Hello everyone,
This is my first post on this thread, and like most, just looking for a profile evaluation. I've taken care to highlight both weaknesses and strenghts on this thread so whichever good soul is evaluating can take into consideration. Please be blunt, don't worry about my feelings 
I need candid feedback 
GMAT: Yet to take
Acads: UG - B.Sc (Physics) from Loyola College, Chennai - 71% - Honors with first class (Scores on a couple of Math papers are quite low)
MBA - BIM, Trichy (Finance & Systems) - OGPA: 2.6/4, quite low because of all the finance papers I took, in fact flunked a couple of papers in the first year and got only D after retaking them.
Work ex: Decent - will have close to 5 years at time of admission - recruited for managment development program in back office of large US bank with good exposure to leadership and innovation in this period. Currently working as Credit rating / research analyst in another large Global bank back office (Bangalore).
Extra curriculars: Good - was part of NCC and Rotaract Club in UG, President of upto three student committees in MBA... blah blah blah...
Community: Good - My Mother is founder and managing director of an NGO, with which I have been associated since teenage years, with several examples of community involvement and leadership.
CoCurriculars: Alternate transcipt from MBAmath.com, Handful of NCFM certifications.
As you can see, obvious weaknesses abound :-(, irrespective of my GMAT score, should I even bother applying to top 10 US colleges ? In any case, let me know which colleges I CAN target, in relation to the GMAT score I might obtain 
.
Also, any suggestions to beef up my profile are very much welcome, if anyone needs further information, just let me know, Many thanks in advance 
Hello Consultants,
I have the same query as jithun, just that I'm targeting the APAC region for next year's intake.
My profile is:
10th: 81%
12th: 64%
Engg: 61%
Currently I have 40 months of work experience in IT Service Management. Post MBA I would like to get into IT Management.
I have heard that ISB is right up there for getting into IT consulting.
Could you please let me know some of the top schools in South East Asia/Australia renowned for Technology/IT/IS specialization.
Many Thanks.
Jithun/ Rahultheone,
For US based courses, you can check out the following b-schols with IT related concentrations/ specializations:
NYU Stern (Management of Technology and Operations)
CMU Tepper : technology leadership career track
MIT
University of Texas at Austin (McCombs) - information management
Stanford (Information Technology)
For a more comprehensive list, check out the Information systems ranking by US NEWS.
Australia- MBS has an elective on enytrepreneurship & innovation
In Singapore, you can check out -Nanyang, that has specialization each in KM and IT and INSEAD has one IT related major too.
ISB does have a concentration on technology management and has pretty high placements in IT (after consulting). Go through their career report- they have a good lineup of IT companies coming to recruit there.
Namita at MBA Decoder
so whichever good soul is evaluating can take into consideration. Please be blunt, don't worry about my feelingsI need candid feedback
digibean, none of the consultants on this forum mince words...there is a
ish pleasure attached to being candid...MBA - BIM, Trichy (Finance & Systems) - OGPA: 2.6/4, quite low because of all the finance papers I took, in fact flunked a couple of papers in the first year and got only D after retaking them.
This is something to worry about, considering the fact that you will be doing finance related core coursework at the MBA program and low marks can raise alarms about being able to handle the coursework further. The top 15 US b-schools have an average GPA upward of 3.30. You can check out the 30-50% range of GPA of individual schools to get a better idea of where you likely stand.
Currently working as Credit rating / research analyst in another large Global bank back office (Bangalore).
now the good part- You can use this experience (along with the Math additional classes) to show that you are past your bad grade days, have improved on your maths skills and this can be seen in all the number cruching work that you do as a credit analyst. Get your recommenders to vouch for this.
GMAT score- the higher the better, preferably above the avearge GMAT of the b-schools you are targeting. A high quant score will help you show improvement in the maths skills.
Other than the GPA/ GMAT, it is your overall application (including essays, recos, resume for career progression) that will help bring out your candidature. Most importantly, adcoms want to understand whether you have thought through your career goals and know how the MBA will help you. So, you need to start thinking about this part of your profile, if you have not alreday starting doing so.
