Hi Jeremy,
Here's an overview of my profile:
Work Experience:
15 months in the Manufacturing Industry as an R&D; Engineer & 24 months with a top notch IT company in India as a software engineer. I shifted mainly because of the growth opportunities, the global outlook & the client interaction model at my new company!
GMAT Score: 730 Q-49 V-40
EC
I have good extra curriculars, am working with an NGO and am also an active part of the community service that my company provides. I have also started various initiatives in the company with help from the foundation.
Undergrad:
Bachelor of Engineering - Instrumentation with an avg First class for 4 years.
I have a very specific question concerning my apps. I wanted to know how i can portray my 15 months of manufacturing experience in the best way possible to help me differentiate myself from the stereo-type Male Indian IT profile.
I would be really glad if you could help me out!
Thanks,
Vikram
Hi Jeremy!
First of all, I would like to thank you for the outstanding work that you have been doing through this forum. I have gone through most of the posts in this thread (not done yet!:)) and I can see your work has been truly instrumental!
I would sincerely appreciate your views on my profile and the schools I have chosen for pursuing an MBA. I have provided the relevant information pertaining to my background below. Please let me know in case you need any further details which you feel would help you in making a fair assessment.
I graduated from a reputed National Engineering college (one of the top 10 in India) in June 2005, majoring in Electronics and Communication Engineering. My Undergraduate : 68%, above average, topper had 77%.
For the past two years, I have been working in the IT sector with an MNC. I will be applying for the session starting in Fall 2008.
GMAT : I took the exam last week and got a 740/97% (QA 50/95%, VA 40/89%, AWA 4.0). I have also taken the TOEFL and scored a 109, with a writing score of 24.:(
Extracurriculars : Pretty decent during college days, business plan competitions, and organizing cultural fests etc...but no major leadership positions held in college. After college, I have been a part of the cultural committee at work.
Work Exp. : I was promoted after working for a year, which is the norm at the company I work for. I was recently asked to take over a module which had two people at the time. Since then, I have put in some process improvements which have reduced the work and now, only one person is needed for the job. For this, I was also awarded by the client. I have also completed the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Community Service : I have no experience here, and I realise that this could prove to be a problem.
I am looking at setting up something of my own by the time I graduate from business school. So, I am considering Entrepreneurship or General Management as my major. Keeping that in mind, I have shortlisted the following schools for application this year:
1. UCLA Anderson
2. USC Marshall
3. Babson College
4. University of Maryland
I am throughly impressed with the extent to which some of the above schools are willing to go in helping budding entrepreneurs. Could you please let me know what you think about my overall chances of admission?
Also, would you be able to provide an analysis of the essays of the four schools given above? I realise you are short on time, so if you could just do UCLA? It would be really appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Hi everybody..
I want to pursue MBA in finance..my profile
10th 87%
12th 68%
B.tech-Chemical enggg from PU ,chandigarh-66%
Working with Jubilant Organosys Ltd..-will have 2 yrs work ex by July 08-as project engineer-1st year(commissioning of projects arnd 10 cr..2 member team),production engineer -2ndyr-250 TPD production plant,Green belt six sigma,Looking after Integerated Management system(ISO-9001.14001,OSHA)
Appreciation letter from my organisation..
GMAT-appearing in OCt08-expecting 650+
Having decent extra curriculars nd some social work..
Can somebody evaluate my profile and suggst me some B-schools in US and canada...would appreciate schools which can offer some kind of financial aid(impportant consideration)..and post MBA-gud job oppurtunity.My ultimate goal is to handle international financial operations for firms like Google,Microsoft,Amazon,JP,BOA,Shell,Exxonmobil ..nd likewise
Hi ..
