Profile Evaulation - Entrepreneurial!!

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Hello,

I am a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from India with good GPA and a PG Dip. in Advanced Manufacturing Technology and Systems Management from University of Manchester (UK)

I have 3 years of work exp by now in Construction and Mining Industry.

Actually its my family business (a conglomerate of 3 companies in different fields).

Details of my company(ies):

1.) Has been into construction and mining activities since last 15 years.
2.) Started stone aggregate manufacturing and sales in 2002.
3.) touched its highest turnover till now of 30 crores INR approx.
4.) entered into Iron Ore Mining and Manufacturing in 2005 and touches 12 crores INR annually.
5.) Intends to enter into Sponge Iron, Thermal Power, and Raw Steel manufacturing by next 2 years.

My role with the company:

1.) Was positioned in a small village with limited resources to put up a stone aggregate manufacturing plant with a team of some 20 supervisors, skilled labor and engineers. while installing was much easier, was not knowing the harder part is yet to come. faced a tough time coping up with it because of lack of infrastructure and resources. faced competition form nearby competitors in the same product range because they had local reach of the market. negotiated a partnership to sell our product together with larger market reach. Now, the plant is running and giving returns, hence a successful venture.

2.) After this hard training, i came to my home city and joined inventory management department in our main plant (with the highest revenues) to take some good initiatives for cost reduction in inventory transactions on a daily basis. Implemented techniques such as ABC Analysis and EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) estimation to reduce daily operating cost. It gave good results. The cost was down by 60 percent.

3.) I was developing interest in cost estimations and thinking about possible ways to reduce them. I took responsibility to estimate last six months' cost of expenses in every department of the factory. This included maintenence, diesel, power, manpower, consultancy, mess, stationary, miscellenous etc. This I did to estimate our cost per tonne of production. That expense has now become a standard in our plant and it fluctuates only +-10% every month.

4.) I have taken the responsibility to step in our iron ore mining and manufacturing division and been given the role of director for the new sponge iron plant of 200 TPD (tonne per day). I am looking after its construction with our newly hired engineers and supervisors. I have also hired a contractor to provide me with skilled labor. Have prepared a Master plan in MS Project (with gantt charts, network diagrams). have been trying to organize my work in a professional manner. Later the company also proposes to enter into coal based power plant and mini steel mill, for which I will be the in-charge again(but obviously post-MBA).

Now, after going through all this stuff, do you think I can make it to stanford? or on that note to Harvard/wharton/kellog?? But my first choice will always be Stanford.

GMAT: Yet to take, pepping for it, targeting 720+ score. Please avoid analyzing deep into my essay writing skills. I know its not even worth reading. will work upon them for the AWA:)

UG GPA: 71% (I think its 3.5/4.0+)
PG GPA: 54%( sounds bad, eh?). Only 2 out 15 in my class managed to get above 60%. rest most were between 50-60% range. not trying to hide my grey shade here, but its a fact. the topper scored a distinction and went to Cambridge Uni for his ph.d. It was a very tough course, atleast for me.

Please come up with your verdict on this. It will really give me a push to move ahead and a desire to walk past those corridors of a bschool.:)

Could you please evaluate my candidacy for H/S/W/MIT/Kelogg??

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanking you,

Your well-wisher,

Chaitanya Bhansali

GMAT/MBA Expert

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by mbaMissionJessica » Tue May 03, 2011 9:50 am
Hi Chaitanya and thank you for your profile.

I think you have an interesting background and some very strong results; your work experience sounds like it could yield some compelling stories about challenges you overcame and ways that you showed initiative and drive. If you reach that 720+ on the GMAT, that will be good, especially because your GPA initially reads as on the low side. You may want to have the registrar of your school append a note to the transcript to clarify that 54% was actually one of the higher scores. (On the other hand, it is really the undergraduate GPA that matters the most to the committee).

The big gap in your profile for me right now is what you do outside of work. Are you involved in a leadership capacity in any activities? Do you have hobbies or personal goals that show other sides of your personality? It is important in business school applications to make sure that after they finish reading it, the Admissions Committee has a strong sense of who you are as a person, not just who you are as a professional. Without that information, my advice is of limited value.

The other challenge you face, as I am sure you know, is being from an overrepresented demographic. Because of that (and recognizing the two big gaps of no GMAT score and my lack of knowledge of what you do outside of work), I think your schools are feasible but it is an ambitious list. I think Kellogg is possible, and your candidacy will be taken seriously at the other schools - but you do not have a safety option on there. I think I would recommend exploring top schools like Ross or Cornell, to vary the list a bit. You could also consider the January-term program at Columbia, which is designed for people like you with family companies to return to.

I hope that helps. Good luck,

Jessica
Jessica Shklar
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844

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Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
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by chaitanyabhansali » Wed May 04, 2011 12:30 am
Hi Jessica,

Thanks for your invaluable consultancy! I will follow what you have suggested!

Chaitanya