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Fortuna Admissions is a unique team of former Directors and Associate Directors of MBA Admissions from top tier business schools, including:

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Feel free to use this thread to reach out to us with any questions you might have about Fortuna and/or admissions to the world’s best business schools.
We look forward to talking to you!
The Fortuna Team
_________________

Hi ramalo,

thanks for reaching out to us!
I'm posting our comments section by section below:

ramalo wrote:-28 y/o Indian Male (will turn 29 by the time I start in 2016)

-GMAT 710 (49Q, 39V)- I know its probably on the lower side for an Indian male applicant. Trying to figure out whether to concentrate on the apps or on retaking the gmat.

-Graduated in 2008 from a business school in UK with a degree in accounting and finance. Topped my degree in year one. Ended up with an upper 2.1 degree. (Non-Engineering education)

You have a good GMAT score but, given the highly competitive applicant pool you'd be in, it would be a bit below average for an Indian student at a top b-school. If you did not graduate from a top UK school, it may indeed be worth retaking the GMAT if you think you can get a better score, however given your target application timeline you may be crunched for time. As mentioned, it will come down to which school you went to in the UK as many Indian applicants come from top institutions, so the admissions committees will definitely take into account the quality of the institution you attended when making the overall assessment of your academic profile (school+degree+GMAT).

ramalo wrote:-planned on working in UK itself in order to get some international work ex but had to move back to India because of my fathers death (3 weeks after final term). Had to take care of family affairs (financial and emotional) so moved back.

-Have 7+ years of work experience.

-working as head of the business development and strategy implementation division of a firm based out of New Delhi, with interests across hydropower, textiles and education and annual revenues of over US$125m. Have worked across all 3 sectors. Currently leading a team in implementing the expansion/diversification of the education vertical. The project is at an advanced stage of implementation and the financial rewards from the project have already started flowing in. The idea for diversification was my brainchild and thus I was made the team leader of the project. I'm also the youngest at the firm at a senior managerial role. I've held leadership roles across all the 3 verticals. I regularly deal/interact with clients from all over the world and frequently visit textile marketing events across the globe. The firm however would be a relatively unknown to most people on the admissions team (Well known in India though)

Your professional profile sounds really interesting! The strength of your professional experience will probably be the key differentiator in your profile, so our advise would be to capitalise on the experiences and leadership skills you have gained so far when putting together your essays and application pack. On another note, 7+ years of work experience is quite long overall for a US program, so you may be better off targeting a program like INSEAD where the average age and length of professional experience is a bit higher.

ramalo wrote:-short term goal is to make a transition to a top tier management consulting firm within the strategy division and work in new geographies in Western Europe or North America. Long term goal is to take up a senior management role at a fortune 500 firm. In my current role I'm coming up with and executing ideas that lead to improvement in business process and create value for the firm. I think a career in consulting will be a reasonable sell as my STG.

We agree that you may have some useful background for strategy consulting; however, just be aware that a lot of candidates say that they want to work for McKinsey / BCG / Bain post MBA. It's an easy thing to say, but not so easy to do. In your application, you'll need to do a really good job of demonstrating that your career goals are well thought through, and that you are a strong candiate for strategy consulting.

ramalo wrote:-Extra curricular: work with one of the most prominent environmental NGO in the country. Have been closely associated with environmental research over the last 5 years. Also, Having lost my father to blood cancer I started a cancer foundation in his name and have raised over INR 2.5m which in turn is being used to help underprivileged patients in their treatment. Also organize an annual blood donation camp. I have also redrafted and implemented the corporate social responsibility charter at the firm with a focus on sanitation for the poor and improving female financial literacy. Finally I've also worked for a member of parliament from 2009-2014 on devising a plan for development in the members parliamentary constituency with a population of over 2m residents.

You have a strong extracurricular profile, which shows a strong level of engagement with a nice diversity of interests. Fundraising achievements are always good to highlight as well.

ramalo wrote:Target Schools- INSEAD, LBS, Columbia, Duke, Tuck, Darden, Cornell, Ross, Tepper, Emory, Olin, UNC, etc

We think this is a good list. Columbia would be a stretch; INSEAD and LBS would be probably be the best fit.
Overall, you have a nice profile and we would strongly encourage you to sign up for a free 30-minute consultation to further discuss your target school list. Just go to our website and enter your details under the "Free consultation" tab.

