I just Beat The GMAT!

I am willing to toil in any job I have to after my MBA in operations. I want this to partly prepare me to venture into entrepreneurship once again 6-7 years down the line. I am still on the younger side(wil be 26 this year) to completely dedicate my life to current MFG industry. Growth will be slow and of course I wont get any global exposure to progress and think any better. Internet cant give me everything.

Do you believe it perfectly makes sense for me to choose OPERATIONS after working in SAP-PP(Manufacturing-functional and technical for DuPont) for over 2 years & then handling my own manufacturing plant for over 2 years before an MBA ?
total-4+ yrs.


Now the question stands again how good my profile will be for ISB with this experience even with a 720+ score. I will definitely give it a go. I know it all starts here so began studyin already.

I am not too keen on Insead. Still researching it. Reading tons of articles and alumni reviews on the college. Do Singapore colleges have operations(nus/ntu) ?

bblast wrote: Do you believe it perfectly makes sense for me to choose OPERATIONS after working in SAP-PP(Manufacturing-functional and technical for DuPont) for over 2 years & then handling my own manufacturing plant for over 2 years before an MBA ?
total-4+ yrs.

Well, that's a question which ONLY you'd be better able to answer. I think one of the mistakes which we(especially Indians and Chinese) make
is that we are told to do something which has "scope".We're hardly told, right from school days ,to go for something which we love doing. If you can visualize yourself in the manufacturing sector, then going for the operations is a logical choice because you'd love to learn more and more and gain new insights . You'd not wonder why I am cramming all the rules/jargon of say Finance when I don't feel passionate about it or nor can I visualize myself in this field.

Now the question stands again how good my profile will be for ISB with this experience even with a 720+ score. I will definitely give it a go. I know it all starts here so began studyin already.

I think you should be a competitive candidate at ISB. Unlike the business schools in US, where there's almost an equal percentage of people applying from Humanities ,Engineering and Commerce background, ISB receives around 70% of the applications from candidates in the IT sector. Since it wants to have a good class composition with people from different backgrounds, it ensures that it admits people from different industries to have better classroom discussions. So you being in the Manufacturing sector would make a good candidate for their class. However, you would need a 700+ GMAT for ISB,not that it is a pre requisite condition,but since the class average is around 717(also mentioned by Eric in his video about his trip to ISB ) ,you may want to ensure that you fall in the average category at least in terms of GMAT.

I am not too keen on Insead. Still researching it. Reading tons of articles and alumni reviews on the college. Do Singapore colleges have operations(nus/ntu) ?

Am not sure whether NUS/NTU offer operations as a specialization but i think they would. If you're keen on going for operations, you may wanna apply for the 2 year MBA program at SPJain,Mumbai in Operations Management. They also have a one year MBA program called "Manufacturing and Operations Management". Both the programs accept GMAT scores and I think these programs should fit your requirement also. By the way,did you hear anything from SP Jain Dubai/Singapore and you didn't tell us how did the interview go ?

Just to update the members here.Got two admits in the last one week-one from Olin and the other from Mendoza. Have been awarded mouth watering scholarships at both the schools. Didn't get accepted to the schools of my choice and these were my back up options. Now instead of giving any advice here on this thread, I'd love to hear your opinions about these schools. Am not sure whether to join these programs or not

Disclaimer: Im no expert and dnt even have my gmat score yet So treat my advice with caution, as well ignore it

If i was in your place i would first analyse why didnt i get into my 1st choice schools. Was it the competition, did i apply late or may be i lack work ex. Because you already a very good gmat score.
if its something i can improve over in the coming year and make my application even better, i would wait.Instead of going to a school which i had as back up option with such good scores, i would work on other areas of my profile in the meantime and get in my apps by R1 this year.

Or,if you do have constraints in waiting another year (an year is a long time!!),I would pick one of these and move on. (provided the schools are in line wth my goals - u have applied to them so i assume they are).

Or, if you have the right exp, why dnt you look at a 1 year mba - i dnt knw wht are goals and which colleges you are looking at, just a thought.

whatevr you decide i would say,do justice to your score(i knw its just one part of ur app, but an imp one), you gotta good score mate!!

Thanks,rohu for your inputs.
I have been also thinking on the points which you have mentioned. Doing more research on the internet for these programs. I have to pay the initial deposit at Olin on 20th April and at Mendoza on 25th April, so I have a couple of more days to think and research.

The good thing about getting huge scholarships is that it takes away the burden of paying huge loans.I'll be not have much financial burden when I graduate, if I go to Olin/Mendoza. However, I think that I can make it to a couple of top schools if I apply in the next application cycle. The major weakness with my profile is that I don't have a lot of work experience and I am from the over represented demographic segment of Indian,IT,Male. At the top business schools, GMAT is an important criteria but they're looking for individuals with leadership experience also. I have been working on my profile a lot. Taking a lot of new responsibilities at work,changed my domain and vertical.In the next one or two months, I'll be moving towards the presales side.So let's see how things shape up.

