Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

AskgoISB wrote:

rahulmathur9818 wrote:Hi,

-27 y/o Indian Male

-GMAT 710 (Q 81, V 88).....think I can improve this by 20-30 points atleast

-Graduated in 2008 from a business school in UK with a degree in accounting and finance. Topped my degree in year one. Ended up with an upper 2.1 degree.

-planned on working in UK itself in order to get some international work ex but had to move back to India because of my fathers death (3 weeks after final term). Had to take care of family affairs so moved back.

-working in the business development division of a firm with interests across hydropower, textiles and education. Have worked across all 3 sectors. Currently leading a team in implementing the expansion/diversification of the education vertical. The idea for diversification was my brainchild. I'm the youngest at the firm at a senior managerial role.

-short term goal is to make a transition to a top tier management consulting firm.

-Extra curricular: work with one of the most prominent environmental NGO in the country. Having lost my father to blood cancer I have organized blood donation camps as its a cause near my heart. Redrafted and implemented the corporate social responsibility charter at the firm with a focus on sanitation for the poor and improving female financial literacy.

How are my prospects for ISB?

Thanks

HI Rahul,

The profile looks good and well balanced for ISB. GMAT score is good and work ex looks diverse. So, you should be able to leverage the initiatives and achievements in essays.
International education will also help.

This biggest question, however, which you will have to answer is "What is the need of second MBA" especially from an Indian school. If you want to get into consulting, why didnt you do it after your first MBA. Or was it because you couldnt pick up a good job post MBA given the personal emergency.

If you can defend that well we dont see any issues.

Let us know if you have any queries.

goISB Team

The degree that I was referring to earlier was my undergrad degree in accounting and finance. I'm applying for an MBA for the first time.

So with my current background how are my chances at ISB?

Thanks

Hi,

Please evaluate my profile and suggest me how much I should target in GMAT

Indian Male - 30 years

X - 78%?(CBSE)
XII - 70%(AMU Board, Aligarh)
B.Tech(Electrical) - 63% (AMU, Aligarh)

Work Experience : 7 years (Middle East Countries only ) as Senior Projects Sales and Marketing in Construction Business Products.
Also my responsibilities included :
Roles and responsibilities

Individually operating and responsible for sales process/meetings and business-development activities in Saudi Arabian Region, which includes
"¢ Enquiry generation, follow up and interaction with clients.
"¢ Tender preparation, costing and bidding.
"¢ Analyzing the customer requirements and proposing the best solution.
"¢ Preparing the quotations, follow ups & closing of the deal.
"¢ Booking, billing & collection.
"¢ Exploring, developing & managing Sub-Contractors.
"¢ Maintaining continuous market feedback on competition & technology.

Please advise me what are my chances for ISB. SP JAIN, XLRI one year MBA's.
What should be my target score for GMAT.

Kind Regards.
Syed Salman

salmanabbas wrote:Hi,

Please evaluate my profile and suggest me how much I should target in GMAT

Indian Male - 30 years

X - 78%?(CBSE)
XII - 70%(AMU Board, Aligarh)
B.Tech(Electrical) - 63% (AMU, Aligarh)

Work Experience : 7 years (Middle East Countries only ) as Senior Projects Sales and Marketing in Construction Business Products.
Also my responsibilities included :
Roles and responsibilities

Individually operating and responsible for sales process/meetings and business-development activities in Saudi Arabian Region, which includes
"¢ Enquiry generation, follow up and interaction with clients.
"¢ Tender preparation, costing and bidding.
"¢ Analyzing the customer requirements and proposing the best solution.
"¢ Preparing the quotations, follow ups & closing of the deal.
"¢ Booking, billing & collection.
"¢ Exploring, developing & managing Sub-Contractors.
"¢ Maintaining continuous market feedback on competition & technology.

Please advise me what are my chances for ISB. SP JAIN, XLRI one year MBA's.
What should be my target score for GMAT.

Kind Regards.
Syed Salman

Hi Salman,

We have replied to your mail. Let us know if you need a detailed discussion.

goISB Team

Hi Syed,

Your professional experience should work to your advantage but with less than stellar academics, you definitelty want to target a GMAT of 700+.

