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I am an aspirant for ISB class of 2012.

I gave my GMAT(first attempt) on 25th aug 2011 and scored 700 (Q50 V34), AWA 5.5.


My profile goes like this :


1. 10th - 84% (2003), 12th(2005) - 81%, Mechanical engg from BITS Pilani Goa campus(2005-2009) with CGPA 8.13
2. Work Ex of 2yrs (till June 2011 end) as a mechanical design engineer for transformers with Crompton Greaves Ltd . Work ex of 3 months with BHEL as Sales & Service engineer for turbines.
3. Best Graduate Trainee during 1st yr of my job with Crompton Greaves and have 4 individual Patents in the transformers field.
4. National Level Lawn tennis Player till age of 17 , Ranked India No.2 in U-14 School Nationals and now coach some kids during my free time
5. Event Manager of National level Robotics Competition in my college
6. Organizing committee member of National Level Sports Festival held in college.
7. Member of Public Relations Committee of my college.
8. Founder member of Festival celebrating body of my college
9. ESPN-STAR Sports Champion of my town during school days.
10.Won a few Debating Competitions and got best all rounder award during school times.
11.Merit cum need need scholarship holder(25% of fees in BITS)
12.Affiliated with an NGO which takes on different governmental projects.


My real concern is my average GMAT score . I suppose my profile is on the better side but if it would suffice with my current GMAT score . Can i have an opinion from your side please ?

aditya_bitsg wrote:I am an aspirant for ISB class of 2012.

I gave my GMAT(first attempt) on 25th aug 2011 and scored 700 (Q50 V34), AWA 5.5.


My profile goes like this :


1. 10th - 84% (2003), 12th(2005) - 81%, Mechanical engg from BITS Pilani Goa campus(2005-2009) with CGPA 8.13
2. Work Ex of 2yrs (till June 2011 end) as a mechanical design engineer for transformers with Crompton Greaves Ltd . Work ex of 3 months with BHEL as Sales & Service engineer for turbines.
3. Best Graduate Trainee during 1st yr of my job with Crompton Greaves and have 4 individual Patents in the transformers field.
4. National Level Lawn tennis Player till age of 17 , Ranked India No.2 in U-14 School Nationals and now coach some kids during my free time
5. Event Manager of National level Robotics Competition in my college
6. Organizing committee member of National Level Sports Festival held in college.
7. Member of Public Relations Committee of my college.
8. Founder member of Festival celebrating body of my college
9. ESPN-STAR Sports Champion of my town during school days.
10.Won a few Debating Competitions and got best all rounder award during school times.
11.Merit cum need need scholarship holder(25% of fees in BITS)
12.Affiliated with an NGO which takes on different governmental projects.


My real concern is my average GMAT score . I suppose my profile is on the better side but if it would suffice with my current GMAT score . Can i have an opinion from your side please ?

Hi Aditya,

You have a great profile. Look, GMAT score is only an indicator of your academic performance. A CGPA of 8.13 will do that job. On top of that the BITS Pilani brand name will be helpful. Moreover, 700 GMAT score, though a little lower than ISB's average, is not bad. It's actually good. The average of 714 at ISB is made by calculating just that... the average.

Focus on other high points of your life... Don't have much details about your work-ex but make sure you focus on leadership potential while writing your essays. With 2 years of experience, any school would like to see whether you have leadership "potential". This can be shown by displaying different qualities of a leader like taking initiatives, decision making, people management, etc.

Your extra curricular is rocking, especially heavy on sports. This should go into the essays: what you have achieved and how you are currently pursuing it and why. Show that passion in your essays.

Which other schools are you applying to? And you didn't mention your career goals?

Hi GoISB,

Can you please evaluate/analyse my profile.

I am a round 1 applicant.

