Ask mbaMission

Hi,

Please evaluate my profile. My target schools are INSEAD, HKUST, ISB, Johnson (one year), Ivey.

Male / 29 / Indian
I have a GMAT score of 680 ( Q50,V33). Low, I know, considering retaking.

Academics:
B. Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (one of the top engineering colleges of India)
CGPA (6.6/10) - My biggest concern. Please let me know how to overcome it.

Have also cleared CFA Level I and appeared for the Level II recently.

Work Experience (6 years in all)

3 years of experience in sell side equity research. Currently managing a team of 4 offshore analysts for a US based boutique investment bank. Working with the same US client for the last 3 years. Can this be counted as international experience.
Have also contributed outside of my project in many assignments. Those initiatives and innovations have helped the company to acquire many key projects. Played a pivotal role in the Pilot stage of these projects and i hope it can be a good example of leadership qualities.
Have won innovation award (twice) & best team award

1.5 yrs - Prior to that I worked as a derivatives trader (commodities) in a proprietary UK based trading house. The work location was India. Generated quarterly trading profits for the firm on a regular basis.

1.5 yrs - Prior to the trading job I worked as a assistant systems engineer at IBM. Worked for a large Singapore based bank. Developed applications as per business requirements

Extra curricular:

Have participated in a lot of cultural and technical events during college
Coordinated some of the events in these events. Held leadership position in some of them
Active member of the college quizzing team. Represented my institute at various inter college quizzes and have won some of them
Volunteer in an NGO that promotes world peace through meditation. Have organized various events to spread the related messages.
Have done lots of treks and other interested in more. Also participated in other adventure sports (rafting, etc)

Short term Goals:

To work in an investment bank at an associate level position and to rise to manager level

Long term goals: To run my own hedge fund / portfolio management firm, especially into commodities


Recommendation Letter: Can get good recos from company VP & my prior bosses / employers

Hello divansh, thanks for your question and for the details of your profile.

I share your concerns about the GMAT and undergrad GPA. Especially because you come from an overrepresented demographic that scores disproportionately high on the GMAT, I would suggest retaking the test so that you don't start off with 2 shortcomings on your application. In terms of your GPA, the way to overcome it is to write an optional essay that doesn't make excuses (unless there was an extraordinary circumstance) but rather demonstrates that your GPA is not an accurate reflection of your academic acuity and potential. Did your GPA rise during the latter part of undergrad? Have you taken other classes and scored well? Is there any other analogue that we could use to show that you have the mental horsepower to excel in business school?

I think your work experience could be the place where you distinguish yourself from other applicants. Those awards, especially the innovation one, seem to demonstrate some leadership potential. Was the "best team" award a team or individual award? The more you can use your experience to demonstrate your ability and potential as a person who takes the initiative, drives results, and truly leads, the more compelling you will be as a candidate.

In terms of your post-MBA goals, you will need to show that you require an MBA. Is it plausible that you could make the jump from equity research to investment banking? You'll need to demonstrate the need for business school to secure or expedite this path. In addition, your short-term goal is on the sell side, but your long term goal is on the buy side. I know many people take this path, but just make sure to be precise about how all these pieces fit together, in terms of your career path.

Finally, at your age, your extracurricular activities from university are likely not recent enough (some programs even request outright that you discuss only experience from the most recent 3 years). Your NGO work could be interesting, if you can use it to demonstrate your leadership abilities and passion. Do you have any other volunteer or service work outside of work?

Divansh, I think INSEAD may be a bit of a stretch for you, but I think you could be competitive at the other programs you list.

Best of luck!
Brian

Hi Brian,

Thanks for a great post and the encouraging reply. As per your queries about the undergrad, yes my GPA did rise as the course progressed. Also I am pursuing the CFA certification (passed Level 1). Does that serve as an analogue to the adcom about the academic abilities.

About the awards in my current organization, two of them were innovation awards(individual) and the other team award. Can the team award serve as an indication of the leadership skills, considering I was the one managing the team of analysts.

Regarding the goals part, I guess I will have to give a lot of thought about how the career progression has to be made and justified as well. Given the examples of some of my peers and alumni I have talked to, I guess the transition is plausible, but I need to justify it.

I dont have any other volunteer service apart from that mentioned.

Can you also suggest some of the schools that I should add to my target list. I am mainly looking at one year MBA programs.

Hello Divansh, my pleasure - thanks for the additional information.

I think your GPA rising during the latter part of your university years is a point you can call out in the optional essay. The bigger the change, the more convincing the point. Moreover, I do think the CFA could be an analogue for academic aptitude and performance. Again, the higher and more impressive the score, the more compelling your argument will be!

I would not shy away from talking about your 3 awards. As you know, schools want to know about your individual achievements, as well as your ability to function within and lead teams. It sounds like your innovation awards speak to the former category, and your team award - as you note - can speak to the latter. There seems to be some good experiences there that would make for compelling essays.

As I said in my last post, your NGO work is potentially a good way to showcase your leadership skills and passion in a non-work setting. Do you have experiences there you can draw upon? If so, that is already more than some other applicants, so I wouldn't too much about not having other volunteer experience. Leverage what you do have. Moreover, do you have any passions/hobbies/pursuits that you spend significant time on outside the office? Your engagement with the world need not always be through official volunteer work. Often, writing about these passions conveys similar things we look for (e.g., hard work, commitment, drive, results, teamwork, etc.).

I am not as familiar with one-year programs, but I found this link with rankings:
https://www.macquil.com/articles/oneyearmba.php

You may consider adding Oxford, Cambridge, and Emory to your list, but in general, because they do not have a summer internship, one-year programs tend to be less supportive of career-changers. Think hard about your post-MBA goals and whether you can make that case.

Best of luck!
Brian