Profile Evaluation - Average Grads + 3yrs of Work Ex

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Hello
I would some feedback on my profile and some suggestions are areas I can improve. I plan to get into MBA in 2014, however I may postpone it to 2015 depending on some of the reasons I have mentioned ahead in the post.

Educational Status: Graduated in 2010
Degree: Bachelors in Computer Science - 61% (Aggregate) and 81% in final year.
Highlights:
- Multiple inter college competition winner during first two years of college.
- Final Year college project was sent to Department of Science and technology, Government of India. project was highly appreciated (I have letter from college Dean).

Work Experience:
- June 2010 to May 2012 as Marketing Executive for a startup(Dealt in Computer Hardware) By end of second year I was heading a team. During 2 years company's revenue grew 225%.
- May 2012 to Jan 2013 as Business Delivery Manager in an IT firm (fairly nascent, started in 2010). Managed over 50 projects - Websites, CRM, Application, Portals, Digital Marketing etc for companies in various sector like - Infrastructure, Education, Health, etc.
- Jan 2013 to present as CEO of an NGO I founded. At present I am working with Rural/Tribal Artisans. As of June 2013 I have reached out to over 10,000 people to empower them socially and economically. We inform them about government schemes and policies and how they can improve their business. To complement this we have started a service to create and host FREE website for various NGOs, Artisans. No charges, no hidden costs. Around 1000 of these artisans are from regions which are considered highly disturbed regions due to political and social unrest and high penetration of Naxals and terrorists.
Apart from this the NGO is also working on Education, Tourism and Heritage projects as well.

OTHER INFO:
- I have been working as freelance web developer since 2008. couple of my websites has raked in over 2 lakh posts and 25,000 Members.
- I am also the founder of Supporters Club of big Barclays Premier League Team.
- All the projects of my NGO has been conceived, implemented, marketed by me.
- I worked for another NGO in 2012 and was provided a medal for helping them organizing a National Tournament for Slum Kids.
- I was also involved with third NGO in Health Sector for 6 months in 2011.



Assuming my GMAT Score is 700, Kindly Evaluate my chances of Admission in Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Wharton & London Business School. I had planned to get into MBA in 2014 but may delay it to 2015 and work on the NGO even more if itl boost my chances. There were 3 founding members and right now the volunteers number is touching 15 so even if I get into MBA, projects wont be affected. If you have any questions, do post here or Send me a Message.

Regards
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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Tue Jun 25, 2013 7:10 am
Which undergraduate Indian Institution did you graduate from? That would help me assess your profile as given the significant number of Indian applicants, admissions committees use undergraduate Indian Institution as one signaling mechanism.

What are your goals post-MBA? Do you wish to stay in the non-profit space and if you do, how will an MBA help you? This vision will help you develop competencies (such as working with partner organizations, grant writing, etc.) and identify competencies to be developed at MBA school. Also, you should show how the existing competencies within your professional experience have enabled you to better grow your NGO.

To boost your professional profile, create as big an impact in your NGO. Also, if you are able to develop partnerships with organizations known in the U.S. (or better yet have relationships with your target MBA schools) this will help.

A 700 GMAT is low for an Indian applicant to top 15 MBA schools, let alone the ones you listed. Coupled with a 61% Aggregate (was that a 1st or 2nd Class degree) and I suspect your academic profile will fall short of those schools. Identify less selective schools in the non-profit space. Yale, Michigan, Duke, and NYU Stern are reach schools that become more attainable the greater the impact of your NGO and the greater your GMAT score.

Best of luck,
Michael Cohan
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Tue Jun 25, 2013 2:19 pm
Hi there,

Thanks for providing as much detail as you did - it's a huge help! I agree with Michael regarding your GMAT score. You really should target something above a 700. A 720 would really be ideal.

With your work experience and background, however, I'm not terribly concerned about your undergraduate institution. While Michael's point is valid about adcoms differentiating between applicants based on institutions, that really comes into play when you're dealing with similar applicants. Additionally, the main purpose of the GPA/GMAT is to determine if you can handle the academic rigor and a great GMAT will put that to rest quickly.

Your main advantage is that you break the mold and I think that's what becomes the heart and soul of your story.

