Applying for your MBA? What Matters Most on the Path to Admissions

I'll never forget how nervous I was when I was first started applying for my MBA. The whole process can feel like a terrifying experience when you first start applying to schools, but should you put in the work and time, you'll be accepted to a great program and on your way to obtaining your MBA in no time.

Looking back, I wish I had someone to help me get through the MBA application process. Don't get wrong; the application itself wasn't hard to figure out. The most difficult process was knowing what areas I should focus the most energy on, whether it be my GMAT scores, letters of recommendation, work experiences, or volunteer time. If you're about to start the MBA application process, here are four areas you should focus on the most.

Work Experiences

It's easy to say you have an interest in something; it's an entirely different story to prove that you do. Before turning in your MBA application, make sure to draw attention to any and all work experiences that indicate you have a strong interest in business administration. People with all different kinds of majors eventually decide to get their MBA, but what matters most to admissions is what you did with your degree(s) after college. If you have absolutely no work experience, perhaps it would be a good idea to take a job at an evolving, ambitious company for a while and mention that unique experience when you decide to apply for your MBA the second time around.

Letters of Recommendation

On paper, we can make ourselves sound fantastic, but without people to back us up, we are just spouting a bias point of view. Whenever you're applying for your MBA, seek out those teachers, mentors, and colleagues who inspired you to drive forward in your career and ask them to write your letters of recommendation. It's always best to choose someone who knows you and your work ethic very well, so your letter will sound genuine as opposed to generic.

Essays

I think essays are the most important part of the admission process. Think of it this way: the essay is the only place in the whole application process that you really get to express your passion, creativity, ambition, and enthusiasm. Through your words, you'll be able to emphasize why it is you want an MBA and what you plan to do with it years down the road. Never underestimate the importance of essays because the last thing you want to do is put your enrollment opportunity in jeopardy just because you didn't care enough to write one or two essays well.

Academic Performance

Sorry to break the news to you, but your prior academic performance is one of the most important things to MBA admissions. So if you did extraordinarily well during your bachelor's or master's degree program, that's great; make sure to highlight that in your application. If you didn't do that well, perhaps you should focus more on the areas in which you did succeed, such as work experiences, awards, volunteering, etc. It's not a complete deal breaker if you didn't get straight A's in college, but just remember that an MBA is an educational program, so you'll certainly have to put in the work to do well when and if you do get accepted to a program.

GMAT Scores

Last but certainly not least, the GMAT is one of the most important factors in applying for a good MBA program. The GMAT is a strong indicator of your potential for academic success, so it's important that you dedicate enough time preparing for this required exam. If you've been out of college for a few years, it's probably best you spend a little extra time studying for this exam. Should you not do all that well on the GMAT, however, you can always take the test over again, and although your GMAT score is important, it's only one part of the admissions process. To get into a great MBA program, focus on creating a well-rounded application and don't fret too much over your GMAT scores.

Getting an MBA isn't for everyone, but should you find yourself interested in getting a business administration degree, make sure to put the most work into these four areas of your application.

Katheryn Rivas is a freelance writer and resident blogger at online universities, a site dedicated to distance higher education. She welcomes your comments at katherynrivas87@gmail.com.


Don’t Bend the Truth when Applying to Top B-Schools: 4 Things Admissions Will Always Check

When it comes time to apply to business school, the process of application can often be more overwhelming than the decision about which school to attend. There are so many I’s to dot and T’s to cross, that making sure you have included the correct information on your application can take some effort. And, because all the information in this tiny acceptance packet can either make or break your chances to get into the B-school of your choice, it can be tempting to, shall we say, bend the truth here and there. However, the top business schools in the country are more than prepared to thoroughly vet their applicants. Once your application has been accepted and moves into processing, it will be gone over and verified. Here are the top five areas where admissions will make sure applicants have their facts straight:

1. Undergrad Attendance

The first thing that a business school will check on is that you actually did attend and graduate from the schools that you listed on your application. Make sure that you include the correct dates, and the correct institution names.