Once again, may thanks for your enquiry and we hope the above comments are useful.

Best regards
Christine
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Hi KananAzizli,

Great question - but not to fear! It is quite common where a candidate might have a low undergrad GPA - the ad coms are only human and they know that students can go through a major transformation those first years in university. Many people perform poorly for many reasons (first time being independent/on their own, immaturity, finance, family situations, etc). The important thing is you have an incredible Master's degree GPA and amazing GMAT score (though I don't know your percentiles for quant and verbal) so both of this will heavily compensate your low undergrad. I see no need to go out of your way to further compensate for your academics unless of course you really want your CFA then yes go for it! What I would do is make a statement acknowledging your low undergrad, give the reason and show how far you've come (Masters and GMAT scores + HBS courses) plus you can mention any quant/verbal skills you may use on a regular basis in your day job to validate your strong quant/verbal abilities.

Often in school applications they offer optional essay questions or an area in the data application forms where you can address this (or even attach a supporting word document where you can write about this). For LBS in particular in the data application form, there is a question that asks "Do you feel that your academic performance so far gives an accurate indication of your potential for success on the programme? If so, why? If not, why not?"

So it's here you could address this and just be honest with what happened.

Not to fret as you are still young and can prove yourself in your career and, to-date, you have an outstanding Masters GPA and GMAT. Do keep in mind that your GMAT score is only valid for 5 years.

All the best
_________________

Hi Paul 25,

Extremely apologetic about not responding sooner... I was actually on vacation for a few weeks! Not sure if it's too late to reply but the schools are relatively clustered in terms of solid top 30 to 40 performance across the major media rankings. ( I was trying to copy a graph here but it's not letting me paste!)
The Dallas economy is performing more strongly, and certainly matches your post-MBA career goals in the energy sector (and to some extent tech, though even more so in Austin).
So I think you can feel confident about your decision to opt for SMU Cox... and congratulations on the scholarship!

Regards,
_________________

Terrific!
_________________

hi MV23
Thanks for the message. As an Indian male engineer, you should aim for a GMAT of 10-20 points above the average for the school you are targeting. For an IR score, we would suggest 7+.
Demonstrating a high level of professional achievement (in terms of results generated, fast track promotion, etc) will be very important for you. With a re-application, it is important to show exactly how have you have evolved and improved since the previous application. This will show growth and potential.

We would welcome the chance to speak to you in more detail about this. We offer free 30-minute consultations, where you can speak with one of our experts about your goals and your specific profile story.
www.FortunaAdmissions.com/free-consultation

We hope to hear from you!
The Fortuna Team

MV23 wrote:Hello!
Could you evaluate my profile?
I am a re-applicant having first applied in 2017. I will re-apply in 2018.


I will be 28 years old in 2018.
730 GMAT; 50 Quant, 40 Verbal, 5.5 AWA, 5 (52%) Integrated Reasoning
3.9 GPA in Masters from a Top 5 engineering schools in the US
8.x/10 GPA from a Top 10 engineering school in India
5 years Work Experience as an engineer: 4 years at a Tier-II company like Walmart/Etsy/eBay, and currently at a Tier-I: Microsoft
Volunteer Teacher ( 10 + hrs/week the past 4 years)
Yet another Brown Male
Future Goals: Transition into a Product Management role at one of the tech companies.

A) Do I stand any chance at the M-7(HBS, GSB, Wharton, Booth, Kellogg, Sloan)?
B) Should I re-take the GMAT?730 seems to be the norm these days and that 5 on IR isn't too helpful.
C) Anything else I can and should do to increase my chances

Thanks very much!

