[anotherSeeker]

Hi Jennifer!
Thanks for helping out all us aspirants!
I am an engineer from among the top 10 engg colleges in India ( funny how almost everyone posting on most forums have passed out from one of the "top 10 colleges" Looks like there are lots of different ratings out there :P ).
I have a 81% in engg.
84% in 10th.
89% in 12th.
GMAT - 730 ( I took it last year). Q-51,V-38, AWA 5.5
work ex - 3 yrs (will be 4 in 2010)

I didn't apply last year because I thought I'll give the CAT(Indian MBA test), which didn't turn out too good eventually. I've been working in Europe for the past 3 years now. I've also been to the US for a couple of client trips (one of the biggest telecom operators in the US), including once for conducting training sessions for our clients. I really haven't been able to do much other than work in the past 3 years.
Did manage to get involved in some extra-currics while in college - Press & Media co-ordinator for a few big budget college fest, editor of a tech magazine, part of the Placements Committee on campus. Some more organizational posts in events. Was part of the school swimming team and won various prizes.

I've been working in the telecom sector, starting with software development but more of a solutions architect for our client now. I've been involved in one or two application demos for client presentations. Pretty good client interaction. Not officially leading a team, but been handling a project with a few junior members now, including handling budget for the project etc. I think what I've gained most is probably a good in depth knowledge of the telecom billing business, being involved with various business models in telecom.
Ideally, I'd like to move into telecom consulting and I don't see that happening until a few years if i stick to my current job. Hence, hoping the MBA will help me with it. Though, I wouldn't want to close my options while going in for an MBA. So general consulting would be what I'd be aiming for. If not that, then simple business development ( primary advantage being that I would have the opportunity get my hands in marketing and strategy and sales ).

I'm still in the process of shortlisting, but here are a few I've thought of:
ISB
IIMs
NUS
Insead
Darden
Kellogg

The Indian schools and NUS would be where I'd try to concentrate on, primarily because of the lower tuition fees. But I'd like to give a shot at the other schools too. I need to come up with a few more fall back options. I'd appreciate your advice and comments. Do you think I am being too ambitious by applying to Insead or Kellogg with my 'over-represented' profile?

[austin_writer]

Hi Jennifer, I had emailed you a couple of days ago and I said I would post my question on the forum so everyone could benefit. Here is it:

My question is about the McCombs second essay.

The Texas MBA is built around four key pillars of leadership. Describe an experience that you have had that clearly demonstrates your leadership as it relates to one of our four pillars: 1) Responsibility/Integrity; 2) Knowledge/Understanding; 3) Collaborative/Communication; or 4) Worldview of Business and Society.

I have still not completely understood what is expected of applicants here or rather what each pillar stands for in simple terms. Can you help me here? An example for each pillar (this pillar would suit such a candidate) would be great if that can help you explain the concept better.

Thanks in advance!

[Zoro]

Hi Jeniffer,

Please help me identify 'stretch' (difficult to get in), 'reach' (fair chance of getting in) and 'safe'(relatively easier to get in) schools from the following list of my targeted schools:
Chicago Booth
Kellogg
Columbia
Tuck
MIT
INSEAD
CMU
ROSS
Darden
Yale

Here is my profile:
Indian/IT/Male Age 29

GMAT: 750(Q51,V40) AWA 5.0

Acads:

• Gold Medal for topping the Mechanical Engineering (from not very well known institution)
• Runner-up at the national Paper Presentation Contest

Work Experience: 8 years

• CRM Consultant with one of the top Indian Software Firms, International Exposure - 2.5 years in US
• Progressed through various roles of increased responsibility.
• Leadership experience of around 5 years. Lead teams of different sizes - last one being 15 members team.
• Currently working as a Pre-Sales Consultant. Played a critical role in winning a 20 M USD deal.
• Leading a community of experts for a particular CRM Product area across the organization
• Editor of the Organization wide News Letter (My own initiative)

Extra-Curriculars:

• While in College, as a member of National service Scheme, lead various initiatives such as Polio immunization, Blood Donation Camps and organizing lecture serieses.
• During the final year, as a core member of Career Services Team, was responsible for generating manifold increase in the job offers at the college.
• Core member of 'Organizing Committe' for College Cultural Festival.(Lead various event committees too)
• Giving back to alma-mater - Mentoring students on Career Service, Higher Education and Industry-Academia connect
• Teaching to under-priviledged children in the slums.

