Profile Evaluation and college selection

[Jhuma123]

Hi,
Can you please look into my profile and let me know which colleges should I select for sending my GMAT scores? I'm planning to write my GMAT on 28Jul2014 and expecting to score around 700. I want to do MBA in entrepreneurship. I would prefer to do in the top 20 MBA colleges in the world , US and Canada taking preference. But if I get a scholarship, location is not a preference. I'm looking for a full scholarship. Below is my profile

I'm a 32 year old Indian female.

Work Experience - 10 yrs
I'm working in one of India's top 3 software company and have worked there since 2004. I've started as a design engineer, have received 4 promotions and currently working as Quality Assurance Manager. I've managed team sizes of more than 10. I've worked at client locations in Canada and Japan. Currently I do quality counseling for more than 30 projects, where I assist the team in delivering value to client, drive improvements by using lean/six sigma approaches ,client feedback analysis, analyze project metrics using control charts and predictability models etc.

Academics
10th std: 80%
12th Std: 84%
B.E: 75%

Extracurricular:
I was involved in social service groups in the company and helped by distributing books in orphanages, teaching in schools, assisting in old age homes. But for the past 2 years, after motherhood,have not found much time for these. Have not many things to add in extracurricular.

MIT Sloan is my dream college. Is my profile suitable for applying?
Thanks in advance

Regards
Jhuma123

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hi jhuma123,

Thanks for posting in our new home here at Beat the GMAT! I'd like to address your profile a bit more holistically if possible before we chat about schools. It's important we're aligned so that the rest of the conversation is off the same page!

Academics

Let's assume you get the 700. That's a solid score and it starts with a 7. But it's still below the median for all of the top 10 and most of the top 20. You have a strong undergrad GPA but you didn't mention where you went to school. Also, is a 75% is 1st class? Distinction? A 75% from an IIT is a much bigger deal than a tier II / III local state university.

Professionally

You have some interesting experiences here. I especially like your international work assignments in Canada and Japan. It's also a plus you've been promoted but 4 promotions over 10 years is somewhat in line with expectations. You work for a large company, however, and that's always good to have on your resume. However, it's your leadership that's going to be important in conveying. Leading medium sized teams or multiple projects at once speaks to a lot of key themes. Overall, however, I would say your professional career to date has been pretty average - in line with expectations and what one would realistically expect to see in 10 years.

Involvement

I'm not concerned that your involvement has taken a back seat in the last couple of years to motherhood. I 100% understand. What concerns me, however, is that your involvement before wasn't exactly of impact or scope. By that I mean it's great that you got out there and volunteered but it was all about "doing good" versus "making a tangible difference". Also, it seems you were a member of these groups, versus leadership? So, all in all, it's good you have these experiences but they're not differentiators, unfortunately.

Goals & Schools

Ok, this is where you have to do a lot of work. And a lot of introspection. Entrepreneurship is coming out of left field. Nothing in your professional or personal experiences supports an MBA in entrepreneurship. Also, entrepreneurship is a wide ranging word. Do you mean work for a startup? Start a company? If the former, how big of a company? What is their ideal funding state? What industry? What function? Why you? I'm not saying your goal to get into entrepreneurship is a bad one but at the moment it seems highly cursory. If you're going to sell a goal like this, you have to be hyper specific and focused.

So if the above is what I think it is (a goal at the highest of levels) then why do you REALLY want an MBA? Is it to switch industries? Functions? Both? What else would you be interested in doing afterwards? What else is realistically an option for you? What do you want out of your MBA? Is it academics? Is it 2 years off to explore other options? Is it to launch your own idea?

Also, you're quite a bit on the older side so why an MBA now? Why not a part time or executive degree? Certain programs are slightly more accepting of older applicants than others (e.g. Europe) but there are things to consider there as well.

Help me understand that and THEN we'll chat about schools

The point of this reply was to start the conversation - I've asked you a lot of questions here. Some require some thought. Let me know what's on your mind and we'll have the conversation grow organically from there.

Bhavik

[Jhuma123]

Hi Bhavik,
Thanks for your response and thorough analysis.
Below is my response
1. Engineering: I've done from Utkal University which is not a IIT/NIT. 75% is a first class and a distinction
2. Professionally: I've led teams since my 1st year of work and led execution of 2-3 projects simultaneously. Max I've led a team of 15 people and led projects involving multiple teams and stakeholders. Currently I consult around 30 projects,I do a lot of change management,stakeholder management along with quality management and deal with many senior leaders in the organization.
3. Extracurricular: Is generally weak. Please suggest how to build my profile.
4.Why Entrepreneurship: My husband has started a company . The company is doing good and its in the IT sector in the same domain as mine. We want to grow it further for which we feel MBA would help networking, explore new techniques and methodologies and to be better equipped for future. I was never officially involved in the company in a big way but after writing my GMAT planning to take a active participation.
5. Part time/Exec MBA: As per my analysis networking cannot be done much in case of part time/Exec MBA. I will like to know your opinion as well.

Awaiting your response
Regards
Jhuma123

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hi Jhuma123,

Thanks so much for the additional info! From an extracurricular standpoint, it's a bit late in the game to really do anything here, unfortunately. If you join something now it'll be a pretty transparent effort. However, you could get a bit more involved at work if possible. Something non work related. Maybe thought leadership or a community building initiative? You want it to be subtle enough that it doesn't appear you're trying super hard to bolster this part of your profile.

Ok - so your entrepreneurship goals make more sense. If you haven't done much to date with the company, you'll need to convey concretely how an MBA will help. And, while networking is useful, that can't be your entire reason. When folks say "entrepreneurship" you can bet yourself the magnifying glass is coming out. Schools want to know you're not just throwing around buzzwords. You can definitely network in a part time / executive program but the network will be different.

So, with all this said, let's talk schools. All in, MIT is going to be a super stretch. Schools in the 10 - 20 range will be stretches with more aligned options ranked below that. What you're going to have to think through is why MBA = Entrepreneurship for you. If it's all network, then try to go for the best school possible. If it's resources or other factors, then you're going to have to do a bit of soul searching and research. One of the things factoring into the range of schools I've listed is your age. Schools outside the top 10 tend to be more accepting of older students. Which isn't to say there aren't folks in their 30s at each top 10 program (obviously there are) but average ages tend to be a bit higher a few ranks down.

Also - your GMAT is a huge wildcard here. I'm assuming you get a 700. But if you get a 650 or a 750, that'll change things. So you have two things to do in the next few weeks:

1) Have a think about what you want (really want) out of the MBA experience. How will it help you with your entrepreneurial pursuit?

2) Crush the GMAT!

Good luck and let me know if you have other questions. Also, let us know how the GMAT goes!

Bhavik

[Jhuma123]

Hi Bhavik
I scored a 680 today. I am targeting for MIT Sloan, Tepper college, NYU Stern, Tuck and Rotman at Toronto. I want a scholarship. Should I retake the GMAT

[Jhuma123]

I scored a 680 today. I am targeting for MIT Sloan, Tepper college, NYU Stern, Tuck and Rotman at Toronto. I want a scholarship. Should I retake the GMAT

[Jhuma123]

Retook and scored a 720 today

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Woohoo! Congratulations! That's fantastic news! Now get cracking on those applications!

Bhavik