Hi Crystal Ball,
Could you help me with the target school list please
My profile is as follows
Gmat:740
UG:B.E in Electronics and communications from a deemed Engineering college :2.99/4.0
Work Exp:5 years
4.5 years at one of India's largest software exporters , including 8 months of International Experience :Took number of good initiatives which became a part of the best practice ,Highly rated programmer in Team
6 months of teaching experience in an Engineering college
one of three Selected for Indian Army Signal Engineers to attend SSB at Bhopal out of around 300 candidates while in College .


Short term Goal : Product Development Manager for Amazon.com
Long Term Goal:Start E-education venture
Extra Curricular s :office bearer for Toastmasters at workplace
Cultural committee member and anchor ,Hosted and participated in fests,Plays,Dances
NGO member at workplace led a delegation of NGO volunteers to investigate need for funds in rural district schools
Active Placement club participant in college and public speaking contest winner

Would be very grateful to you if you could help me out of the doldrums
Just missed Emory,INSEAD and UNC because of Late Gmat

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I Seek Explanations Not Answers

Indian MBA Applicants more likely to be rejected from top b-schools

You thought it was fair game and your chances of getting into a top MBA program had nothing to do with your nationality? Not true, says John Byrne, former executive editor of BusinessWeek and founder of Poets & Quants.

According to him the rejection rates for Indian candidates are ‘dramatically higher’ than any other nationality. An Indian applicant is 3 to 5 times less likely to get an offer compared to domestic candidates from the US.

In fact, European and Latin American candidates would also fare better than Indians. What makes the P&Q survey results extremely credible is the fact that the data has been supplied officially by B-schools to Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Some schools that feature … Read entire article »

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
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Business Plan FAQ: What is it and how to create one?

When you start your MBA program, you’ll probably have to create (or review or study) a business plan. It might be a mandatory exercise because it’s part of a graded assignment. Or it might be part of a MBA business plan competition sponsored by your friendly neighbourhood consulting firm.

If you think you’ll never have to create one for yourself, it may still be a good idea to get your hands dirty right now, even before you step into a b-school. Why should you start working on a business plan now? … Read entire article »

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
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Sat sri akal Mundasingh ji,

Aapka woh dole-shole wala profile photo utaar diya?

Amazon has recruited the maximum MBA grads from Ross (17 offers) and Wharton (15 offers). Plus it has picked up folks from Darden, Kellogg, Tuck, Duke and Haas. Google and Microsoft also picked up their fair share from these schools.

Does it mean that it'll do the same thing 3 years from now, if you target these colleges? No idea. But you could still target the regular techie destinations (MIT, Haas, Teppper etc) and schools that are bunched along tech hubs, along with the ones mentioned above.

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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LOL Thanks for the Response .Thought of removing it because it seemed a bit unconventional.You might have seen the pic on gmatclub . Would you put the above schools as stretch schools.Could you suggest me a couple of reach schools such as Emory and UNC . I missed them because of the late gmat .
Thank You for the Help

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High paying Non MBA jobs in the glamour world



Today’s guest writer is Tinu Menachery, a model (yup, that’s her photo) and a content writer. She’s comes from a world that most readers of the MBA Crystal Ball blog (chasing typical MBA jobs and careers like consulting and investment banking) will probably never experience. And that’s exactly the reason why we requested Tinu to try and get at least a few folks interested in a career in the glamour world.

These ‘jobs’ (almost sounds demeaning to use that word in this industry) can earn you big bucks (monthly salaries are so passé). Plus life indeed can be one big party, rather than something you’d save for alternate weekends when your boss doesn’t overload you with official work.

Tinu started her modeling career with Gladrags in 2008 (‘reached the top 15 without falling off the stage‘ she adds) and was 2nd runner up of...Read More

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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Yes, I see that the dole-shole wala snap is still going strong on the other forum. I'm guessing that's a symbolic gesture to your competitors saying, 'mundasingh se takkar naa lo'.

