TotalGadha GMAT

Akshay asked a query in my last post. It was an interesting query, especially from Indian Applicant’s point of view. I didn’t want this query to be lost in my comments section so I decided to put all the converstion in a new post. My replies are in blue.

Hi,
Currently, i am 21 years of age and have 2 years and 9 months of work experience. Surprised ????
Ya every1 gets surprised. My DOB is July,1987. It so happened that I got 3 double promotions during my schooling and hence was able to complete my schooling at 15. Just after that I got admit into an engineering college and completed my engineering at 19. After that i started working with an MNC and its been almost 3 years that I am working.
In december, I gave GMAT and scored 580. I was expecting a less score though not this less. Somewhere around 630-650. Well thats a history.
I applied to 3 universities in Canada( University of British Columbia, HEC Montreal, McMaster University) and 3 Universities in USA (University of Oklahoma, San Diego State University, UMass Boston) for fall 2009. I have got rejections from all the universities and the reason from 1-2 universities is my age. Though, they dint say this in the rejection mail but when i spoke to them it appeared that they were not convinced of my age and were suspicious if m doing any fraudelent activity.
I am in strong need of an admission into a B-School this year. Please suggest what can be done in order to handle this situation.
Thanks
Akshay

Hi Akshay,
Actually I am not surprised. My mom had two double promotions herself and she was doing her masters at the age of 19. She was a National Scholarship holder. But yes, such cases are becoming very rare these days so it’s definitely an achievement. Before I suggest anything, I would like to know a bit more about your extra curriculars and why you want to do an MBA from abroad. Have you given any thought about doing an MBA from India? Also, I would like to know about your work experience a bit elaborately.
On second thoughts, being an early career candidate, you must target a score of atleast 720-730.
Read this post: Business School Profiles- Work Experience

Hi Dagny mam,
Its gr8 to know some1 who actually can understand my situation coz till date I have not been able to make any1 believe that I am 21. The reason could be my white & thinning hairs also…

Academics
I did my schooling from a small town of Uttar Pradesh. About engineering, I am an electrical & electronics engineer from MIT, Manipal with a CGPA of 2.8/4…. Though as per the university norms, on conversion this is equivalent to 70.4% but in US they don’t consider it a gd GPA.

About extracurriculars
I was involved in many clubs in college and lead a college club for an year. from my school days itself, I am involved in serving the society in my little own way. During school, I represented Lion’s International Club and in college i represented Rotary club for this better cause. As of now, I am one of the CSR co-ordinators of my office.
About games, I play cricket but never played at any district or any level. Always played in hostel lobbies and my nearby park.

Y MBA from abroad ??
I think wat an MBA has to provide me is the international exposure which i presently lack. The world is getting more and more globalized and at this time I believe that I have been in India for lot many years and this is the time to go unveil an opportunity of studying with people from different cultures,backgrounds and countries. Also, it would futhur polish my communication skills in a better way which I would say are not gr8 at this point of time. Also, above all after my MBA, I wish to earn in dollars and an MBA from abroad will make it easy to achieve this dream…. I simply said the truth here. It might sound foolish to people that I am saying i wanna do an MBA as i need a gd pay package but as a matter of fact, i dont see any bad in this. Every1 who takes a degree want returns on it n so do I. As of now, the whole motive of doing an MBA from abroad is to polish myself in whatever ways possible and to secure a gd pay package. Also, not very sure but till now I have plans of moving towards IT sector after my MBA.

Work Experience
I am working with Tata Consultancy Services from Aug’06. I have worked with 2 relationships of TCS till date and has been recently allocated to a different relationship of TCS. In my first project, I was responsible for the delievery of code assigned to me and also to train the resources who joins the project.
In my second project, I looked after 6 resources and was the module lead.
Apart from being the module lead & developer, I was involved in designing high level designs, low level designs, team building, etc. We, as a team covered 100 days of slippage existing in the project which was praised a lot by the senior management of the company. I have recently been allocated to a new projected wherein I will be working as a developer. Since, I just entered this project and its a big account, I have not been given any leadership role.
I guess this covers almost everythg asked by you. Please temme if ya need any more inputs.

Thanks
Akshay

Hi Akshay,

There are two reasons that I see why you didn’t get accepted at Business Schools last year.

1.    Low GPA
2.    As you have mentioned that you are working on your communication skills, I am assuming that you must have lacked in writing compelling essays. There are candidates who have stellar grades, excellent work experience, good ECs etc but they lack in telling their compelling and coherent story so they get rejected. The rule is simple -Business Schools sell themselves to you and you sell yourself to Business Schools.

Let’s see what all would work in your favour.

