Profile Evaluation Request(Family Business)

s1ngular1ty · Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:02 am

Hi,

I am from family business and have a wide range of responsibilities which honestly, I am finding difficult to compress in the essays. Details of the profile-

Citizen : India
Age: 24
Graduated in: Electronics and Telecom 2007
GPA : 7.0/10 (Cannot be converted to 4 point scale)
GMAT : 640 (Q-41, V-38)
Work ex- 3 yrs at the time of joining

Work Experience: Joined my family business in 2007. Have exposure to fields of steel fabrication, import export and real estate and all are registered firms in the respective countries.

International Exposure- Instrumental in establishing a private company in Qatar. Researched Oman and UAE as prospective locations for the company but decided on Qatar for variety of reasons.

Short Term Career Interest: Joining a Private equity/ Venture capital firm to understand both sides of the capital raising- (VC point of view) How to invest in start up/ small companies and how to evaluate them and (entrepreneur point of view) What needs to be done for raising finance and how to present the projects.

Long Term Career Interest:Return to family business, expand the export company and raise structured financing for the real estate company.

What I want from a B School MBA:

Academic : More hands on experience will be preferred along with good international exposure.

Social : Want to experience a great student life. Looking for a school with cooperative and team oriented environment where a young entrepreneur will be accepted. Would ideally like to interact with a lot of intl. students.

Repute: More than ranking, good professors and good alumni network which can be tapped later on.

Network : A well knit alumni network is essential as it will help my existing business a great deal.

Leadership: Wide range of responsibilities- developing company brand, interacting with foreign delegates, market research etc. In general more than day to day operations I implement the changes that my father has wanted to make for years. Good results achieved. Am being groomed as a future leader.

Recommendations: A problem area. I do not have an immediate supervisor. I work with 2 other directors (dad and another partner). Whose recommendations can I get?

Extra-curricular: Since highschool I work for the non profit trust that my family runs. Active in the fields of free health care, education, yoga and cultural outreach.(It has a history of 300 years and almost entire immediate family is involved)

I am also learning French as a fourth language.

Colleges: Suggestions for target schools will be welcome. Programs of USC, Marshall and Duke have attracted me though.

Will my low GMAT be a problem for the above programs? Please tell me what you think.

Thanks,

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Lisa Anderson · Sat Sep 19, 2009 1:22 pm

Dear s1ngular1ty,

You have an interesting work history with the family business and family trust. However, your GMAT is on the low side for Duke and USC. You have an outside chance at these schools, but I do recommend you identify some other schools to apply to where your GMAT score is close to/above the average. For any school, it will be important for you to convey your level of responsibility and impact at your company to distinguish yourself from the other Indian applicants. Use your family business and its industry as an advantage in the process since most Indian applicants are from the IT world. As for recommenders, you cannot ask a family member, so perhaps there is someone else in the business you can ask? Other alternatives would be customers, clients, or vendors with whom you have worked for close to or more than a year.

Good luck,
Lisa

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s1ngular1ty · Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:58 pm

Thanks Lisa for the prompt reply. Really appreciate it. Can a different work profile make up for a low GMAT score? Assuming that I can differentiate myself in the essays, can I target schools that have an average GMAT score of say 670-680?

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Lisa Anderson · Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:47 pm

You can apply to any school you feel is a good match and use your essays to make a compelling case for your admission. I just think it is prudent for anyone applying to business school to apply to a mix of schools, in terms of reach and safety, to give oneself that best chance for being in business school.

Regards,
Lisa

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s1ngular1ty · Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:27 am

I apologize if we are not allowed to bump old topics! But I just wanted to post an update. I took the GMAT again and scored 680. How does this score stand? I have also been researching schools and would appreciate ur inputs on them.

Target- USC Marshall, Emory Goizeuta, Kelley Indiana
Second priority- UCI, Irvine and Boston University

Would my profile be competitive for UCLA Anderson? Their international business and entrepreneurship focus is perfect for my background and what I want to do.

Looking forward to your inputs.

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Lisa Anderson · Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:42 pm

Congratulations on your new GMAT score! It does strengthen your profile. I think you have a shot at your target schools, so it is up to you to submit a great set of essays and recommendations to convince the admissions committees they want you in the program. UCLA is a reach, but if you feel the school is a good match for you, then it might be worth applying to as your numbers are in range.

Good luck,
Lisa

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s1ngular1ty · Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:20 am

Thank you Lisa...Good to know that the score is competitive. I was disappointed as I did not touch the 700 mark!I am starting with the applications immediately.

Regarding recommendations, will it be okay to take a recommendation from a senior partner in the firm? He is not a family member.The company is a partnership and I directly report to him.

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Lisa Anderson · Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:42 am

As long as he is not a family member and you work closely with him, then he is a good choice. Of course, you also want to be confident he will say positive things about you. Wink

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Profile Evaluation Request(Family Business)

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