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Profile Evaluation and Guidance

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Profile Evaluation and Guidance

by mission_mba » Wed Jul 02, 2014 10:48 am
Hi Critical Square,

Thanks for the great work you are doing!

I would like know where my profile stands for top Asian(ISB,HKUST) and European(INSEAD,IMD,HEC PARIS) 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.

Indian Male, 26 yrs old.

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+ (Pretty Sure about that)


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.


Request you to please evaluate my profile for a top MBA program 3 years from now and advice me on below mentioned queries:
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(preferably 1-1.5 year programs) .

Appreciate your time and effort.

Thanks in Advance!
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Fri Jul 04, 2014 7:43 am
Hi there,

Thanks for posting! Ok, so let's see what we've got here...

Academics

You went to a great school but I think you're aware of the fact that you didn't do that well. It's great to see you being proactive, however, with the certifications and the CFA. Honestly, I think you're done. If you want to do more MOOCs then do them because you're interested in them, not just for the sake of continuing to build the resume. It'll start to border on overkill.

Professional Experiences

I actually like the first couple of years of your experiences. You don't have to package it as you took odd jobs, right? It's unfortunate the first startup closed shop but that's ok. I like the 2nd experience and it might have been good to stay but I understand why you left. Your work at the bank, however, has been great. You clearly did great things and were recognized for it. Your recent tenure at Accenture is still to be determined. So we'll see how that goes. But I'm sure you'll continue to kick butt the way you've been doing! However - and this is important - you really need to tie all this together. At the end of the day, you have a lot of cool, various experiences but it's incredibly sporadic. Yes, it's all in BFSI but you've been doing random things. Whatever you want to do POST your MBA, you need to start laying the groundwork for it now!

Involvement

Ok, this is clearly where you've got a bit of a hole in your application. It's great that you run (I've run a few marathons in my day too - absolutely love it!) and stay active but you're lacking a story here. Now, there might be stuff you're doing within your companies that counts but, overall, this is blank. Now, that doesn't mean you need to get out there and start volunteering. You just have to do stuff OTHER THAN WORK. For example, at Accenture, you could get really involved in the Financial Services community. White paper, proposals, community, etc. Whatever that is, you have to do something that makes sense. But whatever you do, try to set yourself apart.

Your Questions

1) You're already doing a lot to compensate for your undergrad GPA. But, that said, for the programs you've listed you really need to hit your target of 720. But, the good thing is that you have a couple of years to get it done. So if you need to retake it, that's ok!

2) MOOCs don't count as an alternative transcript. They're gaining credibility but if you're trying to compensate for a low grade (or grades) then you need classes that give you grades. However, the other tests / classes you've taken along with the work you've been doing really helps. MOOCs are good for things you're interested in or bolstering a story.

3) I don't see why your recent switch should hurt you if you can tie it into a story that makes sense.

4) Like I said, 2 things. Pull everything together and set the groundwork for a story that makes sense. And get involved! But keep running - hit those splits!

I hope that helps - let me know if I need to clarify anything!

Good luck!

Bhavik
Last edited by CriticalSquareMBA on Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Fri Jul 04, 2014 7:44 am
Hi there,

Thanks for posting! Ok, so let's see what we've got here...

Academics

You went to a great school but I think you're aware of the fact that you didn't do that well. It's great to see you being proactive, however, with the certifications and the CFA. Honestly, I think you're done. If you want to do more MOOCs then do them because you're interested in them, not just for the sake of continuing to build the resume. It'll start to border on overkill.

Professional Experiences

I actually like the first couple of years of your experiences. You don't have to package it as you took odd jobs, right? It's unfortunate the first startup closed shop but that's ok. I like the 2nd experience and it might have been good to stay but I understand why you left. Your work at the bank, however, has been great. You clearly did great things and were recognized for it. Your recent tenure at Accenture is still to be determined. So we'll see how that goes. But I'm sure you'll continue to kick butt the way you've been doing! However - and this is important - you really need to tie all this together. At the end of the day, you have a lot of cool, various experiences but it's incredibly sporadic. Yes, it's all in BFSI but you've been doing random things. Whatever you want to do POST your MBA, you need to start laying the groundwork for it now!

Involvement

Ok, this is clearly where you've got a bit of a whole in your application. It's great that you run (I've run a few marathons in my day too - absolutely love it!) and stay active but you're lacking a story here. Now, there might be stuff you're doing within your companies that counts but, overall, this is blank. Now, that doesn't mean you need to get out there and start volunteering. You just have to do stuff OTHER THAN WORK. For example, at Accenture, you could get really involved in the Financial Services community. White paper, proposals, community, etc. Whatever that is, you have to do something that makes sense. But whatever you do, try to set yourself apart.

Your Questions

1) You're already doing a lot to compensate for your undergrad GPA. But, that said, for the programs you've listed you really need to hit your target of 720. But, the good thing is that you have a couple of years to get it done. So if you need to retake it, that's ok!

2) MOOCs don't count as an alternative transcript. They're gaining credibility but if you're trying to compensate for a low grade (or grades) then you need classes that give you grades. However, the other tests / classes you've taken along with the work you've been doing really helps. MOOCs are good for things you're interested in or bolstering a story.

3) I don't see why your recent switch should hurt you if you can tie it into a story that makes sense.

4) Like I said, 2 things. Pull everything together and set the groundwork for a story that makes sense. And get involved! But keep running - hit those splits!

I hope that helps - let me know if I need to clarify anything!

Good luck!

Bhavik
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by mission_mba » Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:43 am
Thanks Bhavik for such a detailed profile evaluation. It was really very insightful!

I do have a follow up question though as I haven't yet joined Accenture and still serving the notice period (Apologies for not providing completely accurate info as earlier I was quite convinced about switching jobs but now I am having second thoughts about it after reading the review)

When it comes to the application for B schools like Insead and HKUST from your perspective what is more valuable ?

a. Staying in the current organization(HSBC) and demonstrating the career growth (includes setting up a team, team leadership experience, 3 promotions in 5 odd years , Awards - recognition etc.). But definitely with NO International experience at all.

Or

b. Taking up a role in an another organization(Accenture Consulting) for next 2 years.. add some consulting experience with more possibilities of International experience.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this as currently I am in a state of limbo on whether moving to AMC would be a correct decision.

Thanks
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:37 am
You're very welcome! To be honest, I can't answer that question for you. One, you're in a better position to make it than me. And two, we could both be wrong. It's a gut call. Keep in mind, consulting firms will often say you have the opportunity for international experience but sometimes that doesn't really happy. At HSBC, will you really get that career trajectory?

Answer this question and don't worry about the rest: which of the two options is better for you?

Stories for schools can be built around that. The better you answer the question above, the stronger the story will be.

I know that's frustrating and you probably want someone to just tell you what you should do but - sorry mate, no one on this forum can!

Let me know which you choose!

Bhavik
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