Have you spent all seven years in Saudia Arabia with one company? What about promotions and growth? What is the scope of your interactions with the sub-contractors? Revenue generated and contribution to the growth of your company?

Any significant extracurriculars/interests/community involvement activities?

Hi Mansie,

Many thanks for the reply. Please find below the answers to your questions:
1) Boodai Group - 2.5 years as Sales Engineer (Saudi Arabia)
Al Nasser Group - around 4.5 years as Sr. Projects Sales and Marketing Engineer(saudi Arabia)
2) In Al Nasser Group , i joined as Projects Sales Engineer, so one promotion in terms of post and with time also asked to develop untapped market(in other cities), hence marketing.
3) In brief, my job is to work with Owners/technical Consultant/Architects to make our products specified in Construction Projects (Marketing Part) and then follow up with the Contractors and Sub-Contractors to close the deal (Sales aspect of my job), bringing revenues/profits to the company.
4) In 4.5 years of my current co, my biggest achievements are :
a) Developed Southern Region of Saudi Arabia as a market with total sales of SAR 35 million (approx. 56 crores INR) forcing my co. to think about opening a new branch in the area but still not materialized and i am one of the major option for the Co. to lead that Branch.
b) Overall sales revenue is 112 crores INR which alone accounts to 14% total revenue of the whole co. in these years.

So now i would you to please advise on which colleges i should have a go at ?
My tentative plan to join MBA is next year around July, 2015

Kind Regards.
Syed Salman

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the great work you are doing!

I would like know where my profile stands for ISB/INSEAD/HKUST and what are the areas that I can improve on before the application.

Also, due to some financial commitments I plan to apply for an MBA after about 2-3 years down the line.

Education:

Xth CBSE : 82%
XIIth CBSE : 76%

B.Tech, IIT Delhi (Civil Engg) : 6.6/10

Certifications Completed:

- CFA L1 Pass (>70% in all subjects)

Certifications Advanced Statistics and Calculus :

- CT3 Probability & Statistics - Institute of Actuaries - Overall Exam pass rate < 10%
- CT6 Statistical Methods - Institute of Actuaries - Overall Exam pass rate < 10%
- Machine Learning Course(Online) - Stanford University - Coursera

Future Certifications planned:

- FRM Exam 1 and 2 : Expected Jun'2015
- Will do more Online Courses offered by top univs on Coursera to enhance my technical (Maths & Stats) as well as Business (Banking and Finance) skills

GMAT(Target, Planning to do after completing FRM) : 720+ (Need Advice)


Work Experience(Old to Recent) : Overall 4.8 years

*2009 Recession batch pass out, hence switched few jobs to move to better profiles throughout my career.

Prev Employer 1 - Startup

Tenure : 1 year
Role : Reporting Analyst
Nothing great to show, worked on BI reporting for an interior infrastructure client, got shutdown after a year of joining

Prev Employer 2 - Analytics and Consulting Startup

Tenure : 1 year
Role : Senior Business Consultant - Individual Contributor
Highlights : Successfully completed multiple Marketing strategy projects(using Stats techniques like Data Modeling, Segmentation and Time Series forecasting ) for some of the major clients like Dell, ITC, UB etc.
Received a lot of accolades for creating great business impacts and got a Fast Track promotion after 6 months of joining to Sr. Consultant.
Reason for Leaving : Got an opportunity in one of the largest International Bank, better brand.

Previous Employer 3 - One of the largest International Bank (Business Consulting - Marketing)

Tenure : 2.7 yrs
Role : Assistant Manager - Business Consulting
Highlights -
Joined as an Analyst promoted within a year to Assistant Manager.
Within the 1st year of Joining, I along with a Senior Leader had set up a Consulting Offshore team for a Latin American business
In last ~20 months I have successfully managed various strategical initiatives (with a team of 2-3 Analysts) that have created major Business Impact.
Received a Business Transformation Award for my contribution.
Awarded an Additional Cash Bonus(given to only a bunch of excellent performers every year) for my outstanding performance last year.
Provide technical training and Mentoring support to my team especially on topics related to statistics.

Reason for Leaving : No International Exposure, Stagnated Learning curve due to lack of project diversity.

