Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi subramanian1408,

Here's my feedback on each aspect of your profile as requested:

1. Acads: Above average. Although your GMAT score is good, but considering the profile of students who apply to ISB, it's competitive. Your undergrad scores are average-above average too. But I won't advise you to take GMAT again. Instead, since your job is highly analytical in nature, showcase your analytical and problem solving skills through experience in your essays and recommendations. Show how good you are at taking academic and analytical rigor.

2. Diversity: You are right. Your international experience and your interest in music production will help you set apart. But international experience alone cannot be a differentiator. You still need to demonstrate the required leadership abilities and good career growth in your setting. Think of great experiences, good stories. So in a nutshell, "Show, don't tell.

3. Goals: Your goals are in line with your experience, which is good.. Will help you. Ensure that an MBA fits in seamlessly in the plan.

4. Your experience in terms of numbers is low but you can compensate quantity with quality. Show that you have leadership abilities and significant team experiences. Show that you can handle conflicts, you can manage people.

All this put together effectively through stories in the application will help you through. You have a strong chance both in ISB and NUS.

Feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss in detail.

subramanian1408 wrote:Hello,

I would be extremely thankful if anyone of you could review my profile and let me know what my chances at ISB are.

This is my Profile -

I am a 22 year old Indian male working as Product Development Engineer for a leading Japanese appliances manufacturing firm in Singapore.

*GMAT - 720 (94th percentile), Q51 V35 AWA 5.5, IR - 7

*Undergrad - National University of Singapore - Majored in Mechanical engg. Scored 3.9/5. roughly 3.12 on 4.

*Extra-curriculars - I was the Vice President of a performing arts society in NUS. I was involved in event management, publicity, ticket sales, sponsorship activities. Besides this, I was in the publicity committee of a couple of other clubs, took part in voluntary activities.

*Work Experience - 2 yrs and 3 months(as of today) in R&D (New Product development) in a Fortune 500 Japanese company's B2B business in Singapore.

*Post MBA Goals - to get into New Product/business development division of an electronics/consumer goods business, FMCG etc.

*Hobbies - Open water diving, Music Production for short films

While I meet the bare minimum requirement of 2 yrs professional experience, I am still less experienced when compared with someone with say 5+ yrs of work experience. My international experience and interest in music production could contribute to my diversity quotient. But do these factors make mine a strong, competitive profile? Do I have the right numbers (GMAT, GPA) otherwise?


Thank you so much for your time and advice

Regards!

Hi,

I am willing to apply during fall, 2014 to seek an admit in fall, 2015. Below is my profile detail.

Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication engineering. GPA: 6.9/10.0. Did graduation from Amrita University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu.

Age: 23 years / Indian / Male

GMAT score: 750 (Q50, V42, AWA 4.0, IR 5.0)

Work experience: I work for Infosys. My designation is Systems Engineer. Experience so far is 2 years and 4 months. My job is to develop e-banking websites for clients using the Finacle product. I have listed down my 2 projects below:

Client 1:

Building an e-banking website for HBTF by converting base product (Finacle version 11) to full modular/customizable website with customizable JSP pages. By the end of this project, Finacle, the proprietary banking product of Infosys, will empower the bank's 112 home country branches with a unified, future-proof technology platform delivering all the benefits of straight through processing and support for true 24X7 multi-channel and multi-currency transactions.

Performed Gap analysis for both retail and corporate banking, designed business rules and requirements and managed development of technical specifications for data interfaces conforming to Finacle's core banking and CRM systems.

Provided analysis on retail and corporate customer needs, system specifications and project requirements.

Documented user requirements, detailed logic flows and system and program specifications.

Maintain daily database needs, administration, user profiles and data issues and handled mission critical calls & consistently met high service standards.

Client 2:

Solely designed and developed/customized one full module using Finacle version 10 and it reportedly had least number of defects.

Lead a module development project team of two team members for the credit card system of the bank.

Served as a liaison between product development team and client for business and process improvement in order to develop an understanding of client's expectations.

Discussed and developed a means for Finacle e-Banking to interact with the Wage Protection System (WPS), which is a solution for processing employee's salaries as per the UAE Central Bank and UAE Ministry of Labor requirements

Coordinated with multiple product vendors like Symantec and Temenos 24 for developing interfaces like the antivirus interface and the online interaction interface respectively.

