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IIMA PGPX careers: Private Equity jobs on your mind?



The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) offers a one year MBA program called the Post Graduate Program in Management for Executives (PGPX) that is unlike any other in the world. Exaggeration? Not really if you consider the profile of candidates targeting the program (average age of 34 years, average work experience of over 10 years with 4.5 years internationally) and the extremely competitive selection process (average GMAT score 713). None of the global programs can match that combination.

We found the perfect alumnus (from the first PGPX batch) to tell us more about the program. Vivek Joshi had a Chemical Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B) and a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from USA. He placed his trust in the PGPX course when the course was just launched, did amazingly well academically and took up a job in Private Equity. He is currently an Associate Director at...Read more

GMAT: 720 Q:50 V:38
AWA:4/6
GPA:8/10
Exp:4 years in EMC2 (Fortune 500 company)
Community Service : Active member of a NGO during Tsunami.
I am planning to apply to the top schools like Stanford, LBS,Wharton, IE,ESADE,ISB, SDA.
I am bit concerned about my low AWA score, will it affect my admission drastically.
I have performed many management related activities during my contribution to the NGO. I lead a team of MBA graduates in Tamil Nadu, India to set up a relief camp for the tsunami victims. The team was also instrumental in collecting the statistics of the affected victims and proposing few suggestions to ensure that the relief materials were properly distributed to the affected. I was also instrumental in rescuing about 100 people stranded in Vivekanada rock in Kanyakumari during the tsunami.
The NGO founder has agreed to give me a recommendation but the trouble is that we dont have an official web site. Being a non-profit organization the founder only has a personal mail id, will such a recommendation be accepted by B-schools. But our NGO is one of the few directly recogonised and funded by the Supreme court of India.
I am a software developer in EMC2 a fortune 500 software company. I have initiated few process improvements in my business unit saving app 100 man days a year. I was involved in sealing a deal with a customer in Middle east ( Explained the benefits and how it would address their need ). Co-ordinated and managed a release of a product earning $500 million annually. Cross-sold one of our products between different teams and reduced much effort .Won Bronze awards twice (Individual excellence.)
My future business plan is around venture capitalism and have developed a pretty decent business model. The initial phase of my plan is already in motion and I am doing some experiments right now. Though the business plan is not of a grandeur nature, it is pretty good one based on the current returns it is yielding.

Hi Sameer,

I need some counseling guidance. Please let me know how can i contact you?

P.S. - i just bought your book too and played the 'Kaun Banega MBA' quiz....

Sumit

dhody1986 wrote:Age - 26 years
GMAT - 730 (QUANT - 49 , ENGLISH - 40 , AWA 4/6)
Undergraduate GPA - 7.75/10
Education -
Work Experience - 42 months at Tata Consultancy Services. Worked on Payments module of a Core banking software and payment systems of 3 different countries spread across two continents.
:
Certified Financial Planner conducted by FPSB , India
Certification in Basics of Financial Markets conducted by National Stock Exchange India
Certification in Basics of Commercial Banking conducted by National Stock Exchange India
Extracurriculars - Not much to write about apart from successfully completing the 14 km Bangalore Marathon , 2011
My target B-Schools are
US - UCLA: Anderson , University of Virginia: Darden , Vanderbilt University:Owen , Emory University: Goizueta
Canada - York University:Schulich , Queen School of Business , University of British Columbia:Sauder
Singapore - Nanyang Business School , National University of Singapore School of Business
Please advise if I stand a chance in these schools. Also will my lower AWA score impact negatively in my application and if yes what corrective action should I take to counter it.

Dhody bhai,

Your target school list contains 9 schools. It's a good mix, but considering the time left to apply (assuming you aren't looking at Round 3 deadlines) there's no way you can do justice to all of them, buddy. You'd have to come up with a prioritised list with the ones that you HAVE to apply to and others that you would LIKE to apply to if you have the bandwidth.

Don't worry about the AWA as there's not much you can do about it at this stage. There are other queries I have about the profile.

You have listed multiple certifications. Apart from the intuitive idea based on the title, Adcoms will not be aware of the scope, length or rigour of these courses.