Namita at MBA Decoder
Dear MBA Help, thanks for your help !! :-o
Your comments on average GPA at top institutions are interesting. I did some preliminary research on the grading system in US and kind of concluded (could be wrong) that even a relative freeloader could nail a 3/4 and good students get 3.3-3.5, while the brilliant ones get 3.8+, but in India the situation is a bit different, in my B school for example, we had percentages converted into OGPA, based on a straight conversion scale, despite my seemingly low GPA of 2.6, I was actually among the top five finance specialization students in my class (I improved a bit over the second year in all papers). Do you think Adcoms would take international GPAs at face value ? I have seen at least a few top schools reporting the UG GPAs of their class profile with a caveat that these are US based GPAs alone. In any case, I'd love to hear what you know on how schools compare and contrast international GPAs, esp from India.
Regarding possible schools, I'm under no illusions and don't plan to waste money applying to top fifteen schools, I'm looking at something in the 15-25 range, could you maybe suggest a few, considering that you've deduced that I would be a Finance major 
Once again, thanks for your help !!
HI MBA Help! could you please evaluate my profile?
GMAT score: 700;90%ile (Q;38, 80%ile and V:48, 83%ile)
AWA: 6; 91%ile
Academics:
10th: 88% (CBSE)
12th: 85% (CBSE)
among first three ranks for 4 years in school
B.E (ECE-2008 passout): 85% (Self financing college in Tamil Nadu affiliated to Anna University)
rank I in 8th semester with 93% marks; IV in 7th semester; rank V in 4th & 5th semesters; rank III in 2nd & 3rd semesters
after B.E - volunteered as a teaching assistant for around a year at an NGO and then at a school for the under privileged. also helped in fund raising.
Work ex: 2.4 years in IT (Cognizant, Testing-Banking Domain)
profile: joined as an entry level trainee in 2009. training period ended in 2010 (mid). got promoted by 2011 beginning. currently working as test lead.
work description: resource allocation, effort estimation and planning, requirement analysis, drafting test plans and the usual test lead and process activities.
Cognizant-Testing- HR- 'You've been Spotted' Award. High Flyer of the Month - Cognizant BFS Testing.Spot Award - Associate who goes an extra mile.
Extra and co-curricular:
School : won at a couple of essay writing, debate, singing, dancing, contests. was school vice captain (no proof for that though), received international merit certificate for the commonwealth essay competition by the central council of the royal commonwealth society, London. have a national certificate for "National Youth Parliament Competition", organized by the Ministry Of Parliamentary Affairs, New Delhi, my school stood 1st.
College: Declared best student of the outgoing batch 2004-08 for contribution to co-curricular activities. received few certificates in intra- and inter-college competitions. chief editor of college magazine, on organizing committee of college symposium, anchored at various events.
Work: part of the account newsletter editing board and creator of newsletter teasers. organized some account level functions.. anchoring and organizing.
I am looking to apply to the top 25 b-schools (of course) and want to see what my chances are. Also, specifically, I am looking at ISB, INSEAD, NUS, NTU and SP Jain. Plus there's the strategy of applying to 3 dream b-schools, 4 moderate and 3 safe bets.. would you be able to give me some options? My main concern is considering the costs involved, I don't want to take a shot in the dark when i have no chance of getting a call. Looking forward to your reply. Thanks!
Hi Consultants,
Thank you so much for taking time out and helping us.
Here's my profile:
EDUCATION:
Ranked third in my undergraduate program among a pool of 150 students.
Scored a 79% in B comm (from India)
Was elected as the Class representative and member of the students planning committee for estra curricular.
I was also bestowed with the Best student award for academics and contribution to college community.
Experience:
Designation: Management Trainee at Genpact.
Role and responsibility: Training process owner for a dept at Genpact with ~80 employees, improving performance through training, coaching and feedback, driving adherence to compliance requirements, people development through training in areas such as soft skills, etc.
At work, I have constantly been involved in running various employee engagement initiatives regularly to keep the employees motivated and engaged at work.
Worked at Genpact throughout my undergraduate study. Total of 2.5 yrs FT and 2 yrs PT work experience.
Community involvement:
conducted two hours of after school classes for children in a school where I worked PT during my UG.
I also take sessions on soft skills for students from local college though this is not often.
GMAT: 740 Q-49 V-41 AWA-5
Career Goal:
This is the trickiest part! I want to change the industry I am working for. I want to get in to either consulting, marketing or investment banking..but I have not done anything to substantiate my decision of choosing the aforementioned work areas.
Please suggest what schools should I target in the US and what area of work can I tie back to my work experience?
