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HBS 2+2 how should I approach and profile evaluation.

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HBS 2+2 how should I approach and profile evaluation.

by himanshuag » Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:36 am
I am an engineering student, in my final year of engineering from a top indian engineering college and I just got rejected, as per the final results, from ISB YLP, and now I am planning to prepare my application for the HBS 2+2. The following is my profile:

1. Chemical Engineering student from a Top ranked indian engineering college, ranked among top 10 students.
2. 760 in GMAT.
3. Worked on 2 projects in my college, first one aimed at developing a fuel efficient prototype vehicle, and i am currently working on the second one that aims to improve efficiency of solar power production.
4. Founder member and currently the convener of the green society of my college.
5. Student coordinator of my college, for the innovation readiness program being held in collaboration with the university of austin texas.
6. I have a strong penchant for the field of renewable energy and it is supported by the projects i have done till now.

I want to know firstly where does my profile stand for the HBS 2+2 program, and secondly how should I approach the application.

Himanshu Agarwal
Last edited by himanshuag on Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by essaysnark » Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:22 am
Hi himanshuag -- it looks like you have a strong profile that could be positioned well for 2+2! You probably already know that those accepted to this program have super-high test scores and academics. It looks like you will be competitive in those areas. And, the fact that you have examples of leadership and impact that you can point to, such as founding the green society, is really really important in order to have a real chance at HBS. Have you traveled overseas before - did you go to Texas as part of your innovation program? Any international experience and also additional language skills will be useful in order to differentiate yourself further.

The good news is that - we're pretty sure that 2+2 gets proportionally fewer Indian applicants than the other top schools - not 100% positive about this, but our guess is that not as many Indian university students even know about 2+2, compared to the standard pool of bschool applicants. This may be changing. But, you will be at an advantage today, compared to what you would face in a few years if applying through the "standard" HBS cycle.

The most important thing for ANYONE to be highlighting in an application to HBS is leadership. You'll want to find ways to emphasize how you've made a difference in the specific contexts and communities of which you've been a part. It will be especially helpful for you to have internship experiences to talk about - in fact, it's more important for you to get at least one letter of recommendation from a work context if you can. You wouldn't want all of your recommendations to be from professors or academic advisors (it's OK for a 2+2 candidate to have one rec from a prof -- generally bschool candidates should avoid getting academic recs but you're obviously in a different situation since your most recent experience is in school).

Just like with any other candidate for bschool, you'll want to put some thought into your career goals and your reasons behind wanting an MBA. This needs to be at the core of your application strategy. The more specific you can be with this, the better!

Also in case you are open to suggestions, you might want to consider similar programs such as the Silver Scholars program at Yale https://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/appl ... iors.shtml , or the Young Talent Program at IESE https://www.iese.edu/en/MBAPrograms/unde ... e/home.asp

It's great that you're starting early - you should try to get your application in for Round 2 for HBS (January) though they may defer a final decision until you have your grades in the Spring.

Best of luck, let us know if we can help further!
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Request for Profile evaluation for HBS 2+2

by srishtishaw » Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:33 am
Hi,

I am an engineering student from India (among the top 10 for sure). I am thinking of applying for HBS 2+2 in round 2 . Here is my profile:

1) Among the top 10% of the class(top among the females students)
2) Gre score-1400(600(VA) +800(QA))
3) Among the six students from India, selected for summer internship programme in Brazil, under the Indo-Brazil Cooperation Programme, sponsored by DST,
4) Have 6 research publications till now -all international (1 in a business journal, rest as book chapters or conference publications)
5)Concluded about 3 research projects - 1 in Brazil on Cognitive Radio Networks , 1 project concluded and another started at Indian Institute of Management,Calcutta, 2 projects in my home univ.
6)Served as Events manager in University Photographic Cub,
7) Chief organizer and student leader of Departmental Farewell and Reunion '12
8) Since its 2+2-i also mentioned in my application about my recruitment in Research Innovation Lab, Tata Consultancy Services

Can you please comment on my standing ? With this profile, will it be prudent to apply for Yale Silver Scholars Program, Stanford GSB(I will request 2 yrs deferral) or MIT Sloain