With your profile, you'd be competitive at many of the other schools in that league. But you'd have to be careful about how you project your profile. In the short summary, if you highlight things like 'Highly rated programmer in Team' Adcoms might wonder if why you aren't focussing on the non-techie elements of your 4.5 yrs work-ex. Thoda sambhal ke.

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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MBA Crystal Ball closing its doors for Round 2 Applications

Many of you might know that we are a very small team and we have been focussing on working only with a small set of candidates. And the good news that has been trickling in from guys who've got into top-notch schools from INSEAD to Chicago (and of course, ISB) tells us we are doing something right with our operational model and we shouldn't rock the boat.

For each admissions season and each round we stop taking new folks when we reach peak capacity. For Round 2, it's time for us to announce that we are no longer accepting new clients who are targetting deadlines in Jan.

On a very selective basis we may offer our shorter scope packages (like Turbocharge) to profiles that we really like.

For those who've been following us for a while and planning to apply in the next season, please contact us early in 2011, specially if you have the bigger scope packages (e.g. GMAT + MBA MAP + 5 schools) on your mind.

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
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LOL Sir, You really have a great sense of humor .Just to confirm ,
: Here that league refers to "Darden, Kellogg, Tuck, Duke and Haas." ?
Thanks So Much ,
Really Appreciated

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columbia-with-a-570-gmat-score/" target="_blank">Executive MBA: How I got into Columbia with a 570 GMAT score



No, it’s not another article on careers in the glamour industry. If you think all our guest writers are hot and glamorous, it’s merely a coincidence. Or maybe it’s the MBA Crystal Ball platform. Or maybe it’s Maybelline.

Preeti Wadekar has managed to crack into an insanely competitive Ivy League school despite challenges (like a low GMAT score). What was her strategy for Columbia? What can you learn from Warren Buffett when it comes to B-school applications? Why Munni and Sheila couldn’t get into a B-school? She explains all this and more...read more

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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By league, I was referring to Emory, UNC etc that you has asked about earlier. The others listed above would be a notch tougher as you head into Round 2.

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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Georgia University Terry MBA - Full scholarship with stipend for Riaz



ISB Hyderabad (Indian School of Business) didn’t have good news for Riaz Mohammed and he wrote about it earlier on our blog with some advice for others who were in a similar situation.

We had hinted that his story was going to change for the better. Riaz is back with some good news to share. News that includes feel-good terms like MBA scholarships, full tuition waiver, stipend, free ride. Music to the ears! ...Read More

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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GMAT AWA essay tips

While preparing for the GMAT, most of the candidates start planning in advance for a high GMAT score in the Quantitative and Verbal sections. The score out of 800 for these two sections seems to be the only aspect that matters. The AWA section which has a score on the scale of 0-6 is totally off the radar.

One reason for that might be because the AWA score doesn’t get too much attention on B-school websites. Almost all of the top schools talk about their average GMAT scores, but there’s usually no reference to the AWA score. So many applicants assume, if it does not figure anywhere on the school site, it may be unimportant...Read More

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

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Master in Biotechnology Management at IE (Instituto de Empresa)



You could pass her off as a young, aspiring entrepreneur trying to learn the ropes at a top business school. Young, she definitely is. But she’s gone way past the ‘aspiring’ stage.

Sila Toksoz already had a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Materials Science & Nanotechnology and a Bachelors degree in Molecular Biology & Genetics when she launched her Biotech startup (Biyonesil Biological Products) in Turkey.

Her entrepreneurial journey started after winning a business plan competition while she was still studying. Now she’s planning to take it all to the next level...Read More

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Sameer Kamat, Founder - MBA Crystal Ball | Careerizma
Email: info at mbacrystalball dot com

Must read for MBA aspirants
1. Beyond The MBA Hype | 2. Business Doctors: Management Consulting Gone Wild

I forgot to remove a bschool's name from an app for duke . I hit myself in the foot . I didnt even copy the whole essay.I just copied a very generic and cliched line about contributing to the bschool;something that most bschool apps have in common.
Will such an error at a single place be forgiven ? Is that a deal Breaker ? Coincidentally I worked the hardest on my Duke essays .