Will really appreciate your help in categorizing these schools, so that I can finalize my shortlist.

Also, I have one doubt - Will my age be a problem (I'll be 30 by the time I join)? I found that for most of the schools average age is between 25 and 27.

Thanks in advance,
zoro

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by Ayan2279

Hi Jennifer,

Let me begin with a big "Thank You" for the valuable info on this forum. I am pretty new to this forum and my question is not directed to any b-school in particular although I do aspire to get into the very best. My profile in a nutshell:


Workexp - Pretty strong (7.5 + yrs with brands like GE,HSBC,Oracle and ING). Build & led teams, set up new business, turned around a branch, recieved awards/recognitions, A-grade performer, consistently promoted. Primarily work in the area of Financial Risk Management (ALM/FTP/Basel II/Credit Risk/Market Risk etc). Below listed are some significant achievements in my career

1. Turned around a lagging branch in GE Money India for sub-prime loan business. Build/lead a team from scratch, devised BD/marketing strategy/initiatives, ensured high credit underwriting standards (which was my core job as I was a Credit resource). All the hard work payed off and I got promoted to a Branch Manager and rewarded with GE Money India Star of the Month Award for outstanding performance/dispaly of GE values and single-handedly turning around a branch without a branch manager. Performance of the branch improved from 30-40% of targets to 125 % average.All the above was achieved in addition to my core responsibility of underwriting

2.Was a part of the initial 3 member team that set up the sub-prime lending business of HSBC in eastern India. Core job was credit risk management. Was actively in team-building,hiring,mentoring and training of team members (me being a senior member). Also set up the credit-operations function and stabilized 2 branches.Continued effort led to large scale scale up of business in quick time. Was promoted in a year for the effrots that I put and became part of the elite group Champions of Champion for outstanding performance/leadership display

3. Was functional lead in a development project for an Oracle product due to be released this year-end worldwide. Constantly worked with Oracle Project Management and several other stakeholders in India to provide functional expertise.Here I was working in a domain which was absolutely new to me but I managed to learn quickly and master it soon, eventually to lead the initiative.


Acads - Average(not good actually) - 3 yr B.Com (Hons ) degree with 53% marks from Calcutta university. Currently doing CFA (ICFAI),will finish by next year. It leads to a PG degree
Community - Some involvement but can build up on it by the next year
GMAT - Not taken as yet but confident will get close to 700

Post MBA goal is to take up a leadership role in the Banking/Financial Services industry in my area of interest i.e. Financial Risk Management/ and start a consulting venture once I have sufficeint experience/knowledge


My question is simple...Is the profile good enough for any top B-school admit? What are the plusses and negatives..I am planning for applications next year onwards, so thought it would be worthwhile researching in advance

You can get back to me here or on my mail id ayan2279@gmail.com

Thanx in advance !

Hi, Ayan. Yes, your profile does include the kind of leadership the top programs are seeking. The negatives would obviously be the lack of leadership outside of work and the low GPA. Your GMAT will have to be 730 or above for the top programs given that weakness, and even then there is, of course, no guarantee. For a school like HBS, keep your essays focused on the opportunities you identified, the challenges you faced, and the impact you made. For schools like Stanford, Wharton, and Kellogg, you need to include more details about how you worked with the people involved to include them, motivate them, and guide them into a new course of action.
I also highly recommend that you research schools beyond the top 5 to 10 to improve your chances of acceptance. There are several wonderful programs out there that will boost your career significantly.

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by chaozoid

hello ma'm,

I'm a fresher and am trying to see what my options are for doing an mba abroad with the "Zero" work ex.

I zeroed in on Cardiff University as the best among the lot i looked at from U.K.

My query is, how good is the mba from cardiff? And among indian b-schools which one would you rate Cardiff equal to?