The main point I have for you is this: what do you get out of an additional year? You have documented successes and impacts at your NGO that place you in a great spot now. In another year, you will be able to document a few more tangible benefits but overall, your profile will remain static, no?

You're not getting too old by any means so my advice would be to take your GMAT, see how you do, and, if you do it early enough, go after round 2 deadlines. If you don't do as well as you'd like or you're taking it a little later in the year and you won't have time to put forward great apps, then postpone to next year. I'm not advocating rushing into apps this year by any means - do what feels right to you.

However, I don't see your application materially becoming any stronger than it already is with an additional year under your belt. I say this because you already have the pieces to put forward a compelling story.

Now, as to the schools you mentioned, H/S/W are all going to be stretches for you. They're stretches for most applicants and they will be for you too. Not more so than others, but not less so either. LBS will be a stretch because, while you have diverse work experiences, you lack the international component that a lot of applicants there will have. It isn't as much of a stretch as H/S/W but it's still a stretch. Columbia is a more realistic stretch for you. Aligned schools will really fall between 9 - 15 for you and a high GMAT score will only make things better.

What are your long term goals? Why do you want an MBA? There are a lot of great programs out there but it really comes down to the right decision for you and that's different for everyone!

I'm looking forward to reading more - chat soon!

Bhavik
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by vellatechie » Wed Jun 26, 2013 2:34 am
Thanks for the reply both of you.. I did my undergrads from Maharshi Dayanand University (www.mdurohtak.ac.in).. 61% is a first class degree..

5 years from my I plan to start a business to compliment the NGO with a profit sharing business model with Indian Artisans. Not with ethe wholesalers, middlemen, retailers, but directly with rural artisans.. This si one of the many reason why I have documented everything about I have done till now with Photos, Videos Interviews, forms and photographs, etc

Right now I am trying to empower Artisans across India by informing them about government policies and registering them with the government so they can avail special benefits available for Indian Artisans. I have already registered 1100 Artisans with the government, this number should touch at least 2500 by end of the year. These were the people who in the eye of the government didnt exist as artisans but in reality were creating art for many many years.
I am also creating free online business page so that middlemen can be removed and these guys get business directly. Free business page was the first step, Free Website and Hosting is 2nd we have started earlier this week.

Project on Heritage is something also very close to my heart. Archeological Survey of India has around 170 protected monuments in my city. I have created a list of 275 Monuments and will post them online with locations and Images. This should help my state in a big way since decision about grating UNESCO world heritage city will be out by 2015.

Free online education project is third but its in very nascent stage. Its sort of like coursera but since its in a nascent stage, it might end up being something entirely different. Focus here is on India and in Indian Languages.

My freelance work, my college final year project (which was a research report SEO by the way) and my job experience as marketing manager and then BDM in an IT firm has helped me expand my NGO on a big level. I have received over 110,000 hits on website in just about 5 Months, Over 35,000 unique users and over 400 applications for Jobs and Volunteering opportunities. I think In about a year I should have couple more projects ready and existing projects expanded to much larger scale. And hopefully I might land couple of awards for my initiatives as well.

700 Score was the minimum I am expecting. I have given couple of full fledged test and I am getting 700-720. I think with a couple of extra weeks of practise, I should be able to touch 720-750 window.

Again thank you the reply guys. These replies should really help me mould my future. I really appreciate it.
Regards

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Wed Jun 26, 2013 6:10 pm
Hey there,

You are very welcome - we're happy to help! On a side note can I just say your work with this NGO is really something. You're turning your considerable experience and skills into something that is driving impact for a marginalized population. On top of that, you're also helping your community and state "get on the map"!

So hats of to you sir!

Bhavik
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by vellatechie » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:13 am
Thanks for the kind words Bhavik.. really appreciate it.

What I have understood from both the replies is that:
- I should aim for 730 or higher score in the GMAT exam. It should negate (to an extent) my average acads and improve my chances for top colleges.
- I should also try to associate my NGO with top NGOs (preferably from US). It will put add in street cred to my NGO as well as the work I am doing. To be frank I was already working on this. Hopefully we should see some result in next month or two.
- If I am targetting 2015 instead of 2014 then I should do something concrete which should justify extra year spent.

I will keep these three points in mind. Will also try to search more about colleges which have a soft spot for non-profit work.