I want to pursue MBA in finance..my profile
10th 87%
12th 68%
B.tech-Chemical enggg from PU ,chandigarh-66%
Working with Jubilant Organosys Ltd..-will have 2 yrs work ex by July 08-as project engineer-1st year(commissioning of projects arnd 10 cr..2 member team),production engineer -2ndyr-250 TPD production plant,Green belt six sigma,Looking after Integerated Management system(ISO-9001.14001,OSHA)
Appreciation letter from my organisation..
GMAT-appearing in OCt08-expecting 650+
Having decent extra curriculars nd some social work..
Can somebody evaluate my profile and suggst me some B-schools in US and canada...would appreciate schools which can offer some kind of financial aid(impportant consideration)..and post MBA-gud job oppurtunity.My ultimate goal is to handle international financial operations for firms like Google,Microsoft,Amazon,JP,BOA,Shell,Exxonmobil ..nd likewise
Hi Jeremy,
Reading this thread has been really insightful.
I am an MBA aspirant for fall 2008. I am keenly looking at the top schools in the US because of the kind of work they have been doing in the social/non-profit sector and the availability of loan forgiveness programs which allow me to get back to the non-profit sector once i am through.
My profile :
Academic History
X = 85.2% (mumbai)
X11 = 74.4% (mumbai)
B.Tech Comp Sc = 68.3% (CUSAT, kerala)
I was placed with cognizant, chennai while in college. In IT world lingo that I rarely use now, I was lucky to get into a high value J2EE development project. My ability to quickly learn on the job gave me an opportunity to perform most functions in the s/w development life cycle. I was coding major business functionalities, was part of the build team and was deploying our application at onsite and in various test environments, coordinating with onsite etc. While I was initially overjoyed by the high learning curve, I soon realised that I was missing out on my LIFE. On one hand I was doing everything that senior programmers on our team were doing (they were definitely much more experienced) but on the other hand I didn't see myself doing this for 4-5 more years. Onsite with this job profile just didn't excite me even with the money involved.
Even with six and a half days of 16-18 hrs work, I managed to squeeze out my sunday afternoons to volunteer at orphanages! Soon questioning the effectiveness of our volunteering (playing with the kids is fine but are we improving their chances in life) and recognizing the connect i was able to make with these children (I didn't know tamil back then) I knew I had to do something for them. I got interested in the development sector, but i had one fundamental restriction, I decided that i would chase all dreams as long as I am financially independent and my work should be sustainable ie I should be able to build a career.
Soon I discovered an emerging set of ppl called "social entrepreneurs." (Did some serious reading to learn more about them) I was attracted to the concept of business driving social change. The sector seemed to provide me with what I was searching for - meaningful work, some serious learnings on business, passionate workgroup, social impact though it was financially a strain for me but it still allowed me to be independent. Did some more research, found out about an international organization called Ashoka that supports outstanding social entrepreneurs, found a social entrepreneur in chennai and jumped the IT bandwagon 15 months after joining.
I have spent the last two years working for a non-profit run by an Asoka fellow. Here I not only got exposed to the development sector but also got hands on experience in rural india. Have dabbled in rural marketing (taking innovative products to the rural customer) and executed projects (including planning, budgeting,preparation of annual plans and reports for donors etc) in the villages of eastern UP, Northern Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Managed partnerships with some big indian firms, both "for profit" and "development oriented", with whom we implemented these projects. I have lead teams of two in each of the project areas.
I have since been promoted. Presently I lead a team of two and help out extensively in setting up and running of a unique rural retail initiative that my firm is pioneering! Again this is happening in the villages of Tamil Nadu.
I have held administrative responsibilities, been actively involved in recruiting my team members in project areas and been awarded for excellent performance from my firm.
I have already spoken to my project manager at my IT firm and the CEO (an Ashoka fellow) of my firm (I report to him) and both have agreed to give me references.
