@1411.ruturaj : Thanks! Will try to get back to you soon.

Cheers!

@kunal_chemical: Unfortunately I never attempted any GMAT practice tests apart from GMATPrep so I do not have the answer to your question. That being said, I think giving too may tests is also not useful, you have 5 tests from Manhattan SC and 2 from GMATPrep (which you can peacefully attempt twice each) - overall 9 tests which is good enough.

Apologies for the delay at my end. Please find the post on what business schools look for in candidates and also my thoughts on various steps of MBA application process. Hope this will be helpful.

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/international-indian-mba-schools-accepting/63681-getting-into-top-business-schools.html#post2579343

Cheers!

What does Top Bschools Look for?
Please forgive me for the poor formatting

Most of us who are planning to apply to top bschools are faced with this question. I will attempt to answer this question in this post basis the research I did during my bschool application process as well as the experience of going through the entire process myself.

Note that this is only relevant to top business schools.

What are the parameters on which business schools evaluate a candidate and why?

1.Intellect : To judge if the candidate can handle the rigorous curriculum
2.Work Experience: It is a signal of how employable the candidate will be post MBA
3.Leadership Potential: Potential to reach the peaks of the career and to donate millions of dollars to the school
4.Focus and Passion: It has been observed that focused and passionate people are more successful in life
5.Diversity: Major part of learning in an MBA is from peers. Diverse class ensures maximum learning from different perspectives of the classmates
6.Self-Awareness : Again self aware people know their shortcomings and strengths and hence are able to utilize their abilities to the maximum


How do business schools evaluate you on various parameters:

1.Intellect : Grades/GMAT/GRE/Reputation of undergrad university
2.Work Experience: Big Brand Names/ Fast Promotions/ Responsibilities
3.Leadership Potential: Leadership roles in colleges/Initiatives in Companies/ History of Excellence
4.Focus and Passion: Essays and Profile
5.Diversity: What is unique about you?
6.Self-Awareness : Essays

So when you plan to apply to a top business school, its important that you evaluate yourself on these parameters

Steps in MBA Application Process

1.Getting Ready
2.GMAT
3.Selecting which schools to apply
4.Essays
5.Recommendations
6.Interview

Pointers on each step:
1.Getting Ready:
a.Find out if doing an MBA will really help your career
b.Clearly set your expectations from your MBA
c.Figure out how you will finance your MBA

2.GMAT:
a.GMAT is not as important for international B-Schools as CAT is to IIMs
b.However of all the aspects B-Schools look at, GMAT is the only one which you can improve in the short term!

3.Criteria for selecting the right schools to apply
a.1 year/2 year
b.Geography
c.Costs of doing MBA
d.Geography of post-MBA job
e.Realistic potential to get through

4.Essays: Essays are a way for the admission committee to know the person behind the accomplishments and understand your thought process
a.Great essays are:
i.Coherent
ii.Written from the Heart
iii.Have a wonderful starting and an excellent ending
iv.Each essay tries to highlight different quality of yours
v.Uses simple language and employs very few technical terms (if at all)
vi.Goals Essay: Goals should be feasible and should display why you are best suited to make that happen

5.Recommendations: Used to have an external view about the candidate. Also used to validate candidates claims about accomplishments and performance
a.How to choose the right recommender?
i.Someone who has been your supervisor during the experiences you described in essays
ii.Someone who knows you closely and for a long period of time so that s/he can use anecdotes about you which are beyond the normal course of work
iii.Seen you grow and is confident of your abilities
iv.Choose recommenders from different organizations if possible
b.It is important for the recommendations to be coherent to your essays

6.Interviews:
a.Alumni Interviews:Generally conducted by alumni of the school in the region. Such interviews are mostly blind
b.Ad Com Interviews: Admission Committee members fly down to a city in India. The interviewers would have read your application thoroughly.

Hope this was helpful. In case you have any doubts, feel free to reach out to me.

Cheers!

DISCLAIMER: This is only basis "my understanding" of the B School selection process, I have no official information about the process per se and hence there is a possibility that whatever is stated here maybe be wrong

@keizersozzer: Thanks! Apologies for the long silence, have been travelling like crazy for the past few weeks. Will make it a point to post about applying to bschools in detail - expect something in the next 1-2 days.


