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bblast wrote:and how do i schedule a call with u sameer ?

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Sameer ,

Here is my profile details

Age: 25

Years of WE: 4 [In July]

GMAT: 730

Undergrad GPA: 8.3992 on a scale of 10 from one of NITs(Not sure about conversion to scale of 4]

Major: Computers

Area of Work Experience: mostly software development

Desired field post MBA: Finance , Banking [I find its really tough to

ECs: Nothing special after college but was associated with NSS , dramatics club , technical club during college




I had applied to ISB [R2] , Wharton [Was just taking a chance] and Nanyang[R1] , got ding from all 3 w/o any interview calls. Did an unnecessary delay in taking TOEFL exam , scheduled it for feb end , slightly near the deadlines of 2 college apps [Tepper and Rice] but Toefl got postponed 2 times due to technical problem at center .. now scheduled for 26th march ...

currently planning to Tippin [IOWA university , came to know about it from Pagal Guy newsletter ]

Can see some later round deadlines lying ahead by mid april , But not sure whether I should apply to those or wait for next year ... [1 year delay seems really a big problem with me right now ]

Please suggest

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gargvaibhav wrote:Hi
Kindly suggest suitable college in US and Europe. I want to pursue my MBA in Operations.
Age: 25
Nationality: Indian
Academics
Degree: B.E in Instrumentation and Control Engineering from Delhi University.
Score: 68.5 %
High School: 75.4 %
SSC: 86.8 %
GMAT
No. of attempts till now: 1
Score: 700
AWA: 4.5
Work Experience: Working with Indian Oil Corporation for the past 3 years. Current position as Maintenance Engineer. Past experience includes working in the project and Commissioning of a Petro-Chemical Plant.
Activities: The member of "The Neighborhood project" in college where we used to teach poor children after college hours.
2. Involved in the organization of Inter College Cultural festival of the College.
3. Part of dramatics team in the college.
Certifications:
1. National Talent search scholarship in class tenth. This scholarship is awarded to only 750 students all over the India by Central Board of Education.
2. Multiple state Level scholarships in Class IX and X.

Vaibhav,

Can you share a little more about your role? Are you part of a bigger team at IOC or do you get individual maintenance assignments that you execute independently? is it a purely technical role or are you exposed to business elements as well?

Your qualification and your work profile are a little hat-ke and that's good. You've now got to figure out a way to go beyond that initial advantage and talk about accomplishments, your career graph and more importantly your timing.

Some queries that you should start thinking about: Why now? with 3 years of work-ex, have you reached stagnation in the current role or you just want to move into another industry? Do you have leadership or team related stories to talk about?

Depending on how you are able to address these questions, your target list could range from Krannert/Fisher/Tepper to Ross/Wharton/MIT.

1) Indian Male - 24

2) Undergrad - Bachelors in Technology - First class - Topped all the 4 years of study.

3) Experience - three years of experience in IT (R&D) industry, Family business and an own business set-up.

Senior Engineer, Infosys Technologies Limited, Bangalore (9th June 2008 - 02nd November 2009):
Joined in June as a Software Trainee and then worked full-time as a Design Engineer in Aerospace Domain. Work involved designing automated tools for strain checks, optimization and analysis of a part of a composite wing panel of an aircraft wing, which involves coding in Excel, extensive 3D designing in Catia V5 (Design Software). I was involved in creating new software based on VBA which could be used in reducing the production process time and improve project execution time.

Was associated with the following initiatives and events within the company:
"¢ Involved in an initiative which creates a feeling of "belonging to the company" among the employees, by giving them an opportunity to meet the senior employees as source of inspiration.
"¢ Involved in a charity initiative which focussed on helping the differently-abled by obtaining help from fellow employees.
"¢ Member of the organising committee of an intra-department exposition.
"¢ Member of the founding committee (Marketing/Strategy team) for promoting work carried by us and to attract new clients.


