While I cannot claim to be an expert on Msc programs, my elementary knowledge would lead me to suggest the following. If you are interested in the creative side of the business, then the Msc would probably be the right choice. If you are interested in managing the business itself, then the MBA would be a better choice for you.
You inquired about marketing programs. Kellogg is the clear leader in marketing, attracting leading scholars in the area. Still, several other schools have strengths, including Wharton and Duke. A school that may be of interest to you is NYU, which has a specialization within the media and entertainment field.
I'm interested in doing an Integrated Marketing Communications pcourse. I've short listed Medill School of Journalism and Emerson College. Could you please give me some admission tips for these programs. And could you suggest some colleges that are known for their marketing programs.
I've Scored 700 (Q-47 V-thirty eight in my third attempt. First two scores were 560 (Q-44, V-25) and 560 (Q-48, V-20).
I worked with a newspaper in the marketing department for 2 years and have been working with my dad, who makes corporate films, for the last one and a half years.
Im not sure whether I should do an MBA or an MS in marketing. Please guide me.
I've also pasted my resume below.
Thanks Saahil
WORK EXPERIENCE
CoProducers; Mumbai, India A corporate films production house Associate July 2006 -- Present Script writing and editing Coordinating activities with freelance teams Overseeing administration Client servicing
Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd; Mumbai, India Executive Results & Market Development Department November 2004 -- July 2006 Responsible for servicing 35 academic institutions in South Mumbai Managed numerous events, such as seminars for principals & teachers and inter school painting and quiz competitions Canvassed for sponsorship for various events and successfully tied up with 5 companies Created and implemented innovative marketing and promotional ideas Brainstormed with the editorial for newspaper content Edited articles and contributed photographs to the newspaper
INTERNSHIPS
American Express Bank; Mumbai, India Management Trainee Summer 2003 Assisted the Finance Manager
Mudra Communications; Mumbai, India Management Trainee Summer 2002 Research and presentation on branded petrol pumps. Conducted surveys and interviewed petrol pump managers and car owners
EDUCATION
Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics; Mumbai, India Master of Commerce; June 2006
H.R. College of Commerce & Economics; Mumbai, India Bachelor of Management Studies; June 2004
Scholarship from the Priyadarshini Academy for standing second in college in the 5th Semester of BMS
Outstanding Contribution Award, in 2003 and 2004 for winning several intercollegiate marketing competitions and organizing various activities
ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS Member of Bharat Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist organization Member of The Advertising Club of Bombay. Volunteer at N.S.S.(National Service Scheme) H.R. College Organization Committee of social service projects such as Eye Donation Awareness, Anti Tobacco Campaigns and Blood Donation Drives for The Rotaract Club of Bombay Hills South
PERSONAL Proficient in; Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Internet Fluent in English and Hindi Enjoy writing articles (some of which have been published in the Hindustan Times), swimming, playing tennis and chanting.
You have raised a very broad question,to which we offer a pretty broad response. We have compiled a list of long term planning tips that, we have found, has really helped candidates gain some focus.
Hi Jeremy, I am working in a top IT firm from past 3yrs.I am interested to go for 1 yr MBA program .My total work ex would be around 4.5 yrs by the time i ake GMAT.I am interested to know that how can i improve my profile . current profile is given below:
10th Std : 83% 12th Std : 85 % Engineering (B.Tech inElectronics) CPA 7.3 /10. Certifed as SAP Developer Consultant.
How to focus on extra curricular(what exactly it includes) in professional life? Kindly guide.
I already hold an MBA from one of the IITs in India, and have close to 4 years of expereince as Transition manager in different BPOs, currently with Citigroup. I have an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from an average university in India.
I am planning to go for a second MBA from US (Fall 2009)
I have a GMAT Score of 710.
My question pertains to Academic grades. My grades at IIT were average. Acc to your posts, one should take additional coursework to show improved academic credentials.Will a distant education coursework from one of the IIMs in India, completed with excellent grades, satisfies that criteria?