Thank you,

Srishti Shaw
Last edited by srishtishaw on Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by throughmba » Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:17 am
himanshuag wrote:I am an engineering student, in my final year of engineering from a top indian engineering college and I just got rejected, as per the final results, from ISB YLP, and now I am planning to prepare my application for the HBS 2+2. The following is my profile:

1. Chemical Engineering student from a Top ranked indian engineering college, ranked among top 10 students.
2. 760 in GMAT.
3. Worked on 2 projects in my college, first one aimed at developing a fuel efficient prototype vehicle, and i am currently working on the second one that aims to improve efficiency of solar power production.
4. Founder member and currently the convener of the green society of my college.
5. Student coordinator of my college, for the innovation readiness program being held in collaboration with the university of austin texas.
6. I have a strong penchant for the field of renewable energy and it is supported by the projects i have done till now.

I want to know firstly where does my profile stand for the HBS 2+2 program, and secondly how should I approach the application.

Himanshu Agarwal
Hi Himanshu

You are very well poised for the program.

I am surprised to see the ding. It has a lot to do what you wrote in your essays.

I would like to analyse your profile a bit more thoroughly. Send us a mail.
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by essaysnark » Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:45 am
And now for an attempt to actually answer the question that was posed...

Srishti, you do have a strong profile in general, however your verbal GRE, as you probably know, is quite low. HBS gets a lot of applicants from engineering backgrounds. One way for you to stand out among the crowded pool of candidates is to have a more balanced score. You might consider retaking the GRE (or maybe even trying for the GMAT, if you're serious about business school) and focusing on the verbal side. You obviously are very strong with quant, so that's great! They like to see skills in both dimensions however. The average verbal GRE for the most recent 2+2 class is 662, and you're way below that, so this is an area you might consider boosting.

HBS 2+2 is the most competitive of the schools you've named (well, Stanford is pretty darn competitive too of course!!). If someone has a profile that qualifies for 2+2 then we typically feel confident about their chances at YSS or other schools. If you're open to a European education, you might want to look at IESE Young Talent Program as well. It's structured a little more like YSS; they look for similar candidates yet they're a little more flexible in terms of profile etc.

MIT does get a lot of interest from engineering candidates and so your profile will likely make sense to them. They also would appreciate seeing an application from a female engineer (MIT has fewer women than some schools, partly because of the perception that they are a math/science school, and so they are always interested in strong female candidates). It's pretty unusual to get accepted to one of these schools straight out of college however; they all like to see some work experience first. That's why the 2+2 et al programs were developed. If you can show a lot of leadership experience from your time in school then maybe you will be seen favorably at MIT -- but ideally, you'd have internships and other career/professional experiences to present in your apps as well. We're not sure what the Brazil experience was - were you working at a company there this past summer? If so then that would be great. The fact that you were one of six chosen is actually less important than what you specifically DID during the internship. You'd want to find ways to talk about your actual contributions and accomplishments and what projects you were on etc., in terms of how you added value during your time there. If the Tata Consultancy thing is another work internship, then it's even better - you'd have two separate experiences to present.

So the basics of your profile look very promising. It's great to see that you've had so much success already! For you, as with everyone, it will come down to strong essays that highlight your achievements and show how you are ahead of your peers (not just academically but also in terms of work experience and impact etc.).

Hope this helps - let us know if you have other questions we can address for you - and good luck as you begin the application process!!
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by srishtishaw » Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:14 am
Thank you so much EssaySnark for the reply and suggestions. In Brazil, I did a summer research internship at Federal University of Parana (oldest & one of the best universities of Brazil). In Tata Consultancy Services, I got recruited as a Full time engineer and Research Associate, so its actually not an internship.

Do you mind, if I send you my application essays? If yes where should I post it?

I would be really indebted if you could give some comments on the essays.

Also, how competitive is the IESE Young Talent Program?

