Could you please evaluate my profile and let me know my chances of making it into top MBA programs.
Academic and Professional qualification
"¢ CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Completed, 2007- 09-Awaiting Charter. - CFA Institute, USA
"¢ Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) - GARP, USA
"¢ Master of Business Administration (MBA) - SCMHRD, Pune, India
"¢ Bachelor of Business Administration(BBA), - Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal, India
Work Experience (4.5 years)
Boutique private equity firm in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Senior Financial Analyst (2 year)
Financial Analyst (1.5 years)
"¢ Determines and facilitates investment proposals with analysis of financial statements and historical data, financial modeling, risk and return assessments and practices due diligence in report writing on trends and forecasts; collaborates with project finance, sales and accounts teams.
"¢ Improved monitoring process of changing trends by creating a reporting system to examine impact and discloses quarterly news flow to existing clients.
"¢ Leverages knowledge of investments in various sectors and market developments to update senior directors and obtain increased responsibility and recognition; handles all record-keeping.
"¢ Utilizes dynamic public speaking and presentation skills to communicate complex investment strategies, recommendations and analysis results to clients and executives.
"¢ Ensured success of Real Estate Joint Venture project by leading eight-member team through negotiations on terms and conditions, discussions on financial projections and coordination with offshore analysts.
Subsidiary of standard and poor (Equity research) Chennai, India
Senior Research Analyst, Alcoholic Beverages sector (8 months)
"¢ Offshore Associate for a Credit Suisse Analyst based in London covering alcoholic beverages sector.
"¢ Assist the sector analyst in initiating research reports, writing maintenance research reports, creating new financial models and updating the existing ones during results season and other company events for about 14 companies in the sector.
"¢ Secured superior's confidence with accurate updates on financial models from industry data, weekly news flows and compliance with strict delivery standards.
What are my chances of getting into the top 5 MBA programs in US or Europe especially Harvard or Stanford?
What can I do to strengthen my application?
Kindly suggest
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This topic has expert replies
GMAT/MBA Expert
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mbaMissionJessica
- MBA Admissions Consultant
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:26 pm
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Hi, thank you for your inquiry.
There are some strong elements of your application (international experience, leadership experience, strong results) and as an Indian, it's helpful that you stand out by being in private equity as opposed to IT. But I have more questions for you than I do answers:
- what was your GMAT score and what were your grades in school?
- what do you do outside of work - activities, hobbies, community involvement?
- what are your goals?
- finally and probably most importantly, why do you need a second MBA on top of the one you already have? Many schools would tell you not to apply on that ground alone; before you get too attached to any one school you should contact the ones on your list of potential schools and ask if they will accept candidates who already have an MBA. I think that will narrow your options.
Best of luck,
There are some strong elements of your application (international experience, leadership experience, strong results) and as an Indian, it's helpful that you stand out by being in private equity as opposed to IT. But I have more questions for you than I do answers:
- what was your GMAT score and what were your grades in school?
- what do you do outside of work - activities, hobbies, community involvement?
- what are your goals?
- finally and probably most importantly, why do you need a second MBA on top of the one you already have? Many schools would tell you not to apply on that ground alone; before you get too attached to any one school you should contact the ones on your list of potential schools and ask if they will accept candidates who already have an MBA. I think that will narrow your options.
Best of luck,
Jessica Shklar
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844
Sign up for a free consultation with mbaMission, the only admissions consulting firm that leading GMAT prep companies, ManhattanGMAT and Kaplan, recommend.
www.mbamission.com/consult.php
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844
Sign up for a free consultation with mbaMission, the only admissions consulting firm that leading GMAT prep companies, ManhattanGMAT and Kaplan, recommend.
www.mbamission.com/consult.php
Thanks for your response. I expect to score at least 700 if not more. My BBA scores are 70% aggregate (India) and MBA is (3.5/5). I am particularly interested in Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia and Chicago (BSM).
1. Could you please suggest if any of the above mentioned schools discourage candidates with MBA?
2. How difficult is it to convince them if the candidates already have an MBA. My reasons are as follows:
"¢ Networking
"¢ Improve my access to all the jobs (IB, Top consulting, PE and Hedge funds etc) and regions
"¢ My first MBA was right out of college and it is not recognized widely.
. And to learn management and leadership in a higly global, cosmopolitan and competitive environment.
3. What do you think about these reasons to do a second MBA?
4. Considering my profile what is the GMAT score you think I should aim for?
5. Outside the work I organized a few events in college, played league cricket in my state in India, but most of my hobbies are quite individualistic I guess like pencil sketching (I received a letter of appreciation from the president of India for doing his sketch - APJ Abdul Kalam)
6. Could you please suggest how I can strengthen my application further?
Pardon the Typo error I actually have 2.5 years of Work ex currently not 4.5 as mentioned. i.e. 1 year in India with Standard and poor and 1.5 years in Abu dhabi with private equity firm. Got promoted recently as senior financial analyst.
Kindly suggest.