I wanted to know whether it would be realistic to apply at the top 5 US B-Schools with only 2 years of work experience. I have a 750 GMAT score and an undergraduate degree from IIT with management consulting work experience.
I am looking forward for some advice on applying this year
I am an Indian male, currently with 4 years of work ex and will be 29 this year. My GMAT score is 740 (q49, v42) with a 5.0 in AWA section. I graduated from BSSS College in 2000 with a Bachelor of Commerce - 67% percentage. Outstanding extra curriculum - Active participant in Dramatics (writing / directing and participating in plays), Creator and one of the first core members of cultural committee in collage (organizing cultural events and competitions in College), lead of series of street plays in adjoining slums (encouraging child education). High involvement in extra curricular activities is one reason for average academics in college. After college I joined Chartered Accountancy course and became Chartered Accountant in 2004.
After CA, I joined TATA Steel and was placed in one of their divisions - TATA Bearing. I started with sales and receivable accounting profile. However I was attracted towards the business side more, hence moved to position of Financial Analyst, which I handled along with my previous profile. My profile primarily consist of monthly MIS, performance analysis reports (customer wise / product wise etc), adhoc management requirements, costing, trade policy monitoring & annual plans.
Currently, I am working with an Indian Pharmaceutical MNC , as part of three member team (including supervisor). My role is similar to the previous one except that I am positioned at corporate. This enables me to work closely with the top management. CFO and Management committee (Apex decision body) is the prime customer of our reports. I am responsible for driving analytics and planning activities in four major divisions of the company. I have been a part of core committee responsible for organizing global finance meets for the past two years. I also edited and designed the first finance magazine.
I had applied in Harvard (R3), LBS (R3) and INSEAD (R1) and received rejects from each of the schools. After a detailed research and analysis I understood that my essays were not really of the quality that is needed for such schools. However I need your opinion on my profile - is it good enough to make it to these schools.
I plan to apply to Wharton, Chicago and Columbia. Should I apply to Harvard again?
I aim to make a career in Private equity (primarily due to its entrepreneurial nature (hence a chance to put my own business) and well rounded career profile (Exposure to nearly all areas of business). I am aware that I may not be able to break into PE directly after B School; so my plan is to invest 5 - 6 years in Investment banking, build contacts and then move into PE. Other reason for which I shortlisted these schools was because I intend to come back to India.
Hello Jeremy, I got accepted at Rochester Simon (Accelerated MBA Jan09). I am looking fwd to join media and entertainment industry after my MBA. I want to learn how this industry manages the finance issues while introducing any new technology in their work. My long term goal is to open a dance company with a blend of Technology and Performing Arts. Do you think Rochester Simon would be a rite option for me? Also, I am in the waiting list of UC Davis. In case, I get a final admission call from UC Davis and considering my long term goals, do you think I should opt for UC Davis than Rochester Simon?
My Profile: Education: Comp. Engineering Work Exp: 3.8 yrs in IT Consultancy (India). Extra curr: Excellent. About to open a dance company soon.
Could you please evaluate my profile for a full time 1 or 2 year mba from top 10 schools in the US. I sent my scores to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and ISB when I took my GMAT.
I apologise for the long post, I wanted to give you as clear an idea as possible about myself.
Work Ex: I am a 25 years old male with 3 years of IT work ex (4.5 by the time I join). I currently work as a team lead in embedded systems programming and am handling a major project that significantly adds to my company's bottomline. I am hopeful of being promoted within a year to a development manager but that would surely not happen by the time I apply. I also have 3 months of work experience in a civil rights NGO right after college. Coming from a family of Judges, Civil Servants and Lawyers, I have quite an interest in Civil Rights and Indian Law. I had also worked in that NGO for two months part time in college.
