Ask ARLee Consulting - Admissions Coach | INSEAD MBA | Samsung HR Head : Ask Admissions Consultants - Page 2

We will start this chat in around 30 minutes

This chat will start at 10 AM Pacific

1. Your posts will not show up immediately. We will publish them as they come in.
2. Do not ask your question twice.
3. Posts will be answered in the order that they arrive in.
4. Incomplete question will not be answered
5. You can ask any MBA Admissions related question [/textarea]

Welcome Everyone! To the live chat

Hello everyone. My name is Alex and I am the Founder and Lead Admissions Coach at ARLee Consulting. I’ll be happy to evaluate your profiles and answer any questions you guys might have. Just a little bit about me: I’m Spanish/Korean, I’m the former Director and Head of HR and CSR of Samsung Electronics Mexico and I obtained my MBA from INSEAD in 2011 (December Class). Today, besides being an admissions counsellor, I am also a career coach.
_________________

ARLeeConsulting, Thanks for joining

I will release profile evaluations requests one by one

UtkarshAnand wrote: • Indian
Q. Chances?
Q. Chances for MBB shortlisting?

Though you have been jumping around a bit, your current role makes your profile more interesting and will help you to stand out. If you score 760+ at GMAT, you might have a shot at M7. But you’ll be on the older side of the applicant pool, which will make things a bit harder.

As for INSEAD and LBS, your GMAT and age will be fine. But they (especially INSEAD) require international experience, which I don’t see in your profile. If you don’t have any international experience, both schools could be out of reach.

As for MBB, yes I do think you could get shortlisted. They hire people with experience in government all the time.

singhalh5962 wrote:
Questions:
I got admitted to Ohio State -Fisher college of business last year , Should I go there or try for a better school
What are my chances of going into a better schools, Will I have to improve my GMAT to do that
Which are the schools which can be in reach for an experience like mine.
What are my chances of getting a scholarship in those schools, How to increase those chances.

If I were you, I would probably talk to Ohio State and request a deferral and would apply to higher-ranked schools. But for that, you would definitely need to improve your GMAT score.

As you may know, the rule of thumb for Indian applicants is to score at least 20-30 points above the school’s GMAT average. You can use this to select schools that are within reach with your current 700, and you can also use it to have an idea of what your target GMAT score should be.

As for scholarships, your best shot is again at increasing your GMAT score and, of course, putting together an outstanding application.

rambhau1211 wrote:Targets: Harvard, Kellogg, Booth, Duke, Darden, Tuck, INSEAD

1) Looking to apply R1. Would like to gauge strength of my application for the mentioned schools.
2) I would also like to know about Scholarship opportunities for an overrepresented pool of candidates at these schools.

I would like to know whether your professional experience is in the US or maybe back in India. This could make a big difference.

In any case, for HBS, Kellogg, and Booth a higher GMAT score would be recommended. For Duke, Darden, INSEAD, and maybe Tuck, your 740 should do it.

Since your job seems very technical, my recommendation in your apps would be to try as much as possible to talk about the impact on the business you have had or are having.

As for scholarships, as I said in my last answer, a higher GMAT score always helps.

mankotiag wrote:
Questions-
1. which college and program should i go for which will help me achieve my long-term goal(Entrepreneurship ?
Any other colleges you want to suggest?
2. how can i highlight my strengths – Leadership, Community involvement and what do you find weakness in my profile? Suggestions you want to give to improve my profile/CV?
3. do you find my personal story strong and compelling enough?
how to present gaps and jumps in the career and failures in the startup ventures. with a scope to get an admission offer with scholarship..

Though there are schools that are known for being very entrepreneur focus (e.g. Stanford) you can become an entrepreneur attending any school.

Applications like NYU Stern, Fuqua, HEC Paris... leave ample room for you to showcase your leadership and community involvement, so just take advantage of their essays and make sure you include as much as you can in your resume.

I can’t comment on your story since you haven’t shared much, but there are always ways to present a compelling story.

Failures in startups are great sources for nice stories in the essays, so don’t hide them. We all fail and learn from our failures.
_________________

MMahadevan, Please ask your questions

ctst wrote:Questions:
-Other than GMAT, any other ways to mitigate my low undergrad GPA?
-Do you recommend HBX Core?
-Do you recommend I take GMAT or GRE?
-Any other schools you recommend would be a good fit?

Thank you in advance for your input!

I think your profile has potential.

GPA is indeed very important at your target schools, so definitely address that in the optional essays.

As you know, GMAT/GRE is the best way to show the schools that your GPA is no indication of your academic abilities. Therefore, prep hard for GMAT/GRE and, ideally, try to aim above the schools’ averages. Other than that, other things you could do is stress those experiences (academic or professional) where you showcased excellent academic skills (e.g. quant-heavy projects, research papers...).

I wouldn’t spend much time on HBX Core. Again, focus on GMAT/GRE instead.

GMAT vs GRE is really up to you. If you feel more comfortable with GMAT, go for it. Otherwise, go for GRE. Schools claim to have no preference for either test or, at least, taking one or the other should have no impact on their admissions decision.

Taking about fit with schools without knowing you well is always hard. My advice in these cases is to do as much research as you can and talk to as many current students or alumni of your target schools as you can. Also, if possible, visit the schools as well. I am not sure whether they are allowing campus visits these days because of COVID-19 though, but they are at least doing virtual tours. This is the best way to find out whether your fit with one school is good or not.
_________________

Everyone, We have around 15 more minutes left in this chat session.