I plan to attend one of the top US b-schools, given my focus on non-profits and development. I have given my GMAT and scored a 700 (QA 49/89%, VA 35/75%, AWA 4.5)
I have played football (also for my univ), volley ball and table tennis for my college and have a decent extra-curricular record! (Was active during school too - I am president scout, highest honor a scout can get in India, Been the school captain and represented the school in Football, Table tennis, quizzes, theatre, debates etc)
And even with my very hectic travel schedules I still volunteer with the orphanages I had started out with.
With my average acads in college, can i target stanford, harvard, kellogg etc?
cheers
Thanks a lot for your reply and for continuing with really helpful posts. In fact , just after reading your post, I felt that my essays are missing few vital points and this resulted in my next query:
In Darden's essay, as you know there are hardly any scope to reflect on one's social involvement part. I agree that there is scope in the question 3 but in that question I chose to expose my international involvement, hence; I could not bring the community part anywhere. Do you think this might hurt the balance of the packet? I am planning to enlist the community involvements in the application form but apprehensive whether this would be sufficient. Please suggest!!
I am looking forward for yet another useful article in making from you and will remind you for sending the same :).
By the way my email-id is: [email protected]
Thanks again,
Amit
Thanks for your inquiry.
It feels good to be positive again! I like your odds at the schools that you have listed you have a solid GPA and GMAT, international work experience, not just community experience, but social entrepreneurial experience and leadership at work via your 8 member team. Further, you expect solid recommendations and you seem fairly articulate, so you should be able to craft reasonable essays.
I think that Darden and Ross will be competitive and that McCombs and Emory should be, only more so. You will have to be careful to pursue some strategies which allow you to differentiate. I will actually be publishing a piece on this issue next week remind me and I will send you a draft.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission
Read: MBA Missions Complete Start to Finish Guide
Hey hi..
I am presently a final year cse student .I have bagged a job offer from Microsoft India and will be joining them in Hyderabad next summers in 2008.
It's like, I am pretty much sure tat i would like to do an mba from either isb or from abroad , say 3-4 years from now.
As, I am in the final year and am not having much to study, so I thought of giving the gmat nowitself say in next 3-4 months after prep.
I know tat the gmat score is valid for 5 years, but i have also heard from some unreliable sources tat the value of the score depreciates after the initial 1-2 years.
1)Is it true?
2)Should I write the gmat now or wait for 2-3 years(keeping in mind tat i will be aiming only the top 15-20 bschools in US, some in singapore and ISB in india?
Can someone please please help me on dis issue. I would be highly grateful.
thanx in advance....
Beforeall, congratulations for taking time out of your schedule and answering anxious candidates!
I'd request you to kindly assess my chances at top 20 schools in US and Europe considering that I'd be applying for classes starting in Fall 2009.
Sex: M ; Age: 25
Education: 5 year integrated law course from NUJS, consistently ranked as one of the top three law schools in the country (acceptance less than 3 percent). I concentrated on business and financial laws in my optionals. I am ranked in top 25 in a batch of 70 students. I'd attribute my average acad to the fact that I was always an active participant in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities (the toppers have practically nothing to show here; the programme was too rigorous as evidenced by the fact that 15 from our class dropped out).
Additionally, 7 of my project papers have been published (highest in my class) including one in FICCI's (india's apex commerce body) annual entertainment law journal.
was part of the research team of the School of Criminal Justice and Administration constituted for the drafting of The Economic Offences Code (A UNDP project supervised by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India) wherein my report on Shortcomings in Various Economic Legislations constituted a part of the final report.
I have always been an active member of the School of Economic and Business Laws and contributed actively to various events organized by it.
Extra-curricular: I excelled in moot courts which demands excellent oratory skills. I have further been an active member of our legal aid clinic providing legal assistance to the under-privileged in rural west bengal. i've always been passionate about animal rights which i hope to highlight. last, but not the least, i have consistently represented my school and then university in cricket and football tournaments.
GMAT: 710
Work: Have been working since April 2006 in India's biggest law firm (rated consistently by Euromoney as the best in india and one of the best independent lawfirms in the world) in their capital markets practice group. I'd consider my responsibilities at the law firm to be considerably more than what a typical associate at my level gets.