Current Employer - Accenture Management Consulting (Banking and Financial Services)

Tenure : Recently Joined
Role : Management Consultant
Expectations -
Work closely with multiple businesses in the BFSI domain enhancing my domain knowledge.
Better Opportunities for International Assignments(Good for MBA application).
Planning to stay with the current role for at least next 3 years and then go for an MBA.

Current BFSI domain experience : 3+ years
Expected BFSI domain Exp, Pre-MBA : 6+ years
Expected Overall Experience Pre-MBA : ~8 years

Extra Curricular:

- Marathon Runner : Loves Running, Completed couple of Marathons in last 1 year, Participated in numerous 10K, 20K events in the past.
- Trained Lawn Tennis player and participated in Inter Hostel Lawn Tennis Comp events for 2 years.

Why MBA?

To progress to a Strategy Consulting/ Sr Leadership role and leverage my rich experience in BFSI domain.

Please evaluate my profile for ISB/INSEAD/HKUST MBA 3 years from now and request you to let me know :
1. What GMAT score I should target to compensate for my Avg Acads.
2. Does online courses from Coursera etc. really helps in compensating for Avg Acads.
3. Will my recent switch have any negative impact on my B school app.
4. What should be my areas of improvement to have a decent chance for the top B schools like ISB/INSEAD/HKUST.

Appreciate your time and effort.

Thanks in Advance!

Hi Mission_mba,

Your profile looks decent. IIT brand will help, though your GPA is a bit low. Target a 720+ on GMAT to compensate for that.
Your work experience looks fragmented. 4 companies in 4 years can raise eyebrows. So, staying at Accenture for a couple of years will help. You should be able to leverage experience of working in startups as well as giants such as Accenture. BFSI experience coupled with CFA and FRM certifications should help. All this is good material for writing a Finance/ Consulting story. ISB, INSEAD, HKUST are all good schools. Try writing a consulting story for ISB and iNSEAD and finance story for HKUST. Consulting wont sell as HKUST and finance wont sell at ISB. Lack of international experience however will be a challenge for INSEAD.

Dont worry about online courses. Wont add a lot.

If you want to work on something, add extra currics which appear weak as of now.

Hope this helps.

goISB Team

thanks & regards

Hi,

I have a 97% in Xth Grade(5th All India in CBSE Boards), 92.6% in XII, 66% in Engg.
I have done a lot of extra curriculars in college.
Was president of the college Entrepreneurship Cell.
Was English Editor for college magazine.
Was vice-president for UNESCO Peace Chair in Pune.
Have done a 16 day long entrepreneurial journey covering 8000+ kms across India called the Tata jagriti yatra.
Have been selected for Russian Youth Forum Seliger for technology entrepreneurship.
Have been co-founder for two campus companies while in college. They shut down though.
Right now I work as Business Technology Analyst for Deloitte from last 18 months.
Trying to get certified in for AHM250 certification from Professional Academy of US Healthcare to understand the US Healthcare scenario well.
Have been involved with an NGO called MAD aka Make a Difference from last 1 year.

What kind of a shot do I have at ISB?

Education:

Xth CBSE : 86%
XIIth CBSE : 80%

B.Tech, IIT Guwahati : 7.2/10
Gmat - 700

Work Experience(Old to Recent) : Overall 4 years
1) Analytics company (1 year) - Analyst
- One of the largest pharmacy retail client in US, Marketing projects
- Predictive stat modelling
- End to end delivery of projects

2) Indian e-com (3 years) - Analyst
- Worked on various projects, Roles (analyst and program manager) and with different teams
- Big impact on margin
- Lots of projects and impact to show

Extra Curricular:
- Marathon Runner and trekking, adventure sports
- organised and won various robotics event in college
- Few months with a NGO

Why MBA?
Leading consulting company in retail domain.

Applied last year but got dinged. I believe I could have done much better on my essay and CV.
I need feedback on my essays on how to improve them.

Appreciate your time and effort.

Thanks in Advance!