2. Grades

You may feel the desire to bump up your GPA by rounding up. But, remember, this will be one of the first things schools will verify. If it looks like you don’t know how to round properly, your business school application may be thrown in the trash.

3. GMAT Score

Business schools will always check up on your GMAT score. Even if you include the correct documents, the admissions department, or an outside company, could be required to make follow up calls to verify that your GMAT scores are above board.

4. Employment Information

If you are thinking about bending the truth about your employment history, you are going to need a long trail of falsified information and collaborators. Business admissions will surely make calls to the past employers listed on your resume, regardless of the amount of time you spent there. They have the power to do as much fact-checking as they like about everything from start and end dates to salary.

5. Recommendations

If you list someone to vouch for your character, whether it be personal, professional or academic, make sure that they will be able to verify any of the information you have used as part of your application. If stories don’t match, it could signal a red flag for admissions

This is a guest post by a Houston-based writer, Jane Smith blogs about the importance and difference a thorough employment background check can make. For more information feel free to contact her at janesmith161@gmail.com.

ARINGO: GMAT Below 720? Get Accepted!

Aringo has helped hundreds of people with GMAT scores below 720 get accepted to the top MBA programs by bringing out the real person behind the application. Founded by a former Wharton Admissions Committee Member, we know what the top business schools are looking for, and we will help make sure that your strengths will emerge in your application.

Aringo and a-myjourney.blogspot.com are Admission Consulting Partners now. What does that mean? While signing-up with Aringo, make sure to tell them that a-myjourney.blogspot.com sent you and you would avail discounts.

Aringo Consulting Group Provides you with:

> Aringo helps candidates with GMAT scores below 720 get into the top-10 MBA programs.
> Free initial assessment
> Admission rate higher by 50% on average than normal admission rates for the top programs
> Round Table Strategy

Aringo’s clients have been accepted at Harvard (MBA) with GMAT scores of 580, 660 and 670; at Wharton with GMAT scores of 640, 660 and 670; at Duke with GMAT scores of 600 and 640; at INSEAD with GMAT scores of 630, 640 and 650; at MIT with GMAT scores of 660 and 680; at LBS with GMAT scores of 630, 650 and 660; at Kellogg with GMAT scores of 640 and 680, and many more…

Aringo Video: A top MBA with a GMAT Score < 720.

Ready to get started? Sign up with Aringo, make sure and tell them a-myjourney.blogspot.com sent you to avail discounts, and get started with your admissions process today!

  

How to improve your chance of getting into a business school?

As everyone of you might know, there are two stages of getting accepted into a business school. Your written application in which you need to market yourself and your interview in which you need to sell yourself. Improve on these two and you improve your chance of getting accepted. Simple?

Improving written application: A business school written application has many pieces, some of which you can improve and others you can't. Ideally, to stand qualified and competitive for a top-notch business school, all the pieces should be up to the par, which couldn't be possible for many. So the idea to improve your overall chance is to improve your best on the pieces you can improve to compensate on those which are below average and couldn't be improved. Below listed are the written application pieces:

1. GMAT: Try to score good i.e. 720+. This might compensate for the low GPA.

2. Resume: A good one page Resume could create a lasting impression. Jump to my earlier post to know about resume building in detail.

3. Essays: Your stories are the most important and could set you apart. They must be compelling but at the same time easy to comprehend.

4. LORs (Recommendations): This is also a very important piece and depends on how well you select your recommenders. Your recommenders must know you well and could back up your stories.

5. Professional Growth in both title and responsibilities: The companies you have worked with and the growth curve both in the title and responsibilities are very important. Remember, schools are looking for the leaders both in professional and personal life. Secondly, how many from your company have made into good business schools makes a difference. Means if you are working in company X where 1 of every 10 gets into a business school, improves your chances quite a bit.

6. Extra Curricular and community work: You can't improve much on these except you are planning to apply after a year or two and have enough time to work on these. But don't join just for the sake of the mentioning it your application. Be very serious about it, else they will make out in the interview.

7. University and GPA: Where are you graduated from? If it is a renowned university like IIT and is heard by the admission committee makes a difference. You can't improve these but could compensate.