Major achievements:

Have passed CFA level 1 in the first attempt. Have registered for CFA level 2 now.

Have cleared 25 online modules in Harvard Manage Mentor program.

Co-founder of Infosys Toastmasters Chennai club. Currently the President of Infosys Toastmasters Chennai club and Assistant Area Governor of Area M1, District 82(b). Have served as the Vice President Education, Sergeant at Arms in the past and Membership Campaign Chair. During my tenure as Membership Campaign Chair, I hosted a couple of events in the Infosys Limited, Chennai campus where 19000 employees work.

South Zone Director of InTeGER. InTeGER (INcubating TEchnology in Graduates, Enterpreneurs & Researchers), a startup NGO, aspires to eliminate the wide gap between aspiring technology wizards and the corporate world. I have organized sessions in more than ten colleges and conducted workshops in and around Delhi. Additionally I also manage the fee collected from participants and pump it back into InTeGER for sustaining the NGO. Inspired by the success in Delhi, I am now heading a team of 3 in Chennai, 3 in Bangalore and 4 in Pune to conduct such sessions and workshops.

I am a grade 1 student in Wing-Chun school international, Chennai (affiliated to UK Wing-Chun school). Because of the absence of my regional instructor now for 6 months (instructor has gone to UK to take his grade 3 test), I am managing the entire club functioning. Additionally, I teach Wing-Chun to beginners.

Career goals:

I want to move into finance domain. Preferably into investments or asset management. Not very keen on accounting. Can you tell me if my profile is strong for ISB?

Also I do not have any onsite experience so far. How much emphasis is laid on international exposure by b-schools?

Hi,

I am Nishanth.

I would like to get my profile evaluated.My profile details are as follows:

Gmat 1st attempt- 680, AWA:6, IR: 7
2nd attempt- 750, AWA: , IR: 7

B.Tech IIT Guwahati 3.2 GPA
IT company- Joined as an engineer. Now a senior engineer.3 years exp.

I aspire to bring a change into the society. So, I will set up a school in the future.I prepared my profile accordingly.

Worked with 2 NGOs( YFS and Green Nest).
Taught in a couple of schools on weekends.
Organized chiguru as a part of YFS. Chiguru is an regional inter school competition.
Spearheaded the CSR activities in my office.
As a part of these activities:
Implemented Akura( free school management system) in the schools I teach in.
Ensured the completion of a community hall project in a flood prone area.


Other than these:
I am into freelance modelling .
I have acted in a couple of short films.
I also represent my company in football and badminton.

I would like to know where do I stand among the pool of applicants that apply to ISB.

Hi,

I am a student at Indian School of Business.

I along with some other students from ISB, Wharton and Bocconi are doing a project as a part of our course to help candidates like you to know better about various B-schools including ISB, Wharton, Kellogg, HKUST, Oxford...

You can reach out to us at www.mbastudents.tk

All advice from us is FREE.

Best,

Hi jaganpani,

You have very well made up for the low undergrad score with a high GMAT. So that's set.

From your experience, the way you explain it is highly technical. For an MBA application, you need to move ahead and think about the business impact of your work. In an MBA application, you need to talk about bigger stories showing your leadership skills, team skills, people issue, career progression, impact on people, taking initiatives, etc.

On the other hand, your extra-currics are great. And the fact that you have some kind of leadership position there and you are able to show the initiatives that you have taken is great. Use these to highlight the non-professional aspect of your profile. Just make sure you tell them as stories.

Your profile is good for ISB. You just need stronger professional stories and a convincing connection between your experience and your career goals.

All the best.

jaganpani wrote:Hi,

I am willing to apply during fall, 2014 to seek an admit in fall, 2015. Below is my profile detail.

Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication engineering. GPA: 6.9/10.0. Did graduation from Amrita University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu.

Age: 23 years / Indian / Male

GMAT score: 750 (Q50, V42, AWA 4.0, IR 5.0)

Work experience: I work for Infosys. My designation is Systems Engineer. Experience so far is 2 years and 4 months. My job is to develop e-banking websites for clients using the Finacle product. I have listed down my 2 projects below:

Client 1:

Building an e-banking website for HBTF by converting base product (Finacle version 11) to full modular/customizable website with customizable JSP pages. By the end of this project, Finacle, the proprietary banking product of Infosys, will empower the bank's 112 home country branches with a unified, future-proof technology platform delivering all the benefits of straight through processing and support for true 24X7 multi-channel and multi-currency transactions.