Thanks a ton

Hi, Chaozoid. Business schools are definitely taking younger applicants more seriously than they used to. Some accept applicants directly upon their graduation. To demonstrate that you are ready now for b-school, you need to share experiences in which you have led new initiatives and made an impact either at work (part time, summers, family business, etc.) or in the community. Once the schools see these qualities of leadership and impact in your background, they will be able to see you as a business leader in the future.
I only work with the highest ranking Indian programs, so I am not familiar with any that compares with Cardiff. I do not believe that Cardiff is internationally ranked or renowned; however, that does not mean it is not a good choice for you. I suggest that you research the school and speak with current students and recent graduates about the career options that opened up to them because of their Cardiff MBA. Ideally, you will have at least some young (little or no work experience) people in that pool of research so you can extrapolate and predict how your own career path will progress as well.
Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by onmywaymba

Hi Jeniffer,

Please read through my profile below

GMAT - 720 / AWA 5
Degree: Chartered accountant and Masters in commerce
Workex- 4yrs (end Nov 09)
a) 2 yrs international wid Capgemini (erstwhile Unilever India Shared Services) in Management assurance and visited to 5 countries for work (USA, Netherlands, S.Africa, Ireland and HongKong)
b) 2 yrs wid big4 accounting firm in Due Diligence (mergers and acquisitions)
Awards: 1) Best management assurance (team awards) for 2006
2) Best management assurance (team awards) for 2007
3) Best paper presenter at Students council of ICAI (CA institute)
Extracurrics: 1) Was member of students council for 2 successive years in college and member of computer society.

1. I plan to apply to LBS, Insead, Wharton, Kellogs and Stanford.... what are my chances for these schools.
2. My extra currics are weak, would that be an impedement.
3. Does visiting the school have any impact on the admission group? (Its a costly affair)

I would appreciate if you could help me quell these questions.

Thanks for sharing your insights.

Hi, Onmywaymba. Unfortunately, I am not seeing anything that tells me that you have a good chance at these top schools. In my experience, accountants have a particularly difficult time demonstrating that they have the leadership and risk-taking ability that the MBA programs are seeking, so you will certainly have a large obstacle in front of you to prove to them that you are not the typical staid accountant.
With regard to visiting the school: a visit is helpful for lower ranked programs since it helps them see that you are considering them seriously and have determined that you are a fit with their program. For the top programs, a visit is helpful to you to guide you in seeing how you will fit in, but in my experience it does not do much to improve your chances of admission otherwise.
Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by rahul.zutshi

Hi Jennifer,

I took GMAT a few weeks ago and managed only 710 (QA 50 VA 35) AWA 4.5


My profile goes like this

10th : 81%
12th : 88%


B.Tech , Computer Science and Engineering 7.8/10 CGPA


3 years of work ex in a top semi-conductor company. (ST Microelectronics)
By the time I land up in some B-school,( which I hope I will,) I will have 4 years work ex.

Extra - curricular s .... loads to talk about...
- College Sports Captain
- Best Athlete at college for 2 years
- Member of College Cricket and Football team
- Participated in Inter College Cricket and Football Tournaments
- Lots of intra college sports accolades.
- Class Representative
- Member of Organizing committee of Tech Fest.
- Member of Other College Comittees and Hostel Committees.

- Some Accolades at High School which include sports and academics
- Technical Paper presentations , won 2nd prize
- A few more , which I can't recall at the moment


Questions:
- Will My GMAT score play a spoilsport in my applications? Will it be worth to take GMAT again?
- I am planning to apply to ISB in India, NUS and Nanyang in Singapore, AIM Manila , Melbourne Business School in Australia , London Business School in UK and INSEAD in France. How good is my profile for these schools?
- I have a very little knowledge about B-Schools in US to which I can apply? Can you please suggest me a few.

Thanks

Hi, Rahul. I do believe you have a chance at the schools you mentioned, if you are able to demonstrate the same level of drive and achievement at work as you had in sports and the community during college. The 710 GMAT score isn't bad, but if you believe you can score higher, then it does make sense for you to take it again since the top programs tend to look to their Indian applicants to boost their GMAT averages for the rankings.
Unfortunately, since you did not mention any leadership at work nor what your goals are, my guidance on US programs will have to be vague: the 710 GMAT and an average level of leadership at work suggests that the top 15-25 programs would be a good range for you to apply to.
Best of luck in deciding and applying!
Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!

[rahul.zutshi]

Originally Posted by Accepted

Hi, Rahul. I do believe you have a chance at the schools you mentioned, if you are able to demonstrate the same level of drive and achievement at work as you had in sports and the community during college. The 710 GMAT score isn't bad, but if you believe you can score higher, then it does make sense for you to take it again since the top programs tend to look to their Indian applicants to boost their GMAT averages for the rankings.
Unfortunately, since you did not mention any leadership at work nor what your goals are, my guidance on US programs will have to be vague: the 710 GMAT and an average level of leadership at work suggests that the top 15-25 programs would be a good range for you to apply to.
Best of luck in deciding and applying!
Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!