Best, DreeemMBA
DreeemMBA,
I am a current MBA candidate, not a consultant. If you like, I'd be happy to advise you. Having been on both sides, it is now clear to me how things work. No one can give you a straight-forward answer as to what your chances are. You keep researching and talking to people, and finally you develop a sense of what your approach to apps should be. I applied to four b-schools is three different countries and made to all of them with scholarships. My GMAT was 710 | 6.0 (exam date: January 11, 2010) . I had 10+ years of work-experience and some honors and awards.
No doubt, you have a terrific GMAT and a decent work-experience. I would ask you to do the following to help shortlist your stretch and safe schools.
Research on marketing, investment banking and consulting. Find out a little more than you already know. It is not easy to get into any one of the three you have mentioned as your potential career tracks. Investment banking is completely different form marketing and consulting. Therefore, it is important for you to know what you are more inclined to do. Are you prepared for the rigorous life or insane amounts of travel ? Maybe you have thought about all of these things, I encourage you to think again. Remember you will have to live your choice and deliver on it consistently over a considerable period of time.
My intention is to help you make your choice with confidence and not to discourage you in any way.
Once you know your choices, please come back and let me know here, I would be happy to present some insights I have developed so far. We can work together on the other areas of the application from there.
Your choices will be the basis of the schools you should apply to. I wish you the very best and look forward to hearing back from you!
A well-wisher
i wont your opinion in international b-management suppose i done from ok ok type college can i get my ROI and what is the future after that ????
DreeemMBA,
I am a current MBA candidate, not a consultant. If you like, I'd be happy to advise you. Having been on both sides, it is now clear to me how things work. No one can give you a straight-forward answer as to what your chances are. You keep researching and talking to people, and finally you develop a sense of what your approach to apps should be. I applied to four b-schools is three different countries and made to all of them with scholarships. My GMAT was 710 | 6.0 (exam date: January 11, 2010) . I had 10+ years of work-experience and some honors and awards.
No doubt, you have a terrific GMAT and a decent work-experience. I would ask you to do the following to help shortlist your stretch and safe schools.
Research on marketing, investment banking and consulting. Find out a little more than you already know. It is not easy to get into any one of the three you have mentioned as your potential career tracks. Investment banking is completely different form marketing and consulting. Therefore, it is important for you to know what you are more inclined to do. Are you prepared for the rigorous life or insane amounts of travel ? Maybe you have thought about all of these things, I encourage you to think again. Remember you will have to live your choice and deliver on it consistently over a considerable period of time.
My intention is to help you make your choice with confidence and not to discourage you in any way.
Once you know your choices, please come back and let me know here, I would be happy to present some insights I have developed so far. We can work together on the other areas of the application from there.
Your choices will be the basis of the schools you should apply to. I wish you the very best and look forward to hearing back from you!
A well-wisher
i wont your opinion in international b-management suppose i done from ok ok type college can i get my ROI and what is the future after that ????
Hi alll..How are you?
need some help....
I am also one of the guy who need help from you...
I am B.com graduate with account & Finance as a specialization...below is my profile:-
10th :- 78%
12th :- 76%
B.com :- 75% in final year(Final year result is more count in the uni. where i studied) while 58% aggregate .
WE: Join Godrej & Boyce as a Graduate Trainee in june-2011 after my graduation. we don't have campus placement i get this job from job portal and my hardwork...
EC: good EC in cricket only...state & national level player.
I want to ask question that the work i am doing in Godrej is same as person do in call centre i am doing to solve customers complaints nothing beyond this and they recruited me for Account department.so,is it worth to doing job?
I am thinking to apply at Melbourne University for Masters in Finance where my interest lies.
so,what you think about melbourne and the job opportunity post this course....
Thanks a lot...
consultant...please help me.....
I am glad to see you are thinking about a lot of important things. The whole b-school game is quite complicated. I will need more information from you to be able to share my thoughts on your query. For example, when you say "ok-ok", I don't know what you mean. MBA degree from a non-ranked (below top-30) is not a good idea. That is my opinion. It's a tight job market you will be entering. Your background, past achievements, b-school rank, grades, career goals - and a lot more goes into your application and success in job search. Without any information on these, I can't provide any meaningful advice.
I encourage you to think about at least some of things I have mentioned and come back to this forum. It is my sincere advice that your time spent reflecting on these areas is a huge investment that will pay off well.
I wish you the very best and look forward to hearing back soon!
