Profile evaluation

[tanviagrawal]

Hi mbaMission!

Following is a quick summary of my profile:
- GMAT score: 720 (Q49, V39, AWA not known yet)
- Qualifications:
Chartered Accountant (Qualified in 2010)
B.Com.(Hons), Shri Ram College of Commerce (2006-2009)
- Work experience:
2 years post qualification experience with a Big Four firm: 1 year in audit as a senior associate, 1 year in Risk Consulting with a recent fast track promotion to the post of Assistant Manager.
Chartered Accountancy also includes 3.5 years of full-time training. Of this 3.5 years, I did 1.5 years with a Big Four firm. But I guess B-schools do not count this as professional work-ex.

- Career goals: Aim to get into Corporate Finance or Management Consulting. In the long run, I wouldn't mind a business leadership role in the industry.

Professional achievements:

- Got promoted to the current position within 10 months of joining the Practice. The regular promotion cycle is about 2 years.

- Have in-charged one of the first financial reporting support clients of the Firm which involved establishing operational and review processes, contracting vendors, calibrate client expectations etc. Due to excellent client management, the engagement has grown to become one of the largest ongoing engagements of the Practice and other practices of the Firm are also able to leverage our client relationship to offer their services portfolio.

- Was part of the engagement team that was investigating one of the largest financial statement frauds in India in the recent time.

- Possess experience in working on audits of large sized companies belonging to diversified industrial sectors including FMCG, Newspaper Publishing, Real Estate and Hospitality. As part of conducting audits, visited various manufacturing plants thereby gaining valuable operational level exposure

- Was amongst the first few trainees in my batch at the Firm to independently handle an audit assignment - Successfully in-charging a team and carrying out the audit of 8 group companies.



Academic achievements:

- Was amongst the 9% and 10% students passing the exam of the total students appearing in CA Intermediate (Nov 2008) and CA Final (Nov 2010) examinations respectively.
- Secured a First Division and was amongst the top 20% of my batch in the 2006-2009 batch of Bachelors of Commerce (Honours) course in my college and secured 72% in aggregate while pursuing Chartered Accountancy during college.
- Won scholarships for being a school topper in class XII and scoring above 90% in Class X.
- Won the Scholar title for 7 consecutive years (2000 - 2006).


Queries:

- Is 2 years of post qualification work-ex enough to aim for a good b-school? I personally feel that this might not be enough for the top 10 US schools.
- Do you think Europe is good bet, given the economic conditions? I will be financing MBA through an education loan and therefore don't want to take chances with post-MBA employment.
- Will it be realistic to aim for a scholarship in either US or Europe? If yes, which schools should i look at?
- Do you think that my profile would be competitive for Asia schools? I'm looking at ISB, HKUST, NUS, Insead (S'pore). These schools also seem attractive for their cost of education.
- I'm 24 years old right now and almost any school I join, I will be one of the youngest kids of the batch. B-school grads have warned me that the youngest people in the batch find it quite hard to succeed in campus placements? Do you think this is true?

Thanks for your time!

[mbaMissionJenK]

Hi there,

Thank you for sharing your profile and situation. Congrats on the strong GMAT score and academic and professional achievements. You are correct in that 2 years of work experience is less than average; US schools tend to have an average of 3-4+ years, and in many cases European schools average 4-6 years (a few even require 3 years or more). You may want to consider working another year to strengthen your profile, and during that time really research and consider your options--what specific roles are you looking for in your short- and long-term post MBA career? Where do you see yourself geographically? What types of organizations to you hope to work for and does that affect what programs you apply to? How much are you able to invest/finance in terms of the cost of the program? Are you looking at one year or two year programs? Those are the types of questions to really dig into and ask yourself as you prepare for this process.

You will also want to be sure you can illustrate your people skills and teamwork skills, since your background and resume already showcases your quantitative accomplishments.

Many schools offer financial aid packages, including scholarships and loans, yes. Loans are more common that scholarships but you can research both general and school-specific scholarships. Yes you could be competitive for Asian b-schools as well... what you want to focus on is what is your end goal... AFTER the MBA, and that affects what programs you should aim for (in addition to your scores and profile). The Asian b-schools are ideal if you are planning a career in Asia for example. That doesn't mean you have to stay in Asia afterwards, but think about it-- if you spend 1-2 years in a given city and country, it will be a lot easier to make connections in that local area and to find opportunities there when you graduate, if desired.

Finally, there are two downsides to being younger-than-average within the class. One is that you may feel you have less to bring to class discussions, and so much of business school is based on learning in groups and learning from one another's experiences. Secondly, it is true that when looking for that post-MBA job, the companies you apply to are looking at not only the MBA, but also the experience you had before the MBA, so yes in terms of senior management opportunities and/or things like starting salary, it is POSSIBLE that with less work experience and fewer leadership opportunities, etc, your opportunities could be more limited than if you worked some more first. That said, careers services at the top-ranked global b-schools are excellent and the reputation of those schools opens many doors, if you were accepted.

I hope I've given you some more to think about. Good luck on this journey!