Please - show me the way in

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Please - show me the way in

by sandeepdeb » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:00 am
Hi Stacy/Lisa
Can you please review my profile and advice me on my plans for MBA program? I am looking for admission in 2009 and in one of the top 20 colleges worldwide. I do not have any location preference and any good school will do. I am looking for a career in finance.
My details are

GPA:-
I did my graduation in Electronics and Communication Engineering from one of the top colleges in India. My overall percentage was 77. My initial results in the college were not great but I worked on that and ultimately passed with distinction. Distinction in our college simply means overall percentage should be greater than or equal to 75 with no retake on any of the papers. We do not have a GPA system but I think it should be somewhere around 3.4 to 3.5. I was within top 15 in a class of 70 people.

GMAT:-
My GMAT result was a far cry from what I had expected. I was expecting somewhere around 720 but stopped at 680 (Q48 88 Percentile V36 80 Percentile). I am yet to receive my scores on AWA. I expect somewhere around 4.5 – 5 in that. I am not sure whether I should go in for a retake as I have time before I start my application process (may be one more month of preparation and then give it a second shot).

Resume:-
I have worked in two companies with a total experience of 6 years (it will be 7 years by the time I join a college in 2009 - if ever I be able to join :-D).
I have worked 3 years in CSC (a US based IT services MNC – most probably you have heard of it) – going on to become a module lead. I worked in a health insurance software package – development and maintenance. I was in charge of 4-5 people in that company.
I switched to Franklin Templeton Investments after that wherein I am still working. In fact, it was here where I started thinking about MBA seriously. Being an Investment Management company, Franklin devotes more time in improving the functional knowledge of the employees. And right now, I ma fascinated by this whole investment management thing. I came across guys – from security analysts to portfolio managers and all of them said that the best possible way to switch career is to go for an MBA from some reputed college. Right now I am working in a portfolio management software package. I work in the position of a technical lead managing 3 people in my team. And I am one of the youngest team leads of the company.

Extracurricular Involvements:-I have been involved with child education from my first company. I worked as an educational instructor for an NGO for orphan children. I have worked with children who have been abandoned by their parents or who have gone through serious traumatic experience in their life.
In addition to that, I love playing table tennis and have gone on to play finals and semifinals in many tournaments – though I have never won one.

Awards, patents, publications, etc...My accomplishments in CSC include some “star of the month” awards and an “employee of the quarter” award. The “employee of the quarter” award was important since it is given to only 2-3 people in the whole organization of 2000 employees every quarter. I have completed a certification from American Healthcare Management Association (AHM) under which I am a certified Professional from AHM (the certification is called PAHM).
While in Franklin Templeton, I have cleared an exam on Derivatives from NSE (that is similar to SEC in USA). I have also undergone many trainings on various other fields in investment managements like Hedge Funds Managements, Capital Markets Analysis, Credit Default Swap etc.

Recommendations:-I do not know what a strong recommendation is. However, I have talked to my manager and he agreed to help me on that. I have also talked to my group leader and he has also promised to help me. My group leader was economics professor in a USA college before he joined Franklin. I have also talked to my previous group leader and he is also ready to help me. However, he has left our team now and is leading the Risk Analysis team in Franklin. Do you think recommendation from these three guys will be sufficient (or so as to say – would be strong enough recommendations for the colleges)?

I believe that is all that I can remember of me as of now. The idea of writing about my own accomplishments beats me and I think that would be my first of the major problems while applying for a MBA to a graduate school. However, I would like to get a frank evaluation of my profile as to where I stand. I know there are a whole people out there who are much smarter than me. And my profile is so typical of regular IT guy in India that I will be hard pressed to prove myself unique. But I would like to aim for some good schools like Tuck, Fuqua, LBS, INSEAD, IMD or HAAS (I was even thinking of Wharton/HBS/MIT but my GMAT score brought me back to ground). Can you please tell me what are my chances to get into any of these schools mentioned?
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by Lisa Anderson » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:22 am
Dear sandeepdeb:

Even with your 680 (which is a good score, by the way), you are still a competitive candidate for many great MBA programs in the US with exceptional finance programs. If you really want to strengthen your application for a top 20 MBA program, you will need to retake the GMAT and get over a 720. However, you also need to find a way to distinguish yourself from similar applicants for each school you apply to as the GMAT alone will not gain you admission.

You are correct that your profile (male, from India, computer engineer, work experience in IT) is one of the most common and thus it is hard to distinguish yourself. One suggestion I have for you is to leverage your industry experience in healthcare and investment management and highlight your transferable skills. The best thing you can do to help your application is to spend a lot of time and effort making your resume more business-oriented and less technical. Likewise, be sure to emphasize your soft skills in your essays--managing people, leadership, teamwork, communication skills, etc.---and ask your recommenders to emphasize the same in their letters.

Best of luck,
Lisa
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Thanks Lisa

by sandeepdeb » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:44 am
Thanks Lisa for the insight. I think I will take the GMAT again and then think about the application process.

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by sandeepdeb » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:51 am
Hi Lisa

Today, I received my AWA scores. I got 6 in the AWA. Do you think this would help me in any significant way or the business schools hardly look into this score?

Also, can you tell me whether the list of the schools that I mentioned in my first post are good in finance or I need to select some other schools for that. By the way, I forgot to mention NYU Stern in the list.

Sandeep

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by Lisa Anderson » Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:07 pm
Dear Sandeep:

The AWA does not impact your GMAT score, so it is used inconsistently by admissions committees. Some schools will read your essays and use the score in the evaluation and others do not really look at it if your AWA score is at a 5 or higher. It will only ever hurt you if the score is low or if the writing style on the AWA does not match the writing style of your essays, which would indicate either you did not write your essays or someone took the GMAT for you.

All of the schools are good programs and should give you a foundation in finance. Some are more known for finance than others, but all MBA programs place a large number of students in finance-related jobs every year. You should do some more research on each school's placement to determine if graduates are getting jobs in the industry you seek post-MBA.

Good luck,
Lisa
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