_________________

ayush Hi there,
Unfortunately I don't know much about the first two programs...our specialty is the top MBA programs. Sounds like you have a great profile though for a US MBA program once you get 1 or 2 more years of work experience under your belt ( I would definitely wait longer than 6 months). It really depends what you want out of your higher education. Are you looking for skills to grow your business? Looking for a career change? Sounds like you want something right now so if it's something you feel you need at the moment, then go for it (at the 2 schools you mention above). An MBA will be much more credible though for your CV. Like I said it really depends on what exactly your motives are and why exactly you want to go back to school. Hard for me to make this kind of decision for you! Sorry I can't be of more help. If you have more MBA specific questions, just let us know. Best,
_________________

.

prvarm24,

Thank you for your inquiry. Sounds like you've had a great career with strong accomplishments/career progression in your field. It indeed helps if you've won awards so that is something to highlight in your form.

Coming from the Indian applicant pool, you definitely want to aim for a high gmat score, well above the 700 range.

As for R3 for US schools, I would advise against it, especially coming from your competitive applicant pool. I would suggest to hold off to R1 for the next rounds. R3 is VERY difficult to get into as most spots are filled.

Good luck
Melissa
_________________

U5UWZLP5,

Hi there and thanks for reaching out.
Wow sounds like you have a very cool profile and is quite unique for business school - which for sure would make you stand out and contribute to the diversity each school is looking for. Sorry to hear about Kellogg but that's great news about being Yale - I know it's not exactly the result you are looking for but I wouldn't give up hope yet as they clearly like your profile.
Here are a few things I would suggest (and unfortunately the schools will not provide you with feedback):
• Confirm to the school that you accept a spot on the waitlist, and reiterate your commitment to the school. Make this communication in a positive tone; don’t let the disappointment (or worse, any resentment) shine through. The word ‘disappointed’ should not show up in this discussion.
• I would follow up with your interviewer and send them an update on your situation and ask them for any feedback and suggestions. While they may not be able to tell you why (and they may well not know) they can share with you some insights about your discussion and their sense of your fit with the school.
• What can you do to strengthen your profile? Can you seek a project at work that will give you a good story to tell in an update to admissions? Can you strengthen any extra curricular engagement? Can you get an additional letter of support? What works well is if it’s from a member of the school community – a student or alum. Do you have a close connection with anyone? If not, perhaps someone that can write from a totally different angle than your 2 main recommenders. That can speak to other qualities. A one page email would be sufficient. But don’t be tempted to inundate the admissions office with additional letters (as this can backfire and get you a reputation of a burden). There is also no point in sending in additional letters saying more or less exactly what has already been said about you.
• Keep in touch with the school and your admissions contact (but not too often eg once per month is enough). Keep the school updated re any new info about your profile- new results, work abroad, managing others, extra curriculars at work, etc.
• Don’t make all these communications email only; try to speak to your admissions contact occasionally as well. Personal touches help to keep you on their radar.
• It may not be so convenient but what about visiting the campus again? This could help and show commitment to the school. Plus you could even have this conversation with your admissions contact in person.
• On the flip side, please start to think about next steps – what is your plan B if this doesn’t work out? So yes I would apply to georgetown and ND as they would be great fits for you. And yes if you can hold off, I would wait until R1 if Yale is your number one. It could be quite a while until they tell you if you are accepted/denied from waitlist.

One thing Fortuna can offer is a review of your previous application to see where things might have 'gone wrong' Click here for some details. https://fortunaadmissions.com/services/ You will see a 'waitlist' and 'rejected applicant' strategy service.

Sounds like you have a lot of questions but overall your profile seems to fit the criteria for all the schools - great work experience/leadership exp, lots of extra curricular/volunteering commitments, an amazing GMAT with strong GPA. But if you want to talk with us in more depth to go over your profile, I would sign up here and email us requesting to speak with Matt on our team - he's awesome at these consultations. https://fortunaadmissions.com/free-consultation/

Good luck with everything
Melissa
_________________

Hi chinmayrav,

You've got a great profile for all of the 5 schools you've mentioned. They are really looking for the same things - career progression/accomplishments, strong academics, leadership experience and extra curriculars/community work.
You cover all of them nicely (you do have only 2.5 years of work experience under your belt so for Rotman this is a bit under the average but still fine to apply as long as you can show some accomplishments). Also leadership examples will have to shine through.
Your academics are great for these schools (plus your English test is above the min requirements) and I love that you've got some great and unique extra curriculars and community involvement as admission committed members don't always see this from indian applicants. So I think you will have a great chance - of course depending on how your craft your application.