1. Could you please suggest if any of the above mentioned schools discourage candidates with MBA?
2. How difficult is it to convince them if the candidates already have an MBA. My reasons are as follows:
"¢ Networking
"¢ Improve my access to all the jobs (IB, Top consulting, PE and Hedge funds etc) and regions
"¢ My first MBA was right out of college and it is not recognized widely.
. And to learn management and leadership in a higly global, cosmopolitan and competitive environment.
3. What do you think about these reasons to do a second MBA?
4. Considering my profile what is the GMAT score you think I should aim for?
5. Outside the work I organized a few events in college, played league cricket in my state in India, but most of my hobbies are quite individualistic I guess like pencil sketching (I received a letter of appreciation from the president of India for doing his sketch - APJ Abdul Kalam)
6. Could you please suggest how I can strengthen my application further?
Pardon the Typo error I actually have 2.5 years of Work ex currently not 4.5 as mentioned. i.e. 1 year in India with Standard and poor and 1.5 years in Abu dhabi with private equity firm. Got promoted recently as senior financial analyst.
Kindly suggest.
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
mbaMissionJessica
- MBA Admissions Consultant
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:26 pm
- Thanked: 12 times
- Followed by:9 members
Thank you for the follow up. To answer your questions:
1. I know that Stanford and Wharton do accept applicants who already have an MBA, but request that you explain why you need a second one. I do not know about the other schools but it should be something you can research fairly easily online or through quick phone calls to the schools.
2. If they have a policy against accepting students who already have an MBA, you will not find it easy at all to convince them to make an exception.
3. Your last reason is somewhat compelling if you can tie the need directly to your career goals. I do not believe arguments around prestige and reputation will be particularly compelling. I suggest you tie the school's offerings directly to your long-term goals with a fair amount of detail, including how you were not able to get those offerings from your first school.
4. I still do not know your grades, but given your profile I would definitely aim for a 700+.
5. I do not see a lot of activities here that show leadership or initiative, so this area may be a weakness.
6. You will want to show tremendous leadership and results at work and perhaps outside as well.
Good luck.
1. I know that Stanford and Wharton do accept applicants who already have an MBA, but request that you explain why you need a second one. I do not know about the other schools but it should be something you can research fairly easily online or through quick phone calls to the schools.
2. If they have a policy against accepting students who already have an MBA, you will not find it easy at all to convince them to make an exception.
3. Your last reason is somewhat compelling if you can tie the need directly to your career goals. I do not believe arguments around prestige and reputation will be particularly compelling. I suggest you tie the school's offerings directly to your long-term goals with a fair amount of detail, including how you were not able to get those offerings from your first school.
4. I still do not know your grades, but given your profile I would definitely aim for a 700+.
5. I do not see a lot of activities here that show leadership or initiative, so this area may be a weakness.
6. You will want to show tremendous leadership and results at work and perhaps outside as well.
Good luck.
Jessica Shklar
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844
Sign up for a free consultation with mbaMission, the only admissions consulting firm that leading GMAT prep companies, ManhattanGMAT and Kaplan, recommend.
www.mbamission.com/consult.php
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844
Sign up for a free consultation with mbaMission, the only admissions consulting firm that leading GMAT prep companies, ManhattanGMAT and Kaplan, recommend.
www.mbamission.com/consult.php
Thanks a lot for that information on stanford and wharton.
My Grades/scores in BBA were 70% agregate ( These are absolute score for all the sems combined, we did not have a relative grading system.
In my MBA I had a CGPA of 3.5 out of 5 ( this is relative grading).
If I take up community service now(or other form of out of work leadership exposure) will that help or will that look opportunistic?
regards.
My Grades/scores in BBA were 70% agregate ( These are absolute score for all the sems combined, we did not have a relative grading system.
In my MBA I had a CGPA of 3.5 out of 5 ( this is relative grading).
If I take up community service now(or other form of out of work leadership exposure) will that help or will that look opportunistic?
regards.
GMAT/MBA Expert
-
mbaMissionJessica
- MBA Admissions Consultant
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:26 pm
- Thanked: 12 times
- Followed by:9 members
I think taking up community service now may look opportunistic, but more importantly there's not really enough time to do anything of significant impact. Simply volunteering somewhere a couple of hours a month won't change the overall profile. But don't despair - there are three categories you can explore for essays: work experience, community/extracurricular experience, and your personal journey/story. If you have made an impact on someone informally or overcome obstacles or accomplished some significant personal goal, those can all be topics to show that you are well-rounded and have a perspective on life outside of work.
Jessica Shklar
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844
Sign up for a free consultation with mbaMission, the only admissions consulting firm that leading GMAT prep companies, ManhattanGMAT and Kaplan, recommend.
www.mbamission.com/consult.php
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844
Sign up for a free consultation with mbaMission, the only admissions consulting firm that leading GMAT prep companies, ManhattanGMAT and Kaplan, recommend.
www.mbamission.com/consult.php