General Manager, Aleron Motorsports, Hyderabad (8th December 2010 - Till Date):
AAM Auto is a small start-up company which provides automobile design/manufacturing solutions. We offer hybrid car conversion kits and installation. AAM Auto also develops 4-seater electric/hybrid vehicles. Till date, AAM Auto has finished converting 7 gasoline powered cars into gasoline/electric powered. My role in the company relates right from technical aspects to managerial aspect. Overall there are 14 people who are a part of this start-up venture.

Apart from the above experience, I have been involved in family business for the past 7 years. I have travelled abroad for work assignments.

Extra Curricular:
I have been actively participating in motor-racing events in my country. I help promote green drives with the help of these racing events. I have also been organizing adventure treks in and around the city I live in. (Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club).

https://meetup.ghac.in/

I am also a part of a bicycle team. We cycle our way to remote villages and provide them with clothes and things which would be useful for them. We have no proper record of where we have travelled and what we have given except for some photographs. We execute these trips once in six months.



My target schools are

Kellogg (MMM Program)
ISB, India

Also, can you suggest me B-Schools, which according to you I should have a look at considering my profile.

I understand a few aspects of my questions are very relative, but would be obliged it you can just give your individual comments on the basis of your experience till date

Thanks very much for evaluating my profile.

Alay Mehta

Amiable Scholar wrote:Sameer ,

Here is my profile details
Age: 25
Years of WE: 4 [In July]
GMAT: 730
Undergrad GPA: 8.3992 on a scale of 10 from one of NITs(Not sure about conversion to scale of 4]
Major: Computers
Area of Work Experience: mostly software development

Desired field post MBA: Finance , Banking [I find its really tough to

ECs: Nothing special after college but was associated with NSS , dramatics club , technical club during college

I had applied to ISB [R2] , Wharton [Was just taking a chance] and Nanyang[R1] , got ding from all 3 w/o any interview calls. Did an unnecessary delay in taking TOEFL exam , scheduled it for feb end , slightly near the deadlines of 2 college apps [Tepper and Rice] but Toefl got postponed 2 times due to technical problem at center .. now scheduled for 26th march ...

currently planning to Tippin [IOWA university , came to know about it from Pagal Guy newsletter ]

Can see some later round deadlines lying ahead by mid april , But not sure whether I should apply to those or wait for next year ... [1 year delay seems really a big problem with me right now ]

Please suggest

Hi Amiable Scholar,

Considering some of the top priority schools on your original list (ISB, Wharton), I see that you had set your targets high. Why do you suddenly want to change tracks and start applying to schools just because their deadlines haven't passed? Why is a 1 year delay such a big problem? Is it personal issues or just impatience?

Round 1 deadlines for the next application season are just a few months away. I'd suggest that you start planning out a roadmap for approaching these in a systematic and structured manner. No knee-jerk reactions.

The extra year of work-ex will increase your chances. You will hopefully have a few new stories to talk about. You'd need to be a little more specific in your post-MBA goals, though. Finance and Banking is a pretty big area, so dig deeper.

Ignoring the TOEFL snafu, are you happy with the way your earlier apps turned out? What areas do you think you'd need to change when you are applying again?

Let me know your thoughts and I'd be happy to carry on the conversation.

ISB Hyderabad Indian School of Business: Bodhi's success story



Talk about modesty. Bodhisattwa Gupta considers himself the black sheep of the family...and he's got into one of the toughest and most selective MBA programs anywhere in the world - ISB Hyderabad (Indian School of Business). So you can imagine what others in his family have achieved (we know but we can't tell you ). Here's his success story. ... Read entire article »

Hi Sameer,

Please help me evaluate my candidacy for the MBA programs in my target schools :

A brief insight to my profile :

1. An IIM (Indian IT Male) guy with 5.5 years of experience in IT - have international work ex and worked for clients reputed in finance domain.

2. GMAT : 740 (Q-50;V-40;AWA-waiting)

3. Extra curr : 'Youth secretary' at our local community club - arranged events such as blood donation camps , art and cultural competitions for society kids -- member of Green Peace -- planning to do more active participations in NGO activities in this summer;

4. Target schools :
a)HBS (misfit in terms of age - but looking fwd to capitalize on that);
b)Kellogg
c)Wharton
d)Carnegie Mellon Tepper
e)Haas

5. Target career : Consulting / Marketing and Strategy

I am in the process of shortlisting schools and starting ground work for essays.Please feel free to recommend any more schools u feel wd be fit for me.