If you need assistance with any applications, I'm happy to help. I'm Canadian myself and manage the Canadian school arm of Fortuna Admissions as I know the programs well. Let me know if you have further questions.

Best,
_________________

Hi,

Thank you for taking out time to do this!

Unable to scroll up

Hi ChristineFortuna, Please evaluate my profile

Introduction
I am a 28 year old Indian male working in Canada for last 3 years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 15 schools for MBA in USA.

GMAT Score
650 (Q49, V30, AWA 6, IR 7)
690 (Q49, V34, AWA 5.5, IR 4)
Planning to retake and targeting 720+

Education
- UG GPA: 74.6% (top 10%)
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi, India
- Won many extra curricular awards
- Master's GPA: 3.53
- Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- McGill University, Canada

Work Experience
3.5 Years in a top tier Aerospace Company (Employs 30,000+ people and has 100 sites across the world)
- Working as Lead Certification Analyst (certify interiors for business jets for their structural integrity), making sure that the products conform to the regulations and industry standards.
- Manage a team of 5 engineers (for 1 program) and indirectly a team of 10 engineers (for 2 programs)
- Promoted to the above post after only 10 months of experience, pay raises double the usual amount for the past 2 years.
- Led 2 teams of 3 engineers each to oversee update of important company directives, guidelines and manuals that dictate the manufacturing and quality standards of the company.

Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries
- Nominated (only engineer) to go to France and USA to represent the facility at intra-company conferences and international symposiums
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.

Extracurriculars
- Tutoring kids at risk subjects such as Maths, Science and English from grades 3 to 12 (been close to 10 months now, 4-6 hours per week, volunteer basis).
- Team member of company's soccer team
- Teach professional and technical English (related to Aerospace Industry, both written and spoken) to colleagues after work
- Learning French and Spanish over the weekends
- Member of tennis and squash teams of YMCA and play as a member of Montreal Squash League
- Teach colleagues from work tennis after work
- Leading a team of 15 volunteers since 2013-14 for a community heart and eye checkup camp , held once every year for 3 days. This is a free event for anyone who wants to participate.

Post-MBA Goal
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in retail/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in retail/technology.

Target Schools

- Columbia (Early Decision)
- Chicago Booth
- Stanford
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Wharton
- Cornell
- NY Stern
- Kellogg
- Duke Fuqua (Early Decision)
- Michigan Ross
- CMU Tepper
- Yale SOM

All the above schools Round 1 or Round 2 , 2015, Full Time MBA

Questions
1. Do you think I have a decent shot at the school of my choice (listed above). It will be of immense help to me if you can categorize the schools above as
1) Not possible, forget about it!
2) Good Chance
3) Not at all easy but can be given a shot

2. Also please advise which schools I should target in Round 1 and in Round 2?.
3. Please also advise which other schools (not listed above) will help me achieve my career goals.

Hi ChristineFortuna,

I'm finding it really difficult to figure out where I stand when it comes to applying to B-Schools for my MBA and since I do not have too many people around me for advice I'm really hoping that you would help me out by evaluating my profile. I'm most confused about selecting schools and also whether to concentrate on the applications or on retaking the GMAT. The following is my profile-

-28 y/o Indian Male (will turn 29 by the time I start in 2016)

-GMAT 710 (49Q, 39V)- I know its probably on the lower side for an Indian male applicant. Trying to figure out whether to concentrate on the apps or on retaking the gmat.

-Graduated in 2008 from a business school in UK with a degree in accounting and finance. Topped my degree in year one. Ended up with an upper 2.1 degree. (Non-Engineering education)

-planned on working in UK itself in order to get some international work ex but had to move back to India because of my fathers death (3 weeks after final term). Had to take care of family affairs (financial and emotional) so moved back.

-Have 7+ years of work experience.