Improving your interview: Interview is the final but the toughest part of the admission game from your side. No matter how perfectly who have marketed yourself in your written application, but if you can't sell it in the interview, they won't buy you.

You are at the interview stage means admissions committee likes your application and is interested in knowing more about you. Mostly a business school interview goes for 30 to 60 minutes and this is the time where you need to back up your written pieces, most importantly your essays and professional responsibilities, in a very smart and impressive manner, and this requires your soft skills, improving those is not easy and demand a lot of time. Below listed are a few ways:

1. Keep your responses short, succinct and to the point.

2. Rehearse your responses before the interview. You could record your responses for the basic interview questions (like why MBA?) and improve by listening and practicing them time and again. You could also practice in front of a mirror to get more confidence.

3. Take mock interviews with your friends and ask them for the honest feedback.

4. Take mock interview with the experts. There feedback is worth the money.

5. If you have enough time and not good enough communication skills, join a communication course / class and improve your communication skills to the best you could.

Hope this helps improving your chance of being accepted into a business school.

Best!

A

Kellogg essays and ApexWriters

I am done with my applications long back and was interviewed by couple of schools including Kellogg. Got busy with my personal life and also wanted to take a break from tiring application process so didn’t blog.

As I posted earlier, I deferred my Kellogg application to round 2 as I was not confident of my essays in round 1. And, then I decided to take help from a professional service which can give me some critical feedback. One of my friends redirected me to ApexWriters where a group of graduates from business schools provide a feedback and editing service. I found their service absolutely suitable and decided to hire them for solely Kellogg essays.

They offer various services and the service I took (Scratchpad service) included two discussions over telephone one hour each and then three rounds of reviewing and editing for each essay, including unlimited email exchange.

I fixed my first meeting and sent all my essays to the counselor assigned to me. He called me on time and we took our first essay. He told me absolutely what's wrong in my story and even appreciated what's right. He broke my essay and explained what's impressive and what's not. He also explained me in detail what to keep in mind and how to draft a story more effectively. We were able to discuss over only two essays in first meeting. Following his feedback, I was quickly able to fix my essays and send them over.

Within 24 hours, he returned my essays with detailed review on almost each paragraph. All his comments were elaborate and made real sense. The purpose is to give feedback on overall strategy of the essay as well as on the minute details. He even pointed out what's missing from an admission committee perspective. That was really impressive. We followed the same for other essays and after the two rounds of reviewing each essay, the last round was for language editing. Following this entire process, I felt confident that my essays are up to the mark and in ready to submit state.

ApexWriters service was a relief for me. I found them very ethical and supportive in their approach which was exactly I was looking for. I really vouch for them.

Results of Kellogg are pouring in and I am desperately waiting for some good news.

All the best to all of you waiting,

A

Disclaimer: I have received 20% discount on service fee for review on ApexWriters services on this blog. However, these views above are purely from my experiences and the reader should assume that discount that I am availing does not impact my analysis above.

Cambridge Judge business school - submitted

Just submitted my Cambridge Judge business school after multiple reviews and spell-checks with few friends and myself. The Cambridge announces the interview decisions in November first week and result in just 2-3 days post interview. I was just talking to my friend today in London that if I get an interview call, I might fly to Cambridge for the one day exclusive school visit plus interview. So, the fingers are crossed as usual and a little tighter this time ;-)

A few updates:

1. ISB interview calls are floating in pagalguy forum but I'm still checking my inbox for the same.

2. Planning to submit Richard-Ivey in two days.

3. Post which I could concentrate completely on Kellogg.

Time to sleep!

A

Star wars and the bschool essays

As I mentioned earlier, I am in constant touch with BTG CEO, David Park discussing over various topics including BTG $100K challenge, SLP, writing good narrations for essays et al.

Today he sent me an assignment to complete before moving to R2 applications. And, to my surprise, the assignment is to watch 70 minute video review of star wars: phantom menace: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/17/watch-this-70-minute-video-review-of-star-wars-the-phantom-menace/

Embarrassed I admit, I have not seen original star wars and the more recent star wars phantom menace, so he recommended me to watch them first before watching this review.

