How to improve your profile for an International MBA

Manishkaka

Hope you guys have been thru this post.

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/b-scho...ba-2008-a.html

A wonderful profile!!

rahul_s

Hello All,

I have read in many threads that people keep talking about certification programs/part time courses (to strengthen your profile), can anyone tell me what kind of certification programs/part time courses are we talking about and the universities which offer them in India (i know that in US many universities offer non degree programs or part time courses).

How do we engage ourself in social activity ? Where to start and how to start ? I am in Bangalore, so if anybody knows or has any idea about NGO's and etc then please let me know.

I have a pretty ordinary profile and after going through all the awesome profiles.. i am having a hard time. I am plannig for Fall 09 and so I want to utilize these two years (rather 1.5 yrs) to add some "wow" factor.
For this I have developed a rough to do list.. which is as follows :-

* Start a blog

1. Get a job which I like (Yes ! I hate my normal projectless IT job

) or atleast get a project, so that I have client interaction. (I am in deep shit !! :bad-word

2. Learn how to play Guitar (wanted to do this since B.Tech but never got time.. and now I will have to find time

)

3. Take up swimming seriously.

4. Social work (want to be assocaited with CRY or UNICEF)

5. Crack GMAT by mid 08 and decide upon schools. (aiming for 700+)

It would be great if all of you can also share your rough plan of action or how are you planning to journey towards to your dream MBA.

Thanks and Regards,
Rahul

jackywho

After an year's application struggle and with multiple dings, I learned some big lessons about "improving profile".

Sure that most of the popularly accepted practices - differentiation, social work, unique experience etc etc - works fine to some extend. But unless you are not able to show how these practices make you an "interesting person", I guess none of these will be sufficient enough to take you to a good B school.

I have good amount of social work experience and have shown that as my strength in most of the applications. But on the feedback sessions, to my surprise, most of the adcoms just gave a passive reference about that.
Its a strength. Period.But for colleges, they look at how well I mixed it with my day to day activities; how well it brought out the qualities in me.

None of the adcoms suggested to take up any certification programs/part time courses since I've taken statistics and maths in undergraduate studies. I think this is applicable for most of the engineers out there.

harshRambles

Hey Jacky,
Did you apply to/get any feedback from INSEAD?
I am trying to reach them but they won't respond to email. How do I find out the phone number for my admissions coordinator??
My profile:
750/undergrad in the US/2+ FTE work ex in fortune 50 company in the US/decent social work (leadership too but no official positions)/grand plans.

Not even an interview!

jackywho

harshRambles, I didn't apply to Insead last year. A few of my friends had application feedback sessions (though none of them are happy about the quality of feedback).
Try reaching them over phone.
A quick look at Insead site gave me this number - Tel: +33 (0)1 60 72 40 05

And better be quick. None of the schools entertain feedback sessions in the peak season.