The other questions you might need to address, why did you go for these courses? Are they directly or indirectly helping you out with the current work you do? Or was it purely out of interest?

The big missing piece for me in your post is where all this is going. What industry are you targeting after your MBA? Why did you select these schools? How is your pre-MBA experience and the certifications helping you move towards your desired goals?

I'd say your AWA score is a number that has lesser relevance compared to the answers you provide to the questions I've listed earlier.

Work towards making your story as water-tight as you can, my friend and have a good application season.

Entrepreneurship: Thinking of making money from a franchisee business model?

In the book 'Beyond The MBA Hype' I talk about alternative options to explore to reach some popular post-MBA goals. Launching an entrepreneurial venture is one of them.

Probably that's what prompted an MBA aspirant on one of the MBA discussion forums where MBA Crystal Ball has a presence, to wonder whether he should re-direct his tuition fees (roughly 60 lakh rupees) to being a franchise owner for a popular fast-food chain.

His situation was unique as he had already applied to several business schools and had got an offer from a good school. But he was unsure of what the two years in a classroom would give him that he couldn't get directly. He expressed his ... Read entire article »

jervin wrote:GMAT: 720 Q:50 V:38 AWA:4/6 GPA:8/10
Exp:4 years in EMC2 (Fortune 500 company)
:
I am bit concerned about my low AWA score, will it affect my admission drastically.

I know a few few who got rejected from one of the schools on your list and a low AWA score was one of the aspects that got mentioned in the feedback session. But these are rare cases. In most cases, there are other bigger factors that influence Adcom decision - like unclear post-MBA goals.

jervin wrote: The NGO founder has agreed to give me a recommendation but the trouble is that we dont have an official web site. Being a non-profit organization the founder only has a personal mail id, will such a recommendation be accepted by B-schools. But our NGO is one of the few directly recogonised and funded by the Supreme court of India.

It's a good, impactful story. Go ahead and talk about it. Not all accomplishments need a certificate. In case the topic comes up in the interview, explain the background.

jervin wrote:My future business plan is around venture capitalism and have developed a pretty decent business model. The initial phase of my plan is already in motion and I am doing some experiments right now. Though the business plan is not of a grandeur nature, it is pretty good one based on the current returns it is yielding.

This one sounds intriguing, buddy. Generally those aiming for Venture Capital have plans that are more aspirational than practical. So if you are saying you are already getting returns with your model, I guess you aren't talking about the conventional VC roles. And I'd be keen to learn more about it. Get in touch offline if you aren't comfortable talking about this on the thread.

If you have a solid story here, this could be your trump card!

Hi
I am an Indian working in Finance Industry. My profile details are enlisted below. Requesting you to please advise for schools to apply.
Age - 23 years (will complete 24 in Jan 2012)
Nationality - Indian
GMAT - 690 (QUANT - 48 , ENGLISH - 34)
Undergraduate GPA - Scored 75% in my BCOM (Cleared in March 2008)
Education - Chartered Accountant by profession. Have also cleared level 2 of International CFA
Cleared MCOM Part 1 and 2 as well

Work Experience -
Post qualification : 1 year 2 months : 5 months with National Stock Exchange of India Limited and now operating my own Financial services company
Pre qualification : i.e. Internship Experience : 1 year with Deloitte Haskins and Sells and balance 2 years with G S Shah and Co.
Also some 100 hours of Teaching Experience.

Can you please guide me as which schools to apply.I am interested in doing it from Ivy League. Do I stand a chance in them?

Also whether my articleship will be counted as full time work experience or not. Most of my articleship is post Graduation.

Thanks and Regards,
Dhwani

MBA essays: How important is the word count

Having word limit problems while writing MBA essays? If not, sooner or later, you'll face the frustrating roadblock. Here are a few questions that may pop up in your mind about the word limits for your MBA essays and some perspectives to help you navigate them.

Q1 - Words give my thoughts wings and allow me to fly. Why, oh why, then would anyone be so cruel as to restrict the word count and curtail my flight?

