Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for helping us out with your profound experience in this area.
This is my second season of applications and I think I am stronger this time
in some areas but not so much in others. Last year I applied to Darden, Tuck and Ross (all in R2) and Duke (R3) but was not able to get past
interviews in any of them. As I don't think my profile has significantly improved in the past year, I am thinking of applying to few US BSchools
this year that may be better suited to my profile. I am a 27 yr old Indian male and will complete 6 years with a leading Indian IT org working for
a Credit Card client in the US. Here are what *I think* are my positives and negatives:

Positives:
1. Good grades in high school (topper throughout). 100% score in Physics and 91.33% aggregate in higher secondary state level exams.
2. GMAT score of 770
3. 3.5 years of international experience in US on client site
4. Good analytical skills - extensively involved in process improvements and streamlining
5. Different kind of roles I have assumed at client location (not limited to technical tasks and programming). My work in the US was more about
coordination, communication, consulting (for one year) and now around managing the revenue forecasting and invoicing aspects of our service based engagement, have assisted in pre-sales activities, some work in business development area (creating RFP responses)
6. Positive attitude, good written communication, highly motivated
7. Won competitions in singing till undergrad and continue to sing at events/competitions


Negatives:
1. Need to improve my verbal communication skills
2. Minimum ECs other than singing, no volunteer work after graduation
3. Although I have played a variety of roles interfacing with clients, I have been promoted only once yet. (My performance evaluations have been
consistently top rated though.)
4. Lack of diversity in terms of employee/client - I have only worked with a single employee and a single client so far :(
5. probably some more I cant think of right now

My short term goal is to enter into Product management / Consulting (preferably software) and then after about 7-10 years start my own software product company that creates applications for PCs/mobiles/tablets. My 'reach' goal is Brand management but with my background in the tech industry, I don't think that is very plausible. I primarily want to build my marketing and entrepreneurship skills with the MBA and plan to work in the US for at least the first 5 years. Could you please suggest 3-4 US b-schools which are realistic considering my profile (in order of the chances)? Apart from the safe schools, I am considering applying to Duke (re-applicant) as I liked the school during my visit last year. Thanks for your insightful advice.

Hi Jennifer,

Just need a brief evaluation of my profile and its relative strength.

I had taken GMAT a few days back and got 660(QA-49,VA-32) as my score.

I am working as an Area sales manager in a telecom MNC for the past 15 months.

I intend to apply to the likes of NUS,ISB etc for the session starting in 2011.Since I want to specialize in marketing, I am also interested in schools like Booth and others which are marketing-centric.

My profile:
I ve done Eco(H) from the University of Delhi and Master of Business Economics(specialization in marketing & quantitative techniques in business) from the same university. So, I do have a good understanding of management as well as my career goal.

Between my years at the University, I interned with the leading consumer goods company in India(a project on rural marketing to be specific) and was awarded a Pre placement interview.
I ve also received the top honour in the sales category in the organisation I am currently working at -in the first year of my job.

Being in sales, i ve led teams of salesmen,'ve experience in setting up the sales infrastructure from scratch,ve launched 2 towns,generated revenues and customer acquisitions in the period I ve worked in.

Apart from that, I am a vocalist, a voice impersonation artist, play a musical instrument and am an avid quizzer with achievements at different levels. I ve also penned columns for an English daily (albeit infrequently).

My query is : How big a drawback will the average GMAT score and the low work ex of 2 years(by April 2011) be , in terms of my chances at securing an interview at the top schools (given good recos & essays)?
Could you also suggest my chances at the top 30 programmes and suggest other good marketing centric B schools ?
Can the fact that I ve written columns for an English daily compensate to an extent for the poor verbal score(blame an off day!)?I do plan to take the Toefl though.

Thank you.

Dear Jennifer,

This is really a great initiative from your end.
I am planning to apply for a 1 year MBA course this year. The colleges under my radar presently are the executive MBA courses from the IIMs or ISB. Please review my profile:

Age 29 years.
Total Work Experience :7 years presently in my family business.
GMAT : 710 ( Quant 50/ Verbal 35) AWA 4.5
UnderGraduate Degree: Computer Science Engineering ( 72 % )
12th : 73 %
Education Other: Attended the six months Young Professional Program at Indian Institure of Management ( Distance Learning ) after my undergraduate degree.
Extra Curricular : Participated in Cricket, Member of Cultural Committee at College. College Level, School Level Certificates in Music/Singing.
Work Experience Details: Our company is a Food Processing Unit involved in Flour Processing and Bakery Product Manufacturing. l spearhead a total of 250 employees across 5 different production units. We clocked a turnover of 70 crores last year.

I am looking for majoring in Entrepreneurship.
Can you please suggest loopholes in my profile? Which all colleges suit a profile like mine ? What are my chances at ISB?


Thanks and regards,

Manish Saluja

Jennifer,

My sincere apologies for back to back posts but I was so engrossed in asking my "toefl question" that I completely forgot to share my profile with you. Here it is and your views/comments on my chances to the top 20 business schools will be greatly appreciated.

Undergraduate Degree - BE (Punjab Engineering college) (72% - my percentage converts to 3.1 on a 4 point scale)

GMAT - 760
Work ex - 4 years in Finance and Consulting (2 years in Mumbai, India and 2 years in London, UK) - I changed my field completely and have never worked in the technical domain - quite contrary to my engineering degree.

