Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

Hi Alex,

Thanks for this initiative. I was hoping you could evaluate my profile and provide me with some advice on my school options

First, a bit about myself:
24 year old, Female, UK Resident, Indian Citizen.

Education: Undergraduate study in Electronics Engineering in India and then an MSc in Finance. Graduated from both with a distinction.

GMAT score: 710. Q:49, V:35. AWA: 5

Work-experience: 2 Years (3 years if I enroll for a Fall 2013 MBA program) in the investment advisory division of a bank. Have been promoted twice in two years

Extra-curricular:
Sports: professional table tennis player in India (have represented my university and the state of Tamil Nadu). Leadership opportunities as captain of the team in school and university
Community Service: mentoring. Volunteer for an hour a week with a ethnic minority primary school. teaching children number skills

Career goals
Short-term: Work in a consulting firm for a few years
Long-term: Start my own consultancy focussing on financial advice in India

School Shortlists:
Round 1: HBS, Wharton, Sloan (figured I should aim high!)
Round 2: depending on how round 1 goes

I realize that I've been quite brief with my descriptions above and would love to provide further information if needed.

Thanks
N.

I think you're being too narrow in your search for schools and too narrow in what you think specific schools can offer. Just about any b-school will send their grads to a wide variety of career paths, ranging from finance, marketing, general management, operations, consulting, etc.

For marketing, keep in mind that if you want to work in the US, you'll have the additional hurdle of trying to get a work visa -- and a lot of the major consumer products companies don't sponsor internationals for work visas (they would want you to work in your local country). So in your case, it would mean coming back to India. That's why so many internationals who want to stay in the US overwhelmingly tend to end up in financial services, consulting or technology -- because these three industries are the most willing to sponsor internationals for work visas.

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

Hi MBA Apply,

I'm considering an application for the Young Talent Program at IESE, Barcelona.

I'm a graduating student of Economics from Chennai, India, female.
Average: 65% (In the top 2 students of the class. Arts degrees do not grant above 70% in our university) WES evaluated equivalent GPA: 3.9/4.00
GMAT: 730
Work experience: Internship at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, India - 2.5 months
College Activities
President Of Debate Society
Secretary General of the college's national Model United Nations Conference
Ran several small ventures at college events
Head of Sponsorship for Annual University Theatrical Production
Chief Editor of College and School Magazine
Been involved in community service with local NGOs
Academically excellent in high school as well.
12th standard - 85%. Merit Certifiate(top 01/% of the country) in Chemistry.
10th Standard - 95%. Three Merit Certificates in Social Science, Sanskrit and Mathematics.
Done a basic course in Spanish

Would I stand any chance at all or is the May 14th deadline too late for me?

Would also be really grateful for any suggestions on applying to B Schools, early career for me.


Thanks so much in advance

Two things.

First, you need to apply to more schools. It is a numbers game -- for many applicants to yield 1-3 admits, they would have to apply to 4-7 schools. Simply put, there are way more people of a similar caliber than there are spots at all these schools, so you do have to play the odds by applying to a sufficient number of schools. Applying to less than 4, and you are really rolling the dice.

Secondly, if you do apply to HBS or Wharton, know that they are long shots. You're up against folks with stronger profiles than you for those schools. Your sweet spot schools where more people like yourself get admitted are Ross, Duke, Darden, Stern, Cornell, Yale, UCLA (choose 3-4 from this list). Your stretch schools where you'll need a lot of luck but where you at least have enough of a shot that they're worth applying to are are Kellogg, Booth, Sloan, Tuck, Haas and Columbia (choose 1-2 from this list).

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

Thanks Alex. Given that I am patient and don't mind perhaps waiting a year or two before I apply, would it be possible for you to highlight areas where I should visibly strengthen to be competitive for my target schools?

Thanks

I don't really know enough about IESE's initiative to give you much feedback. What I will say is if you haven't started on the applications, then yes it is too late since the deadline is about 2 weeks away and you won't have time to put together your strongest possible application.

The more important question is why you feel you want to do an MBA right now -- keep in mind that an MBA without work experience won't really help all that much in recruiting, since you'll be competing against other MBA students who have 3-7 years of full-time experience for the same kinds of jobs. At this point, with no full-time experience, you will still most likely end up getting offered entry level type of jobs that other college grads will be getting. Just because you have a fancy b-school degree doesn't mean recruiters will automatically offer you the same kinds of positions that other MBA grads will get.

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

You have it ass backwards -- your resume/profile is a byproduct, and not the reason for the choices you make. The most accomplished applicants aren't working on trying to improve their profile - they are accomplished because they are doing what they do for its own sake (i.e. they are accomplished not for the sake of b-school).