Thank you once again[/list][/quote]
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by throughmba » Mon Oct 31, 2011 4:07 am
srishtishaw wrote:Hi,

I am an engineering student from India (among the top 10 for sure). I am thinking of applying for HBS 2+2 in round 2 . Here is my profile:

1) Among the top 10% of the class(top among the females students)
2) Gre score-1400(600(VA) +800(QA))
3) Among the six students from India, selected for summer internship programme in Brazil, under the Indo-Brazil Cooperation Programme, sponsored by DST,
4) Have 6 research publications till now -all international (1 in a business journal, rest as book chapters or conference publications)
5)Concluded about 3 research projects - 1 in Brazil on Cognitive Radio Networks , 1 project concluded and another started at Indian Institute of Management,Calcutta, 2 projects in my home univ.
6)Served as Events manager in University Photographic Cub,
7) Chief organizer and student leader of Departmental Farewell and Reunion '12
8) Since its 2+2-i also mentioned in my application about my recruitment in Research Innovation Lab, Tata Consultancy Services

Can you please comment on my standing ? With this profile, will it be prudent to apply for Yale Silver Scholars Program, Stanford GSB(I will request 2 yrs deferral) or MIT Sloain

Thank you,

Srishti Shaw
srishtishaw wrote:Hi,

I am an engineering student from India (among the top 10 for sure). I am thinking of applying for HBS 2+2 in round 2 . Here is my profile:

1) Among the top 10% of the class(top among the females students)
2) Gre score-1400(600(VA) +800(QA))
3) Among the six students from India, selected for summer internship programme in Brazil, under the Indo-Brazil Cooperation Programme, sponsored by DST,
4) Have 6 research publications till now -all international (1 in a business journal, rest as book chapters or conference publications)
5)Concluded about 3 research projects - 1 in Brazil on Cognitive Radio Networks , 1 project concluded and another started at Indian Institute of Management,Calcutta, 2 projects in my home univ.
6)Served as Events manager in University Photographic Cub,
7) Chief organizer and student leader of Departmental Farewell and Reunion '12
8) Since its 2+2-i also mentioned in my application about my recruitment in Research Innovation Lab, Tata Consultancy Services

Can you please comment on my standing ? With this profile, will it be prudent to apply for Yale Silver Scholars Program, Stanford GSB(I will request 2 yrs deferral) or MIT Sloain

Thank you,

Srishti Shaw
Hi Srishti

Prima facie, you definitely seem to have the X factor. HBS wants to have a bunch of people who are impressive in more than one line of activities. You need to show some kind of formal leadership and if they involve the applicant actually having significant impact, making a difficult decision, being a visionary, showing creativity, or otherwise going beyond their formal responsibility, but the same is true for those showing leadership without having a formal title.The EC's will be sourcing this part of the story. Your profile can be diagnosed to have such points.

Though the GRE score of Verbal is within the limits(The website says the range is 570-800.) it is on the lower side. You need to makeup on other accounts.

The most important thing here for your profile is not to compete with others but rather create a niche for yourself.
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by essaysnark » Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:22 am
srishtishaw wrote:Thank you so much EssaySnark for the reply and suggestions. In Brazil, I did a summer research internship at Federal University of Parana (oldest & one of the best universities of Brazil). In Tata Consultancy Services, I got recruited as a Full time engineer and Research Associate, so its actually not an internship.

Do you mind, if I send you my application essays? If yes where should I post it?

I would be really indebted if you could give some comments on the essays.

Also, how competitive is the IESE Young Talent Program?

Thank you once again
Hi Srishti--

You (and anyone else who's interested) can send essays to us for review at essaysnark (at) gmail.com. If we decide to post one on our blog, any personally identifying information will be stripped out. It's an anonymous, but still public, review -- the best part of course is that it's completely free! This is an example of how it works: https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/09/ ... -time.html (We offer paid, private reviews too of course, for those interested in more comprehensive feedback delivered confidentially.)

IESE YTP is a competitive program but not nearly so much as HBS 2+2. We've seen people get into YTP without getting an offer at 2+2 but rarely the other way around (in other words, it's unlikely you'd get into 2+2 and not get into YTP). We think it's probably a little less competitive than Yale Silver Scholars too though that's more of a guess on our part.

The biggest concern we have about your profile (besides the verbal score which we already discussed and which we assume you'll be taking care of) is that you don't seem to have standard work experience. A research position in a good overseas university is just not the same thing as working in the "real world" (not trying to put down your great education and academic achievements!! you do have a lot going for you -- but the bschools are interested in professional development, too). So, that is one area you may want to focus on in the near term, maybe with the Tata role? The fact that you took that internship in Brazil is a positive but we'd be more comfortable if you had some traditional work experience in your profile, which it looks like maybe you do not.

