Ask Paul Lanzillotti : MBA Archive - Page 4

Hi Paul,

I am in a fix....Can you please share your thoughts on this......

What is the adcom looking for, if in the first question they ask about short/long term goals and motivation behind it(fair enough)......

On the other hand, in the next question...they want to know:
"If salary was not a factor and all my living expenses were covered, what would I do to make a living and how would I spend my time?"

Any thoughts on this.....
Its a little wierd.....and I want to understand what is the adcom looking for in this question...Please help!!!

Regards

Hi Paul!

Please, evaluate this:


Aim: HEC Paris MIF
Nationality: Ukrainian
Age: 20 (21 when the program starts)
GMAT: 750 (Q49 V44) AWA 4.5
TOEFL: 105
GPA: 3,98 (Top-5 Ukrainian university, BBA in Banking)
Internship: 10 months in top-10 Ukrainian bank
EC: Couple of articles published
Sports: swimming (participated in the university swimming team), muay-thai

Hi Paul,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to all of our--what must, after a while, seem repetitive--questions.

Like everyone else here, I have a question regarding my candidacy at a top MBA program. However, I think my background does add a couple twists. I have posted the default template for convenience, but please do read on to get the full story.

Target: Not yet sure

Age: 27 currently; 30 when applying

GMAT: 740+ (not yet taken, but please see below before judging me as a presumptive tool)

Nationality/Race: East Asian Male, international

Education: 3.2 GPA at an Ivy League School; 3.4 GPA at top ten law school (cum laude)

Work Exp: 2-3 years at M/B/B; military in my home country prior to law school in the middle of college

Extracurricular: Nothing outstanding.

Motivation for MBA: To break into private equity; failing that, into a field of finance that might lead to PE

-----

my deal:

I am currently in my last year at one of the top 10 law schools in the US. Instead of law, I will be joining one of the big 3 management consulting companies in one of their smaller offices as a consultant, starting at the level that other MBAs do.

Ultimately, I would like to end up in private equity. I am very attracted to basically every aspect of the industry, from sourcing deals, executing transactions (the primary reason why I went to law school, actually), using management expertise to grow/turn-around/increase value for the company, etc.

I know that getting into PE is possible from management consulting--but it's still a best-case scenario, and I might not be in a position to pick and choose my options when it comes time to exit consulting. I would not mind going into finance, etc, as well--and while I know that these are also gettable out of consulting, I just wanted to be informed about all possible avenues.

I am wondering if going to business school might be worthwhile--or if business schools will even have me. I will be older (28 when starting consulting next fall, at least 30 when I am applying to b-schools) and already have "post-MBA' experience. I am not sure if this will work against me in both (1) getting into top programs (as I have heard that median age at H/S are trending down; concerned that adcoms will think that it's pointless for me to go and that they'll be doing me a favor by rejecting me) and (2) getting a PE/finance job out of b-school (age, no prior quant/finance background)

I attended a top ten undergrad, as well, but my GPA is low--around 3.1. Although I haven't taken a real, live GMAT, my practice scores are over 750, and while I hate to be presumptuous, my performances in other standardized tests, including SAT, GRE, and LSAT, convinces me that GMAT will, at worst, not be what holds me back.

Thanks!

Hi Paul,
Would appreciate your feedback!

Nationality: US Citizen, born outside the US, Asian male
Age: 26
GMAT: 720, 6.0 AWA
Work experience: 2 years
Education: BA from a top-tier private liberal arts college in English (Writing) & Financial Economics, Masters from a state university in Writing
GPA: 3.6 (Undergrad), 4.0 (Grad)
EC: ex-College athlete, Student Gov't VP, etc.