Secondary School: 62.2%
Senior Secondary School(Science): 62.6%
Undergrad: Bach. of Journalism (Mass comm): 75%
PGD in Journalism: 55%
Grad: MA(MC): 66%

Work Exp by 31st March 2012: 5 Yrs 4 months

1. Businessworld - Senior correspondent cum sub-editor
> 4 years with ABP Pvt. Ltd.'s Businessworld (magazine, online)

Techplus Media: Reporter (8 months)
B2B IT Magazine and an IT news portal

Heart Care Foundation of India (4 months)
Editorial assistant at the NGO

Extra Curricular
First prize in University Dance competition
Served as reporter for University's in-house magazine for 2 years
Member of the core organising team of University
Written scripts, camera for student films

I am skeptical about my low GMAT score, but I just went ahead and applied any way. (Also, do you think it'll be okay to apply to Great Lakes and XLRI - I know the question is a little out of the context )

Thanks a lot for your time and help.

regards,
Chetna

Hey GoISB,

I really appreciate your efforts in evaluating the profiles here. I was fascinated by the ISB one year MBA program and decided to give a serious consideration.

Can you please help evaluate my profile. Here is some info.

Sec School : 80%
Plus 2 :82%
Undergrad : 3.4GPA/4 (Abt 64%)
Masters(MIS): 3.8GPA/4 (Top 3% of the class)
Have been working in different roles such as Developer, Content Admin, Programmer Analyst, B2B Developer, Project Analyst, Senior Software Engineer with various fortune 500 and fortune 100 companies in the States since the last 5 years.

I was the secretary of the Indian Student Association in my grad School and also the Social Chair of the South Asian Professional Org in my area.

Also, I have been involved in active community events where I organized and volunteered for fund raisers, actively involved in organizing tech campaigns to help the South Asian community graduate students in resume preparation and job interview advices.

Helped the Indian community in our area to organize and coordinated with the Bollywood stars for Indian festivals.

Actively participated in organizing a fund raiser for an Indian American to contest in the county elections.

Had a start up IT consulting firm for about an six months before I had to sell it to a major IT staffing firm to focus on continuing my education.

My gmat score is 670. I know it is not neat but I am intending to take it again in a month.

Currently I work as a Senior Software developer/Tech lead and I occasionally take time to talk about better Programming Aspects and Technical practices and for an Indian Staffing firm.

I currently got admits from Georgia tech B school, but I am more inclined towards ISB. If I am looking at a target GMAT score of 700(Worst Case) and intend to apply for the class of 2014, Can you please evaluate/advice how good will be chances for ISB.?

Shine on,
Cnamz

Hi Cnamz,

Your profile is technology based but it has elements which differentiate you well.

Your diffrentiators are:

Experience in US
Great extra curriculars
Your own venture and the fact that you sold it proves that the business was good and someone was interested in it.

Your goals essay should be convincing and should not give a feeling that you are facing saturation and hence want to move out. Also, it should not give a feeling that you want to use 1 yr MBA at ISB to settle back in India.

Just try to improve your GMAT and focus on your essays and i am pretty sure you can get an interview call.

Hope this helps

goISB Team

Chetnamehra wrote:Hi GoISB,

Can you please evaluate/analyse my profile.

I am a round 1 applicant.

Secondary School: 62.2%
Senior Secondary School(Science): 62.6%
Undergrad: Bach. of Journalism (Mass comm): 75%
PGD in Journalism: 55%
Grad: MA(MC): 66%

Work Exp by 31st March 2012: 5 Yrs 4 months

1. Businessworld - Senior correspondent cum sub-editor
> 4 years with ABP Pvt. Ltd.'s Businessworld (magazine, online)

Techplus Media: Reporter (8 months)
B2B IT Magazine and an IT news portal

Heart Care Foundation of India (4 months)
Editorial assistant at the NGO

Extra Curricular
First prize in University Dance competition
Served as reporter for University's in-house magazine for 2 years
Member of the core organising team of University
Written scripts, camera for student films

I am skeptical about my low GMAT score, but I just went ahead and applied any way. (Also, do you think it'll be okay to apply to Great Lakes and XLRI - I know the question is a little out of the context )

Thanks a lot for your time and help.

regards,
Chetna

Hi Chetna,

no doubts that your profile is different and impressive. But you havent mentioned your GMAT score.

We think that if your GMAT score is above 650 you should get an interview call.

Yes, your profile is good enough for Great Lakes & XLRI GMP.

Cheers
goISB Team

Hi,

Oops.. I should have mentioned that....

My GMAT score is 600.

@GoISB : Thank you for your advice.

A couple of things I just want to make sure. How different would be my essays when compared to the ones I applied to the B-Schools here. I know the essay should be a little specific mentioning how the program in a particular school helps me enhance my career but I never mentioned the proximity of the place where I would look forward to work. The curriculum, exclusivity and the fee of the program motivated me to aim for ISB.