Let us know if you have further questions, Srishti, and maybe we'll get an essay or two from you. :-)
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by himanshuag » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:32 am
Wow! just logged in and saw so much of activity on this post, well thank you everyone for the replies, one question from my side also, do I need to hit the topic of which industry I want to enter in my essays? because personally i have a lot in my mind right now and pointing out to one direction may just weaken my stance in interviews...
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by essaysnark » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:44 am
himanshuag wrote:Wow! just logged in and saw so much of activity on this post, well thank you everyone for the replies, one question from my side also, do I need to hit the topic of which industry I want to enter in my essays? because personally i have a lot in my mind right now and pointing out to one direction may just weaken my stance in interviews...
Hi himanshuag--

Actually yes, it's strongly recommended that you nail down your career goals (or at a minimum the industry you want to work in) as part of your application to bschool, 2+2 or otherwise. While you have lots of room ahead of you to figure out exactly what you want to do, if you're applying for a top MBA program, the adcom will want to know why you think you need an MBA in order to be successful in your career... and thus, you need to tell them what your career plans are!

Here's an article we wrote about this last year that may help: https://essaysnark.blocked/2010/10/ ... -know.html

HBS specifically asks applicants to tell them why they want an MBA; if you don't have your career goals mapped out, that essay can be pretty tricky to write!

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by throughmba » Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:34 pm
himanshuag wrote:Wow! just logged in and saw so much of activity on this post, well thank you everyone for the replies, one question from my side also, do I need to hit the topic of which industry I want to enter in my essays? because personally i have a lot in my mind right now and pointing out to one direction may just weaken my stance in interviews...
Saying that you want to see the pebbles and then fire will make it more weak than if you say you have your own stone in hand and you know the aim.

Post MBA goal is very important for AdCom. They have the recruiters, the profile and the balance of the class in mind.

Apart from the why MBA essay, the goal describes a lot about you.

"¢ Past - What experiences have led you to this point and this ambition?
"¢ Present - Why an MBA now, at this point in your career?
"¢ Future - What do you want to do with your degree, in the short and long term?

It also speaks about
"¢ Likelihood of Future Success
"¢ Why you value it and what it says about you
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by ankitagrawal079 » Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:45 am
Hi everyone,

I'll graduate with a commerce degree from one of the best colleges of India(Top 10). GMAT is 700(50q,34v). Marks scored-60%...I dont know the conversion to GPA system.

Here are my extra co-curriculars:

1. Co-Founded the Parliamentary Debating Society at college
2. Co-Started the departmental fest
3. Co-Started the departmental magazine...have interviewed a minister of state(for the magazine)...currently senior editor and team leader(of 8 people)
4. Active member of the wildlife society and the entrepreneurship cell of college
5. Co-founded a social networking website which recorded 1.5 million clicks in 8 months(current valuation is fair for a start up)
6. cleared the IPCC exam (the intermediate level exams of the chartered accountancy course)...it has a pass percentage of around 20%....my marks may be in the 90-95 percentile bracket...
7. Work at NGO - 2 years(but very insignificant)

I wish to apply to HBS 2+2...What are my chances?? and what should i do to make them good?? I am low on GMAT and GPA as well...
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by essaysnark » Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:48 am
Hey ankitagrawal079 -- great profile! Yes, you're right that your verbal GMAT and GPA both look low compared to the standard class of 2+2 students... BUT your leadership resume looks pretty phenomenal!! All those different experiences with founding stuff and leading stuff can make a BIG difference at any school, but particularly it's what HBS looks for in its 2+2 candidates. This is how you stand out from the crowd.

You should work really really hard to get your grades up for the rest of your coursework and you should definitely go for the 2+2 application! You're very strong on the quant side, which is most important, but the verbal side could use more work. You maybe don't need to retake the GMAT for it (though it wouldn't hurt). Most important will be in presenting a clear vision for your future and explaining how an MBA from Harvard fits in.

We're feeling pretty confident about this though - you have a lot to offer based on what you've done in the past, and it's very important to demonstrate that type of go-get-'em-ness at Harvard, which you clearly have. So, you should go for it!!

Let us know if you have other questions or if we can help out in other ways (and be sure to keep tabs on the EssaySnark blahg - we just did a post on 2+2 yesterday: https://essaysnark.blocked/2012/01/ ... which.html )

Best of luck!!!
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