How to improve your profile for an International MBA

Manishkaka · 07:30 PM

Guys,

Many people manage a good GMAT score (700 +), but not all have a profile competitive enough to match an international candidature. I believe a strong profile counts more than a gmat score and application essays. A strong profile doesnt exactly mean a good work exp.

e.g. a candidate with 3-4 yrs work ex in IT, applying for an MBA in Fin, should have an appropriate inclination towards Finance. During his course of work experience, he must focus on improving his profile in Finance. He must be able to justify his inclination in Finance in front of himself.

Similarly, an MBA-Marketing aspirant should improve his profile in Marketing irrespective of the background he belongs to.

On this new thread let us discuss how a person can improve his/her profile w.r.t to MBA career ahead.

There are numerous certification courses & activities that many people know. There are numerous places where people write journals (writing international papers strengthens profile like anything). There is a vast pool of information. Let us share.

Apart from this, extra curricular activities play important role in one's profile. There are activities that help people improve leadership potential. A candidate with small work ex (say 2-3 years) cannot strongly demonstrate a leadership potential. But, if he gets involved with some extracuricular activities likes sports, NGOs etc etc managerial potential can be developed and accordingly portrayed in an application.

Let us discuss, suggest and understand how to improve our profile for an International MBA.

We really need some useful posts.

aim-wsc

good thread.
but I think we'll really have to drag admits to post/share their resources here.
esp. about the various certification they did...

My 0.02$

-
One should join such certification courses in order to improve his status quo and not for any MBA application strat.
It's not your supplementary courses but your status quo that matters to b-schools.

JackOfAllTrades

I guess not focussing on certification, we should focus on adding the diversity element to our profile. since there are too many Indians applying abroad, we need to have something extra to have a better chance of an admit.

I have written a post about adding diversity and the importance of it in an International B-school. Go through the link: Progress in Life: Diversity in a B-school

Hope this helps,

Manishkaka

Read the article. Very nicely written.

Profile increment means not only to make ourselves strong on paper, but doing something that inclines us more towards our ultimate goal.

Many people think on how to improve their personality to become at par with the present day competition. As said people do lots of things in different fields to make their profile diverse, which is also in line with their own personal interest.

My intention through this thread is to increase the awareness and share the knowledge of how different people do different things to develop themselves as diversified personality. Particularly for MBA aspirants this aspect is very very important, where candidates have to maket themselves in front of Ad Comm

Smiles

jagjeet · 08:57 PM

Manish,

Really god info u shared on this Therad, i would like to tak with u regarding GMAT ,
i wanna write it in Aug/07.....my contact detail is <snip>
You seem online plz reply me or call me to tak with regaring the strategy for the same...

i will be obliged.....

Jagjeet

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manishkaka

Guys,

Many people manage a good GMAT score (700 +), but not all have a profile competitive enough to match an international candidature. I believe a strong profile counts more than a gmat score and application essays. A strong profile doesnt exactly mean a good work exp.

e.g. a candidate with 3-4 yrs work ex in IT, applying for an MBA in Fin, should have an appropriate inclination towards Finance. During his course of work experience, he must focus on improving his profile in Finance. He must be able to justify his inclination in Finance in front of himself.

Similarly, an MBA-Marketing aspirant should improve his profile in Marketing irrespective of the background he belongs to.

On this new thread let us discuss how a person can improve his/her profile w.r.t to MBA career ahead.

There are numerous certification courses & activities that many people know. There are numerous places where people write journals (writing international papers strengthens profile like anything). There is a vast pool of information. Let us share.

Apart from this, extra curricular activities play important role in one's profile. There are activities that help people improve leadership potential. A candidate with small work ex (say 2-3 years) cannot strongly demonstrate a leadership potential. But, if he gets involved with some extracuricular activities likes sports, NGOs etc etc managerial potential can be developed and accordingly portrayed in an application.

Let us discuss, suggest and understand how to improve our profile for an International MBA.

We really need some useful posts.

rahul_s

The "building my profile for an international MBA" is my major concern now a days. I am thinking about it all the time. What worries me more is that I have never worked on a real project (being builded by the client) till now, have only acted as a shadow resource that too on a maintenance project. (Yeah !! I am an Indian IT guys).
I have graduated last year with a GPA of 7.95/10 from Icfai University, which is not very popular. (my second concern)
Sometimes I feel that I still have two years (aiming for Fall 09 or 10, preferably Fall 09) in hand to build my profile but I am scared that I may never get to work on a real project and progress vertically, what I did all year long is kept on learning different tools (this betters my profile sideways, but I don't think this will help me in building my MBA profile).

Am i being very pessimistic and panicky ?

I have a few questions.

1. How to demonstrate leadership quality being just a software developer. Haven't displayed much or rather no experience on the same back in college.?
2. How to create a diverse profile ?
3. What kind of community service should we do ?
4. How important is the brand name of the firm ?
5. Is 3 yrs of work ex enough for an International MBA (read US)?
6. From where should I start building my profile ?

sanket11

This is the thread I wanted. I am also planning a very systematic approach to MBA admissions. I have been posting my profile on various thread & I asking people about how to utilize next 12-18 months of period before applying to an MBA. thanks for this thread.
You have mentioned about International Paper Presenting. Can u elaborate more on this front. We should plan concreate & specific steps to utilize the time we have.
I am really intrested in the field of Field of Psychology & Organizational Behavior. Can u suggest some courses which will add to my knowledge base as well as improve my candiday by adding value to my profile?

catfan · 07:06 PM

my thoughts for what they are worth ...

although so many people concentrate on making their profile diverse by any means possible, past experience shows that they have a problem defending it in front of the adcom. it becomes difficult for them to convince the adcom people that all the diverse activities that they did ( as mentioned in their application) is not just to create an artificial distinction to their candidature.

i think instead of chasing the chimera of diversity as represented by how many different areas you cover in your CV, its much better to first identify a few activities that are fairly interesting to oneself, and then concentrate on doing different types of activities in that field itself. for example, personally, i love biking, which on its own isnt all that diverse. but i can organise a trip to a scenic place taking on my friends, which makes it something that might just interest the adcom people, especially if we demonstrated some abilities that they might be looking for.

oh and by the way ... that article is rather nicely written ... helps to read it before launching oneself on the diversity quest