He says:

this probably sounds really weird to you. after all, what does making a movie have to do with writing business school essays right? imo, those two things are very closely related. ultimately, writing a good essay is all about telling a good story. the 70 minute video review has some very cool ideas about what makes a story good.

Interesting huh!
A

Northwestern Kellogg - Part I submitted

This time I didn't cross checked it hundred times before clicking the submit button. Just twice. One alone and one with my brother for spell check. Feeling pretty confident and hoping for the best.

Next one is Cambridge on Oct 4. I'm a re-applicant there. Drafts of 2 essays are ready and sent for review, and today I would work on 3rd essay. Will try to finish it as soon as possible so as to move on Kellogg ones again.

Day after tomorrow is my first SLP full day class. Pretty excited about it.

Feeling tired and not in a mood to write more, so winding up!

A

Did I plan it well?

"That means you didn't plan it well," my younger brother said to me last night, when I was discussing about not-so-good shape of my applications.

"Didn't I plan well?" this question stood straight on my face many times, but I never thought it would again haunt me this time. I started working on my applications in May, and was (am) very sure of R1, but things didn't happen the way I expected. So, what went wrong?

1. Yeah this sounds impossible, still give it a try - It's not bad to give a try, but everything comes with a cost, and sometimes the high priorities suffer. Reliance-Stanford scholarship essay was one such try. Though I knew it was next to impossible to get that scholarship given the seats available, I devoted complete May to it. You see, my high priorities i.e. my shortlisted schools applications were just not started.

2. Too many things on the platter - To improve my academic qualification, I enrolled in CABM course. Though I knew it was a very demanding course and I would have just 3 months for its exam, I thought I would manage. I studied every night 2-3 hours after my busy office hours. Then did it affect my essays? Well, yes. I did split my weekend time in essays and CABM and NGO work - needless to say that wasn't enough. By June end, I was done with 40 of 120 CABM chapters, but just 1 or 2 rough drafts of my essays. Clear compromise on essays, right? To write CABM in August end, I'd to comprise like that till August. Not affordable, so in mid-July I postponed CABM exam for December or later. But by then, my applications were already affected by 1.5 months.

3. Reviewers, would they gonna help on time - You always need some good trusted people to review your essays. You plan that you give complete your essays draft 1 or 2 months in advance and would send them for review. Awesome plan! But what if your reviewers won't have time to review when you want their comments. Your planning flops. My friend and I sent our essays to around 7 people who know us personally, but it took 4 weeks for the first reviewer to respond, and finally he didn't like our essays. The August was over.

4. Unforeseen unavoidable stuff, phew! - My first cousin getting engaged and I have to fly there; 3-4 days gone. My best friend has his first anniversary and his vacation plane goes over my city, so he planned to extend his holidays and will stay with me for 5-6 days. I mean this is my peak time, but all these things has to happen now.

5. Admission consultants, do i need them - No one would know your stories better than you. But a good admission consultant would plan it better, explore it better, and write it better. I decided to write my essays on my own and I didn't hire anyone. Was I wrong?

So, sometimes when you start things much in advance and work really hard on them, still due to many reasons your planning failed. My brother was not right when he said "That means you didn't plan it well," but he was not wrong either. Whatsoever, planning is one skill I would surely hone during my MBA!

Breaking down, but still on with R1!

A

In conversation with David Park, CEO of Beat The GMAT

Some wonderful things happen without a knock and leave you elated. Such one thing just happened. I just had an hour long conversation with David Park, CEO of Beat The GMAT. He left me totally stunned by his vivacious and grounded personality.

Why this conversation? As I mentioned in my earlier post that David has offered me some help related to bschool apps and that help was to review my bschool resume. Today we scheduled this. But before my resume we started with his introduction. He has done so many amazing things in his career with so many big names in his resume. Totally mind blowing.

