Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hello All,

Would appreciate an honest feedback on my chances for a top MBA program and what all I need to do to increase those chances.

Male Indian Engineering graduate from NIT(formerly REC) with equivalent GPA 3.42

Age: 24

GMAT Score : 740(Q-50,V-40,IR-5)

Work Background:
Working in R&D for a top MNC in India. Joined straight out of college and been with them for 2 years now.

In starting of second year itself, was given the additional responsibility to mentor new employees by the Development Manager. Have successfully mentored 4 employees till now.

Provided the maximum number of domain trainings in the year in the whole group and received appreciation by Dev Manager and Project Lead for the same.

Have been made a Great Work Place Agent(youngest member in the 1800 strong organization to be assigned the title). The responsibilities include bridging the communication gap between my team of 225 and the higher management, organizing monthly team events(for 225 strong team) inside office premises, raising employees concerns at proper platforms and thus enhancing the quality of the work environment of the organization.

Have had two yearly promotions with rating in top 20% .

Volunteer for organization's CSR initiative to teach the underprivileged children.

Successfully completed a 4-week online course in Risk Management with distinction(above 80%).

Extracurricular Activities in College :
1)Placement Coordinator of the undergrad institute - Managed all placement related activities right from contacting HR managers of organizations through mails/phone to coordinating with the visiting team for smooth conduction of the process on the day of campus visit.

2)Committee Head of Annual Cultural Fest - Lead a team of 29 people as the head of the committee involved in organizing of the 3 day fest.

3)One of the chief organizers of the week-long HINDI fest in college. Was extensively involved in almost all aspects of event organization and management,be it, interviewing/selecting volunteers, arranging welcome fomalities for guests, backroom management, coordinating with professor incharge for permissions,funds etc, internal and external publicity. We were a team of 8 individuals working together with around 60 odd volunteers.

4)Organized two successful clothes collection drive and one waste paper collection drive while at college. The clothes collected were sent to GOONJ, an NGO based in Delhi.

5)Topped an aptitude test organized during Techfest in college and also won 2 online riddle events. Subsequently became the event coordinator for the online riddle event during next year's fest.


Post-MBA Goals:
1. Short-term : IB/Consulting (I have a strong inclination towards Finance)
2. Long-term : Entrepreneurship (Social entrepreneurship)

Target Schools: ISB, Wharton, Columbia, Kellogg, Booth and unrealistically HBS & Stanford

Are my targets realistic? Please provide your valuable comments.

Thanks and Regards,
Tanuj Rajvanshi

Dear Tanuj,

Here are a few reflections on your profile:

1. The first thing that catches the eye is your ECs. Great in college and the good thing is you've channelize them at workplace too. That will add a pretty interesting dimension to your profile - so use that well
2. Coming to school selection, for reasons mentioned here, I will refrain from making gut-based school specific comments. But apart from ISB, your list will be super aggressive primarily because of the modest years of experience. Though you seem to have had a consistent career graph, being in top 20% is usually not distinctive - something that'll be imperative if you have to overcome the handicap of lower than average work-ex.
3. IB and Consulting are as similar as chalk is to cheese. It will be good if you research on both and make up your mind as to which way you'd want to focus/target. Usually targeting both is pretty tough even once you've gotten into an Ivy League.

Hope this sparks some thoughts.

Cheers,

You have good academics, having graduated from a 2nd Tier school with a good GPA and a good GMAT (for an Indian applicant applying to top MBA programs).

If your goals are IB and consulting still apply to those schools, but consider schools just a notch below at which top IB and consulting companies still recruit. You can find out this information through looking at rankings (https://www.mbaprepadvantage.com/blog/mb ... -rankings/) and researching employment reports.

Best of luck,

Thanks @mcbMck, @MBAPrepAdvantage and @CriticalSquareMBA for your valuable insights.

I did a bit of research regarding my goals as that was the area which was raising the flag.

IB is out of the list now, I would like to focus on Marketing/Strategy Consulting or Brand/Product Management once I get admitted. I feel these tracks would be helpful in pursuing my ultimate goal of becoming an entrepreneur. But since, Consulting is what almost all Indian applicants want to do Post-MBA, I am afraid , I wont be able to stand out in terms of goals.

PE/VC was another area I did a bit of research in (FYI : just because of the dynamic nature of the job and not for the money) and as it turns out, these are extremely hard jobs to get even with a Finance background, so AdComs would need a lot of convincing from my end about my eligibility, seriousness etc. to pursue this track.

Baseline is that I want to switch my career from IT as I have realized after two years in the field that I am passionate about Business. I typically want a job(for short term), that is more dynamic in nature. And I want to use my MBA experience to really explore all the opportunities there are in the Business field. And isn't the whole point of an MBA experience to explore, expand and develop a new understanding and awareness of one's abilities and passions?

Please suggest if Product Management if unique enough a goal for the AdComs or if you could suggest me some valid tracks which will make me stand out in the application process, I would really be grateful.

Thanks in advance!

Tanuj,

I dont think you are thinking about this from the right end. You are trying to take a top-down approach of appeasing the adcoms. Instead, think more bottom-up. What amongst these appeal to 'you'. If that is IT Consulting, even if there are 10 others, you should still pitch for it - provided you have a sound justification and it is still realistic. What you've mentioned about MBA is true, but adcoms are also weary of the fact that many folks consider MBA as a panacea - and end up feeling shortchanged at the end of two years. That's why all the hullabaloo around goals.

Recommend checking out this book for more perspective on this and make up your mind

Cheers,

I agree with Manish.

Also, consulting is what a lot of applicants do, Indians included. I would recommend that you find the goal that is authentic to you, but obviously show alignment with your background and goals.

Good luck,