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:17 am
Hey there,

That's spot on and definitely some good things to keep in mind. If you have questions as you go through the next few months, let me know.

One thing to note - almost all schools have soft spots for non profit experience but not all are in a position to support that as a post-MBA goal. Keep in mind a big portion of rankings come from placement and differentials in income of graduates so even schools who are socially focused will want only a certain percentage of their graduating class to take non profit (lower paying) roles.

So as you think through your story, keep that in mind. I'm not saying you should have one story versus the other, but the strength of your experiences will, to a certain extent, dictate your story.

Cheers!

Bhavik
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by vellatechie » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:31 am
Hey
Thanks for the heads up.. Ill make sure instead of making the schools cry and teary eyed after reading/listening my stories i'll instead try to highlight my skill set/efforts in conceiving-operating-delivery-marketing the (ngo) projects and how I used my existing experience in the IT industry as marketing exec and delivery manager to grow these projects.

I will try to reduce ngo/non-profit words to the minimum and will instead use technical terms related to project management or terms related to the project itself.

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:41 am
Hah - well there's a balance to achieve. You want to tug on the heart strings, but you also want to make sure they understand you've got a sharp business mind to boot!
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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:53 am
I respectfully disagree with Bhavik about the quality of your undergraduate institution being a factor. Through being a member of AIGAC (https://aigac.org/membership/membership-directory/), I have personally met almost every admissions officer at every top school over the past 6 years at our Association of Graduate Admissions Consultants conferences (held in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, and Madrid/Barcelona) we were given tours of HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Chicago GSB, Haas, Columbia, NYU Stern, IE, ISB. Admissions officers from Tuck, INSEAD, LBS, etc. have been to many of these conferences as well. Off-the-record, I have asked questions specifically about the competitiveness of Indian profiles each year as well as factors for distinguishing candidates. The schools are inundated by Indian applicants, especially those with IT backgrounds. The quick way for admissions committee to delineate is to let Indian institutions do that for them and so the schools look at the quality of your undergraduate institution as a significant factor in signaling applicant quality (note this is not the only factor and many applicants from lesser ranked institutions still secure admission). Another quick way to delineate is based on GMAT score. For your target schools a 740+ is ideal.

Although you should not try to make the schools cry about your NGO, you should differentiate yourself by having your passion come across and your impact in terms of overall and specific stories that might move the admissions committee in showing this impact on a personal level. Schools do the same by showing you class profiles and student profiles. In addition, as you mention, highlight my skill set/efforts in conceiving-operating-delivery-marketing the (ngo) projects and how I used my existing experience in the IT industry as marketing exec and delivery manager to grow these projects.

Best of luck,
Michael Cohan
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:17 am
Hey there,

No need to politely disagree - we're on the same page actually :). As I mentioned earlier, I agree with your point! Hell, they use US undergrad institutions to do the same thing and that makes perfect sense. If you're reading through thousands of applications, it makes sense to categorize the "value" of an undergrad institution.

However, my point in downplaying it slightly in this particular case was that this technique by adcomes is less useful as the differences between the applicants grow. When two applicants have similar backgrounds and experiences, then differences in their profiles such as this are definitely factored in. However, if two applicants have entirely different stories (e.g. IT Consultant and CEO of a NGO), the ability to utilize undergraduate institution pedigree as a differentiator is reduced.

I hope that helps clarify. Our positions on this core issue aren't different at an aggregate level, but I do believe its importance varies by profile.

Bhavik
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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Thu Jun 27, 2013 10:46 am
Bhavik,

Thank you for the clarification. :)
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by vellatechie » Thu Jun 27, 2013 11:39 am
Thanks for the followup @MBAPrepAdvantage appreciate it. I did had a feeling about top universities students getting preferred in top B Schools. To be honest I don't remember seeing any any student from universities of same level as mine in alumni list of top college. Forget foreign universities, even ISB is full of NITs and IITs.

I guess I have to put in double effort with the GMAT Score and my ngo work to make an exception in this case.. I will be able to get LOR from credible people in the government and NGOs I have worked with in India. and with whom I have worked with/under and hopefully couple of tie-ups with NGOs should really seal it for me. Once again thanks for your reply, really appreciate it.

Regards

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:36 pm
You are welcome and good luck!!!!
Michael Cohan
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