The big problem with my corporate work experience is that this is currently my third company in 3 years (1.9 years in the first, 1 year in the second and a few months in the current one). I have clear reasons for switching so often but I am not sure how convincing they would be to an admissions committee.
Also, Simultaneously I am working on a small 1-man startup related to sales force automation that I am planning to launch in about a months time. I am a technopreneur by heart and am planning a massive information management oriented startup in the long run. Post MBA I will be happiest in a technology oriented startup in senior management/director level role.
Academics and extra curriculars: I have average graduate (Bachelors in Automation Engineering from NSIT Delhi) and undergraduate marks but decent extra curriculars (founded a society in college that really took off with hundreds of members within a year, organised several events, started and still maintain the class online group).
I took GMAT in 2006 and scored a 780(Quant:51,Verbal:47) with a 6 on the AWA but didn't apply anywhere because.. well.. Work was so much fun 😃 I now feel quite ready for an MBA and am willing to give it a serious shot!
The first company I worked for had a well established "social initiatives" wing that I became quite involved in. That involvement lasted for almost two years and involved spending time with orphanages, blind schools and animal shelters in the area. I also spent several months teaching english and history to blind college students before their exams. For the past one and half year though I haven't been very socially active. Though I still visit the Civil Rights NGO every once in a while.
Please let me know of my chances in Harvard/Stanford etc. I am really quite content at work and am willing to wait for another year to improve my profile if, in your opinion, I stand significantly more of a chance that way.
I'm a lawyer from India's premier law school and have about 4.5 years of experience working in tech and IT MNCs. Presently I am a contracts manager for a fortune 100 concern and am handling all sales contracts for India by myself. I have some experience in the Analytics field with the same concern and have germinated a couple of business impact/change the business projects that used six sigma and lean methodologies.
I want to know what factors can mitigate a very poor academic record in a B-school application.
I have a very consistent record as far as sports is concerned (soccer, basketball, field hockey, volleyball and atheletics teams in my university and captained 3 of them, pretty much the same at school, am captain of my company soccer team as well) and my work responsibility and exposure have been very good. What else can I put forward so that my acads won't drag me down.
I'm yet to give my GMAT: what sort of a score would be a good demonstrator of my ability at academics? I'm at 690 on practice tests without any prep whatsoever.
I have to apologize, but I would have to leave your question to an immigration lawyer or the INS. We really dont specialize in the post-MBA experience.
this concerns the visa issues for international students who want to work in USA after completing their MBA
as you know , students graduate in may every year ten they take OPT starting June to May next year then what happens ? from may to oct they cannot work because they get H1 b work visa is valid from oct 1 only how to tackle this opt gap ? also even of the international students graduate in fall in aug , their opt is valid till july next year. though theu can stay till sept end , they cannot work for 2 months how to tackle this issue???
Thank you for your inquiry. I have to apologize, but I would have to leave your question to an immigration lawyer or the INS. We really dont specialize in the post-MBA experience. Sincerely, Jeremy Shinewald MBA Mission mbaMission - Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting | Home 646-485-8844 Skype: MBA Mission
dear jeremy
this concerns the visa issues for international students who want to work in USA after completing their MBA
as you know , students graduate in may every year ten they take OPT starting June to May next year then what happens ? from may to oct they cannot work because they get H1 b work visa is valid from oct 1 only how to tackle this opt gap ? also even of the international students graduate in fall in aug , their opt is valid till july next year. though theu can stay till sept end , they cannot work for 2 months how to tackle this issue???
While as far as I know, rankings are not against the rules of this forum (and I could be wrong), I really dont want to get into the rankings game myself. I dont think that it is helpful. In fact, I think it is damaging in that it can lead someone to pick the wrong school for superficial reasons. Each of the schools that you have listed is different different locations, pedagogies, alumni concentrations, sizes, etc. You need to focus on the one that is best for you, not the one that I believe is best! Develop your own criteria and ranking and you should benefit tremendously!