My responsibilities include:
- Structuring various public and private capital markets transactions including IPOs, ADRs and GDRs, Follow-on offers, private equity deals, External Commercial Borrowings etc,
- Conducting due diligence, drafting offer documents, prospectus, diligence reports, etc
- Negotiating various commercial arrangements including investment agreements, underwriting agreements, syndicate agreements etc
However, I'd be leaving this job and joining a prestigious law school as its faculty member starting january. I believe I'll have more opportunities to demonstrate my leadership potential in my new role.
I've refrained from detailing every aspect of my education and my career in the post. However, I believe it has been an interesting and enjoyable one and an MBA, for me, marks a natural progression.
I would be grateful if you could provide me with your inputs.
Thanks and Regards
Thank you for your inquiry.
While your manufacturing experience is important, you should keep in mind that most schools want to hear about the recent you. Generally, when it comes to professional stories, most schools will be interested in stories that have occurred in the last twenty-four months, which is coincidentally the same amount of time that you have been at your current job. I am not saying that your manufacturing experience is off-limits, but you should approach it with caution. If you have a standout experience, then you should go with it, but otherwise stick with the here and now.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission
www.mbamission.com
646-485-8844
Skype: MBAMission
Read: MBA Missions's Complete Start to Finish Guide
Hi Jeremy,
Here's an overview of my profile:
Work Experience:
15 months in the Manufacturing Industry as an R&D; Engineer & 24 months with a top notch IT company in India as a software engineer. I shifted mainly because of the growth opportunities, the global outlook & the client interaction model at my new company!
GMAT Score: 730 Q-49 V-40
EC
I have good extra curriculars, am working with an NGO and am also an active part of the community service that my company provides. I have also started various initiatives in the company with help from the foundation.
Undergrad:
Bachelor of Engineering - Instrumentation with an avg First class for 4 years.
I have a very specific question concerning my apps. I wanted to know how i can portray my 15 months of manufacturing experience in the best way possible to help me differentiate myself from the stereo-type Male Indian IT profile.
I would be really glad if you could help me out!
Thanks,
Vikram
Considering your whopping GMAT score, you should be in very good shape at USC, Babson and UMD and a bit of a reach for UCLA. It will be up to you to showcase your work in such a way that overtly expresses, "I am not your typical engineer!," because your lack of community service is certainly not going to help you in any way.
I was pleased to see Babson on your list of schools - it seems like it is a very strong fit for you.
I will do my best to get essay analysis of UCLA together by Monday. Stay tuned
Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission
mbaMission - Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting | Home
646-485-8844
Skype: MBAMissio
Hi Jeremy!
First of all, I would like to thank you for the outstanding work that you have been doing through this forum. I have gone through most of the posts in this thread (not done yet!:)) and I can see your work has been truly instrumental!
I would sincerely appreciate your views on my profile and the schools I have chosen for pursuing an MBA. I have provided the relevant information pertaining to my background below. Please let me know in case you need any further details which you feel would help you in making a fair assessment.
I graduated from a reputed National Engineering college (one of the top 10 in India) in June 2005, majoring in Electronics and Communication Engineering. My Undergraduate : 68%, above average, topper had 77%.
For the past two years, I have been working in the IT sector with an MNC. I will be applying for the session starting in Fall 2008.
GMAT : I took the exam last week and got a 740/97% (QA 50/95%, VA 40/89%, AWA 4.0). I have also taken the TOEFL and scored a 109, with a writing score of 24.:(
Extracurriculars : Pretty decent during college days, business plan competitions, and organizing cultural fests etc...but no major leadership positions held in college. After college, I have been a part of the cultural committee at work.