Hey Jennifer,
Thanks for the reply. I have been equally active at my work.
But most of the roles that we execute at our work are not leadership roles.
Most of them are individual tasks mainly catering to some technical component development or validation.

I have been equally active in Sports even after leaving college.

I can project myself as a good team man at work, who always keeps spirit of the team high.

With these Inputs
Can you please suggest me some univ. in US where I can apply for 2010 intake.

Thanks.

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by avinashsbajaj

Hi Jennifer,

I am looking at B School admissions for the Fall 2010 Class. Hence, I am looking at applying to top B Schools across the world in a few months' time.

First, my profile in brief:
Education:: Bachelor of Engineering, Electronics ; 2007; Grade:79%
Work Expr:: a) Top Automotive Software MNC
Software Engineer
July 2007-Till Date (Hence, 3 years by the time coll begins)
Managerial activities undertaken, but not official.

b) Family managed business - Electronics & Lighting solutions
Worked part time during undergraduation, and now, in business development activities.
Co-established new units to expand the business.

Regarding my profile, I have a few specific questions. It will be really great if you could please guide me on this.

1. I have a GMAT score of 680(Q-48,V-35) in the first attempt. Shall I try and better this score, or concentrate on the rest of my profile?
2. Will the family business experience contribute to the diversity of my profile?
3. Will an onsite trip(to Germany) for 3 months impact my profile in a positive manner?
4. Will my professional experience duration(3 years) be a barrier if I want to try certain high profile schools like INSEAD, HEC Paris, LBS, etc.
5. Will a good GMAT score account for the above 3 points? If yes, what GMAT score is good enough for that?

My Last year's application status::

1. Rochester-Simon (Waitlisted)
2. Maryland-Smith (Waitlisted)
3. Ohio-Fisher (Waitlisted)
4. Iowa-Tippie (Rejected)

I gave up on my applications after that, because I felt I deserved better schools. I also had got into the admissions cycle pretty late next time, something I do not want to do this year.

Thank you in advance. Your response will be really helpful to me.

Hi, Avinash. I'm sorry to hear about your results from last year. Frankly, I find it surprising that you applied to Tippie last year, since I believe they require a 16th year of education (ie., an MCOM degree). Be sure to check into this factor for all of the schools you are considering this year!

To improve your results, I do recommend that you try to boost the GMAT to over 700, yes. However, no GMAT score is going to be "good enough" to gain an automatic acceptance anywhere. The GMAT is just a tool that they use to 1) gauge whether you will thrive in their program and 2) boost their rankings.
Your family business experience can be quite valuable in the admissions process since you can highlight more of your business acumen and leadership in that realm than your software engineering role allows. I recommend that you focus at least one essay and one letter of recommendation (from a non-family member) on your family business leadership experiences.
An onsite experience in Germany will certainly be useful for LBS and INSEAD. To make the most of it, you will need to show how you immersed yourself in German culture and learned how to lead in a foreign environment. Staying in a traditional programming role in Germany will not be of much assistance though, so try hard to break out of that role.
Three years of experience is plenty - and frankly, it will be four years by the time you enroll. The real obstacle to gaining acceptance is not just the number of years you have worked, but the impact you have been able to make in that time. If you sit at a desk programming for 5 years, it isn't worth as much as leading teams that change the direction of the company and capture new markets in two!

Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!

[Accepted]

Originally Posted by manyu09

Hi Jennifer,

My profile is as follows:

Undergrad : B.E (Computer Science and Engineering) 76.60%
GMAT: 650 (49 Q 31 V)
TOEFL: 108
Work Ex:4 months as an intern with IBM
2 years 11 months as a Regular Employee with IBM by the time I leave to pursue my MBA

I have been working as a System Engineer in IBM Global Business Services. This is a division of IBM that deals in Information Technology.

I have been entitled with a couple of awards for my performance at IBM and have been actively involved in many events in an out of office. I am also part of CRY foundation that deals with child rights.


I want to pursue my MBA in Consulting or Marketing. Can you tell me which B-schools can I apply to?

Thanks & Regards,
Abhimanyu

Hi, Abhimanyu. With the 650 GMAT and a lack of leadership experience, I cannot see you earning admission to a top 20 program. You can look beyond that number and apply to one of the other excellent educational options and/or you can boost your score and start making a significant impact at work and in the community.
Best of luck in this challenging process!
Regards,

Jennifer Bloom, CPRW

Accepted-Helping you write your best!