Hi Jeremy Thanks for the reply. I have been working on my applications since my previous post, so couldn't get back to you to say thanks. But now that I have put in my applications to some schools, I have another dilemma. It seems a good GMAT score definitely helps in getting good schools (although I know you cannot get in based solely on the GMAT score). I had researched a bit on schools providing an MBA with concentration in Health Sector,and then applied to the ones I could find. Could you please, please, plzzzzzzzzzzz rank them according to your preference? If asking you to rank them is against the rules of this forum, I sincerely apologize, but then, I have no other resource, coz nobody would rank them for me. Currently I have applied to 1. Bocconi - Masters in International Health Economics, Management and Policy 2. Richard Ivey - Health Sector Management (But man it is more expensive than any other US college - 72k for a one year course) 3. St. Gallen's University 4. Brandeis International School 5. Vlerick Gent School of Management
I am planning to apply to INSEAD, but the implicit necessity of international experience at INSEAD deters me. Besides the above, I know that the following schools also offer a health sector concentration MBA. 1. Boston University - Health Sector Management 2. Duke - Fuqua 3. Columbia Business School
The five listed at the top are the ones I have already applied to. The three listed just above are the ones I could not apply to, because the deadlines for international applicants had passed. Could you do me two small (??!!!!!!) favours? Add to this list any other schools that you know provide an MBA in Health Sector Management (Full time, on campus courses, not online). And could you please rank all the eight colleges listed above (plus the ones you might like to add) according to your experience? I am very much inclined to enter sessions starting 2008, but I can defer my plans to 2009 if the need arises. Sorry once again, in case this causes any inconvenience. But you are the only guiding light.
I think that you should have a very good chance at your target schools, mainly because your work experience differentiates you from many others. Indeed, there are very few who can tie themselves to a US I-bank like you can and there are probably twenty Indian candidates in technology for every one in finance (maybe more!) So, your finance, 720 and extras, which are largely in the past, but interesting nonetheless, should enable you to be competitive in this range. You are being realistic.
I am targeting the 2009 entry at 10-20 ranked US Schools. Though I like INSEAD, Darden, Tepper and Stern, I am not sure of my chances as well as other schools where I should apply. But first, my profile at a glance:
Electrical Engg from one of the top colleges , 720/5.5, 4 years work-ex by June 09 - (presently) front-end research in a strategy consulting firm as a senior analyst, (past) 2 years equity research (US cap goods sector) as an offshore associate of a top-3 US IB client in Mumbai(my ex-company's client, and I worked as a full time equivalent (FTE) associate). I can get recos from the analysts I worked with - two of whom are Director/VPs in NY. My acads are average (first class but no distinction), but I believe my extra curriculars and varied work-experience should somewhat compensate.
I am interested in pursuing a career in MC.
On a separate note, I have won quite a few certificates in litrary activities such as debates, GDs etc and other events such as Business plan and business case contests in various colleges across India. Though I have not pursued social service as a full-time activity, I do make sure that I donate enough to sponsor 5 cataract operations each year and have also sponsored 1 child's complete education. Besides this, I am a frequent blood donor.
While in college, I started a club that was aimed at improving the communication skills and business acumen of engineering students. This was because I realized even the best students found a tough time writing cover letters/ CVs, and such an effort would go about helping them. The club was a success and drew almost 100 members in a short space of time.
I changed my job because after two-years of back-end work, I had nothing much to add to my cv/learn, and the front-end role came as a pleasant breather, an opportunity to learn further, and gain diverse work-ex. Though I am quite happy with my career progress till date, I will soon come to a point where my company will only hire MBAs (as consultants), and hence, I see not much further upside to my growth. An MBA, therefore is what I am looking at.
Coming back, looking at my profile, what more should I do and which schools should I really look at ?
I think that distance education should work. Class work would be preferred but distance education is certainly preferably to no education at all. Regardless, I dont think that your grades are your primary worry. The fact that you already have an MBA is your largest obstacle.