-working as head of the business development and strategy implementation division of a firm based out of New Delhi, with interests across hydropower, textiles and education and annual revenues of over US$125m. Have worked across all 3 sectors. Currently leading a team in implementing the expansion/diversification of the education vertical. The project is at an advanced stage of implementation and the financial rewards from the project have already started flowing in. The idea for diversification was my brainchild and thus I was made the team leader of the project. I'm also the youngest at the firm at a senior managerial role. I've held leadership roles across all the 3 verticals. I regularly deal/interact with clients from all over the world and frequently visit textile marketing events across the globe. The firm however would be a relatively unknown to most people on the admissions team (Well known in India though)

-short term goal is to make a transition to a top tier management consulting firm within the strategy division and work in new geographies in Western Europe or North America. Long term goal is to take up a senior management role at a fortune 500 firm. In my current role I'm coming up with and executing ideas that lead to improvement in business process and create value for the firm. I think a career in consulting will be a reasonable sell as my STG.

-Extra curricular: work with one of the most prominent environmental NGO in the country. Have been closely associated with environmental research over the last 5 years. Also, Having lost my father to blood cancer I started a cancer foundation in his name and have raised over INR 2.5m which in turn is being used to help underprivileged patients in their treatment. Also organize an annual blood donation camp. I have also redrafted and implemented the corporate social responsibility charter at the firm with a focus on sanitation for the poor and improving female financial literacy. Finally I've also worked for a member of parliament from 2009-2014 on devising a plan for development in the members parliamentary constituency with a population of over 2m residents.

Target Schools- INSEAD, LBS, Columbia, Duke, Tuck, Darden, Cornell, Ross, Tepper, Emory, Olin, UNC, etc

Thanks

Hi Engr2012,

first of all, my sincere apologies for this horribly late response. For some reason I did not receive a notification about your message and only came to see it now!
I do hope that our comments will still be useful to you, so without further ado here is what the Fortuna team thinks about your profile:

Engr2012 wrote:Introduction
I am a 28 year old Indian male working in Canada for last 3 years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 15 schools for MBA in USA.

GMAT Score
650 (Q49, V30, AWA 6, IR 7)
690 (Q49, V34, AWA 5.5, IR 4)
Planning to retake and targeting 720+

Education
- UG GPA: 74.6% (top 10%)
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi, India
- Won many extra curricular awards
- Master's GPA: 3.53
- Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- McGill University, Canada

Admissions committees always look at your academic profile and GMAT score together, so on this front we would say that you seem to have a solid academic profile that would tick the boxes, however as you have mentioned yourself, overall you would definitely benefit from a higher GMAT score - especially since you'll be competing in a very tough applicant pool, see further down below...

Engr2012 wrote:Work Experience
3.5 Years in a top tier Aerospace Company (Employs 30,000+ people and has 100 sites across the world)
- Working as Lead Certification Analyst (certify interiors for business jets for their structural integrity), making sure that the products conform to the regulations and industry standards.
- Manage a team of 5 engineers (for 1 program) and indirectly a team of 10 engineers (for 2 programs)
- Promoted to the above post after only 10 months of experience, pay raises double the usual amount for the past 2 years.
- Led 2 teams of 3 engineers each to oversee update of important company directives, guidelines and manuals that dictate the manufacturing and quality standards of the company.

Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries
- Nominated (only engineer) to go to France and USA to represent the facility at intra-company conferences and international symposiums
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.

What we like about your professional profile is that you have had fast career progression and early management responsibility. Your international experience is also a plus. However, it sounds as though your work has largely been technical in nature so far. Unfortunately, engineering profiles are over-represented in applicant pools for all top business schools (especially Indian male engineers), so the bar will be extremely high.

Engr2012 wrote:Extracurriculars
- Tutoring kids at risk subjects such as Maths, Science and English from grades 3 to 12 (been close to 10 months now, 4-6 hours per week, volunteer basis).
- Team member of company's soccer team
- Teach professional and technical English (related to Aerospace Industry, both written and spoken) to colleagues after work
- Learning French and Spanish over the weekends
- Member of tennis and squash teams of YMCA and play as a member of Montreal Squash League
- Teach colleagues from work tennis after work
- Leading a team of 15 volunteers since 2013-14 for a community heart and eye checkup camp , held once every year for 3 days. This is a free event for anyone who wants to participate.