A well-wisher
DreeemMBA,
I am a current MBA candidate, not a consultant. If you like, I'd be happy to advise you. Having been on both sides, it is now clear to me how things work. No one can give you a straight-forward answer as to what your chances are. You keep researching and talking to people, and finally you develop a sense of what your approach to apps should be. I applied to four b-schools is three different countries and made to all of them with scholarships. My GMAT was 710 | 6.0 (exam date: January 11, 2010) . I had 10+ years of work-experience and some honors and awards.
No doubt, you have a terrific GMAT and a decent work-experience. I would ask you to do the following to help shortlist your stretch and safe schools.
Research on marketing, investment banking and consulting. Find out a little more than you already know. It is not easy to get into any one of the three you have mentioned as your potential career tracks. Investment banking is completely different form marketing and consulting. Therefore, it is important for you to know what you are more inclined to do. Are you prepared for the rigorous life or insane amounts of travel ? Maybe you have thought about all of these things, I encourage you to think again. Remember you will have to live your choice and deliver on it consistently over a considerable period of time.
My intention is to help you make your choice with confidence and not to discourage you in any way.
Once you know your choices, please come back and let me know here, I would be happy to present some insights I have developed so far. We can work together on the other areas of the application from there.
Your choices will be the basis of the schools you should apply to. I wish you the very best and look forward to hearing back from you!
A well-wisher
Thank you so much for your detailed response. I really appreciate it.
I have some idea about all the three industries; however, my concern is that I have not done anything so far in my career to show the adcom that I am really interested in pursuing a career in one of these three fields.
The primary motive behind an MBA is to switch a career because, currently, the job I am involved in is not what I want to do. My understanding is that adcom wants to see what you have done from your side to know about that industry.
Even if I decide to join some industry, I would still be required to prove to the adcom that I have done something substantial to increase my knowledge of these specific business areas.
Wow, looks like u r a Simon student! How has your experience been?
Thanks, DreeemMBA
The primary motive behind an MBA is to switch a career because, currently, the job I am involved in is not what I want to do. My understanding is that adcom wants to see what you have done from your side to know about that industry.
dreammba, Simon2010admit is bang on with his analysis of your situation. My fear is that you have mentioned the 3 industries (marketing, consulting, IB) not because you have gained exposure to any of them but because you don't know where to go next. Say, you were to join one of these industries in the near future, you may begin to feel the same sense of disliking there - what will you do then?
A better strategy at this point will be to explore each of these fields by talking to people already there. Better still would be to seek roles within Genpact that bring you closer to these functions/ give you a chance to work directly in them. My assumption is that as you do not have a speclialized IT skills role (like software development), this transition would be easier for you. This grounding will expose you to your interests as well as clear your thought process about what you want to do in the long run.
Adcoms definately do want to see your clarity about your intended career path, but I think you need that clarity more for yourself before you get into the MBA - it will help you sail through the 2 years at b-school with a more focussed approach and get more out of your degree, including from electives, clubs and internships (chasing 3 different industries at that time will be more nerve wrecking at that time).
Another point - the adcom will need a justification for how you will adapt yourself to a new industry, i.e. what skills can you transfer from your current roles to the next one. So unless you have a base to say that (through work experience), it might be hard for you to convince them.
You have a great GMAT score and that will remain valid a few years on. Gaining worth while work experience for another year or so will definately make you a better value add to any MBA class when you decide to join one.
btw- other than tools and tricks and strategy models, b-schools would teach you soft skills - you are already faring well on that account - it can be a good story to write about in the essays, and show your contribution in some way, so don't understimate your work.
MBA Decoder
Thank you MBADecoder for your valuable advise.
I agree with you on your point about why marketing etc and what if I dont like it in the future. I guess probably that's why i have been waitlisted by Goizueta ans no invite from ISB so far.
I am preparing my app now for Kenan Flagler and Mason. What do you suggest i should do? Obviously i cannot write compelling essays unless i have a strong career goal with reasons and examples to back up my decision.
Will talking to people at this stage help. I am inclined moat towards marketing and what the job entails. But i do not have any background in terms of work ex.
Awaiting your response.
Best, DreeemMba
I want to ask question that the work i am doing in Godrej is same as person do in call centre i am doing to solve customers complaints nothing beyond this and they recruited me for Account department.so,is it worth to doing job?
Suraj, I can understand your frustration at this situation. As its only been a few months since you joined the company, is there a possibility that handling customer queries is a part of their orientation/ training period and once you complete that, you would join the accounts team?
