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Please evaluate my profile for ISB India admission

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Please evaluate my profile for ISB India admission

by paramnu » Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:57 pm
Academics:
M.Tech in civil engineering from Indian Institute of Technology
B.Tech in civil Engineering from top tier college in India. I was the university gold medalist.
In 10th standard I was state rank holder. (top 6 out of over 1 million students appeared for the exam)

Work Experience:
Total 6+ years of experience in Finance ( trading and risk management)
Title: Director for Trading
a)3+ years with a proprietary trading company
b) 3+ years with another proprietary trading company, where I am the director for trading operations.I lead the whole team the company has now. Also I am a partner at this firm.
c) Responsible for setting up this company's Indian operations. Started with 1 person and developed it to 40+ work force company now.
d) Responsible for starting 2 offices across India.

Extra curricular: Have many extra curricular activities for example
1. Student post graduate committee member
2. Student Senate member
3. Senate election committee member


GMAT score: yet to take the test. Thinking I might score anywhere between 650 to 720, given my work pressure and time constraints.
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by MBACrystalBall » Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:10 pm
And what's your post-MBA plan, sirji?
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by paramnu » Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:32 pm
Main reasons for considering an MBA at this stage are, some personal and some professional. I am listing few here.

1. Scaling up of this business becomes very difficult from this stage as risk vs return increases like anything thus hampering the very existence of the company.
2. Considering the costs to company,risk and profitability this line of profile will be saturated probably after few years down the line. I am betting that it would happen in another 5 years.
3. Since out of college I have been in the same part(trading) of the finance field. Want to explore different parts of the finance field like merger's & acquisitions, Private equity etc.
4. Though I developed a 40 member team, I still feel I miss few things to run a company properly.
5. I think an MBA degree will open gates to explore different areas, fine tune my skills etc.
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by MBACrystalBall » Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:59 am
Point number 3 is the key one. And it'll raise a few additional queries that you should be prepared to answer:

- In the last 6 years in a trading setup, what skills and capabilities have you developed that'll help you move into M&A or Private Equity?

- Will you let go of a lucrative partnership position at your current firm to start at a junior level in a completely different role?

- Your undergrad and masters degrees are both in Civil Engineering. Why did you discard 6(?) years of professional education to move into an unrelated field?

If you are targetting a quant focussed career, see if you can squeeze out some more time for the GMAT.

ISB deadline is less than a month away, so you'll need to start on the apps early. Applying early does increase the odds of getting an admit (and MBA scholarships too). With your professional workload, don't leave it till the last day.

Good luck, buddy.
Last edited by MBACrystalBall on Wed May 13, 2015 2:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
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by paramnu » Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:31 am
Sorry! I might have sounded that I am gonna apply this year but actually I am planning to apply next year :-) I hardly get anytime except weekends to study for GMAT and also the family life creeps in...can't avoid! I am a married man!

Regarding the questions you raised, not much of M&A but acquired fair knowledge in private equity & VC. In fact we manage an investment of a foreign HNI, It hurts sometimes to give away all the profit(often 50% to 100% return :P) and taking mere fees ;-)

The most important part is, why did i give away my 6 years of professional studies to enter into an unrelated field. I am gonna be frank in giving my reasons and I really don't know whether to put those reasons in front of the admission committee. Sometimes if I look back, I laugh at myself! :P sometimes these reasons might sound silly too! ;-)

Reasons being
I come from rural, poor financial background, dint have much of the guidance etc. I studied just because I had to get some education! Luck had its share in my life so got good marks in 10th standard and was on scholarship for 2 years..then got into good engineering school and the fees was mere 5K Rs/year so I joined there, din't even know that the IIT's existed till then...people spoke a lot about studying at IIT's so went there after graduation for PG and the scholarship was also attractive too! Luck again played some role during graduation! I was a gold medalist at the university!

After entering into IIT, my mind opened to the whole new world, I had all facilities to thrive. I was part of business club etc. apart from other extra curricular activities. I realized a lot about myself! When the time for placements came, I had few core field offer's in my mind including this, a bit high paying finance(trading)job. Finally I took up this finance job out of liking for money(obvious) and finance! Those were the days when Lehman brother's etc was considered like a God owned company! I hope, I don't have to mention what happened in the following years! :P

After I took up the job, I was never able to come out of that addiction towards my job...always tried to excel in that..

How does this kind of reason sound to the admission committee? This is the truth! Ha Ha
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by MBACrystalBall » Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:30 am
paramnu wrote:Sorry! I might have sounded that I am gonna apply this year but actually I am planning to apply next year :-)

More than enough time for GMAT prep then.
paramnu wrote:Regarding the questions you raised, not much of M&A but acquired fair knowledge in private equity & VC. In fact we manage an investment of a foreign HNI, It hurts sometimes to give away all the profit(often 50% to 100% return :P) and taking mere fees ;-)
Getting emotionally attached to wealth that was never yours to begin with. Professional hazards? Or pure moh-maaya at work!
paramnu wrote:The most important part is, why did i give away my 6 years of professional studies to enter into an unrelated field. I am gonna be frank in giving my reasons and I really don't know whether to put those reasons in front of the admission committee...

The IT industry in India has been sucking talent from a whole lot of u related streams. Nobody has had a problem with it so far.

As long as you got pulled into a field that you enjoyed (and seems like you are, with the exception of periods when you have to return the profits), you are doing fine.
paramnu wrote:After I took up the job, I was never able to come out of that addiction towards my job...always tried to excel in that..
I'm glad you ended that with 'addiction to the job' rather than 'addiction to the money'. So I'm guessing there were many facets of the job that you like.

With a year to go, you have plenty of time to figure out the other aspects of the application process.

Good luck, bro.
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by paramnu » Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:58 pm
Thank you very much bro. Your views are very helpful.
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