I would be interested to add more international experience to my profile after getting my ISB MBA.
How would it go if I mention one of my MBA objectives is for making great connections with the smartest brains studying Business. I guess that would be the fourth objective, but I am not so sure how that would be perceived.

Chetnamehra wrote:Hi,

Oops.. I should have mentioned that....

My GMAT score is 600.

Hi Chetna,

600 is too low. Though your profile is good at 600 ISB gives interview calls only to a few candidates who have really diverse profile e.g. national level player, first gen entrepreneur with business turnover in crores etc.

We would recommend you to retake GMAT by 15 nov at get atleast a 650.

Cheers
goISB Team

Can you please evaluate/analyse my profile.

I am planning to apply in 2nd round

Secondary School: 75.16%
Senior Secondary School(Science): 75.86%
Bachelor of Engineering (IT) (final year) : 63%
Bachelor of Engineering (IT) (all 8 sems aggregate) : 59.73% (Not sure which one is used for application)


Work Exp by 31st March 2012: 5 Yrs 4 months @ National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL)

Currently working as Manager in Systems department at NSDL in the 'Tax Information Network' project for Income Tax Department which aids Income Tax Department in IT assessment of Tax Deducted at Source(TDS) for companies, etc.

My managerial experience would be 2.5 months by March 31,2012

Here I started off as an tester, now currently managing operations from Systems point of view (involving testing, development, requirement analysis, system maintainence) for close to 8 different modules. I have handled a team of close to 8-10 people for various tasks.
I have handled 3-4 projects related to the Business Intelligence, Content Management, security and system improvement.
I have been promoted once.


Others:
-Stood among Top 3 in various competitions held during my school days like elocution, essay writing, math/GK quiz. (Here again I am not sure if school time achievements are to be mentioned for ISB)
-During my engineering was a member of publicity committee for college festival

Well I have two questions:
1. Is lack of extra-curricular activites hurt my profile much?
2. What would be a good GMAT score

solesoul123 wrote:Can you please evaluate/analyse my profile.

I am planning to apply in 2nd round

Secondary School: 75.16%
Senior Secondary School(Science): 75.86%
Bachelor of Engineering (IT) (final year) : 63%
Bachelor of Engineering (IT) (all 8 sems aggregate) : 59.73% (Not sure which one is used for application)


Work Exp by 31st March 2012: 5 Yrs 4 months @ National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL)

Currently working as Manager in Systems department at NSDL in the 'Tax Information Network' project for Income Tax Department which aids Income Tax Department in IT assessment of Tax Deducted at Source(TDS) for companies, etc.

My managerial experience would be 2.5 months by March 31,2012

Here I started off as an tester, now currently managing operations from Systems point of view (involving testing, development, requirement analysis, system maintainence) for close to 8 different modules. I have handled a team of close to 8-10 people for various tasks.
I have handled 3-4 projects related to the Business Intelligence, Content Management, security and system improvement.
I have been promoted once.


Others:
-Stood among Top 3 in various competitions held during my school days like elocution, essay writing, math/GK quiz. (Here again I am not sure if school time achievements are to be mentioned for ISB)
-During my engineering was a member of publicity committee for college festival

Well I have two questions:
1. Is lack of extra-curricular activites hurt my profile much?
2. What would be a good GMAT score

Hi,

Your role in IT based though the domain is non IT. So, we would recommend a GMAT score of 700+ to make the candidature strong. Also, in your essays focus on your learning of the securities/ deposits domain so as to differentiate yourself frm other IT applicants.

Yes, lack of extra currics might hurt but think in detail and prepare a list of what all you have done to use them wisely in the app.

