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

[vikas130678]

Thnx jennifer ,

However my question is still pending.

Regards

Vikas

Originally Posted by Accepted

I apologize, Vick. I try to check the forum once a week and reply to everything, but I have been known to fall behiiiiiiiind! In the meantime, feel free to hammer those questions at me!

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

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[Accepted]

Originally Posted by IMD2BI2IMA

Hi Jennifer,

Based on my Profile, I would like to know the strength of my candidacy for the MBA program for FALL' 09.

GMAT score : 1st : 690( 50-Q, 34-V, 5.5 AWA) , 2nd: 700( 50-Q, 34-V, 5.5 AWA)


Degree : Bachelor of Engineering ( Information Technology )


Academics : Have an excellent academic record. Have consistently been a top ranking student through out my academic career.


Extra curricular activities : Winner at various inter collegiate events
Social Work & Responsibilities : Have worked for NGOs and have been involved in various social activities.


Work Experience : 4 years in leading Indian IT companies. Involved in a leadership role .Started my career as a Programmer and moved on to the Functional side. Currently working as a Sr Business Analyst. 0.5 years experience in teaching analytical topics and Maths


Career Goal: To be a Financial Analyst and move on to be an Entrepreneur. Keeping this in mind I've alligned my work experience to move on to the Analytical/ Functional side .

Entrepreneurial activities : Currently working on a business proposal based on GPS functionality.


Based on my profile above, I would like to know which B schools should I aim at. Or rather what category of B schools should I aim at.

Thanks.

Hi, IMD. I'm not hearing very much about your leadership, ability to innovate, or your passion for your goals from this description you posted. If you, in fact, don't have much of these, I would say you will need to target the second-tier finance programs (Simon and Georgetown in particular may be a good fit) or lower.

On the other hand, if you can point to non-programming roles in which you influenced your clients and company, then your GMAT and excellent academics makes you "eligible" for higher level programs. The key will be to truly demonstrate that you are suited for your career goals and have a great deal to share with the class.

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]

Originally Posted by vikas130678

Thnx jennifer ,

However my question is still pending.

Regards

Vikas

Hi again, Vikas. Actually, I believe I answered your question in post #274 on page 28, but if I missed something, please feel free to post again!

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.

[IMD2BI2IMA]

Originally Posted by Accepted

Hi, IMD. I'm not hearing very much about your leadership, ability to innovate, or your passion for your goals from this description you posted. If you, in fact, don't have much of these, I would say you will need to target the second-tier finance programs (Simon and Georgetown in particular may be a good fit) or lower.

On the other hand, if you can point to non-programming roles in which you influenced your clients and company, then your GMAT and excellent academics makes you "eligible" for higher level programs. The key will be to truly demonstrate that you are suited for your career goals and have a great deal to share with the class.

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

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for your inputs. I haven't mentioned the details of my work role here thinking it would be too detailed. However, I will mention it here so that I get a good idea on my profile

While I was working as a Programmer, I led a team of 20 individuals, achieving a very high success rate and received good response from the client.

In my non functional role, working as a Business Analyst , I constantly added valuable inputs to my role , many a times going beyond what I am required to and achieving more business for my company. Currently, I have submitted a Business Proposal to my client, which if goes through would result in huge revenues for my organisation. In all my roles I had a team below me , which I had to mentor and motivate.

This is in short , the leadership roles that I've played in my organisation.

Going ahead, 5 years down the line, I plan to venture into entrepreneurship and come up with a financial model for the social sector.

Based on this, I would like to know the applicability of my profile for the Tier-1 B schools.


Thanks

[arunsdevine]

Hi Jennifer,

I intend to pursue an MBA in Europe to develop the game of soccer in India. I do have convincing reasons on how that MBA would help me achieve my vision. But, I have never been part of my school or college soccer teams.
My background in soccer is restricted purely to my passion for the game, which I have demonstrated in writing articles about the game in a few popular web sites, and reading up a lot in books related to the game.

I am curious to know whether what I have demonstrated, will suffice to sell my application to some of Europe's top 10 B schools. If not, I am interested to know about the kind of things I should do, to convince the adcom of my passion for my goal.

My other details are as follows:
GMAT: 700/AWA: 4.5
Graduated in Engg from NIT Surathkal(one of the best institutes in the country), GPA: 3.8/4.
Work Ex: 2 years at Samsung India Software
Intl Experience: 8 months.
Extra Curriculars:
College:
- Have led a team of 10, on two occassions, as part of the college's technical and cultural events' publicity efforts.
- Organized various events for students within and outside the college.

Work:
- Delivered motivational talks to my team mates. The quality of the results can be assented by the boss through the recos.
- Trained my team mates on developing their creativity. Results include usage of such techniques in every activity taken up by the team.

[hikumar]

Hello Jennifer,

I got two questions :

I have put my brief profile below.

(1) Based on my profile, which all B-schools should I target ?
I am only looking for schools among top-20 in US and among top-10 outside US , but not able to decide which ones among those. And don't want to waste my time & energy on those which are above my potential. ( I know theoretically everyone stands a chance everywhere, but I want to be somewhat practical here )

(2) As I am from a IT background, and have a domain knowledge of financial softwares. To me the most obvious choice after MBA comes a consulting job. ( either core financial consulting, or a techno-functional financial consulting kind of role )
Can you guide me what all options I can have after MBA ( with my background) ?

thanks in advance

regards
~kumar


My Profile :

Personal Details
Age – 31 yrs
Male, Indian Citizen, Married
IT Professional

Academics

Class 10th – 80% , CBSE, 1993
Class 12th – 82 %, CBSE, 1995 ( school topper )
BSc (H) Physics – 83 % , University of Delhi , 1999 (college topper all three years)
MCA - 78 % , Dept of Comp. Science, University of Delhi, 2002

GMAT Score - 710

Work Experience – 6+ yrs ( as of now )


Working with one of the world’s top applications company, as Development Manager, managing a team across different geographical locations.