Then we started talking about my resume, and he said my resume is just awesome with zero flaws. As per him, it is one of the best resumes he has seen in a while from an IT guy. And, he gaves a few reasons that why he felt so. I was like whoa...it was unbelievable for me. So as my resume is certified now, I'm not going to change even a single bit of it :)

Then we took the discussion to a different level with chatting about Startup Leadership Program (SLP), which he is aware of and finds totally impressive. Then he asked me to become guest blogger for BTG to share SLP experiences. He is very busy with some exciting BTG programs but humbly agreed to provide me feedback on my essays. That's simply great! He made my fly by saying that "Just looking at your resume and talking to you for these few minutes, I could say you are going places, and I mean it." And finally we discussed about a few very exciting things related to bschool applications, which I would save for the future.

All in all, it was an awesome and informative discussion, and now I'm going to have a smiling sleep. Thanks David!

Good night!

A

Northwestern Kellogg - Leadership essay - Struggle continues...

I was not wrong when I said converting your content into compelling stories for bschool essays is toughest job, even though I love writing fictions and have a dedicated blog for the same.

In my last post, I outlined the structure of my leadership essay. But I've changed it now, and yet not finalized. When I drafted the first version of my personal experience, it came out very beautifully but took around 600 words. I tried to condense it but the more I deleted words, the more it lost its essence. So, I thought let's keep just one detailed experience in this essay. To confirm, I posted this question at several consulting blogs.

Thankfully, Linda from Accepted.com replied: "I recommend 1-2 experiences, but if you go with one, make sure it's really impressive and also bring out leadership in other essays."

To which I have one more question now: "I have two very impressive experiences - one personal and one professional. I have drafted both of them in compelling story form but both are taking minimum 400-450 words each, and reducing them in my limits means loosing their essence. Can I use one professional example in this essay and the personal one in additional essay?"

Hope to see some replies tomorrow morning,

Good night!

A

Northwestern Kellogg - Struggling with Leadership essay

From last 3 hours, I'm trying to frame a paragraph of my leadership essay, but yet not able to do so. My head is spinning now. I started this essay 4 days back because I thought it would be quite simpler than others as I have the content with examples ready.

I drafted the below mentioned outline (your comments are invited and needed):

1. A personal life experience long back in 2002 and my leadership learning from that - 200 words - drafted this for ISB essay.

2. How I evolved as a leader since then and a professional leadership experience - 200 words - drafted this for one essay last year.

3. What leadership skills I still lack, and how Kellogg would help me in gaining them - 200 words - have to draft this fresh, but had bullet points ready for what I feel I lack to be an effective leader.

So, my first draft was almost ready the very first day and as usual I sent it for review to my first reviewer mukaam. She was already aware of these examples, so she but obvious liked the content. But suggested to work on presentation, as it was not in a form of compelling stories, and we are targeting Kellogg. Actually she is reading '65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays', and when I read a few essays from that book, I was bound to agree with her.

So, since then I'm trying to transform my personal life experience content into a compelling story, but trust me guys it is the toughest job. I'm working from last 3 days and 3 nights, writing, deleting, writing again and deleting again, and I've completed just opening paragraph. The second para is making my head spin, but will get back to it after this post. Planning to write all night tonight, and hopefully before I crash on bed in the morning, I'll be done with the story of my personal experience. 

Anyways, my blog has completed 6 months and by the time I login again, it would touch 5K hits. It's a great feeling to see so many people visiting the blog and hopefully finding it useful in a way or other.

Keep visiting guys!!

A

Free Essay workshops from BTG

Sometimes it happens that you come back home so tired from office just to crash on bed. And when the door bell rang 100th time, it disturbs your sleep a little, making you get up from bed perplexed - when I slept? Did i have dinner? Is it mid-night? Why I'm alone, where is my brother? Is it morning? Am I late for office? It just happened to me. Thinking all this I walked to the door, opened it, and realised it was my dinner delivery boy, and it is evening, and I just slept 1.5 hours back.