Would greatly appreciate your help and advice.

Hi mba22,

I'll be honest. The way you've portrayed yourself doesn't help, specially when you have top schools on your list.

Apart from the good GMAT score and some decent extra-currics there's not much for me to form an opinion about of your profile. I do realise the limitations of discussion forums and the level of detail that you can get into.

But if you project yourself as a just-another-Indian-IT-male candidate, that's how everyone will perceive you. So in your essays try to explore those 5.5 years of work-ex and pick out interesting stories that will show that you aren't like everyone else. If you can do a good job with that, then all schools you've listed (H/W will always be challenging) become competitive.

So try to work on making point number 1 from your post...a whole lot more interesting.

Hello Sameer,

I would like to get my profile reviewed and need inputs on the range of colleges I can safely focus on. I would appreciate if you could spare a minute or two.

Here's a brief about my profile:

GMAT 730 (V 43, Q 47) AWA - 4.5 (37%) -- appeared in mid 2009.
Experience: 6.5 years into IT sector. (with roles such as Programmer, Designer, Team Lead) + (Significant overseas exposure)

Graduation - B.E. (ECE) -> 76%, MD University, India
School - X -> 76%, X+2 -> 77% (CBSE, India)

I have occasionally been involved with some extra curricular and social volunteering activites since school, college, and during career.

Career Expectations: I am looking to pursue MBA program for career growth in my current field. i.e. IT sector.

I have few questions:
1. How would you rate my profile? What kind of schools should I target? Are global top-10 or top-20 a reasonable target?

2. Though I have done fairly well in my professional career and am recognized by managers and clients, I do not have any letters of promotion or "written" client appreciations to show as proof to the admissions committee. Can this pose a problem? How can I circumvent this?

3. Is the low AWA score (37%) a cause for concern? Do business schools pay significant attention to AWA as well?

4. How would my percentage at Graduation (76%) convert to the GPA? What would be my approx GPA at this %age?

I really appreciate your responses.

Thanks in advance.

1) Indian Male - 21

2) Undergrad - BE(Hons). Electrical and Electronics engineering from BITS - Pilani, Dubai - Distinction - Ranked second in a batch of 110 EEE engineers. Graduation date: June 2011

4) I have scored 740 in GMAT. My CGPA is 9.85/10.

4) Experience - Zero.

5) Extra Curricular:
I have been actively participating in Dramatics, Debate, Public speaking, Dance etc. Have won numerous inter and intra college accolades for the same. Organized many college events and fests. Have been involved in various student councils and committees.


6) Why MBA ?

I am interested to major in Finance/Consulting. I want to base my career on strong foundations and I feel that just engineering skills are not good enough to obtain a job wherein you can channelize the company decisions and influence the organizational strategy. Also, MBA gives you rapid growth.

Also, a job after MBA would expose me to bigger responsibilities, greater intellectual involvement and stimulation and more interaction with others.

MY question:

How many years of work ex should I obtain before I start applying to top B schools. I took my GMAT on 6th September 2010.
Also, can you suggest me B-Schools considering my profile.

Thanking you.

Hi Sameer,
Could you please help me do a brief profile evaluation based on the information below.

Nationality - Indian
Age - 29

Graduation - Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from India.
GMAT : 700 [2nd attempt, Gmat - 31 Dec 2008, Verbal: 81% Quant: 84% ]

Work experience:
- 6+ years of work experience in Information Technology for Banking.
- 4+ years of international experience in Singapore.
- Currently working for an Investment bank in Technology department based in of Singapore.
- Current role is to manage a technology team of 15 members across 4 continents. Assumed management responsibility since past 2 years.