The very purpose of giving you a specific word count is to ... Read entire article »

MBA Essays: How to write essays within the word limit

In an earlier post, we had talked about why MBA essay word counts are important and why you should not overshoot (or for that matter, undershoot) those word limits. That brings up the logical next question - what can you do to ensure that the tedious and frustrating process of knocking out sections from your fully drafted essay can be minimised.

There are no right or wrong ways to do this and you might have already thought about how you want to approach it. For those who don't want to spend time on discovering and fine-tuning an approach, here's a quick start ... Read entire article »

sumit.sinha wrote:Hi Sameer,

I need some counseling guidance. Please let me know how can i contact you?

P.S. - i just bought your book too and played the 'Kaun Banega MBA' quiz....

Sumit

Sumit bhai,

We've already interacted offline. So I'll skip this one.

But I have a question for you, in the 'Kaun Banega MBA' quiz, how is the quizmaster able to speak without have his head connected to his body?

dhwani.tanna wrote:Age - 23 years (will complete 24 in Jan 2012)
:
Education - Chartered Accountant by profession. Have also cleared level 2 of International CFA
Cleared MCOM Part 1 and 2 as well
:
Post qualification : 1 year 2 months : 5 months with National Stock Exchange of India Limited and now operating my own Financial services company
Pre qualification : i.e. Internship Experience : 1 year with Deloitte Haskins and Sells and balance
:
Can you please guide me as which schools to apply.I am interested in doing it from Ivy League. Do I stand a chance in them?

Also whether my articleship will be counted as full time work experience or not. Most of my articleship is post Graduation.

Hi Dhwani,

I would recommend that you spend some more time gaining full time post-grad work-experience to strengthen the profile. Will schools will consider an internship on par with full-time post graduation experience? Most won't, some will depending on how strict they are with their admission policies (and how competitive their selection process is).

For instance, ISB does not consider articleship experience, but if they find your profile exceptional (for other reasons), they might give you a deferred admission offer.

However, considering the bigger picture (i.e your age and overall work-ex), I'd suggest that you don't try to find a workaround through technicalities. Have some more patience and then apply when you have around 3+ yrs workex.

You'll have some more time to ramp up the GMAT score as well.

Testimonial from the MBA Crystal Ball Facebook page

I have been thinking about getting my MBA degree now for a while and thus have combed the internet, checking up on websites of Top Business Schools, looking at other websites offering advice on how to apply and get admitted at these top schools.

I have equally talked to a few other admissions consultants but I must say, each time I talked to Sameer I've gotten a lot of valuable information and insight into the whole MBA application process, information that is not found on any of these schools websites or any other websites out there for that matter. Information that only an experienced and knowledgeable consultant like Sameer can have.

After speaking to Sameer I feel confident that all I've got what it takes and know how to go about applying to and get admitted into one of the top business schools. I'll gladly recommend MCB to anybody thinking about applying to Bschools.

Thanks Sameer.

- Leonard Mbah Acha

Optional MBA Essays: How to decide if you should use them

After you've taken care of the compulsory MBA essays, there's the open canvas of the optional MBA essay looking at you enticingly...all white and pure...waiting for you to colour it with the palette that you hold. Will you jump at the opportunity or will you let it go?

The enthusiastic ones would look at it as the last open window to squeeze in all the brilliant things that they think the Adcoms need to know about them. Stuff that they were not able to cover in the mandatory MBA essays. Others may treat it like the psychologist's couch where you can explain all the things that went wrong in your life and why you were not the one to blame. The lazy ones ('overworked', sounds better?) would think ... Read entire article »

Are MBA jobs in consulting and investment banking coming back?

The best management consulting firms, investment banks, technology companies and several top notch companies appear to have shaken off their post recession blues and decided to give their HR teams reason to start consuming increased amounts of caffeine.

Firms like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Google, Bain & Co, Amazon, Booz, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble opened their doors to many MBA graduates this season. This would come as a relief to many who were concerned that a top MBA might not yield the returns that candidates expect from it.

Many would say management consulting firms are 'recession proof'... Read entire article »

Have any of your MBA friends had this experience?



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