Performed Gap analysis for both retail and corporate banking, designed business rules and requirements and managed development of technical specifications for data interfaces conforming to Finacle's core banking and CRM systems.

Provided analysis on retail and corporate customer needs, system specifications and project requirements.

Documented user requirements, detailed logic flows and system and program specifications.

Maintain daily database needs, administration, user profiles and data issues and handled mission critical calls & consistently met high service standards.

Client 2:

Solely designed and developed/customized one full module using Finacle version 10 and it reportedly had least number of defects.

Lead a module development project team of two team members for the credit card system of the bank.

Served as a liaison between product development team and client for business and process improvement in order to develop an understanding of client's expectations.

Discussed and developed a means for Finacle e-Banking to interact with the Wage Protection System (WPS), which is a solution for processing employee's salaries as per the UAE Central Bank and UAE Ministry of Labor requirements

Coordinated with multiple product vendors like Symantec and Temenos 24 for developing interfaces like the antivirus interface and the online interaction interface respectively.

Major achievements:

Have passed CFA level 1 in the first attempt. Have registered for CFA level 2 now.

Have cleared 25 online modules in Harvard Manage Mentor program.

Co-founder of Infosys Toastmasters Chennai club. Currently the President of Infosys Toastmasters Chennai club and Assistant Area Governor of Area M1, District 82(b). Have served as the Vice President Education, Sergeant at Arms in the past and Membership Campaign Chair. During my tenure as Membership Campaign Chair, I hosted a couple of events in the Infosys Limited, Chennai campus where 19000 employees work.

South Zone Director of InTeGER. InTeGER (INcubating TEchnology in Graduates, Enterpreneurs & Researchers), a startup NGO, aspires to eliminate the wide gap between aspiring technology wizards and the corporate world. I have organized sessions in more than ten colleges and conducted workshops in and around Delhi. Additionally I also manage the fee collected from participants and pump it back into InTeGER for sustaining the NGO. Inspired by the success in Delhi, I am now heading a team of 3 in Chennai, 3 in Bangalore and 4 in Pune to conduct such sessions and workshops.

I am a grade 1 student in Wing-Chun school international, Chennai (affiliated to UK Wing-Chun school). Because of the absence of my regional instructor now for 6 months (instructor has gone to UK to take his grade 3 test), I am managing the entire club functioning. Additionally, I teach Wing-Chun to beginners.

Career goals:

I want to move into finance domain. Preferably into investments or asset management. Not very keen on accounting. Can you tell me if my profile is strong for ISB?

Also I do not have any onsite experience so far. How much emphasis is laid on international exposure by b-schools?

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Hi Nishanth,

Well buddy, you have everything in a profile that should be in a B-school application.

Your score jumped from 680 to 750 - awesome
You clearly know what you want to do - great
Your actions are in line with your career goals - rare
You show impact through your actions - good

But I'm not able to understand what impact are you making in your day job.. Is it important to you? Is your NGO work more important to you than your day job that you haven't even mentioned about it? Then why don't you quit and carry on your school dream full time? Do you show leadership abilities at your FT job too?

These are some questions that definitely need to be answered to make your application complete.

The modeling and films stuff is interesting. If oyu have a story around it rather than just being a bullet point, that'll be better.

Let's discuss if you want to. All the best.

nishanth.kadi wrote:Hi,

I am Nishanth.

I would like to get my profile evaluated.My profile details are as follows:

Gmat 1st attempt- 680, AWA:6, IR: 7
2nd attempt- 750, AWA: , IR: 7

B.Tech IIT Guwahati 3.2 GPA
IT company- Joined as an engineer. Now a senior engineer.3 years exp.

I aspire to bring a change into the society. So, I will set up a school in the future.I prepared my profile accordingly.

Worked with 2 NGOs( YFS and Green Nest).
Taught in a couple of schools on weekends.
Organized chiguru as a part of YFS. Chiguru is an regional inter school competition.
Spearheaded the CSR activities in my office.
As a part of these activities:
Implemented Akura( free school management system) in the schools I teach in.
Ensured the completion of a community hall project in a flood prone area.


Other than these:
I am into freelance modelling .
I have acted in a couple of short films.
I also represent my company in football and badminton.