Rubbing my eyes, I opened my mail box, and there was this mail waiting for me straight from the CEO of Beat The GMAT, David Park. I liked it because of three reasons:

1. David liked my blog and some posts in it. I liked his digital sign, dp.

2. He mentioned about few free B-School Essay workshops coming up. Must be very helpful. Details below.

3. He offered me some apps related services for free, now who doesn't like it :)

BTG in association with similar others big names in mba world are coming up with free B-School Essay workshops starting from next week. Over the next 4 weeks, they're going to have 9 sessions where an admissions consultant walks through every single essay from the top b-schools. Each of the 9 sessions will be devoted to a single school - the HBS session is next week. I encourage you to check it out. I've already enrolled myself to few of my choices.

I'm in total senses now!

A

ISB - A last moment hitch in submission

I never thought it would take me so much time to finally freeze my ISB essays. I gave myself the target of 15th August to complete the first version, which drifted to 22nd, when I wrote my last “yippie” post. Then my reviewers sent over comments, and I incorporated them. I myself didn't like few parts and rewrote them completely. And it was today i.e. 29th morning 6am, after editing my essays whole night, I was completely satisfied with them. I was all set to submit my application by today evening.

I completed the other sections of the application and uploaded all documents, to realise in the evening that I don't have scanned copy of my latest salary slip, but thankfully had a hard copy in my Visa documents folder, writing which makes me realise that I never posted about my US B1 Visa which I got stamped last Tuesday only. I should have blogged about it ya! Okay, then I got my salary slip scanned and uploaded it. I asked my reviewer to go through the entire application once for spell check, and though she was dead tired, she did that will as usual enthusiasm. It was 10:30pm and my ISB app was all set for submission. I was so happy that the first time I would submit my application not on its last day of submission i.e. 30th Aug, but seems it was not meant to happen.

I clicked on the last page and there was something new, “Upload scanned signature”. What the heck, it was never there before in any of the applications I submitted last year, it was totally unexpected. I somehow managed to get the scanned signature, and then the worst happened. I tried several times, but I am not able to upload it. It says saved successfully but when I go back to the screen, I am not able to see my uploaded signature and hence not even able to submit my application. Just wrote a mail to ISB and will call them tomorrow morning.

Just imagine if today were the last date, as it was last time when I was rushing through my app to submit it at 11:54pm, just 6 minutes before the closing window. Thank God this time it is not, but my excited feeling to submit my app before deadline date is vanished.

Lessons learnt:

1. Check all the sections of your application very minutely and try to complete them much before deadline, best even before you have started your essays.

2. Your targeted date to complete essays would definitely be missed, how hard you try to meet it. So always keep some buffer days for essays completion.

I’ll follow these lessons,

A

How I managed to upload signature?
I'm not able to post comments from my office system due to some weird reason, so I am updating my post itself with steps I performed to upload signature.


1. I signed again on a clean A4 white sheet.
2. Scanned it in 150dpi in jpeg format.
3. Changed its attributes using MS paint to 150 * 50 pixels. But this didn’t work and I was not able to see my signature.
4. Then I undo the same, and cut the piece around my signature, and saved only that piece as a new image.
5. Open this image and resized it to 150 * 50 pixels. This time it worked. Note: This time did not changed attributes but I actually resized the image.
6. Uploaded it successfully. You will see a link “click here to check uploaded signature” under the browse button, which would open a separate window with signature on top left corner, which means you are done.
7. Said “Thank God!!” and submitted my application.

It's kinda weird, but it worked for me. All the best!!

ISB Essays - A quick yippiee update

After a lot of thinking, juggling, and struggling, finally I've managed to complete a decent version of all my ISB essays and just sent them to my first reviewer mukaam. They are still flowing out of word limit but tommorow I'm going to discuss each essay with her in detail and hopefully finalize them soon after few more reviews from few other close people.

It's a yippiee moment!

A

Feedback interview - Tepper, Carnegie Mellon

Last night Laurie Stewart of Tepper called me for feedback interview. It was a scheduled interview but I wondered why my interviewer, Linwood Harris, didn't give me feedback. The duration of interview was not mentioned in the mail but it went for just 13 minutes, and seemed more like a formality. But seems feedback interviews happen this way only, in which they tell you everything but tell you nothing!