@casmba: Thanks. Well to be frank, I really didn't prepare much for AWA apart from going through OG. The aim should be that you should practice writing a bit so that you have the stamina to attempt all those 78 questions after 1 hour of writing AWA. Don't worry too much about AWA.. focus on Quant and Verbal. All the Best!

@RitikaTaps: Thanks! For Verbal, as I mentioned in my post, try to study Manhattan SC and OG Verbal (apart from OG GMAT). Try solving OG Verbal twice. (Focus on understanding concepts when you solve it for the first time then give a week's break and then solve it again to see if you have understood the concepts well) - I think this should be sufficient. All the Very Best!

@dashingparag25: I am not sure if PGDM Marketing is considered equivalent to an MBA. But if you have already dont that course, you can have a hard time explaining why you want another MBA when you already have one. Generally having one MBA or equivalent degree doesnt strengthen your case for MBA abroad, infact it weakens it. That being said, there are quite a few people every year who go abroad for an MBA even after already possessing an Indian MBA or equivalent qualification. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
lostphoton

@mkanth: I will try to write a detailed post on applying to Bschools sometime this week. Will answer most of the questions there.

Cheers!

Thanks! :)

Definitely one can get in with an IT profile also (and people do get in every year). Just that it's not just about being in IT(or not being in IT), there are way too many factors playing in. Will try to detail on that in a separate post sometime later this month.

Cheers!

@Arun: Thanks! :)

@chocolat23: Thanks! My AWA was 5.5. Will certainly take out some time to pen a few lines on the application process later this month.

@cracb365:Thanks! As for my profile: 3 Years Fulltime workex (on matriculation) - 2 years in a top tier management consulting firm and 1 year in a high growth startup, B.Tech from IITB, started a venture while in college (which won various awards across the country and is one of the leading portal in its space), Independent Director in another technology startup, lots of business plan competition wins, 99.92% percentile in CAT 2007 (with an admission offer from IIMC), Got through Maths and Physics Olympiads at various levels.

I guess this is pretty much it. Regarding your other questions on recos etc. Will try to answer them in a separate post later this month. AWA is not very important - but try to get 4.5 or more

@nami_sharma: Thanks!:) It's a combination of hardwork and luck. MBA application process is very subjective.

@chandani13: I didn't really get your question. Graduates : Bachelors degree or masters? Nevertheless, you can get admissions as a fresher too, but A) It's very difficult and B) You won't really learn that much from your MBA. So it's better to be a bit patient and get some 2-3 years of workex and then apply. However you should give GMAT right away, as it's easier to score high if you are still in the "student mode"

Hope it was helpful.

Cheers!

Heylo Everyone,

I am also applying to a few bschools for Fall 2011 entry.

The schools I am targeting are:

R1
Stanford
Harvard
MIT
Wharton

R2
Kellogg
Michigan
Columbia

Profile:
GMAT: 750 (AWA 5.5)
Undergrad from a top school in India with average grades
WorkEx: 3 years (by July 2011) in Strategy Consulting (both profit as well as non-profit sectors) as well as High Growth Startups
Extra Culs: Started my own company

Would be happy to interact and discuss with more applicants who are applying to the same schools in R1

Cheers,
lostphoton

1) If you would like to work further on crtical reasoning, I would suggest you solve Official Guide to GMAT Verbal - the questions are very similar to GMAT and always remember to read and understand the explanation for each question even if you do it right. That will be very helpful. I think you need not look at Kaplan at all unless you are targeting a score of 770+
As far as issues with P&C; is concerned, I guess the P&C; asked in GMAT is very simple and not as complicated as you may find in Manhattan and Kaplan. So if you think you have issues in P&C;/Probability that might be more coz of the type of questions you solve. More often than not, the questions on P&C; and probability asked in GMAT can be solved without using the combinatronics formula also. But in case you are very particular about it, I would recommend reading the solved examples of RD Sharma in these topics (this will help build your basics - just read the solved examples thats it) The topics will be available in RD Sharma books for Class 10th/11th/12th. Or in RD Sharma Objective. You can also refer to Arun Sharma for CAT for the same

2) Critical Reasoning can be improved if you know what are the different type of questions which are asked (like strengthen, weaken etc.) so that you can identify that just when uv read the question. That saves a lot of time. So first exercise is to learn to identify what type of question it is and to establish the modus operandi to tackle that particular question.

Hope that helps.

All the Best!! for your preparation