Your extracurricular activities make for a solid, if not outstanding profile in this important area, so you would be well advised to capitalise on these activities when putting together your essays and application pack.

Engr2012 wrote:Post-MBA Goal
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in retail/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in retail/technology.

Your stated post-MBA career plan would be a fairly significant career switch. In your application essays (and interviews), you would need to make a strong case for why you would be a good candidate for this career path and what relevant experience and background you'd bring to the table. We are not sure what sort of job or company you are looking at, but we feel levering your engineering background in a tech company might be a more compelling case than a switch to retail.

Engr2012 wrote:
Target Schools

- Columbia (Early Decision)
- Chicago Booth
- Stanford
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Wharton
- Cornell
- NY Stern
- Kellogg
- Duke Fuqua (Early Decision)
- Michigan Ross
- CMU Tepper
- Yale SOM

All the above schools Round 1 or Round 2 , 2015, Full Time MBA

You would be in a highly competitive pool for the schools in your target list. Stanford, Wharton, Booth and Kellogg would be tough indeed. You may be better off focusing your efforts on schools like UCLA, Cornell, Stern, Ross, Tepper and Yale. For a more detailed discussion on suitable target schools, also in regards to your career goals, we'd be pleased to schedule a free 30-minute call, completely without any obligation. Just enter your details on our website on the "Free consultation" and we'll get back to you in a jiffy!

Once again, our apologies for the late reply.
All the best and please let me know if there is anything else we can help you with,
Christine
_________________

Thanks Christine for taking out time and evaluating the profile in such depth. I do have a couple of follow on questions that I really hope you would be able to answer.
1. I went to a good university in UK but definitely not Oxford or Cambridge. I know I come from a competitive pool of male Indian applicants but do you think its worth spending time on retaking the GMAT or should I devote myself entire to the essays? I'm thinking of applying to INSEAD, LBS, Duke, Ross and some lower ranked schools with my current score for the Round 1 deadline and then retaking the GMAT sometime in late October/early November and applying to other GMAT focused schools such as Columbia, Tuck, etc.
2. I agree that having 7+ years of experience is probably on the higher end for US schools and that applying to INSEAD or LBS would be better (INSEAD btw is my dream school). However is it even worth applying to US schools with so many years of experience?
3. I agree that Columbia would be a strech but how would you rate my chances at INSEAD and LBS (will they be strech schools or reach schools)

Thanks once again.

ChristineFortuna wrote:Hi Engr2012,

first of all, my sincere apologies for this horribly late response. For some reason I did not receive a notification about your message and only came to see it now!
I do hope that our comments will still be useful to you, so without further ado here is what the Fortuna team thinks about your profile:

Engr2012 wrote:Introduction
I am a 28 year old Indian male working in Canada for last 3 years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 15 schools for MBA in USA.

GMAT Score
650 (Q49, V30, AWA 6, IR 7)
690 (Q49, V34, AWA 5.5, IR 4)
Planning to retake and targeting 720+

Education
- UG GPA: 74.6% (top 10%)
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi, India
- Won many extra curricular awards
- Master's GPA: 3.53
- Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- McGill University, Canada

Admissions committees always look at your academic profile and GMAT score together, so on this front we would say that you seem to have a solid academic profile that would tick the boxes, however as you have mentioned yourself, overall you would definitely benefit from a higher GMAT score - especially since you'll be competing in a very tough applicant pool, see further down below...

Engr2012 wrote:Work Experience
3.5 Years in a top tier Aerospace Company (Employs 30,000+ people and has 100 sites across the world)
- Working as Lead Certification Analyst (certify interiors for business jets for their structural integrity), making sure that the products conform to the regulations and industry standards.
- Manage a team of 5 engineers (for 1 program) and indirectly a team of 10 engineers (for 2 programs)
- Promoted to the above post after only 10 months of experience, pay raises double the usual amount for the past 2 years.
- Led 2 teams of 3 engineers each to oversee update of important company directives, guidelines and manuals that dictate the manufacturing and quality standards of the company.

Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries
- Nominated (only engineer) to go to France and USA to represent the facility at intra-company conferences and international symposiums
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.

What we like about your professional profile is that you have had fast career progression and early management responsibility. Your international experience is also a plus. However, it sounds as though your work has largely been technical in nature so far. Unfortunately, engineering profiles are over-represented in applicant pools for all top business schools (especially Indian male engineers), so the bar will be extremely high.

Engr2012 wrote:Extracurriculars
- Tutoring kids at risk subjects such as Maths, Science and English from grades 3 to 12 (been close to 10 months now, 4-6 hours per week, volunteer basis).
- Team member of company's soccer team
- Teach professional and technical English (related to Aerospace Industry, both written and spoken) to colleagues after work
- Learning French and Spanish over the weekends
- Member of tennis and squash teams of YMCA and play as a member of Montreal Squash League
- Teach colleagues from work tennis after work
- Leading a team of 15 volunteers since 2013-14 for a community heart and eye checkup camp , held once every year for 3 days. This is a free event for anyone who wants to participate.

Your extracurricular activities make for a solid, if not outstanding profile in this important area, so you would be well advised to capitalise on these activities when putting together your essays and application pack.

Engr2012 wrote:Post-MBA Goal
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in retail/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in retail/technology.

Your stated post-MBA career plan would be a fairly significant career switch. In your application essays (and interviews), you would need to make a strong case for why you would be a good candidate for this career path and what relevant experience and background you'd bring to the table. We are not sure what sort of job or company you are looking at, but we feel levering your engineering background in a tech company might be a more compelling case than a switch to retail.

Engr2012 wrote:
Target Schools

- Columbia (Early Decision)
- Chicago Booth
- Stanford
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Wharton
- Cornell
- NY Stern
- Kellogg
- Duke Fuqua (Early Decision)
- Michigan Ross
- CMU Tepper
- Yale SOM

All the above schools Round 1 or Round 2 , 2015, Full Time MBA

You would be in a highly competitive pool for the schools in your target list. Stanford, Wharton, Booth and Kellogg would be tough indeed. You may be better off focusing your efforts on schools like UCLA, Cornell, Stern, Ross, Tepper and Yale. For a more detailed discussion on suitable target schools, also in regards to your career goals, we'd be pleased to schedule a free 30-minute call, completely without any obligation. Just enter your details on our website on the "Free consultation" and we'll get back to you in a jiffy!

Once again, our apologies for the late reply.
All the best and please let me know if there is anything else we can help you with,
Christine

Hey Christine, Fortuna team

Thank you for the detailed reply. It was quite useful. Additionally, wanted to add that I got a 750 on the GMAT last month. So the things have changed a bit.

Also, I am targeting the following schools:

Columbia (ED)
Wharton (R1)
Kellogg (R1)
Ross (R1)

Booth (R2)
Stern (R2)

As for the goals are concerned, I am now targeting to go into consulting (operations) with focus on Aerospace and Defense industry.

Let me know if this helps.

Hey Fortuna Admissions

Can you please help me in evaluating my profile :

Indian female

Grades :
Xth - 91%
XIIth - 88% ( Have been on scholarship since class 8th in school)
Undergrad ( NIT kurukshetra ) - 7.93/10 (2008-2012)
GMAT - 720 (Q50, V38, IR5)

Work experience -
* Have been working in Samsung from the past 3 years
Have had 2 promotions in 3 years
First as a software developer, then moved into Pre-sales consulting owing to my interest in Marketing.
In that I worked with Samsung Sales division in APAC regions, assisted clients and partners in Dubai, SA, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singlehandedly set up a whole Enterprise business conclave in India marketing Regional HQ, Worked with directors of engineering of Hyatt, Oberoi, and Taj hotels.
Demonstrated Samsung solutions in events, conclaves, summits to CXO's of different verticals.

* Member of cultural commitee in Samsung, Won the best innovative project of the Quarter for a project, Winner of many cultural competitions held in Office.