I agree with Rohu,

With such an awesome score you could do with better schools than Olin and Mendoza.

I got a ding from SP Jain GMBA. They want people with dedicated IT experience for the Information technology management stream which was my only option there. There was nothing like operations and MFG. So I got thrown out as I had switched from IT to manufacturing after 2 years in 2010.

I did make it through all stages of the interview though. It was a good experience. However I don't think its tough to get into the program with a decent profile and some soft skills to tackle the interview stuff.

Also I would advice people to go for the program as any India MBA is job oriented and you will land a job after the program and a decent one I would say seeing the college stats.

However a final warning. I have a few friends in the program who told me that do not join the program if you want to become global leaders. Join if you want to have just another MBA degree and job security. ROI is also quite average.

Next up for me - Rotman telephone interview on Friday.

@Pushkal
I agree with you . SPJian GMBA is good for getting a good job.Maynot be a good choice if you're looking for leadership roles post-MBA.
Mendoza is a good school ranking wise.It is a tier-I school according to Businessweek rankings. It has a great reputation in Mid-west, so I am a little confused. However, on the down side, it's not a school/university which has that kind of brand recognition. I mean, if I go to the Bay Area, I doubt many would have heard about the school or for that matter if I come back to India,it may not give me the kind of opportunities/roles/network which I might get if I go to Standford(one of the schools I had applied to) or Kellogg or for that matter even schools ranked between 10-15 such as Haas or Andersen. I don't just want to go to a top school just for the brand name, but because I really wanna study with the best out there. I have studied in a top engineering college in India, and I exactly know what kind of incredible people do you see in the top schools.

Rishi,
I so feel Mendoza is not for you. I am not discouraging you or anything, I know cost wise they may look tempting, but hey top 5/Ivy league schools have their own recognition.
I have seen people with much less GMAT score, IT guys, get into Ivy Leagues(obviously lots of efforts needed on the apps front). You can do much better than that.
You were aiming for Stanford then dont settle for Mendoza(not degrading anything here,everyone has his/her priorities). Mendoza as you pointed out has good rankings.

You should really wait, utilise the golden time you have and come back strong next year.

Just for the sake of it.
I had pulled out below stat last year during my school selection and research :

13. U. OF NOTRE DAME - MENDOZA 690/5.2/37/80K

avg GMAT/avg work ex/acceptance rate in %/fees


Even with the not so good rankings no wonder their average GMAT is so high. They bait awesome people like Rishi with schols. :mrgreen:

@rohu27

Yeah,Stanford is the school I really want to go to but then the best of the best from around the world are competing to get through the top 3 H/S/W and it's ultra competitive to get through these schools. I talked to one acquaintance who lives in Indiana and he was all praise for Notre Dame. He said that Notre Dame is a very good school in that area and it would be financially a very good decision to join it. So,in a fix!

@Pushkal
Had I been really awesome, I wouldn't have got kicked from Stanford,Haas and Wharton:-D

@Rishi
Though people here will not agree,but I think you should take up Notre Dame if it is giving you a huge scholarship. I went through their website and the school seems good. Given the economic condition in the US, it is getting quite difficult for Indians to land up with jobs and many have to unfortunately return to India. Imagine the plight of these students who' be earning in INR when they have invested more than 50 lakh rupees in getting an MBA degree from abroad. Nobody would like to live with the burden of an MBA loan for 8-10 years after MBA. I think such a situation will take away the whole point of doing an MBA in the first place.

@rishi
Was just curious what did you finally decide ? Did you give the initial deposit at Olin or Mendoza ?

Sorry couldn't update you guys as I had gone on a vacation(some respite from the hectic life). I think the good weather of the mountains cooled my nerves and told me not to get anxious about going for an MBA this year Didn't pay the initial deposit at any of the schools and sent mails to the schools that I'd not be able to join their programs.

All raring to apply to schools for the 2012 intake,but since it's still a couple of months for the application season to begin,will focus on building the so-called "profile"

rishi raj wrote:Sorry couldn't update you guys as I had gone on a vacation(some respite from the hectic life). I think the good weather of the mountains cooled my nerves and told me not to get anxious about going for an MBA this year Didn't pay the initial deposit at any of the schools and sent mails to the schools that I'd not be able to join their programs.

All raring to apply to schools for the 2012 intake,but since it's still a couple of months for the application season to begin,will focus on building the so-called "profile"

Happy to read this Rishi
Good luck

Rishi any interests in ISB ? I am prepping for July GMAT and planning to make it for the september 15 deadline.