• Your double promotions that you got in your school days. Although higher weightage is given to your undergrad GPA but in your case, promotion such as this is a significant achievement. I have one more thing coming to my mind. You said that you did your schooling from a small town in UP, so under which board are you qualified? CBSE or UP board? I am assuming that it is UP Board. It’s difficult to get double promotions in any board but your essays should not reflect anywhere that getting a double promotion form a state board is easier. Again, your essays would play a role here.
• Your work experience- You have worked in leadership and managerial capacities so it looks compelling. You might not have been given a leadership role in your current project but since it is an important project, I suggest that you gain maximum experience from it. Grab any opportunity that comes in your way while doing this project. A simple example can be tackling a conflict among the team members and bringing them on a common consensus to get the project run smoothly. TCS is a big name but the chances of getting lost in a crowd in such big company are also high. It is important you are able to differentiate your unique candidature through your essays. Your Rotary Club experience should elaborate on how it is helping in bringing the change in the society.
  
• Extra Curriculars- It is more important that you demonstrate what exactly you did while you were leading and managing XYZ things. Elaborate on your learnings. Bring significant examples and anecdotes from your learnings. Your extra curriculars bring the lighter side of your personality forward. If the school that you are applying to has a club of your interest, through your essays, you can show how you would contribute to that club.
  
• High GMAT Score- It is very important that you score high in GMAT. Somewhere you would have to demonstrate that you would be able to handle the pressure of rigorous MBA programme offered by the school. Your undergrad GPA definitely doesn’t help you in demonstrating that. So try to achieve a score of around 720-730 in GMAT.  The catch is that you attain a balanced score in both Quant and Verbal section. A 99 percentile in one and 50 percentile in other section would not be called as good GMAT score. Considering that you have weak verbal, I suggest that you pick up a course in English that would help you in honing your communication and writing skills. It is also important that you get good grades in this subject. This way you can always show that you are a self aware person, who has worked hard in overcoming his weaknesses. You would also be writing your essays yourself, it would be an ideal place to demonstrate your strong verbal skills.
• Recommendations- These would play an important role again. Apart from what you have said about yourself through your essays, Business Schools would like to know what your peers and seniors think about you. Your recommender should elaborate on your qualities whilst supporting his statements by adding the examples from the projects that you must have done under his supervision. You can request your recommenders to comment positively on your communication skills as well.
• Essays: These have to be stellar in your case. Telling your Why MBA story at such young age would be utmost important. Business schools would definitely want to know about your aspirations and why MBA is the right path for you. Since you are from an IT background, why not some other master’s programme?  You have to tell your story about how MBA would fit in your career goals. Your clarity about what matters most to you and what is that you want to achieve should clearly come forward in your essays. You must give all the reasons to Business Schools about what makes you a competitive candidate.

Everyone wants to go to a Business school to earn fat packages but there are bigger reasons for doing an MBA. Networking, studying among the people from diverse backgrounds, mentors etc. are some of the reasons. I would not suggest writing about the money part explicitly in your essays. Business schools would like to know how you would fit in their class or how would your contribution make a difference to the class if you get an admission. If you get through a good Business School, good package and a good profile would automatically follow you.

I would not call you an early career applicant strictly. Candidates who are either fresh out of college or with 0-2 years of work experience would be addressed as early career applicants. You are on the younger side of the applicant pool but that doesn’t make you any less competitive, if you play your cards right. Business Schools such as Columbia, Stanford, UCLA, Chicago Booth welcome younger applicants provided that you are able show how your MBA plans fit in your career goals. As a younger applicant you need to demonstrate your clear focus, maturity and your reason for doing an MBA. This would come through your essays.

You mentioned that you are not clear about your plans. If you are not, then it’s time that you do a lot of soul searching before finally deciding.
Why MBA?
Why now?
Do you really need an MBA to move up in the ladder?
What do you want to do after you complete your MBA?

Honestly, you are too young to answer all these questions. But Business Schools would not admit you until and unless you show your clear focus about what exactly you want out of your life.

Every year I see candidates taking GMAT just because they are not able to clear CAT. Do you think cracking GMAT is easier? Don’t take me wrong but this has become a norm among Indian applicants, if not CAT then let’s take GMAT. You would be spending boat load of money by doing an MBA from abroad, it is important your money spent is worth it. As far as your perception about Business Schools getting suspicious of your age, Business Schools do enough background checks to ensure that they are taking the right candidate.

As of now, take the diagnostic test and see where you stand. For this season, you would have to pull up your socks. Schools would be opening up their applications anytime from next week onwards. The first deadline would fall somewhere in mid of October. Take your GMAT by 10th July maximum so that you have enough time in hand to fix up your application. Start doing your school research asap. This would not only help you in deciding the right school for you but also would help you in clearing your doubts about why you want to do an MBA.

Hope this helps.

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