I would like to know where do I stand among the pool of applicants that apply to ISB.

Hi,

Thank you very much for your thorough evaluation. Well, I thought a male IT engineer is too cliched and so didn't try to highlight that part. No, ngo work is not more important than my job, but setting up a school is definitely more important.

In my job:
1. I was selected as the team lead during my training period.
2. Earlier we were 3, but now I alone manage the development work.
3. I Coordinated with my srilankan team to get all the softwares required for Akura(mentioned earlier) and implemented it in the govt. schools as a part of my company's csr activities.



I will make sure I highlight my achievements and activities in college, and office. And yes, I will try to build up a story around my movie making about all the hurdles faced, what it involves and what I learnt out of it.

Academically, I got a 674 rank out of a group of 1000000 students.
I also got certified in many courses in course era. I hope this will make a good profile. Please let me know if this is a good profile for isb.

Thank You.

Sir

My profile is as follows:

Class X: 92.2
Class XII: 87.4
Graduation, B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Ropar, with a GPA of 8.18/10

Work Ex: 1.5 Years with a fortune 500 OMC. Job essentially involves managing capex projects in the four districts in Maharashtra that I look After.

GMAT Score: 710.

Extra Currics: General Secretary, Board of Cultural Activities IIT Ropar, Diploma in Hindustani Classical Music, Diploma in Fine Arts, Captain of institute Table Tennis Team.

How would you rate my profile for ISB?

Kindly review my profile.

GMAT 680(Q-50, V-32)

Graduation-BE (77 %) in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata

10th-89% (WB Board)
12th-93.1 %(WB Board)

Job Experience-1.BHEL Power Sector (3 Yrs-Presently working)
2.Shapoorji & Pallonji (5 months)

pls help

Hi,

I would be glad if anyone of you could review my profile and let me know what my chances at ISB-Early Entry option are

I am a 22 year old professional working in India for a US based consulting firm in the Business Technology division with a total work experience of 1.5 years.

GMAT 760
QA-50 VA-41 AWA-5 IR-7

Academics:
Class 10- 90+(CBSE)
Class 12- 90+(CBSE)
Pursued my undergraduation in Computer Engineering from one of the top 10 engineering colleges in India
Undergrad -71%
Received CBSE merit certificate for performance in the Class 10 and 12 exams.Also received merit scholarship during undergraduation for Academic performance

Work Experience:
- Part of the team developing an internal assets for managing Incentive Compensations.work included knowledge of concepts of Data warehousing and Business Aspect of the Pharmaceutical domain
- Successfully implemented the release 1 for one of the biggest pharmaceutical names in US.
- As compared to peers, given the responsibility of leading a team of 5 associates early in the career

Extra-curriculars

- President( Marketing and Events)-Entrepreneurship Dev Cell at college level
- Worked for almost 2 years with a NGO aiming primarily at education.Part of the English project for a year which included teaching English to children belonging to economically weaker
section.Part of the Events team where the work consisted of organising fund raising events for the NGO.
- Joint Secretary (Sponsorship) in the college fest
and some other similar PORs ar college level

- Mentorship at work for the newly joined associates.
Core team member

- Internship in the Technology consulting division of one of the Big 4 Audit Firms


Thank you so much for your time and advice

Regards!

I had applied to ISB in Round 1 this year and have been placed in waitlist. Can anyone throw some light on what are the chances of R1 waitlist candidate making the cut in R2. How do they evaluate the R1 waitlist candidates?

sourabh12 wrote:I had applied to ISB in Round 1 this year and have been placed in waitlist. Can anyone throw some light on what are the chances of R1 waitlist candidate making the cut in R2. How do they evaluate the R1 waitlist candidates?

Hi Sourabh,

ISB introduced the concept of waitlist for R1 candidates couple of years ago. The idea is to hold few applicants and look at the R2 candidates before making any decision.
Basically, if they are sure abt you, they would offer you admission. If they are not sure whether to take you but they dont want to reject you either, they will put you on waitlist.

ISB will consider you with R2 applicants and your final status will be communicated along with or some days after R2 final results.

Till then you can just wait and do nothing.

goISB Team

@goISB team: Thanks a lot for the information.
Can you let me know generally what percent of R1 waitlists do get an admit call (from your experience of past fer years)?
Moreover does a R1 waitlist candidate only get a chance if a selected candidate doesnot accept his/her offer?