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Getting into a B School without experience

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Getting into a B School without experience

by greatest » Sat Apr 13, 2013 5:41 am
Though this may sound a bit lame for you all,I just want to know whether is it possible to get into a B-School like ISB with a degree like Chartered Accountancy in hand and 3.5 years of Internship.
Coming to the in-depth story,I am a CA student in India from Science Background(In my first year)who slowly started looking at the books of GMAT(Manhattan). My question is ..Is it required to have "extra-ordinary" extra curricular activities or GPA/Academic Profile ? Or is there anything which can make it possible?
Well for the ones who are experts I assume this may sound a bit juvenile,but I am in a need of a straight forward and a concise answer..
I am even ready to provide a few additional details.
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by essaysnark » Mon Apr 15, 2013 6:57 am
Hi greatest - not a 'juvenile' question at all! A rather important one, actually.

ISB has a mandatory 2 years minimum work experience requirement. Not sure what your 'internship' thing is but if that doesn't qualify as full-time post-college work experience, then that could be a sticking point to start.

As you know, the ISB is incredibly competitive for Indian candidates, and you'll need to have something in your profile that shows how you are an overachiever and ahead of your peers. It doesn't have to be in the form of extracurriculars, though that often helps to show the adcom that you're well-rounded and motivated. Generally the ISB does need to see strong academics, though again, they're flexible when someone has enough going on in the rest of the profile.

So the short answer is, "it depends" - they look at everything. There's nothing about the CA background that is disqualifying you. What matters is what you've been doing with your life/career and how you present that to them in the essays and interview.

And oh yeah, a high GMAT definitely helps!!

Good luck with the adventure - applying to bschool has plenty of ups and downs but you've come to the right place in getting support and answers!!!

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by digvijayk » Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:05 pm
Concise and straightforward :
1. Score 720 or higher on the GMAT.
2. Scrutinize your profile for things that showcase qualities(in essays/interactions/interviews) you want to convey (e.g. your taking charge of a tough situation and turning things around-> leadership and problem-solving skills), etc.
3. Forget about the competition and focus on 1 and 2.
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by greatest » Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:33 am
One of my friends said me that his mate entered University of Chicago booth school of business with an extra-ordinary GPA,GMAT and 3 year internship at Ernst and Young(A BIG4).
The 3 year internship is full time and complete dedication is needed.
Did it add weightage to the resume and make career goals more realistic?
Or will anyone has to pursue a course like CFA if he is serious about his career in core finance?
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by essaysnark » Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:44 am
It's a little tough to understand what you're asking, greatest, based on the not-greatest grammar. :-) But we'll try to answer.

There's no such thing as a 3-year full-time "internship"; that's a regular full-time job and will be counted as post-college work experience by the bschool adcoms. That's perfectly fine for applying to any of the top schools. The average at most schools is 5 years of experience but this is completely in range. Whether it makes the career goals "more realistic" depends completely on what those goals are; that question cannot be answered in a vacuum.

A CFA is not required to pursue a career in finance. It can help, particularly if someone is trying to break in from outside. But it's not necessary. It partly depends on what type of finance, in terms of the value it can add. We would not recommend delaying a bschool application in order to pursue the CFA; the MBA typically is a better accelerator.

We have a series of posts about the MBA and the CFA on the EssaySnark blahg, starting here (apologies to link to posts that are behind the paywall but if you're interested then they might be helpful - we have a lot of stuff available on the site for free, too).

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by greatest » Sat Sep 07, 2013 4:22 am
Hey Essaysnark,
Thanks buddy for answering my questions.
What is your opinion on M.Fin Program in MIT?
I'm not actually comparing it with an MBA,but I just want to know if I could land onto the positions like Associate,Manager etc.
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by essaysnark » Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:53 am
greatest wrote:Hey Essaysnark,
Thanks buddy for answering my questions.
What is your opinion on M.Fin Program in MIT?
I'm not actually comparing it with an MBA,but I just want to know if I could land onto the positions like Associate,Manager etc.
@greatest, those are very vague job titles. MFin is typically geared for the quant types who go into finance roles. Your accounting background implies that you've got the skills for it but it's a specific career path. MIT's MFin is also designed for early career professionals; if you've been working for 3 years already then you'd be starting to push the boundaries of that.

What exactly are you interested in doing with your career?

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by greatest » Sat Sep 07, 2013 9:13 am
Finance undoubtedly is my primary choice in career. I chose chartered accountancy for its broad curriculum(has Accountancy, Finance, Taxation, Audit, Cost Accounting etc. in its syllabus).
Those 3 years though full time is more an Internship than Employment.
If you have knowledge about companies like Deloitte , Ernst&Young, KPMG, Price Water House Coopers(PWC),Grant Thorton then you can have a clearcut picture of my internship/articleship.
And Indian Chartered Accountancy is equivalent to CPA in US(I hope you can understand what I'm actually doing now).
I will be doing my internship along with my bachelors and not after it.(the reality is that I hardly get time to attend my college and sit at my office for the whole day(10AM to 6 PM), except for the exams(As all my bachelor degree(B.com) syllabus will be covered in first year of my CA.)
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