Rather than rehash what I've mentioned before in the past, here's a blog post I wrote about it:

http://www.mbaapply.com/advice2.htm#forrestgump

http://www.mbaapply.com/advice2.htm#positionformba

There is no recipe for being a stronger candidate - because there is no recipe for being a more accomplished person. Only you know how to step it up a notch based on your own priorities, values, interests, talents, and circumstances.

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

hi Alex, quick question.. i want to apply for an Mba this fall but even though I know that Insead has a better reputation and possibly gives me better chances to get a good job in consulting or finance, I am much more inclined to apply to Oxford Said or Judge. What do you think?

I prefer the latter two because of a possibly stupid reason - the brand name of those two where I'm from is very powerful (southern Europe).. So it would give me great pride to attend any of the two, while Insead would just be a school I choose because of the post mba job that I can get. Is my reasoning very shot sighted?

You should apply to all three. You need to get in first -- at this point you don't have that choice until you get the admits, and getting in isn't exactly a guarantee.

Also, your reasoning is off. Sure, your grandmother or local butcher may have heard of Oxford but not INSEAD, but your grandmother or local butcher isn't the one making hiring decisions.

Most MBA grads at top schools tend to go to large global firms. These people know INSEAD, and it is a step up from Oxford and Cambridge.

If you were to go by your reasoning, it would be like saying you would rather get a BMW M3 because everyone knows it, rather than a MacLaren MP4-12C -- even though any knowledgeable car person would know the difference.

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

Hi Alex ,

I just wanted to get your opinion on something . I took the GMAT yesterday , these are my scores :

Total - 710
Quant - 50 ( 93% percentile)
Verbal - 35 ( 75% percentile )

I'm looking to apply to Wharton and HBS for the 2014 intake . From a pure GMAT standpoint alone , do you think my score is fine ? I'm happy about the overall score , but a little concerned about the unbalanced scoring in the two sections . This score should be fine right ?

Thanks !

Your score is fine. Yes, they say they ideally want an 80/80 split or better, but you're 5% points off - it's close enough that it's not a big deal. Just focus on the applications.

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

Well I'm planning to apply for the 2014 intake , so I still have quite a lot of time to go , would you recommend that I retake the test or should I just stick to this score ?

Thanks again !

There's no need to retake it.

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com

Hi Alex.



I am an Indian working in IT industry. My profile details are enlisted below. Requesting you to please advise if the below mentioned schools are far of my reach or I have a shot.
Age - 26 years
Nationality - Indian
GMAT - 730 (QUANT - 49 , ENGLISH - 40 , AWA 4/6)
Undergraduate GPA - 7.75/10


Work Experience - 42 months at Tata Consultancy Services. (If I enroll for Fall 2013 MBA program) Worked on Payments module of a Core banking software and payment systems of 3 different countries spread across two continents. Handled significant responsibilities within 2 years which include co-ordination among teams of different applications spread across various geographies , supervision of off-shore software testing related activities , knowledge impartment and guidance in payment systems to a team of six associates.

Certifications -
Certified Financial Planner conducted by FPSB , India

Certification in Basics of Financial Markets conducted by National Stock Exchange India
Certification in Basics of Commercial Banking conducted by National Stock Exchange India

Extracurriculars - Not much to write about apart from successfully completing the 14 km Bangalore Marathon , 2011


Career goals - I wish to pursue a career in the Financial domain and work as a Financial analyst in the short term

My target B-Schools are
US - UCLA: Anderson , Vanderbilt University:Owen , Emory University: Goizueta , Indiana University: Kelley , Texas A&M : Mays , Washington University at St. Louis : Olin

Canada - York University:Schulich , Queen School of Business , University of British Columbia:Sauder


I feel that my low extra-curriculars might weigh me down with respect to other applicants if I apply to schools like Ross/Fuqua/Anderson. Can you please provide your insights on this too?


Thanks and Regards
Gaurav

You're choosing the right range of schools given your profile, but you should limit the number to 5-7. With the sheer number of schools, you will dilute your efforts across too many schools - and each application will suffer (an undertone of desperation and an unfocused approach will invariably creep into each application if you're applying to so many schools). In your case, I don't think you need to apply to the Canadian schools, unless you really want to live in Canada after b-school. You can probably just focus on the US schools on your list. Beyond that, it's a matter of doing the best you can on the applications at this point. Resist the temptation to window dress your resume with extracurriculars for the sake of it, because it will be very obvious that you're doing it for the sake of the application and the adcoms will discount it (and also question your motives for everything else - i.e. that you're driven or motivated by what impresses others instead of being motivated by what you want and believe in inside).

_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com