Work Exp. : I was promoted after working for a year, which is the norm at the company I work for. I was recently asked to take over a module which had two people at the time. Since then, I have put in some process improvements which have reduced the work and now, only one person is needed for the job. For this, I was also awarded by the client. I have also completed the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Community Service : I have no experience here, and I realise that this could prove to be a problem.
I am looking at setting up something of my own by the time I graduate from business school. So, I am considering Entrepreneurship or General Management as my major. Keeping that in mind, I have shortlisted the following schools for application this year:
1. UCLA Anderson
2. USC Marshall
3. Babson College
4. University of Maryland
I am throughly impressed with the extent to which some of the above schools are willing to go in helping budding entrepreneurs. Could you please let me know what you think about my overall chances of admission?
Also, would you be able to provide an analysis of the essays of the four schools given above? I realise you are short on time, so if you could just do UCLA? It would be really appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Thank you for your inquiry.
I am afraid that I would need more information on your professional background, before I can offer you any useful insight. I do suggest that you read the long term planning section of our website in order to gain some insight in the meantime.
mbaMission - Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting | Blog Long Term MBA Planning
Please feel free to offer me more information on your profile as well.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission
www.mbamission.com
646-485-8844
Skype: MBAMission
Read: MBA Missions Complete Start to Finish Guide
thank you sir for taking out time for me
my profile:
hsc 77%
ssc 58%
B-Tech 65%(till now)
Extra curricullar:
member of various organizing committies in college
medals in cycling at university level
NCC 'B' & NSS cetificate holder
member of training placement cell (student wing)
Naveen,
As promised, we have completed our UCLA Anderson essay analysis today. Thanks for your request -- you made sure it got doen today!
mbaMission - Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting Blog Blog Archive University of California Los Angeles (Anderson) Essay Analysis 2007-2008
Sincerely,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy!
First of all, I would like to thank you for the outstanding work that you have been doing through this forum. I have gone through most of the posts in this thread (not done yet!:)) and I can see your work has been truly instrumental!
I would sincerely appreciate your views on my profile and the schools I have chosen for pursuing an MBA. I have provided the relevant information pertaining to my background below. Please let me know in case you need any further details which you feel would help you in making a fair assessment.
I graduated from a reputed National Engineering college (one of the top 10 in India) in June 2005, majoring in Electronics and Communication Engineering. My Undergraduate : 68%, above average, topper had 77%.
For the past two years, I have been working in the IT sector with an MNC. I will be applying for the session starting in Fall 2008.
GMAT : I took the exam last week and got a 740/97% (QA 50/95%, VA 40/89%, AWA 4.0). I have also taken the TOEFL and scored a 109, with a writing score of 24.:(
Extracurriculars : Pretty decent during college days, business plan competitions, and organizing cultural fests etc...but no major leadership positions held in college. After college, I have been a part of the cultural committee at work.
Work Exp. : I was promoted after working for a year, which is the norm at the company I work for. I was recently asked to take over a module which had two people at the time. Since then, I have put in some process improvements which have reduced the work and now, only one person is needed for the job. For this, I was also awarded by the client. I have also completed the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Community Service : I have no experience here, and I realise that this could prove to be a problem.
I am looking at setting up something of my own by the time I graduate from business school. So, I am considering Entrepreneurship or General Management as my major. Keeping that in mind, I have shortlisted the following schools for application this year:
1. UCLA Anderson
2. USC Marshall
3. Babson College
4. University of Maryland
I am throughly impressed with the extent to which some of the above schools are willing to go in helping budding entrepreneurs. Could you please let me know what you think about my overall chances of admission?