Others :
- Organizer for a National level Technology event for our college for 2 years.
- Organized fund raising events and activities for Singapore children's society.
- Leading a team of 10 members in Social committee to organize social events and fun activities in the bank. [Have organized several events over past 3 years examples - football tournaments, learn at lunch events, networking events, Wii competition etc]

Post MBA I would like to take senior roles in Technology management.

I am planning to apply to US B-schools in the first round this Sept.

Questions:
1. Could you please advise if the admissions committee take time elapsed between Gmat and applications into account [Appeared for GMAT on 31 Dec 2008]? Am I too late now for applications?

2. Could you please help me evaluate the chances of getting into Top 20 US B-Schools?

3. I am struggling to zero onto 'Safe schools' based on my profile,score - would it possible to advise a few choices?

Many Thanks for your help !

Hi Sameer
I had sent a pm sometime back... Putting the same in this thread ...

This is Pri.. and I would like to know your expert opinion about my profile for ISB.

Experience: 5 years 9 months in Software ( of which 1 year is international experience in the US). Managing a team alongwith work... Module lead and co-ordinator between onsite and offshore stakeholders.

Acads: 10 -93% (Merit holder) 12 - 91% . Engineering 1st class with Distinction

EC: Co-ordinator tech fests in college and editor of school magazines and ofc newsletters. Also into writing a lot of varied stuff... Chief co-ordinator of learning cell for new joinees in ofc and also took sessions regarding product knowledge, soft skills as well as technical stuff for new and experienced joinees.

GMAT: 670

Please let me know what you think about my overall profile and the GMAT score for ISB.

Thanks and Regards

Pri

Hi Sameer,
Could you please spare a moment to provide your feedback on my profile posted above. Your response is highly awaited.

Thanks
Kapil

bschaspire wrote:Hello Sameer,

I would like to get my profile reviewed and need inputs on the range of colleges I can safely focus on. I would appreciate if you could spare a minute or two.

Here's a brief about my profile:

GMAT 730 (V 43, Q 47) AWA - 4.5 (37%) -- appeared in mid 2009.
Experience: 6.5 years into IT sector. (with roles such as Programmer, Designer, Team Lead) + (Significant overseas exposure)
:
I have few questions:
:
I really appreciate your responses.

Thanks in advance.

Kapil,

Let's move straight into your queries:

bschaspire wrote:1. How would you rate my profile? What kind of schools should I target? Are global top-10 or top-20 a reasonable target?

Your position in the IT pyramid is slightly better than most other Indian applicants who haven't reached the team/module/project-lead position yet. Plus with overseas opportunities dwindling, you are fortunate to have some phoren stories under your belt.

You sure could target the top-20. Mix-n-match is the name of the game. Take maybe 1-2 Ambitious, 2 Stretch and 3 Practical schools. With your focus on IT, California has got enough choices for someone with your profile. But also look at other states.

bschaspire wrote:2. Though I have done fairly well in my professional career and am recognized by managers and clients, I do not have any letters of promotion or "written" client appreciations to show as proof to the admissions committee. Can this pose a problem? How can I circumvent this?

Nope. no worries. You aren't expected to document every single pat on the back ("Dear Client, it's nice of you to say that you liked my work, now can you please document the same on your company letterhead and send me 12 copies signed by your CEO?").

You have recommendations to give Adcoms an idea of what others you've worked with (supervisors, managers, clients) think about you. That is 'evidence', if you think about it. And that's good enough for most of us.

bschaspire wrote:3. Is the low AWA score (37%) a cause for concern? Do business schools pay significant attention to AWA as well?

Chinta mat karo sir. Your quant/verbal balance is good. Ensure you write strong essays and do a fantastic job on the interview.

Btw, what was your TOEFL score?

bschaspire wrote:4. How would my percentage at Graduation (76%) convert to the GPA? What would be my approx GPA at this %age?

In most cases, you won't need to. There's is no 'industry standard' for such a conversion. Some undergrad institutions mention a mapping in their transcripts that allow Adcoms to interpret our percentage system. If you are still concerned about it, you could check with the admissions office for the schools you are interested in. But I think it's not an area where you need to get stressed out.

Aur kuch seva ho hamare laayak toh bataiye.

Good luck.