Cheers
goISB Team

Thanks a lot, just to make sure I got your point exactly,

I should highlight non-IT stuff like various presentations given by me on topic like "Importance of Measurement" across various departments,
or maybe structuring of certain key MIS reports for management
or vendor management related activities like vendor selection, vendor SLA tracking, vendor billing, etc.
or perhaps development of sizing/costing model for new projects

Education

"¢ Certificate Program in 'Business Administration' (Involved 7 core business courses), University of Berkeley, USA [2009-2010] - GPA 4.0/4.0
"¢ Certificate Program in 'Finance' (Involved 7 core finance courses), University of Berkeley, USA [2010-2011] - GPA 4.0/4.0
"¢ Master of Science (Computer Science), Texas Tech University, USA [2006-2008] - GPA 3.9/4.0
"¢ Bachelor of Engineering(Computer Science), Pune University [2000-2004] - First Class

Work Experience (7+ years)
"¢ Software Development Manager - Risk Management Solutions, USA [2010-Present]
"¢ Lead Software Engineer - Myspace, USA [2008-2010]
"¢ Research Assistant - Texas Tech University [2006-2008]
"¢ Software Engineer - Reliance Communications [2004-2006]

GMAT - 740

Consistent 20% return on my personal portfolio of stocks and etfs for the last 3 years. Will like to start my own hedge fund in future.

No other significant extra curricular activities.

Can you please rate my chances at ISB ?

Thanks in advance !!

yagmater wrote:Education

"¢ Certificate Program in 'Business Administration' (Involved 7 core business courses), University of Berkeley, USA [2009-2010] - GPA 4.0/4.0
"¢ Certificate Program in 'Finance' (Involved 7 core finance courses), University of Berkeley, USA [2010-2011] - GPA 4.0/4.0
"¢ Master of Science (Computer Science), Texas Tech University, USA [2006-2008] - GPA 3.9/4.0
"¢ Bachelor of Engineering(Computer Science), Pune University [2000-2004] - First Class

Work Experience (7+ years)
"¢ Software Development Manager - Risk Management Solutions, USA [2010-Present]
"¢ Lead Software Engineer - Myspace, USA [2008-2010]
"¢ Research Assistant - Texas Tech University [2006-2008]
"¢ Software Engineer - Reliance Communications [2004-2006]

GMAT - 740

Consistent 20% return on my personal portfolio of stocks and etfs for the last 3 years. Will like to start my own hedge fund in future.

No other significant extra curricular activities.

Can you please rate my chances at ISB ?

Thanks in advance !!

Hi yagmater,

You have a solid profile academically. 3.9 in masters and 740 GMAT will pull you above the crowd for ISB. I'd count your full time experience as 5 years as RA is not counted as full time experience. That should not bother you as the focus is not on quantity but quality. Anyhow in terms of numbers too, you are pretty much on the average.

Objective parameters aside, the subjective contributions will matter more now. Your designation is fine, but what you did at each stage of your career is far more important. How you contributed towards the company/team's progress, have you shown leadership skills, have you been in any decision making position regardless of position, etc....

Your goals need to be justified with your current skills and knowledge and the reason for your MBA need to be clear. These factors will make your profile stronger. However, with the current objective profile presented, your profile is strong for ISB.

yagmater wrote:Education

"¢ Certificate Program in 'Business Administration' (Involved 7 core business courses), University of Berkeley, USA [2009-2010] - GPA 4.0/4.0
"¢ Certificate Program in 'Finance' (Involved 7 core finance courses), University of Berkeley, USA [2010-2011] - GPA 4.0/4.0
"¢ Master of Science (Computer Science), Texas Tech University, USA [2006-2008] - GPA 3.9/4.0
"¢ Bachelor of Engineering(Computer Science), Pune University [2000-2004] - First Class

Work Experience (7+ years)
"¢ Software Development Manager - Risk Management Solutions, USA [2010-Present]
"¢ Lead Software Engineer - Myspace, USA [2008-2010]
"¢ Research Assistant - Texas Tech University [2006-2008]
"¢ Software Engineer - Reliance Communications [2004-2006]

GMAT - 740

Consistent 20% return on my personal portfolio of stocks and etfs for the last 3 years. Will like to start my own hedge fund in future.

No other significant extra curricular activities.

Can you please rate my chances at ISB ?

Thanks in advance !!

Hi yagmater,

Your profile looks good. Though you belong to IT pool but your GMAT and international experience will help you differentiate yourself.

Focus on highlighting learnings from your international exp especially Myspace exp.
Just one important piece of advice. Though you have been managing your investments well, don't mention finance/investments as your career goal because it doesn't go well with your profile.

Instead give a product manager/ product marketing manager kind of story which goes well with your profile and you will be able to better convince the adcom.

Hope this helps !

goISB Team