She started thanking me for applying to Tepper and asked whether I'm considering Tepper MBA again. Then she emphasised on listed four points:

* It was a very competitive pool this year, and it is too tough to point out strengths and weaknesses of an applicant in this kind of pool.

* My GMAT is fine and no need to retake it.

* Continuity to work on your leadership and give examples like contribution, problem solving, difference you make in company and so on.

* Apply preferably in later rounds like in round 2 or 3 - This one was a little strange to me. When I asked why she said to have more time to improve my profile.

To my surprise, without even asking me for any questions, she was about to hang up wishing me all the best with reapplication when I said "I had a few of questions to ask, may I?" 

 

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses in my application? - As, I told you in the starting that it was very competitive pool this year, and it is too tough to point out strengths and weaknesses. But yes your strong GMAT and work experience is definitely your strength and you should build on them. Show more work on your leadership and give examples.

2. Did my story make sense to you or do I have to work on it? – Yes, as I read your story, it was convincing. That’s why you were in waitlist, which means you are qualified for the school. 

3. Would Tepper consider my old application with my new one? If my career goals have become clearer now and thus would change a bit from the last time, how would Tepper consider them? – You have the option to submit complete new application or just additional essay telling your accomplishments since last time you applied. Yes, Tepper do have access to your previous file. And, if your career goal has changed, you must acknowledge the same it in your new essay.

4. Did my 740 GMAT score make up for my GPA enough, and if not, by how much do I need to compensate for that in other areas, and how? – Don't retake GMAT as it is very strong, plus you have good professional experience. GPA still matters but not to that extent as it would for a applicant with less years of experience. Additional course is not recommended from my side but it is completely your choice.

5. Do you get a huge number of applications from (software) engineers from India? If yes, by how much am I succeeding to stand out?

6. What do you recommend that I work on from now until the application submission in order to maximize my chances for admission?

It was 13 minutes over, and she said she had to leave and couldn't continue any further, and my last 2 questions remained unanswered.

Nonetheless, it's better than nothing!
A

An informative morning in discussion with Shobhit, a Kellogg student

After a long time I saw the beautiful fresh morning, yes after a long time. My office starts at 11 am, and if you have read my earlier posts you might be knowing that I sleep late (around 3 am) to get up late. Today I'd a meeting scheduled at 8 am with Shobhit Chugh, a Kellogg student and Mckinsey intern, and that gave a chance to enjoy a few clean breezes and an informative discussion.

We talked about tightly knit community and team orientated culture of Kellogg, and its the top notch faculty and students that still keeps Kellogg on the top.

Then the discussion revolves around my career goals, and he shared his views regarding them. It might be tough to get into a senior management role back in industry after working for few years in consulting, as consulting job majorly deals in making strategies, and does not give much experience in management. However, technology/product management could prove better than consulting for my long term career goal of a senior level director in an IT company. Secondly, if I don't enjoy travelling much, it would be a major challenge with consulting job, as there is no other go.

Then we discussed about the challenges with starting my own company and he said a bschool could be an awesome and safe platform to implement your ideas with smart people around, but post school, it becomes really challenging to take your company forward, under huge debts without financial backing. We also discussed about the new courses related to start-ups in Kellogg.

He was too supportive and asked me to post further questions over email. It was pretty good way to start a day among these essay writing days.

A

ISB Essay 1 is taking shape

I, like most of you, usually get time in the night to let the creative juices flowing for bschool essays. It's my third night in the row for ISB first essay "If we were to admit one more student to the class of 2012, make a compelling argument as to why that student should be you? (300 words max)." Its 3:55 am and am finding difficult to keep my eyes open as I'm writing this post but am glad that my essay took a decent shape tonight, content wise at least.  

The essay is a common (uniqueness + contribution) one in a slightly different language asking applicants to demonstrate their qualities (the unique, the better) which could set them apart from others and how their experiences would contribute to the learning of ISB community. The spectrum is wide to choose from to answer this essay, but requires time to pick the best ones which truly makes you unique.