I already hold an MBA from one of the IITs in India, and have close to 4 years of expereince as Transition manager in different BPOs, currently with Citigroup. I have an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from an average university in India.
I am planning to go for a second MBA from US (Fall 2009)
I have a GMAT Score of 710.
My question pertains to Academic grades. My grades at IIT were average. Acc to your posts, one should take additional coursework to show improved academic credentials.Will a distant education coursework from one of the IIMs in India, completed with excellent grades, satisfies that criteria?
Top-5 schools, HBS and Stanford in particular, are warming to younger applicants. In fact HBS accepts candidates with no work experience, directly from college, if they have other proven leadership experience. It is more the substance of your two years that it is important than the time that you have spent in the work force. Still, despite time not being an obstacle, what do you feel that you can offer at this point? Why would you be a good candidate?
I wanted to know whether it would be realistic to apply at the top 5 US B-Schools with only 2 years of work experience. I have a 750 GMAT score and an undergraduate degree from IIT with management consulting work experience.
I'm a lawyer from India's premier law school and have about 4.5 years of experience working in tech and IT MNCs. Presently I am a contracts manager for a fortune 100 concern and am handling all sales contracts for India by myself. I have some experience in the Analytics field with the same concern and have germinated a couple of business impact/change the business projects that used six sigma and lean methodologies.
I want to know what factors can mitigate a very poor academic record in a B-school application.
I have a very consistent record as far as sports is concerned (soccer, basketball, field hockey, volleyball and atheletics teams in my university and captained 3 of them, pretty much the same at school, am captain of my company soccer team as well) and my work responsibility and exposure have been very good. What else can I put forward so that my acads won't drag me down.
I'm yet to give my GMAT: what sort of a score would be a good demonstrator of my ability at academics? I'm at 690 on practice tests without any prep whatsoever.
I think that you have very strong professional experience, but what I am missing is your others in the past four years. The admissions committee is likely thinking, Great college extra-curriculars, but what has he done since? Am I missing something? Are they? I think you need to be more well-rounded in order to compete at top-schools. From what I know of your candidacy, I am not surprised that you were rejected.
I am looking forward for some advice on applying this year
I am an Indian male, currently with 4 years of work ex and will be 29 this year. My GMAT score is 740 (q49, v42) with a 5.0 in AWA section. I graduated from BSSS College in 2000 with a Bachelor of Commerce 67% percentage. Outstanding extra curriculum Active participant in Dramatics (writing / directing and participating in plays), Creator and one of the first core members of cultural committee in collage (organizing cultural events and competitions in College), lead of series of street plays in adjoining slums (encouraging child education). High involvement in extra curricular activities is one reason for average academics in college. After college I joined Chartered Accountancy course and became Chartered Accountant in 2004.
After CA, I joined TATA Steel and was placed in one of their divisions TATA Bearing. I started with sales and receivable accounting profile. However I was attracted towards the business side more, hence moved to position of Financial Analyst, which I handled along with my previous profile. My profile primarily consist of monthly MIS, performance analysis reports (customer wise / product wise etc), adhoc management requirements, costing, trade policy monitoring & annual plans.
Currently, I am working with an Indian Pharmaceutical MNC , as part of three member team (including supervisor). My role is similar to the previous one except that I am positioned at corporate. This enables me to work closely with the top management. CFO and Management committee (Apex decision body) is the prime customer of our reports. I am responsible for driving analytics and planning activities in four major divisions of the company. I have been a part of core committee responsible for organizing global finance meets for the past two years. I also edited and designed the first finance magazine.
I had applied in Harvard (R3), LBS (R3) and INSEAD (R1) and received rejects from each of the schools. After a detailed research and analysis I understood that my essays were not really of the quality that is needed for such schools. However I need your opinion on my profile is it good enough to make it to these schools.
