Profile Evaluation for INSEAD

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Profile Evaluation for INSEAD

by rkansal » Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:38 pm
Hi everyone!
First of all I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to read through and respond to my profile.
I’m planning to apply for the Jan-2021 intake, and appreciate your insights for my profile.

Background:
Nationality: Indian, Male, 25 years old
GMAT: 730 (Q50, V38, IR7, AWA5.5)
TOEFL: 114 (R30, L30, S28, W26)

Education:
B.E in Computer Science from BITS Pilani (non IIT - top university in India), GPA: 9.55/10 (Top-5 of my batch of 650+)

Professional Experience:
1. By the time of Joining i.e Jan2021, I will have 41 months of experience in a US based cloud company (Nutanix).
2. Moved into a new role of Product Management - which contributes to half of my total experience.
3. Technology consulting for IRENA on the side for about 8 months now (will be close to 15 months by the time of joining) - on sustainable energy technologies

International Exposure:
1. Worked for Empa (Swiss Lab) - on a 3 month internship with 3 professors. [REMOTE]
2. Travelled to Bay Area (my company HQ) for projects.
3. Handle customer requests and discussions in the EMEA/Americas/India regions. [REMOTE]
4. Have been working for IRENA (international renewable energy agency) - collaborating with researchers, technologists, etc. from over 10 nationalities [REMOTE]

Achievements:
1. One of the few employees to get a quick promotion in 1 year.
2. youngest PM in the entire company of 5000+ people.
3. Undergraduate merit scholar (for all semesters of study).

Co-Curriculars:
1. Started an NGO chapter in Bangalore - formed and led a team of 5 - deals with financial education for the underprivilideged (> 1.5 year)
- conducted camps, collaborated with other NGOs to increase our reach to over 1000+ people, 1 case study of helping a group of people
2. Volunteered for another NPO remotely - creating a platform called “sing for needs” - product owner leading a team of 8 to deliver the solution (~ 1 year)
3. Worked as a mentor to a undergraduate startup (~ 1 year)
- helped scale their business to 50+ clients in 6 months (from 10)
- helped the team to get incubated at Atal Incubation Centre

Post MBA goals:
Goal-1: I would like to work in technology in a general management or a product management role for a tech company like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Tesla, Apple, etc.
Goal-2 (Backup): I want to try management consulting for a while before moving to tech (hence the Jan intake, so as to secure a summer internship).

Questions:
My work experience is on the lower side, is that going to be a big concern for me?
Is my GMAT score enough to get into INSEAD? Since Indians generally tend to have higher scores?
I have experience interacting with international nationalities, but not travelled to those places. Will that be a big issue?

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Re: Profile Evaluation for INSEAD

by Jon@Admissionado » Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:21 pm
Congratulations on a top GMAT score an solid professional credentials. The INSEAD application is very long and very thorough, and in that way means you need to have a lot more excellent content than other schools applications (particularly the top US schools, many of which ask similar prompts so you can sort of recycle material if you know what you're doing). The good news is that your thorough eval request shows you to already have the 3D multi-dimensional that INSEAD seeks: NGO chartering, advancement at work, academic excellence (objectively and then relatively as #5 in your class), etc.

BUT As a male Indian engineer in tech, you come from one of the most (if not the most) competitive demographics which apply to INSEAD. You asked about your GMAT score and it's objectively very good, but Indian engineers get rejected from INSEAD all the time with higher scores PLUS IIT. The name of the game is making yourself stand out from other people who may be similar on substance in the resume (and/or may have the coveted IIT label). We help many guys in your shoes, and where we help them find success is in demonstrating what makes them unique, both in terms of their achievements AND their post-MBA passions and careers. This is strategic positioning

Given that, I have some advice given your write-up here:
- You're not too young for business school in general (in fact, you are 1 year younger than the average accepted age for US schools on par with INSEAD in terms of ranking), but you will be very young for your class at INSEAD. Applying at 25 will hamper your chances at this particular school. If you can wait even 2 years, I'd suggest you do that for INSEAD. If you do get into INSEAD, you may also find that you are less competitive vis-a-vis your classmates from an internship interviewing standpoint. Employers come to INSEAD in part bc their students are a little bit older and more experienced than other business schools. They've typically proven themselves beyond the entry level - they're more mature and have at least some managerial experience.
- I'd be careful about saying that management consulting is your *back up.* Even at a school like INSEAD (arguably the strongest pre-consulting program there is with a sizable portion of it's class going to M/B/B every year), management consulting is *competitive.* Lots and lots of super-qualified and intelligent people who recruit for it don't even get offers from second tier management consulting firms, even at INSEAD.
- Your professional aspirations, at first blush, seem pretty over-represented, especially for your demographic. *WHY* do you want to do these things? How do these career goals play to your existing strengths and your past achievements. INSEAD wants *known quantity* students who have already been successful in fields related to what they want to do.
- It would be good to noodle on your current role at Nutanix and see how you can make it differentiated from the typical Indian IT profile candidate. Because your employer isn't a household name, it's especially important to *be specific* about the value you add there (e.g., revenue under your supervision, $ value of contracts you oversea, $ of market potential of marketing plans you are developing). To the extent that it doesn't break any internal or confidentiality rules/norms, you may also consider including names of big clients/suppliers you work closely with, as this could add some name recognition and prestige signaling.
- Ditto with your extracurriculars. Make sure to emphasize IMPACT. So for the NGO - how many people were helped? How much money was raised? What specifically did *you do* to start the local chapter in Bangalore. I'm also worried that some of these extracurriculars are college-age. Make sure that you are still actively civically involved. This is especially true if you wait two years to apply to INSEAD.
- You asked about international perspective. Every school wants you to have an international lens and see the future business environment for the global world it is. But they tend to care a lot more about *earned* international expertise (e.g., working with an international supply chain, collaborating across cultures and geographies -- the way you likely do working for a U.S. firm, and bridging divides through shared interests and goals) vs. *bought* perspective (e.g. intentional vacations). So don't fret if you don't have a lot of international travel experience. Any top business school is going to have a ton of international students who can show you around their home country when the time comes. If you are able to raise your hand for international work trips so you can collaborate with international colleagues in person, I'd definitely do that.

I hope this is helpful. To the extent that further dialogue with an admissions consultant might be helpful as you prepare your target list or define your strategic positioning to differentiate your candidacy, feel free to sign up for a free consultation here: https://admissionado.com/free-consultat ... sultation/
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