Extra - curriculars - not very great during university. I got involved in an NGO in London since Q3 2009) and currently, lead a team of 5 at various events. I have loads of other things to add but they are fairly trivial and very common, so their contribution would be miniscule.

I am indeed worried about my below average gpa. Please advise.

Many thanks indeed for your help.

Regards,
pjman

Hi Jennifer,

Trust you are well. I had a quick question and would appreciate if you could answer it. I have 760 on the GMAT. I am not sure how important it is to take Toefl? A number of universities say that "if your undergraduate education medium was english then you are exempt from the toefl requirement". For these universities, I was wondering if taking Toefl and getting a good score could in anyway, add meat to the bone of my application or it doesn't matter, as long as my undergraduation was in English medium?

Many Thanks for your help.
pjman

Hi Jennifer
I am interested in doing an mba in 2011 and have taken the gmat. However, I have limited knowledge about the B-School application process. I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me how to go about the process, where to start, and how to choose the schools to apply to.

A brief on my profile is as follows:
1. I have a gmat score of 670. Took it in September '09.
2. I have been working in the IT industry for the past 4 years in India. I am not sure if this is somewhat of a disadvantage given the fact that there are millions of candidates from the IT industry. I haven't been in a leadership role, although I have mentored new joinees. The company I work for is a big brandname world-wide (not sure if that helps my profile!).
3. I am inclined towards doing a major in consulting or finance.
3. I have a consistent academic record: 90% score in my 10th, 92% in my 12th, and 9.04 (out of 10) CPI in my Engineering degree.
4. I don't have a record of community service or social service apart from some stuff that we were made to do during school days (I don't think that would count).
5. I don't have anything to show for extra-curricular activites apart from a bit of sports.
6. I play tennis and have led the college tennis team to different tournaments. I passionately follow all kinds of sports!
7. My financial resources are limited. I have to rely on loans and scholarships to meet the expenses.

Jennifer, here's what I would like to know from you:
1. Which B-schools should I apply to?
2. Can you give me a list of schools that have a decent intake of techies?
3. How do I distinguish myself from the rest of the candidates having an IT background?
4. I believe I can improve on my gmat score by 30-40 points if I start preparing again. Do you think it would be worth spending the time and effort in improving the score? Or should I concentrate on the application process, given the fact that the first round of deadlines are around Oct'10.

Looking forward to your reply.

Best Regards
-Bolt

Hi Jennifer,
Am quite new to this International MBA section. Please suggest colleges I can target to meet following requirements :

1. Work experience in Finance Risk Management (done with FRM). Presently working as consultant in the same domain and would like to carry in the same/ilar field.
2. Scored 690 (Q51:V32) in GMAT, didn't apply anywhere as I guess I need to prepare for GMAT before writing it one more time.
3. Talking of some 5 choices for MBA Finance, two am very inclined to are ISB/HKUST as both are relatively more affordable and finishes in an year itself.
4. Please suggest some more B schools from US as am new to that geography. Affordability is definitely an issue with my limited savings and resources.

Thanks Jennifer for your response.

I have recently got an offer from Nanyang Business School for their FT-MBA program and I have accepted the offer. Would be joining the school from 22 July.

Would love to know your opinion on the school.

Thanks.

Regards!!

Hello,
I have been working in an IT Services company for close to an year now. But I have always had plans for an MBA from an Ivy league college. So I am now planning to shift base to Trading industry and work with a Future s exchange company as a derivatives trader.
Would this put me on track to securing an admission into Bschools as big as Harvard? Well I have not done anything that would help in proving my "Leadership" skills. But I consider myself a fairly level headed bloke who is pretty ambitious.

Hi Jennifer,

I am planning to join 2 year Full time MBA this year. Can you please evaluate my profile below for the top B-Schools abroad like Stanford etc.

10th 71.2%
12th 87%
Undergraduate Degree : Electrical Engineering Dual Degree (IIT Kharagpur)
Undergraduate CGPA : 8.96 / 10.0
Received Silver Medal for being Top ranked student in my Dept

Also have a paper published in an IICAI on my project work

Total Work Experience : 2 years (as on August 2010) as Software Engineer in a top Company in Networking domain
Have been awarded various awards of excellence for my performance in the company
GMAT Score : N/A
GRE : 1430 (Quant 800/800, Verbal : 630/800)
TOEFL : 111/120 (gave in 2007)

Extra Curricular Activities:
*Was Student Auditor of my all of residence during my undergrad studies
*Also held the post of General Secretary (mess)
*Had won the best Algorithm Award during Jigsaw event in Kshitij Techno Management fest at iit kgp

I am planning to apply for MBA program in very reputed univs abroad like Stanford, HBS . However, to be frank I am not completely clear regarding the career path (though I prefer finance). Also at present i don't have requisite work ex or much knowledge in the relevant domain.

Can you please advise me on how should I work on improving my profile?

Also does it make sense to apply this year?

I came to know recently about the reliance scholarship for Stanford MBA prog and was looking at the same. Given that the timeline to fill that is very near (1st June), I would appreciate if you could guide me regarding that also (especially the essay question)