sales of 3 distributors and over 100 Dealers under me.
Two sales assistants and one trainee officer report directly to me.
I am in-charge of one operating storage location.
Given additional responsibility of one metro and one urban area thereby doubling the volume handled for FY 2007-08 as a result of excellent past performance(record double-digit sales growth for 2 consecutive years)

Extra-curricular
Represented my company at National Management Games-2007, a competition for young managers organized by All India Management Association.
Worked as Student Advisor of SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) collegiate chapter at IIT.
I acted as Coordinator of Library Committee at IIT.

Community work
Worked as student ambassador for School of Deaf at Roorkee.
Member of Green Peace India.

Sports, Hobbies
I am a certified NCC and Karate Cadet.
Driving is one of my favorite hobbies.

Entrepreneurship Background.
Assisted my father in running family-owned small scale Iron & Steel business. Successfully managed the production and marketing of different iron and steel products.
Successfully implemented 3 projects in production to increase the productivity in plant and one project in marketing to liquidate excess inventory during slack season.

Career Goals
I want to shift my career from marketing to entrepreneurship. I have developed good networking with my current business partners (Dealers and Distributors), direct clients and colleagues at work. I have learned technical skills during my engineering, and marketing and man-management skills during my professional work experience. I am interested in learning more about entrepreneurship aspects such as opportunity recognition, risk taking, fund raising etc and about financial and HR perspective of business. These skills together will help me in expanding my family owned business. I also want to look at global business opportunities available(for diversification) and global networking through International MBA.

Target schools
Looking for Full time MBA from top 10 US B-Schools.

Primary concerns:
Low work experience(quality of WE has been very good and also entrepreneurship background has provided me good exposure ),
Low age (donno wat to do abt it, How can i convince Ad com on that )
and low GPA.

THANX

Accepted

Quote:

Originally Posted by deveshk84

Hi jennifer

Please look at my profile and assess my chances of getting into a top10 school.

Personal Background
Age – 23, Male
Born in a business family and first in my family to graduate as an engineer.

Educational Background
I am a Mechanical Engineer.
I graduated in 2005 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) GPA 3.15
Recipient of Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Award for B. Tech. Session

GMAT
720 (Q50-99%, V36-80%) Overall - 95%

Work Experience
2 yrs in Fortune 500 MNC in Oil and Gas Sector in India. Currently, I am a Marketing Executive looking after channel sales and marketing of lubricants.
Lots of initiatives taken at job to highlight leadership.
I supervise sales of 3 distributors and over 100 Dealers under me.
Two sales assistants and one trainee officer report directly to me.
I am in-charge of one operating storage location.
Given additional responsibility of one metro and one urban area thereby doubling the volume handled for FY 2007-08 as a result of excellent past performance(record double-digit sales growth for 2 consecutive years)

Extra-curricular
Represented my company at National Management Games-2007, a competition for young managers organized by All India Management Association.
Worked as Student Advisor of SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) collegiate chapter at IIT.
I acted as Coordinator of Library Committee at IIT.

Community work
Worked as student ambassador for School of Deaf at Roorkee.
Member of Green Peace India.

Sports, Hobbies
I am a certified NCC and Karate Cadet.
Driving is one of my favorite hobbies.

Entrepreneurship Background.
Assisted my father in running family-owned small scale Iron & Steel business. Successfully managed the production and marketing of different iron and steel products.
Successfully implemented 3 projects in production to increase the productivity in plant and one project in marketing to liquidate excess inventory during slack season.

Career Goals
I want to shift my career from marketing to entrepreneurship. I have developed good networking with my current business partners (Dealers and Distributors), direct clients and colleagues at work. I have learned technical skills during my engineering, and marketing and man-management skills during my professional work experience. I am interested in learning more about entrepreneurship aspects such as opportunity recognition, risk taking, fund raising etc and about financial and HR perspective of business. These skills together will help me in expanding my family owned business. I also want to look at global business opportunities available(for diversification) and global networking through International MBA.

Target schools
Looking for Full time MBA from top 10 US B-Schools.

Primary concerns:
Low work experience(quality of WE has been very good and also entrepreneurship background has provided me good exposure ),
Low age (donno wat to do abt it, How can i convince Ad com on that )
and low GPA.

THANX

Hi, Deveshk84.
The top B-schools are seeking applicants with international experience and impact. You definitely sound like you are on the right track, but you were a bit vague for me about the regions of your responsibility. Are they within India or have you broadened beyond that border? If you are leading marketing initiatives in, say, Europe, then, yes, you may have a shot at the top MBA programs. If you are still focused in India, then you should spend the next few years continuing to work your way up the corporate marketing ladder to a more international range of marketing experience and impact. Continue the community work and make sure you can point to leadership roles with impact in that sphere as well.

Best of luck in the future.

Regards,
Jennifer Bloom, CPRW
Accepted – Helping you write your best!

From pre-application consulting and strategizing to essay and letter of recommendation editing, resumes, mock interviews, and wait-list tactics - we guide you through the application maze.

