Hi Sameer,

Would be great to have your take on a question i have been trying to solve for quite some time now


My profile in very brief looks like this :

Age/GMAT/nationality - 24/M/Indian
10th - 85%
12 - 64%
Graduation(GPA) - Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (6.91/10)
GMAT -720( V37 :Q 50)
Work ex/Company/Team - 2 years,Amdocs , Monitoring Solutions
Extra Curriculars :
1)Revived Annual Cultural Festival which was lying defunct due to lack of funds
2)Led Marketing Teams for 2 years running for the Annual Cultural Festival and raised funds to the tune of 3Million INR
3)Led Infrastructure/operations Team for the Annual Tech Festival
4)Active in Literary and other clubs in College
5)Awarded Appreciation Awards twice for successfully building the team in the current company and mentoring freshers and also overseeing a monitoring setup end to end for two projects

Now i want to break into a strategy based role which can be in management consulting,core marketing profiles or even in marketing in IT firms. There are two options that i have

1)Have an offer for Msc Strategic Marketing from Cranfield University. So i take this up, start my career in Marketing and then after 2-3 years more exp(in which i intend to improve my profile) in that field Go for an MBA and use that to gain overall understanding of business and to get a jump to a senior management position ( I am biased towards using my MBA to jump levels rather than start a career) . With this option i would be aiming something in top 15 schools and my stretch shots wud be kellog,stanford and realistic ones fuqua, booth, columbia,stern and safe bets in kelley,fischer and sloan(which might not be that safe)

How do you think , the specialist masters will be viewed while applying for MBA and also would the specialized masters be recognized back in india?

2)I apply for fall 2012 and aim to get into a school like Kelley,tuck or anderson ! Do you think the current profile would enable me to be competitive enough for that considering my GPA which might be a hampering factor or if i look for 2013, do you think one year can be used to strengthen the profile?

I personally want to have the experience of doing an MBA from a top15 school and thus i am biased towards option 1 to break into marketing and work another 3 years, build my profile and then apply for MBA !

Look forward to hear from you,

Much Regards,
Sohrab

dee650 wrote:Hi,

I am an Indian female interested in pursuing a Master's degree in Finance. I took the GMAT and got a disappointing score of 530 (Q 27, V 32). I am not sure of retaking the test as of now.
:

Hi Dee,

I see that you've done pretty well in your B.E. and your PGDM courses. Lemme guess...SP Jain or Welingkar?

Most second MBA applicants prefer applying to MBA brands that are much stronger than their first MBA brand. But after looking at your choice of schools, I'm curious to know, why you want to pursue a second MBA.

Also, considering your academic performance, I'm sure the GMAT score is an aberration. There's enough time to re-take the GMAT. So I'd also like to know why you do not want to take up that option.

If you don't want to share all the details on a public forum, drop me an email at the ID listed below.

priyasa wrote:Hi Sameer
It was really great talking to you the other day about GMAT and beyond. Thanks a lot for the help Sirjee.
I am retaking the GMAT on 22nd June 2011.

Thank You!
Pri

I'm glad you found the discussion useful, Pri.

We'll touch base again soon. Good luck with the GMAT.

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Hey Sameer

I am posting this here as you asked in your PM.

Yes you are right, we have spoken before (last year), I had even gotten the MCB report and the MCB comprehensive package for ISB. As you know, the result was not as I would have hoped. So am here again, I retook the GMAT last week and would appreciate a profile evaluation. To help you remember my profile:

Indian/Male/29 years
Undergrad: B.Tech in ECE from India (68%)

Masters: MS from US in Electrical Engineering (GPA: 3.72/4.0), Specialization was Satellite Communication, Worked as a Research Analyst and did a project for NASA (Masters Thesis topic as well), wrote and presented papers in conferences.

GMAT:
Attempt 1: 640 (Q47, V31) in August 2010, applied to 3 schools for their Round 2 deadline (LBS, Said and ISB) last year and got Dinged from all.
Attempt 2: 690 (Q50-93%, V34-68%) overall percentile 88%.

WE: 5+ years in Aerospace industry in US, designing GPS receivers for airplanes out of which around 3 years are of Technical Project Management. Have lead projects for major airplane manufacturers (Airbus, Boeing etc). No direct reportees but am responsible for projects (upto 10M $). Am also involved in bids and proposal work and have worked towards new business acquisition of approx 20-25M $ in sales (as a team member).

Post MBA goal Goal:
I want to get in Business development/marketing role in aerospace industry in europe/asia pacific. There is tremendous growth in Aerospace market in these regions.
On a longer term I want to grow in the Business Development role in these markets.

Extra Curr:
I stay in a small city in Mid-west where there is not much diversity around here. I have been working with the Diversity Employee network (Asian network) in a lead role (VP) and have organized cultural and business events to promote diversity in the company and in the community.
I also volunteer on and off in the community, one specific case was helping out local community during the Iowa Floods of 2008.
During Graduation, I worked with the Indian Student Association. Also volunteered on and off with the university to help out local community, one specific case was the recovery effort after major Florida hurricane in 2004.

I have a few specific questions:

1) How are my chances at INSEAD Jan 2012 intake in round 2 ?
My Verbal percentile is 68% while INSEAD's recommended percentile is 70% for both sections. Anyone knows are they little flexible here ?

