Profile evaluation request

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Profile evaluation request

by fatality » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:32 am
Nationality - Indian
BTech - BITS Pilani - 8.04/10 GPA
GMAT - 750 (Q51/V40/5.0 AWA)
Work ex - 2 years
Since I have relatively less work experince, I am not able to provide bulleted points higlighting my career progress and achievements. Instead, I am providing a slightly detailed account of my job till now, hoping for pointers to present it in most effective manner.

I have recently completed 17 months in an organization which is the world leader in manufacturing of Agricultural machinery. My departent is responsible for providing software solutions for agricultral operations, with main focus being US markets .I joined as a member of a batch of 15 engineer trainees (all from IITs and BITS - top Indian Technology Schools) and for the first 5 months we were put through a rigorous training programme, following which I was adjudged to be the best new engineer trainee for scoring the highest aggregate score in all internal and external evaluations.
Following this, I joined a team which is resposible for creating a software product to provide software solutions for precision farming needs of large scale American farmers. I have continously been evaluated as one of the highest performers in the team despite my relative new comer status. Withing 12 months of joining, I was promoted from Engineer Trainee post to Technology Analyst and have recieved multiple recognitions and rewards from my superiors (both official and unofficial) for my innovative thinking and positive attitude towards work.

This job has helped me gain a good deal of domain knowledge related to agriculture field, and helped me to understand and appreciate the shortcomings in this sector in India compared to the developed world.

My performance has helped me get strong recos from the country head of my department and my manager.

ECs :-
Probably the biggest achille's heel in my application.

1. Event Manager at College Technical Fest
2. Member Publicity and Public Relations committee for college cultural fest
3. Member of debating and literary club in school (too old i guess).
4. Tutored the son of my housekeeper throughout middle and high school (while my father provided the financial help to put him through school) and helped him finish school and get a respectable job in hospital staff.

Long term goal : I aspire to become a successful investment banker and recently started treading the path by enroling for CFA Level-1 (still to write, preperations underway).

Considering my average acads and less experience, I am realistic about my chances at full time MBA (although I do plan to make best possible applications to some top b-schools which have Early Leaders programs), I wish to enquire about my prospects if I do apply to these programs at GSB,Johnson, Tepper, Haas and probably a few more realistic ones.

Also I want to seek advice regarding MFE programs in some top B-Schools in US. I am very interested in persuing one such program, in all honesty only because it would give me a launchpad for a career in Finance and an opportunity to later apply to a top B-School with a strong profile in a few years time .Although these programs donot give too much importance to work ex, they give due importance to performance in undergrad mathematics and related courses like probability and numerical analysis. Although I have been strong in mathematics all throughout my student career, I didn't concentrate too much on these courses at college and ended up with grade point between a B or a C in these subjects. I want to know if it is at all prudent for me to aim for these programs and is there a way for me to offset some of the negative impact of these scores by highlighting my other accomplishments in mathematics and related fields (have a gold medal in an international mathematics olympiad, scored 100% in high school exams and also performed well in GMAT quant section). I will greatly appreciate some advice to shortlist schools for MFE or MFin programs.

Thanks and regards
Ashish
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by Lisa Anderson » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:40 am
Dear Ashish,

You have done a thorough self-assessment, and I agree that your amount of work experience and lack of extracurriculars since college are the potential weaknesses in your profile. Your academics are actually strong, which will be an advantage for you. With your desire to make a significant career change to investment banking, the best way to transition will be through a graduate degree like an MBA or MFin/MFE. While your performance in college in your quant courses will be scrutinized, your GMAT will help to mitigate that along with an optional essay providing evidence of your aptitude and motivation. Your admission decisions will come down to how well you present your background and rationale for the degree in your essays and interviews. Pursuing a MFin or MFE is an interesting option for you, but I encourage you to research the career options from those programs to ensure you are targeting ones with connections to the banking industry. The MBA programs you note in your post are all highly selective, so you should consider how well you feel you can make your case for admission in light of your profile to finalize your school list.

Good luck,
Lisa
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Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:47 am
Location: India
GMAT Score:750

by fatality » Fri Oct 15, 2010 10:53 am
Hi Lisa,
I appreciate your prompt and insightful reply. I am beginning to make up mind in favor of MFE/MFin.
I just have two follow up queries:

1. I have been trying to figure out means to bury the demons of the past in terms of acads. Since Indian universities do not offer opportunity for revised transcripts or anything like that, my only viable option is to give Subject GRE for Mathematics. Can you please suggest if there is any merit in this thought process and can a good subject GRE score really help me in showing good acumen in Quant.

2. Also, one thing I forgot to mention in my previous post, there is a great disparity between my undergrad score for first to years (gpa around 2.9-3.0) and my last two years (3.5-3.6). Although this depicts upward trend in my progress through undergrad, I donot have a good enough reason to justify such a trend, and hence donot feel confidant explicitly mentioning this. Will it be prudent to state this in my option essay and spin a whimsical story around it :P

Thanks and Regards,
Ashish

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by Lisa Anderson » Tue Oct 19, 2010 7:55 pm
Dear Ashish,

You need to assess your profile and determine what you feel will strengthen your candidacy. Scoring well on the quantitative section of the GRE or GMAT is important to be a competitive candidate for a MFE/MFin program. If you feel you did not perform well enough in your college coursework, then a higher score on a standardized test is one way to mitigate that. Not doing as well your first two years in college as in your last two years is a common pattern and one that is preferable. Many people must mature and figure out how to study before their grades reflect their true abilities. Whether or not you feel your academic performance warrants on optional essay is up to you based on your circumstances during that time.

Regards,
Lisa
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Stacy Blackman Consulting

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