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Hi,

I am looking at applying to the top B Schools this year for the 2012 intake. I would really appreciate if you could evaluate my profile and give me a candid feedback.

My profile is as follows :
Country : India
Degree : Bachelor of Engineering (B.E)
Branch : Information Technology
GPA : 4.0 (1st rank in College)
University : Pune University (Not an IIT or an NIT)
University Rank Holder (10th in Pune University which has over 2500 students in the branch)

Work Experience :
1)Company : Sungard Global Services
Designation : Software Engineer working on Mainframe Technologies. Work heavily revolved around Finance. Completed a Level-4 certification by the National Stock Exchange(INDIA) covering all aspects of finance (10 individual certifications).
Duration : 15 months (July 2009 to Sept 2010)

2)Non Governmental Organisation (Non-Profit)
Designation : Founder and Managing Director.
NGO primarily deals with education for underprivileged children.
Managing a team of over 20 people and looking after various verticals such as Education, PR, Branding, Finance, Advertising etc. Also taking care of day to day operations of the NGO.
Duration : 8 months (Jan 2011 - Present)

3) Founder of an Interior and Export Consulting firm.
Company is a sole proprietorship. Since I am not drawing any salary as MD of the NGO, I am running this business for financial sustainability.
Duration: 11 months (Oct 2010 - Present)


Total Experience : Jul 2009 - Present
Most colleges start in September 2012, so by that time my total experience will be 3 years and 2 months. (38months )

GMAT Score : 710 (Second attempt)

Can you please evaluation my profile and give me an honest opinion. I am looking at good B Schools and I am more interested in majoring in Entrepreneurship or Marketing.
I few schools i am looking at are
1. NUS/Nanyang (My safe bets)
2. Yale
3. Babson
4. ISB
5. Columbia Business
6. Carnegie Mellon
Could you please let me know whether i realistically have a chance at these schools. Also, which other good B schools can i target ? (Any Ivey League college ?)


Thank You.

Hi Nikhil,

Your undergrad rank and acads will help. Your extra curriculars are also good and will help you compensate for your IT experience.

The schools which you have chosen look balanced and we feel that you have decent expect Columbia. Columbia is a top finance school and your story might not fit in which what Columbia wants. Your avg GMAT score will also not help there.

Other choices are good.

Hope this helps

Apphelp Team

Hi nikhilsareen24,

As far as acads are concerned, your undergrad univ brand name and GMAT score is average. But your undergrad GPA steals the show so you have nothing to worry about here.

Your work experience is unique and I'm sure there are interesting stories to tell there. They will also form a basis of your entrepreneurial aspiration as you have some meat to show.

The only concern that may arise is your low work ex. Count the work ex only till the time you apply. That is less than 3 years and qualitatively you write about the experiences till that point only, right?

So now everything boils down to quality which you'll have to show through your experience. As part of your venture, what decisions did you make? Did you hire people? How did you get your first customer? How did you build a team? How will you make the model sustainable and scalable? These are some random questions that will urge to fish interesting stories from your background and make your application stand out. We can help you do that as part of our brainstorming process.

Anyway, coming to your school list. It seems this list is made not out of choice, but in the order of ease of getting in. Babson, ISB, NUS and CMU are wise choices. Why did you pick Yale and Columbia? What exactly are your career aspirations? If you are looking at Marketing, why not Kellogg.. keep it as your stretch.

I pretty much agree with the rest of the admissions consultants. Your goals will dictate to a large extent other schools you wish to add. Do you want to stay in non-profit or entrepreneurship or combine the two into social entrepreneurship?

Thank you so much to everyone for all the detailed responses. It really presents a much clearer picture. Well, as far as your question about whether it is Entrepreneurship, Non-Profit or Social Entrepreneurship, here is my preference :

I believe Entrepreneurship tops the list for me. I have always wanted to start my own venture and the primary reason i want to do an MBA is to be in a strong position to start my venture as soon as possible. As far as Non-Profit goes, my NGO is like a baby to me. From the last 1 year i have been involved in each and every decision, from deciding the name to doing the last fundraiser. I will always be on the board of this NGO even after i move out of India. I have a few ideas pertaining to Social Entrepreneurship, and I believe that i will go ahead and give a shot at them at a later point of time in life.

So, as i said earlier i believe Entrepreneurship will be my first choice for an MBA, followed by Marketing. I need an honest opinion about Babson. They seem to have quite an interesting program & also the method of teaching seems to be quite in line with what i am looking at.

What are my chances at Babson ? How difficult will it be for me to get into Babson ?
Also, now that i have told you my preferences, any other schools that you would suggest ?

Hi Nikhil

If you are aiming for top schools a score above 700 would be advisable. In general most of the Indian applicants are from engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. So you would need to differentiate yourself from others. Start thinking what makes you unique and what's that 'hook' that will be key to your application. For example your course is quite different.

Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc. So you need to ensure that in 3.5 years of work experience you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for. This could still put in a strong set of essays for you.

Find out where you stand with our Free Assessment Test or drop your resume at [email protected]

Hi Nikhil,

I've been reading everyone's suggestions/recommendations here...and this is all I have to say based on my first hand experience working with my candidates :

ISB - you should give this school a shot without a doubt. You have a unique profile and if your essay strategy is spun properly to address all elements of your application then this school ideally should not be a stretch for you. My candidates are attending ISB so I'm speaking from first hand experience. Each year my candidates have been selected in ISB so this is technically not a stretch for you.

Yale - slight stretch for you but you should give it a shot. Again if you give your apps sufficient time,ensure to get your essay strategy right and have strong letter of recommendations - I highly recommend you give it a shot. It is a very good school and most of candidates end up changing their minds when they visit the school campus. You seem to have the experience that will be of their interest.

Good Luck!

Nikhil,

U.S. News has a ranking for the Entrepreneurship specialty (https://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... p-rankings). You can see the school you mentioned Babson tops the list. You have an excellent chance of gaining admittance. You should also consider applying to UCLA, USC, UT McCombs, etc.

Good luck,