Background: I was interested in a lot of different fields (and, luckily, decent at all of them) so my undergraduate transcript ranges from Beowulf to Vector Calculus and everything in between. Some definitely would consider it confused but I actually was genuinely interested in learning! Regardless, I did my Master’s in Creative Writing right after undergraduate and after graduation found myself with two options--either working as a low-paid adjunct faculty or struggling to make ends meet as an editor. Instead, I started my own marketing company (without any loans or help, put $5,000 on my credit card) using my background in writing and hobby in web design. In the last two years, it has steadily grown and turned a profit of $124,000 this year when other small marketing firms in the region are shutting doors and has, among others, a US Senator as a client.

I have figured out many things on my own (payroll, taxes, etc.!) and make decisions out of gut but have always felt I would be better off at least knowing how others would approach the problems.

Post-MBA Goals: I want to either continue with my own company or join other exciting startup ventures.

Target schools (order of preference):
Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Berkeley
Dartmouth
UT-Austin

Dear Sir,
I am working with a leading automobile manufacturing company in the operation dept. and my details are as shown below:
Ethinicity: Indian female
Gmat-730 (50 Q 39 V) AWA-5
TOEFL-108
Work Exp till Sept 2011: 25 months
College %: 75% Mechanical Engg.
Extracurriculars: excellent-leadership roles in societies, very versatile set of activities, scholarship holder, few social work activities.
I am thinking of applying to these schools in R2:
Chicago Booth, Columbia, UIUC, Purdue, Olin, Boston College,
maybe even Haas in R3. What are my chances of getting through the same.? Pls advise.

Hi,

Following is my profile.
Female/25
GMAT: 660 (Q48, V33, AWA5.5)
GPA: ~3.8
3+ yr work ex (counting till Aug'11) in Accenture (15 months) and Servigistics(rest).
Currently in Servigistics working in ERP domain - interaction with clients, onshore client visit, QA and design involvement in 3 products (SCM)
Experience in event management activities, both in college and corporate.
Academic: Always been consistent. 80% throughout school and engineering (B.tech in comp science)

I wish to go into Strategic Consulting and am mainly going for consulting/ operations/ SCM/ strategy specializations.

Progress till now:
Oxford -> Reject without interview
Kenan Flagler (UNC Chapel Hill) -> Interviewed and rejected
Kelley (Indiana) -> Interviewed, result awaited
McCombs (UT Austin), NUS, NTU, ISB -> Applied, result awaited

My application is certainly missing a 'Safety' school. And that is where I need your kind opinion.
Based on job opportunities, significant ROI avenues, my field of specialization, I have shortlisted these few schools.
It would be great if you can have a look and let me know
1. Considering i write quality essays, Which ones can be considered absolutely 'safe'?
2. Which ones can i apply to without compromising on a quality career that i see ahead for me?

I am including the available deadlines for your perusal as well.

Arizona State University (Carey) : R3-Feb13
Southern Methodist University (Cox) : R2-Jan12
Auburn University : R2-Mar1
University of Wisconsin--Madison : R2-Feb4
Michigan State University (Broad) : R2-Jan10, R3-Mar1
University of Maryland--College Park (Smith) : R3-Jan 15
University of Washington (Foster) : R3-Jan20 (final)
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) : R3-Mar1
Purdue University--West Lafayette (Krannert) : R2-Feb 1

Many Thanks!!

Dear Paul,

Request if you could evaluate and advise me on my choices. I want to understand my chances of getting good scholarships. I am looking to join a school which has focus on entrepreneurship and engineering/innovation

I am male 26years from India
GMAT: 750 Q51 V40
An Engineer, majoring in Mechanical, 2005 batch
Work-ex:6 years, mostly manufacturing, in various roles from production to engineering to consulting now
Started business consulting company in Jan 2009
Chief placement co-ordinator, represented college in various business meets
Looking to build-upon my entrepreneurial journey, lead success through innovation and ultimately build an international innovation power-house

School Choices: INSEAD France, IMD Switzerland, MIT Sloan, Kellogg, ESADE Spain and ISB India
Kindly recommend if I should modify school choices

Kindly support me, I am an entrepreneur, consultant, good engineer and a thorough thinker. I can get good recommendations from my past managers, current business associates.