I think I have picked the best ones for myself, or may be while writing my next draft I'd feel something better than my as-of-now best. Whatever it would be, one thing which I have to surely do tomorrow is to shorten my essay to fit in 300 words limit, as my essay is a little overboard...just by 800 words ;)

Good night,

A

IIMA - PGPX - 1 year MBA for Executives

Just came back from movie Aisha, and feeling so low. All my high hopes from the movie and more than that, from Abhay Deol have drowned. How could a class actor like him signed such a bakwas movie. The first 10 minutes of the movie made me realise my mistake of booking the tickets yesterday for this flick instead of Inception... No story line, poor dialogues, and incomplete useless scenes, but, but, but Sonam Kapoor is looking so rich, stunning, and stylish...She is the only attraction of this movie ;)

Overall the movie is too shallow. As I said there so many incomplete scenes and every scene seems disconnected with the following one, there seemed only quantity of frames but no overall quality, and thus no compelling story. This made me emphasise again that in bshools essays I must focus on the quality of my overall story and not the quatity of many small incomplete stories. Then only the story would be so compelling to connect adcom with it and with you.

Last whole week I worked on 6th and hopefully the final version of my Resume, and I'm glad to see that it is looking pretty decent. Got it critically reviewed by 2 friends and sent it for further review to an MBA student and my cousin from Harvard.

I have also completed IIMA - PGPX application form and planning to submit it tomorrow evening after one more round of review and cross check.

Quick facts IIMA - PGPX: Its an one year MBA which starts every year in April with class size of around 90 students. The last date of submission is 10th August and there is only one round. There is no application fee, no essays, and strangely, no resume asked right now. But once you get selected for an interview, there are a few essay questions and other requirements.

Admission criteria: GMAT, Leadership profiling, and Interviews. Average age is 34 years and average exp is approx 10.5 years.

The major placements in 2008-2009 were in Consulting and ITES $ IT sectors, and function-wise in Business Development, Consulting, and General Management. The average domestic salary offered was Rs. 20.10 Lacs and the average overseas salary offered was US $ 125,000.

I didn't apply to it last year and even this time it is not my dream school, but this time I want to keep my cards open and options wide. So I'm applying to it. How about you?

A

My experience with Princeton Review MBA admission service

Supposedly, this entry be published 2 weeks earlier when Princeton Review screwed up my senses, but then I went home for vacation and was chilled down. But still I feel to blog my experience with Princeton Review so my fellow MBA aspirants could make the right decision.

I took the Princeton Review MBA admission counseling last year. As I took my GMAT in Nov 2009 and was in rush to meet round 2 deadlines, I needed a correct and quick guidance. You must have sensed by now, Princeton Review terribly failed to provide me that, and to get me through any of the shortlisted schools.

My counselor always pretended to be very smart and knowledgeable, but for every question his first two answers were "I'll get back to you," and "Don't worry, you are in safe hands." He never bothered to know about my stories, forget his guiding on them. He read my essays only once just before applications submission, that too just for spell check or a formality. He always claimed that he is an interview expert but when he prepared me for it, I realised it was all waste. We planned a mock interview one day before my real interview, but he forgot that and didn't even bother to pick my call. Can you beat this? All in all I still don't know what was his role.

My essay editor was quite impressive lady. But she has her own limitations. Her role was majorly language correction and styling.

Finally, I didn't get through any of 5 schools. My counselor assured me that Princeton Review would provide me free service again for new 5 schools and later Princeton Review operations folks denied it and gave some excuses. I was not interested in their free services anyways as I decided to write my essays myself this time, but it made me realise that they don't care about career, they are just worried about their business.

The major role of these people should be to understand our stories, evaluate them, help us pick best ones out, and help them weave together to give a complete picture, without missing out any dimension and at the same time avoid writing redundant stuffs. Let us know about the great blogs and career related sites, pro-actively guide us through additional actions such as informational interviews, sessions etc. And then to prepare us for interviews by suggesting what to say, what not to say, how to say, et al.

The purpose of this post is only and only to share my not-so-good experience, so other interested guys could make the right decision.

Hope you guys will make the right choice,

A