Also, would you be able to provide an analysis of the essays of the four schools given above? I realise you are short on time, so if you could just do UCLA? It would be really appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation.
hi jeremy,
i would like to know my chances of getting into the following institutes-
1.SPJAIN-GMBA-JUNE 2008 INTAKE
2.NUS,SINGAPORE
3.NANYANG SINAGPORE
4.GREAT LAKES ,CHENNAI
i want to know the chances for the 1 year course that is staring in april/june/sep
my details are=
tenth-72%
inter-75.2%
engg-60%
work ex-as on date 1 year
GMAT-650
the imp. thing here is my engg was very bad .
i completed my engg. in 6.5 years with a lot of backlogs and so this is a huge setback for me.
so,i just want to know if i hold a chance.
u can let me know the other 1 yeaer MBA's for which i might hold a chance
I will repost some font problems.
...............................................
Hi Jeremy!
I'm a slightly overage MBA aspirant (35 years of age, 12 years of experience in the Steel industry in the Indian Public Sector - Steel Authority of India). I took the GMAT in June this year and scored 760 (50Q, 42V). My work at SAIL has extensively involved leadership and man-management. I have several success stories to my credit, and have recieved several awards/ letters of appreciation for miscellaneous professional achievements. On the downside, my acads in college don't look so good. I'm a metallurgical engineer from an NIT. Although I was in the top 5 in my class, I scored 74% overall, which doesn't translate into a very good GPA. I have little exp. in community service, other than being a contributor to "Helpage India". I also feel that my age would work against me at some schools that I'm aiming for. Currently I have an admit into the SDM (System Design and Management) program at MIT/ MIT-Sloan. I've applied to the PGPX at IIM-Ahmedabad, the results of which are due tomorrow. Other programs I'm looking at are the Sloan Fellowship at LBS (The've invited me to apply after reviewing my resume), the Cambridge (Judge School) MBA, and IMD. Which of these programs do you think best fits my profile? Are there any other programs you can recommend for me? I have a feeling that because of my age, the top regular (2-year) MBA programs in the U.S might not consider me. Please Advise!
Thanks!
Hi Jeremy,
I just finished my graduation in Engineering this may and I'm yet to land on a job. I took my GMAT last month and scored a decent 680 and AWA 5.5. I feel this is not bad for a first attempt, although I plan to retake and score 750+ next time. I want to make my career in the Wall Street/iBanking after my MBA. So, I was told that in order to make it into TOP US universities, one needs a great quality workex in a good sector. Is it true that universities have sectoral preferences when it comes to admitting students in their class? I do understand the fact that they look forward to make the class diverse. Is it true that IT experience isn't as valued as manufacturing/finance work experience? The main reason I am asking you this is because, at the moment, I've the freedom to decide between IT and finance (stock markets research side). Other details: Graduation-Engineering- 68% and extracir. activiities include essay writing, quizzes and other aptitude/olympiad tests.
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you very much for your response and for your UCLA essay analysis! :)
I submitted my application to UCLA and am aiming for the second round deadline at USC and UMD and first round at Babson...so, next few weeks will be very busy.
Thanks again for your time, and I will keep you posted on the progress.
Naveen
Thank you for your inquiry.
Considering your whopping GMAT score, you should be in very good shape at USC, Babson and UMD and a bit of a reach for UCLA. It will be up to you to showcase your work in such a way that overtly expresses, I am not your typical engineer!, because your lack of community service is certainly not going to help you in any way.
I was pleased to see Babson on your list of schools it seems like it is a very strong fit for you.
I will do my best to get essay analysis of UCLA together by Monday. Stay tuned
Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission
mbaMission - Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting | Home
646-485-8844
Skype: MBAMissio
hi
can anyone answer my previous post?
thanks
bye
Hi Jeremy,
Within India, Indian School of Business has a very good reputation. Can you tell me how reputed is ISB internationally. If given a choice between National University of Singapore and Indian School of Business, which would be a better choice.
I weighted all the pros and cons that I could think of and I still am not able to think of any reason which would answer, "What does ISB have which NUS doesn't?" other than the reputation. But then again as I mentioned before I do not know if it is as reputed among non-Indians as well?
Can you help me out? Which one would be a better choice?
Thanks,
Abhishek.