2)How are my chances at LBS (re-applicant), Kellogg, ISB(re-applicant) and IMD (round 4 for Jan 2012 session)

3)What schools would you consider competitive, Reach and Stretch.

4) Will retaking the GMAT a third time help improve my chances at top 10-15 schools ? I am sure the short answer is yes but will 20-30 point increase make a huge difference?

Thanks in advance for your time.

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Linda Abraham talks about bschool selection, MBA essays, interviews

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mn2010 wrote:Yes you are right, we have spoken before (last year), I had even gotten the MCB report and the MCB comprehensive package for ISB. As you know, the result was not as I would have hoped. So am here again, I retook the GMAT last week and would appreciate a profile evaluation. To help you remember my profile:
:
:
Thanks in advance for your time.

Hey mn2010,

The pseudonym sounded familiar but I couldn't connect it to your real name till you mentioned about the MCB report (we call it MBA MAP now i.e. Mock Application Process - as that gives a better picture of what we do in it). I dug up your report to see last year's data to see refresh my memory.

In last year's MAP report, all the schools that you applied to (ISB, LBS, Oxford) came up in the Red (i.e. 2 were Ambitious and 1 was a Stretch). The primary reason being that the earlier GMAT score was 50+ points below the average for these schools. So we went into ISB knowing that 640 would be around 80 points below their average GMAT. And for that reason, I remember having suggested to keep 'your expectations moderated'.

But as you are looking at re-applying to ISB, I'm still curious to know if you got any feedback from them, beyond the obvious point of raising the GMAT?

Coming to the other aspects of your profile, in the MBA MAP report, 3 out of the 4 sections (your Qualifications, Professional Profile and your Soft Skills) got a thumbs up. The 'Strength of the Application' part was the weak link and we know why.

This year I'd still give the same ratings for the first 3 aspects. What's good is that your GMAT is 50 points higher than last year. Which means the Overall profile rating (in MBA MAP jargon) gets a fillip.

The challenge as I see it for your current set of schools:

- Despite a jump in the GMAT, it is still below the average for 4 out of the 5 schools you've listed. Not a complete deal-breaker, but like last year we are being over-dependent on the other components to pull up the profile.

- IMD would be worth a shot. I know someone who got into this year's batch with a score that was lower than your last score, and his application approach was unique. But I wouldn't recommend applying so late. Might be better to wait for the next season.

- If you think the MBA MAP process last year was useful (please let me know if you think otherwise) and painted an accurate picture of your profile and your chances at various schools, you could think about taking it up again to see what difference a 50-point jump in your GMAT score has made to your ratings for various schools.

It might give you more bschool options that aren't on your radar yet. We've had candidates take it up in subsequent years (with various degrees of improvement in their GMAT, work-ex etc) to get different outcomes. For you, I'm guessing the biggest change from last year is your GMAT.

Whether you decide to re-take the GMAT for a third time is your call. And though I'm personally not a big fan of the test, if you can manage a 20-30 point jump it eases off the pressure on the essays/recos.

Do you think that's a rational evaluation? Let me know your thoughts, buddy.

Hey Sameer

Thanks a lot for the evaluation. As always its pretty detailed and honest.
I have few more follow up questions and if you dont mind, I would prefer continuing over email.

Thanks a lot for your time.

mn2010 wrote:Hey Sameer

Thanks a lot for the evaluation. As always its pretty detailed and honest.
I have few more follow up questions and if you dont mind, I would prefer continuing over email.

Thanks a lot for your time.

Happy to continue the discussion offline, sir.

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To be frank, initially i thought the MCB report will just help me in school selection; however it turned out to be much more that. Apart from understanding the rationale behind the schools classification, Sameer gave me valuable advice on how to achieve clarity in your goals and rise beyond the cliches with respect to regular B school questions.

I now feel much more confident and self-aware. Last but not the least, Sameer's unflinching commitment to the value of this service is indeed commendable. So, if you really want an unbiased assessment and sound advice to kickstart your MBA application, Sameer is your man!"

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Hi,

I am interested in applying to these schools:

Johnson Cornell-Accelerated MBA
INSEAD-Singapore
Emory-Accelerated MBA
ISB-India
Kellogg-accelerated MBA (Dream school)

I have a GMAT score of 710 ( Q49,V38)

Work Exp:

7 yrs of work exp(as on June 2012) in telecom project management and telecom operations.Good professional achievements and good growth.
Presently working as Associate Manager-Service Delivery with top Indian telecom company.

1.6 yrs of part time entrepreneurial exp ( as on June 2012)at online marketing/PR company Bluebit Systems.Company Employee strength-8.
Handling marketing operations, which includes the marketing communications, campaign management, corporate and customer communications, corporate relations, market research and analysis.


Extra curricular:

Led several CSR campaigns.
Awarded certificate of honor for social initiatives by Co-Chairman.

Short term Goals:
To advance to senior management level position dealing with business development/International marketing for a high tech product/e-commerce company.

Long term goals: To run my own PR/Marketing/Branding company.

Academics:
Graduate Electronics & Telecom engineer -59% marks (don,t know how to convert to GPA)
I could not perform well in engineering.

Please advice how can I deal with it? I am an Indian and there are no such calculus, statistics and micro economics courses. Can you please advice me how to deal with low GPA.I got good score on GMAT but i don't think it will be sufficient.As I am applying for 1 Yr MBA I will have to face stiff competition.