Domain – ERP ( mainly worked on financial modules )
Customer Interaction – During past six years got ample opportunities to interact with customers, to customize/ personalize/ enhance the product to suit customers’ requirements and business practices.
Also I am member of various groups at my organization to define divisional Processes & Standards, build Design Patterns, and also a subject matter expert (SME) for few technical areas responsible to help others learn the technology


Extra curricular activities –


Various prizes and award in painting, yoga, athletic, NCC & quiz etc during school level and also during graduation and post graduation level.
Active member of physics society at my college, during graduation
Placement coordinator at Dept of Comp. Science, during 2001-02
Active member of various clubs at my company, through which I am regularly involved in many employee events as well as community services.
Done theater workshop with one of the famous director

[confuseaspirant]

Hi Jennifer,
My profile is
GMAT score 740
Academics: - I have done MCA after BCA with 3.3 GPA.
Work Experience: - 3 years in an MNC (as an IT professional) by the time I take admission. I have been working as a developer and don't have any international experience except for 3 weeks in Germany.

Extra curricular: - Not beyond my college.

My question is which colleges lie in the reachable category for me and which colleges lay in the sure shot category for me.

Also what are the kind of experiences should you include in your applications to show your leadership qualities. Can the experiences be from your personal life?

[Girdhari]

Dear Jennifer,
I am Girdahri, great to see you helping others make their decisions.

My profile

Age: 28 years

Education: B.E (Computer Sc & engg.) , 69%

Work Ex: 50 months (till now)

• 15 months in Satyam Computers Ltd. as Software engg, did a 1 million $ project in gas domain for a fortune 500 client and was one among 10 peers selected to do that, successfully developed an analysis tool while leading a team of three.
• 24 months Rashtiys Ispat Nigam Ltd.(RINL), a govt. PSU, was Junior manager - was involved in automation activities of the plant - automated a process increasing efficeincy by 7%.
• 11 months (and going) Rural Development Institute (NGO): I am Project Officer for Uttarakhand state, and heading Village Resource Centre project (along with ISRO)for the state. Catering tele-medicine , tele-education, tele agriculture servies to 160 remote villages with 16 centres and 30 more coming up bringing total villages to ~500. My work ranges from need assessment study to content delivery at these centres to facilitate social development through IT and the biggest task being making these centres self sustainable.I lead a team of 10 people and coordinate with 4 different NGO's and various govt. agencies.
• Also heading other projects with community upliftment and environmental concerns.

GMAT: not given yet, but aiming at 700+

Extra cirricullar: Football captain at college and represented college in Cricket, hostel secretary for 2 years
in college representing 200 students.

Institutes aiming at: Kellog, Harvard, Wharton, Tucks, Yale

Future aspirations: Want to do MBA with Marketing and entrepreneurship as majors, would like to go to non-profit consultation after MBA in short term and becoming a social entrepreneur in the long term.

Kindly comment if I fit into the above colleges with below-average acads and such work ex. And your suggestions for B schools.

[target-09]

Hi Jennifer,

I am planning to apply for Fall 2009 to top US/UK B-Schools. Could it be possible for you to please suggest few reputed B-Schools for my profile.

GMAT: 680 ( Q-50, V-32)
B.Tech: IIT Delhi ( Ranked no. 1 in India and 23rd worldover )
GPA: 5.5/10
Sex: Female
Work Ex.-till August 2008- 5 years ( 1 year in a Business Research and analytics firm, 4 years in leading Public Sector Enterprise )
Extracurriculars: Average
Community work: Nil , but for some rehabilitation work as part of job in the Public Sector Enterprise.

Post-MBA I wish to get into finance ( wealth management or i-banking), though I dont have any bckground in finance so far. Please suggest few schools for me. I may be wrong, but I consider that an MBA has more to do with brand value that it gives. Therefore, I am looking for reputed programs but given my gmat score I am not sure if I can be through in a top-program.

Looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks and regards,

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by IMD2BI2IMA

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for your inputs. I haven't mentioned the details of my work role here thinking it would be too detailed. However, I will mention it here so that I get a good idea on my profile

While I was working as a Programmer, I led a team of 20 individuals, achieving a very high success rate and received good response from the client.

In my non functional role, working as a Business Analyst , I constantly added valuable inputs to my role , many a times going beyond what I am required to and achieving more business for my company. Currently, I have submitted a Business Proposal to my client, which if goes through would result in huge revenues for my organisation. In all my roles I had a team below me , which I had to mentor and motivate.

This is in short , the leadership roles that I've played in my organisation.

Going ahead, 5 years down the line, I plan to venture into entrepreneurship and come up with a financial model for the social sector.

Based on this, I would like to know the applicability of my profile for the Tier-1 B schools.


Thanks

Hi again, IMD. If you can point to situations in which you went beyond the average and made a considerable impact on the way your company operated and what it was able to accomplish, then yes, you stand a chance at the top schools. Share the general management side of your work (your leadership and impact from the past) and demonstrate your passion and fit for your future goals and that is a winning combination. I do caution you to broaden the range of schools to which you've applied since it is expected to be another competitive year.

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.