You should try to understand what are the kind of job opportunities that would excite you in the near future and can you identify alums of Melbourne University's MiF program doing those? I have seen your post on the MBS thread, so hopefully an alum will help you understand this as well as connect you to some students at the b-school.
MBA Decoder
Hi,
I've given my GMAT and I scored a 600. I'm retaking the exam in Nov.I have 15 months of work experience and I have completed my BTech from Mumbai. I'm considering applying for some schools abroad for their Master in Management course and MSc in Information Systems..
I want to get an honest feedback about these programs and the ROI upon doing the program from these universities.
The following are the programs i'm considering:
1.HEC Paris : MSc in Management
ESCP Europe : Msc in Management
2. IE Business School : International MBA and Masters in International Management
3. ESADE Business School, Spain : Masters program
4. Hong Kong University of Science and Tech: MSc in Information Sys program
5. SMU, Masters of IT in Business ( Singapore)
but in India the situation is a bit different, in my B school for example, we had percentages converted into OGPA, based on a straight conversion scale, despite my seemingly low GPA of 2.6, I was actually among the top five finance specialization students in my class
digibean, B-schools follow different patterns for accepting GPA. While some may ask you for self converting it, others may want you to convert it on a 4 grade scale. Your college's conversion has natuarally not worked to your advantage. You could write to the admissions team (after shortlisting schools) and tell them about your situation. Is there a chance that you ask your MBA institute to give you a percentage based transcript (if your target schools accept it).
In the other scenario, you will have to use the optional essay and explain the direct conversion. Your rank within the class is good, and relative positions really matter, so this databyte will help.
I have seen at least a few top schools reporting the UG GPAs of their class profile with a caveat that these are US based GPAs alone.
Can you please point me to these programs - from what I am aware, bschools give an average GPA or GPA range of the entire class.
considering that you've deduced that I would be a Finance major
Actually, I did not deduce this. I was saying that you will be required to take finance & accounting classes as your core subjects, and yoru previous low grades may make the adcom wonder if you can handle this coursework. Also, you would really need to justify another MBA in Finance to them.
To get started, you can look at the programs of UNC Flagler, Indiana Kelly, Emory Goizueta, USC Marshall, Carroll School of Management & SMU Cox.
MBA Decoder
Suraj, I can understand your frustration at this situation. As its only been a few months since you joined the company, is there a possibility that handling customer queries is a part of their orientation/ training period and once you complete that, you would join the accounts team?
You should try to understand what are the kind of job opportunities that would excite you in the near future and can you identify alums of Melbourne University's MiF program doing those? I have seen your post on the MBS thread, so hopefully an alum will help you understand this as well as connect you to some students at the b-school.
MBA Decoder
Thanks a lot for reply ma'am.....
NO ma'am,
no chances for any changes now as they give me one retired person work.....so,i don't think that it will change in near future...you are right that i am very frustrated with this job and i think that it will not help me in any way...so,please tell me that is it a good option to change job and leave company after 5-6 month work ex.?
i am interested in finance related job specially and some extent i like account work as well.....i find current student who is doing MBA there currently and one of my friend is in Melbourne and working in ANZ bank he studied some hospitality management course or like that.....
i hope that someone will reply on MBS thread...but,if you know anything about the job opportunity there than please tell me...
is it worth 20lacs for masters in Finance?
thanks a lot....!
Thanks a lot for reply sir.....
NO Sir,
:
MBA Decoder = Namita
So find and replace sir with ma'am.
Namita has been polite not to keep pointing it out to all folks new to this thread :-)
- Sameer
Founder | MBA Crystal Ball
Hi,
The following are the programs i'm considering:
1.HEC Paris : MSc in Management
ESCP Europe : Msc in Management
2. IE Business School : International MBA and Masters in International Management
3. ESADE Business School, Spain : Masters program
4. Hong Kong University of Science and Tech: MSc in Information Sys program
5. SMU, Masters of IT in Business ( Singapore)
The schools are good so the assumption is that the programs will be good as well. However it depends on what you are looking out for. If it is a good education then you are on the money. If it is getting a job right out of school then perhaps you should look at it hard. It is tough enough to get a job with an MBA tag. I don't think an MSc tag will make it any better. (Unless ofcourse if you consider that most recruiters might actually look favorably at an non-MBA tag as being less expensive!
)Also I am not sure what are the admission requirements at these places since your GMAT is a bit on the lower side.
Arun - CrackVerbal