Dk03, Your query is incomplete

sahiba96 wrote:1) Please provide a general profile evaluation whether the schools are a right choice and classified correctly??
2)How to quantify accomplishments in community work. I know it’s vague qsn but is it okay to not have too much quantification here??

3)Also as a part of my story, is it okay to mention that I am an introvert but still have leadership skills?? or will it raise eyebrows??

With your GMAT score, I don’t think there are any safe schools on your list. For the same reason, I would not consider Tuck a target school. But GMAT is not everything, so if you are able to put together strong applications, you could get accepted to any school. Indian from tech is a very crowded applicant pool, so I would focus my apps on showing impact on business.

If you can’t quantity achievements in community work is okay, but in my experience, you can always find a way.

B-schools prefer those applicants who know for sure will participate actively in class discussions, campus events, etc... While you could still be active as an introvert, I would not mention it in your apps as they could have their doubts.
_________________

sk2020 wrote:Questions-
1. Between Cornell and Darden which would be better suited for my post mba goals? Both of them seem to have their pluses
2. I’ve extremely debt averse so are there any other schools I should consider where I have a decent shot at scholarships and good employment options
3. Are there any safe schools I should look at given my profile?
4. Since I have no international experience apart from working with international stakeholders, would I be better applying to Cambridge than Oxford given the latter’s focus on int. exp?

It’s always good to meet HR professionals wanting to do an MBA.

I think you could land an HR consulting job at any school. Just check their employment stats and make sure HR consulting firms are among the companies that recruit their graduates.

Unfortunately, talking about chances of scholarships is always hard, more so for Indian applicants. Check the scholarship list at each school and see whether there have scholarships for Indian applicants or for HR professionals. They most likely will have scholarships for females as well.

Typically, the lower you go in the rankings, the "safer" the schools are. As I said in a different answer, check their GMAT average and if you are 20-30 points above, that could be a target school. If you are 50-60 points above, then that could probably be a "safe" school.

In general, all EU schools appreciate international experience, including Cambridge. But if I had to choose only of the two, I would probably go with Cambridge.

soltanveis wrote:
I’m targeting following schools with quite a low GPA. My question: Is there any school among the list which is highly sensitive on GPA that I have not a chance for?

Targeted Schools:
Harvard, Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Berkeley, NYU Stern, Insead, LBS, Rotman, Michigan Ross, UCLA, McDonough

Just real quick before the session is over. In general, all top US schools are quite sensitive when it comes to GPA. Among your target list of schools, in my experience, the least GPA-sensitive schools are INSEAD and LBS.
_________________

We are closing this chat session. Thank you ARLee consulting for your time and inputs. This was really a good session, We greatly appreciate it.

You’re welcome. It’s been my pleasure. To everyone in this session, feel free to email me your profiles and CVs directly at alex@arleeconsulting.com. Thank you.
_________________

Deepak 31, B tech electrical, work experience 8.5 years in IT as Domain manager(life sciences), gmat score 700+, future role aspiration: product manager/ growth and transformation, looking for scholarships, extra curricular activities: voluntary for computer literacy for below poverty level

We are Live with a Technology Industry Panel

Hi everyone,

we have put together the MBA Application Process flows with the main milestones and the approximate timing for M7, INSEAD, LBS and HEC Paris.

You can check them out below, or download them in PDF directly from our website here: https://www.arleeconsulting.com/?fl=GC_ ... _processes



































































































Warm regards
Alex
_________________

Hi

Appreciate your help !
Could you evaluate my profile for the Fall 2022/ Jan 2023 intake ?

Nationality :Indian
Gender : Female
Age : 23
GMAT : 730 (V41,Q49)
Undergraduate details : I have completed Btech. in Computer Science and Engineering in 2019 from a top 20 institute in India
GPA of 9.27/10 I was ranked 3rd in a class of 100
Extra curriculars at college:
1) Led the dramatics club at my college , performed award winning street-plays during this time
2) Organized a nation-wide event as a part of my college fest
3) I was involved in sports in college
4) I was also a part of the social justice club at college which basically focused on reducing inequalities among our community

Work Experience : 27 months at Fidelity Investments . I had one promotion till now. I work with United States counterparts. I was the only one responsible for an entire segment of my project from India. I am also involved in many cost cutting projects at this company.

Extracurriculars apart from work :
1) Apart from Work , I have started a small business from scratch for one of the poor family in India.
2) I also volunteered at an organization where we coached underprivileged youth for job interviews
3) I was also selected as one of the top 100 Youth Delegates at a global youth organization. As a Youth Delegate , I also helped organize and was a speaker at the 3 day Youth SDG summit during the United Nations Global goals week.
4) I am currently a Youth Delegate mentor at this organization mentoring 2-3 delegates of the current cohort of delegates.
5) I am also in the process of starting my own non-profit youth organization .We currently have 5 members on board.

My post MBA goals :
Short term goal : To gain enough knowledge and work as a product / project manager at A Tech Company
Long term goal : Start my own sustainable business focusing on social impact / Consulting startups focusing on social impact

I am looking at schools which accept a slightly lower work experience.
Schools which I was looking at :
1) Michigan Ross
2) UCLA
3) UC Berkeley
4) HEC Paris
5) Chicago Booth
6) Columbia Business School (I think this is too much of a stretch)
7) NUS
8) Northwestern kellog (I think this is too much of a stretch too)


Can you please evaluate my profile ?
Also I am not sure If I stand a chance at the schools I mentioned. I am not able to gauge my candidacy with respect to these schools. It would be very helpful if you could mention good schools in which I might