I plan to apply to Wharton, Chicago and Columbia. Should I apply to Harvard again?
I aim to make a career in Private equity (primarily due to its entrepreneurial nature (hence a chance to put my own business) and well rounded career profile (Exposure to nearly all areas of business). I am aware that I may not be able to break into PE directly after B School; so my plan is to invest 5 6 years in Investment banking, build contacts and then move into PE. Other reason for which I shortlisted these schools was because I intend to come back to India.
Hello Jeremy, I got accepted at Rochester Simon (Accelerated MBA Jan09). I am looking fwd to join media and entertainment industry after my MBA. I want to learn how this industry manages the finance issues while introducing any new technology in their work. My long term goal is to open a dance company with a blend of Technology and Performing Arts. Do you think Rochester Simon would be a rite option for me? Also, I am in the waiting list of UC Davis. In case, I get a final admission call from UC Davis and considering my long term goals, do you think I should opt for UC Davis than Rochester Simon? My Profile: Education: Comp. Engineering Work Exp: 3.8 yrs in IT Consultancy (India). Extra curr: Excellent. About to open a dance company soon. Thanks in advance
Wow, it is really challenging to keep timelines straight, because you certainly have a wealth of activities and big moves. I do think that the moving around will hurt a bit, but if you can explain your rationale and it is credible, then it simply is what it is. I think that your GMAT and entrepreneurship (definitely follow-through!) should enable you to stand out and the fact that it is bolstered by consistent community involvement is great. Still, all of this written, I am doubtful that you will find a home at HBS or Stanford. I do think that Kellogg and Chicago would be more realistic and MIT and CBS might be good fits for the aspiring technopreneur. I would expect that you will be competitive outside of the top-tier of school.
Could you please evaluate my profile for a full time 1 or 2 year mba from top 10 schools in the US. I sent my scores to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and ISB when I took my GMAT.
I apologise for the long post, I wanted to give you as clear an idea as possible about myself.
Work Ex: I am a 25 years old male with 3 years of IT work ex (4.5 by the time I join). I currently work as a team lead in embedded systems programming and am handling a major project that significantly adds to my company's bottomline. I am hopeful of being promoted within a year to a development manager but that would surely not happen by the time I apply. I also have 3 months of work experience in a civil rights NGO right after college. Coming from a family of Judges, Civil Servants and Lawyers, I have quite an interest in Civil Rights and Indian Law. I had also worked in that NGO for two months part time in college.
The big problem with my corporate work experience is that this is currently my third company in 3 years (1.9 years in the first, 1 year in the second and a few months in the current one). I have clear reasons for switching so often but I am not sure how convincing they would be to an admissions committee.
Also, Simultaneously I am working on a small 1-man startup related to sales force automation that I am planning to launch in about a months time. I am a technopreneur by heart and am planning a massive information management oriented startup in the long run. Post MBA I will be happiest in a technology oriented startup in senior management/director level role.
Academics and extra curriculars: I have average graduate (Bachelors in Automation Engineering from NSIT Delhi) and undergraduate marks but decent extra curriculars (founded a society in college that really took off with hundreds of members within a year, organised several events, started and still maintain the class online group).
I took GMAT in 2006 and scored a 780(Quant:51,Verbal:47) with a 6 on the AWA but didn't apply anywhere because.. well.. Work was so much fun 😃 I now feel quite ready for an MBA and am willing to give it a serious shot!
The first company I worked for had a well established "social initiatives" wing that I became quite involved in. That involvement lasted for almost two years and involved spending time with orphanages, blind schools and animal shelters in the area. I also spent several months teaching english and history to blind college students before their exams. For the past one and half year though I haven't been very socially active. Though I still visit the Civil Rights NGO every once in a while.
Please let me know of my chances in Harvard/Stanford etc. I am really quite content at work and am willing to wait for another year to improve my profile if, in your opinion, I stand significantly more of a chance that way.