Extra Curriculars -
* Won accolades for Dance from age 6, Working as a dance instructor in a Dance studio.
* 2 District level prizes in Arts, College level athlete( won 10 medals ) in NIT sports meet' 09, '10, '11
* Head of 3 committees in tech and cultural national level fests in NIT.
* Started a society for teaching Underprivileged children of College's workers. This has been published in a local newspaper of Kurukshetra.
* Working as a UN online volunteer for a research project on Women Situation in Thailand.
* Represented North Zone ( 4 states ) In a national level General knowledge Quiz held in Hyd.
* 1 district level prize in Analytical ability (scholarship given).

Working on my startup idea as well ( It would be completed by the end of the year )

Post Mba goal - I want to enter into Brand management or marketing.

My target schools are - Kellogg 1 year program, ISB, Insead, HEC paris, NUS, NTU, Oxford.
I even want a partial scholarship for these programs.

Can you please tell me about the shortcomings in my profile and how can I be the good fit for these above schools?

Do I need to hire consultant for the essays or should I try writing them on your own?

Hi Priya,

many thanks for your message and sharing your profile with us.
Below are the comments from the Fortuna team:

pria131 wrote:Grades :
Xth - 91%
XIIth - 88% ( Have been on scholarship since class 8th in school)
Undergrad ( NIT kurukshetra ) - 7.93/10 (2008-2012)
GMAT - 720 (Q50, V38, IR5)

You have solid academic results and a great GMAT score. However, your undergrad institution may not be as well known outside of India, and does not seem to be among the top ranked engineering schools for India overall. For top b-schools like INSEAD and Kellogg, this may be a slight disadvantage given the highly competitive Indian applicant pool where you would find many candidates who studied at highly ranked undergrad schools AND have a great GMAT score.

pria131 wrote:Work experience -
* Have been working in Samsung from the past 3 years
Have had 2 promotions in 3 years
First as a software developer, then moved into Pre-sales consulting owing to my interest in Marketing.
In that I worked with Samsung Sales division in APAC regions, assisted clients and partners in Dubai, SA, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singlehandedly set up a whole Enterprise business conclave in India marketing Regional HQ, Worked with directors of engineering of Hyatt, Oberoi, and Taj hotels.
Demonstrated Samsung solutions in events, conclaves, summits to CXO's of different verticals.

* Member of cultural commitee in Samsung, Won the best innovative project of the Quarter for a project, Winner of many cultural competitions held in Office.

This reads like a good start to your career, great to have achieved two promotions within those three years! For a top b-school, you might need some more substantial professional achievements though to be able to really shine and demonstrate your leadership potential.

pria131 wrote:Extra Curriculars -
* Won accolades for Dance from age 6, Working as a dance instructor in a Dance studio.
* 2 District level prizes in Arts, College level athlete( won 10 medals ) in NIT sports meet' 09, '10, '11
* Head of 3 committees in tech and cultural national level fests in NIT.
* Started a society for teaching Underprivileged children of College's workers. This has been published in a local newspaper of Kurukshetra.
* Working as a UN online volunteer for a research project on Women Situation in Thailand.
* Represented North Zone ( 4 states ) In a national level General knowledge Quiz held in Hyd.
* 1 district level prize in Analytical ability (scholarship given).

Working on my startup idea as well ( It would be completed by the end of the year )

This is a good range of extra-curricular activities, keep it up!

pria131 wrote:Post Mba goal - I want to enter into Brand management or marketing.

My target schools are - Kellogg 1 year program, ISB, Insead, HEC paris, NUS, NTU, Oxford.
I even want a partial scholarship for these programs.

Can you please tell me about the shortcomings in my profile and how can I be the good fit for these above schools?
Do I need to hire consultant for the essays or should I try writing them on your own?

We would suggest focusing on your professional evolution for another year and getting some impressive accomplishments under your belt. You certainly still have time in terms of average age and work experience for most top schools, and may stand a better chance of admission once you have built up some more professional impact. For a school like INSEAD, you would also need some international experience and be able to demonstrate that you are committed to pursue a global career.

We hope our comments are helpful and wish you all the best,
Christine
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