Accepted

Quote:

Originally Posted by aammiitt

Hi Jennifer,

First of all accept my heartiest thanks on providing useful insights on various facets of application. I need your views on my profile and chances of admits in the schools that I will mention in the post. My profile is as follows:

* 5 Years in IT( A big name in Asia).
* 3.8 GPA
* GMAT(740/49/42)
* 2 years of work-ex in USA.
* Currently the team-lead of a 8 member team.
* Average community works( Volunteer community activities in US, India & Engineering College)
* Okie extra-curriculars( District Champion, University Team Captain, Club President)
* Short term career Goal : Strategy Consulting
* Schools shortlisted till now: Darden, Ross, Mccombs, Emory

Please give me your opinion about my profile and which area do you think could be a potential stopper. If you can also put some light on the the essays of Darden/Ross and their expectations, it will be a great help.

Thanks,
Amit

Hi, Amit.

You are up against stiff competition as an Indian with a background in IT. In order to gauge your competitiveness, I would need to know what types of things you are accomplishing as the team lead. Are you simply programming and guiding your team in programming or are you defining new markets and products to tap those markets? Certainly, Darden and Ross will only accept applicants doing the latter. For McCombs and Emory you may be able to get away with showing more leadership and impact in the extracurriculars so they can boost their average GMAT and GPA scores.

Best of luck with the applications.

Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW
Accepted - helping you write your best!

From pre-application consulting and strategizing to essay and letter of recommendation editing, resumes, mock interviews, and wait-list tactics - we guide you through the application maze.

Accepted

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlapse

Hi,

I have a question. My current job title is that of Senior Consultant. However my manager and my client both consider me a project manager which is the role i am playing.

the apps ask only for the job title. what should i do in such a case?

thanks in advance

Hi, mlapse.

There's not much you can do besides use the current title, but be sure to use all of the space allocated both in your resume and the work experience section of the application to show your range of initiative and impact on the client and team.

If you use a different title and then the admissions committee finds out that you misrepresented the truth, however slightly, they will immediately reject you. Always stick to the truth.

Regards,
Jennifer Bloom, CPRW
Accepted - Helping you write your best!

From pre-application consulting and strategizing to essay and letter of recommendation editing, resumes, mock interviews, and wait-list tactics - we guide you through the application maze.

deveshk84

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accepted

Hi, Deveshk84.
The top B-schools are seeking applicants with international experience and impact. You definitely sound like you are on the right track, but you were a bit vague for me about the regions of your responsibility. Are they within India or have you broadened beyond that border? If you are leading marketing initiatives in, say, Europe, then, yes, you may have a shot at the top MBA programs. If you are still focused in India, then you should spend the next few years continuing to work your way up the corporate marketing ladder to a more international range of marketing experience and impact. Continue the community work and make sure you can point to leadership roles with impact in that sphere as well.

Best of luck in the future.

Regards,
Jennifer Bloom, CPRW
Accepted – Helping you write your best!

From pre-application consulting and strategizing to essay and letter of recommendation editing, resumes, mock interviews, and wait-list tactics - we guide you through the application maze.

hi Jennifer
thanx a lot for your reply.

One more point in reply to your Question:
My current company has its operations only in India so i am really doubtful whether i would get some international exposure through it.
Also one of the reasons i wanted to do MBA from abroad is also to get that international exposure from B-school. I think MBA would give me an opportunity to interact with international faculty and students. Simultaneously I can learn a lot from staying abroad and observing the business practices there.

Your views on the same, please.

Accepted

Quote:

Originally Posted by deveshk84

hi Jennifer
thanx a lot for your reply.

One more point in reply to your Question:
My current company has its operations only in India so i am really doubtful whether i would get some international exposure through it.
Also one of the reasons i wanted to do MBA from abroad is also to get that international exposure from B-school. I think MBA would give me an opportunity to interact with international faculty and students. Simultaneously I can learn a lot from staying abroad and observing the business practices there.

Your views on the same, please.

Hello again, deveshk84. Since you wrote that you worked for a Fortune 500 MNC, I am confused: MNC means that this company does business in more than one country (actually, multiple countries). I assume now that you mean that the company that you work for within the corporation only has operations in India, correct? If yes, then, I am suggesting that you put yourself forward in the corporation as a person who is seeking and will thrive in international assignments with other companies of the corporation.

To prove to the top MBA programs that you are worthy of admission and will have a significant amount of experience to share and contribute, you will need to demonstrate that your impact and range of influence has far exceeded the norm. If your range of influence has only been in India, you may be able to show that international adaptability through the managers you have worked with or even through your extracurricular activities. But you really must demonstrate that you have what it takes to thrive in an international business environment to prove that you need a US or European MBA (as opposed to an excellent MBA program within India).

The Catch 22 of this situation is a well recognized one. Basically, the top MBA programs are seeking those few candidates who have been able to break the national barrier on some level already.

Regards,
Jennifer Bloom, CPRW
Accepted - helping you write your best!

From pre-application consulting and strategizing to essay and letter of recommendation editing, resumes, mock interviews, and wait-list tactics - we guide you through the application maze.

Don’t miss these upcoming chats at Accepted:
Wharton – with Admissions Director, Thomas Caleel: Thursday September 20, 2007 at 6:00 PM GMT
Columbia – with Admissions Director, Linda Meehan: Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 5:00 PM GMT
Yale – with Admissions Director, Bruce DelMonico: Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007 at 6:00 PM GMT