Hi Prem12345
Your acads are decent, though your graduation marks are low. Professionally, since you have 18 months of work experience, it might be good to add up a year's experience and then apply to ISB.
Extra- curriculars are good and diverse. If you are able to demonstrate your leadership potential through the professional skills and the experiences in your ECs, you can come up with a very strong set of Essays.
Lot of the extra curriculars mentioned are during the college days. You will need to also show that you have continued to pursue atlest some of the passions even now.
Try for a GMAT above 710.

anujg wrote:Education:

Xth CBSE : 86%
XIIth CBSE : 80%

B.Tech, IIT Guwahati : 7.2/10
Gmat - 700

Work Experience(Old to Recent) : Overall 4 years
1) Analytics company (1 year) - Analyst
- One of the largest pharmacy retail client in US, Marketing projects
- Predictive stat modelling
- End to end delivery of projects

2) Indian e-com (3 years) - Analyst
- Worked on various projects, Roles (analyst and program manager) and with different teams
- Big impact on margin
- Lots of projects and impact to show

Extra Curricular:
- Marathon Runner and trekking, adventure sports
- organised and won various robotics event in college
- Few months with a NGO

Why MBA?
Leading consulting company in retail domain.

Applied last year but got dinged. I believe I could have done much better on my essay and CV.
I need feedback on my essays on how to improve them.

Appreciate your time and effort.

Thanks in Advance!

Hi Anuj,

Your profile definitely has all the required elements needed for success. There could have been various reasons for getting rejected last year. Did you show a strong reason behind wanting to get into Retail consulting?? What were the schools you applied to? And without reviewing your application, it will be impossible to find the gaps in it.

anujg wrote:Education:

Xth CBSE : 86%
XIIth CBSE : 80%

B.Tech, IIT Guwahati : 7.2/10
Gmat - 700

Work Experience(Old to Recent) : Overall 4 years
1) Analytics company (1 year) - Analyst
- One of the largest pharmacy retail client in US, Marketing projects
- Predictive stat modelling
- End to end delivery of projects

2) Indian e-com (3 years) - Analyst
- Worked on various projects, Roles (analyst and program manager) and with different teams
- Big impact on margin
- Lots of projects and impact to show

Extra Curricular:
- Marathon Runner and trekking, adventure sports
- organised and won various robotics event in college
- Few months with a NGO

Why MBA?
Leading consulting company in retail domain.

Applied last year but got dinged. I believe I could have done much better on my essay and CV.
I need feedback on my essays on how to improve them.

Appreciate your time and effort.

Thanks in Advance!

Hi Anuj,

Your profile definitely has all the required elements needed for success. There could have been various reasons for getting rejected last year. Did you show a strong reason behind wanting to get into Retail consulting?? What were the schools you applied to? And without reviewing your application, it will be impossible to find the gaps in it.

Hi

Please evluate my profile for ISB to help me with the way forward. I plan to appear for '16-'17 batch.

Xth: 83% CBSE
XIIth: 88% CBSE
Grad.: BBS (CBS, DU)
Post grad.: (This could be a bottleneck!!) I am pursuing CA Final; having qualified group-1 and stuck on group-2. Having already given 6 attepmts (awaiting results for the 6th one); are the no. of attempts going to make a difference?? Besides, what if i leave it at this point, how would my profile stand??

As for GMAT, i havn't yet given an attempt, but am consistently scoring around 650 in various mocks that i gave with whatever preparations i could do in the 2 months between CA exams and its results.

please evaluate my profile if i clear CA with all these attempts, and if i abandon it at this point with the 1 qualified group.


Thanks in advance
srijan

Hi

Please evluate my profile for ISB to help me with the way forward. I plan to appear for '16-'17 batch.

Xth: 83% CBSE
XIIth: 88% CBSE
Grad.: BBS (CBS, DU)
Post grad.: (This could be a bottleneck!!) I am pursuing CA Final; having qualified group-1 and stuck on group-2. Having already given 6 attepmts (awaiting results for the 6th one); are the no. of attempts going to make a difference?? Besides, what if i leave it at this point, how would my profile stand??

As for GMAT, i havn't yet given an attempt, but am consistently scoring around 650 in various mocks that i gave with whatever preparations i could do in the 2 months between CA exams and its results.

please evaluate my profile if i clear CA with all these attempts, and if i abandon it at this point with the 1 qualified group.


Thanks in advance
srijan