Many thanks for your kind support,

Brgds,
Rajiv Singal

Hi Rajiv:
Yes, you should kindly modify your school choices. It seems to me that you want to do something more entrepreneurial. while European business schools have a number of individual strengths, overall they are not considered as strong as their American counterparts when it comes to entrepreneurism. European business schools are generally more traditional in nature and focus on sending their graduates back into finance and consulting. If you choose to apply to European schools, then you may want to think about just articulating your goals as being within consulting, and tone down the entrepreneurial aspirations -- at least in the short-term goals.
If you want to push the entrepreneurial goals theme in your essays I would consider applying to US business schools that have strong international programs -- as well as strength in entrepreneurship. I would look at schools such as Haas, UCLA Anderson, MIT Sloan (they have a strong technical representation as well in their student body), and even Stanford (as a stretch school).

I hope this helps.

Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti

rajadi wrote:Dear Paul,

Request if you could evaluate and advise me on my choices. I want to understand my chances of getting good scholarships. I am looking to join a school which has focus on entrepreneurship and engineering/innovation

I am male 26years from India
GMAT: 750 Q51 V40
An Engineer, majoring in Mechanical, 2005 batch
Work-ex:6 years, mostly manufacturing, in various roles from production to engineering to consulting now
Started business consulting company in Jan 2009
Chief placement co-ordinator, represented college in various business meets
Looking to build-upon my entrepreneurial journey, lead success through innovation and ultimately build an international innovation power-house

School Choices: INSEAD France, IMD Switzerland, MIT Sloan, Kellogg, ESADE Spain and ISB India
Kindly recommend if I should modify school choices

Kindly support me, I am an entrepreneur, consultant, good engineer and a thorough thinker. I can get good recommendations from my past managers, current business associates.

Many thanks for your kind support,

Brgds,
Rajiv Singal

_________________

Dear Paul,

Many thanks for your support.

With your kind guidance, I have modified the school choices to: MIT Sloan, Stanford, INSEAD, Haas as first choices and IMD, UCLA Anderson, Kellogg, Cambridge Judge as second choices. My preference for joining European b-schools was in part due to their one-year MBA programs

I would be applying for the 2012-2013 sessions at these schools.

Once again many thanks for your comments,

Best regards,
Rajiv Singal

Hello Paul,

I am a 29 yr old Electrical Engineer. I am originally from india but a permanent resident in US now. I am planning on going for my MBA and needed some help in school selection. Due to family constraints I am looking for schools in the NE region. My profile is below:

BS in Electronics from an average school in India ( GPA 3.2)
MS from an average university in US (GPA 3.9)
Work experience of 5 years at Intel, startup company, 3M and Philips. Been working in Manufacturing, Medical Devices, Semiconductor industry.
Extra curricular mostly in college with organizing different events, also started a non profit fund, voluntary services at work.
GMAT : 710

I am looking at full time programs at HBS, Sloan, Columbia, Stern, Tuck maybe Cornell/ Booth/ Kellogg( if i get into Booth/ kellogg i can move). Also looked at some part time or emba options at booth, kellogg.

I will be applying for 2012 fall...

Any suggestions?? I am not sure if I have the background or the score to get into a top tier school for a full time program..

Paul,
I plan to start applying for September 2012 (Fall) intake. I would like some comments on my profile.

Nationality - Russian
Age - 25
Gender – Male
GMAT – 720 (Q-50, V-38) AWA - 5.5
GPA – 4.41/5.0, I have graduated from top-3 university in Russia with specialization in statistics and probability. Currently I am doing my PhD at the same university, but I assume I will not finish it.

Work experience: 5 years of work experience
- 1 years as derivatives trader and quant
- 1 year as equity analyst
- 3 years in the largest venture fund in Russia, state owned. Promoted from analyst to associate.
Also I am the co-founder of leading road assistance services provider in Russia. Basically, this is an IT project.
Some other academic achievements:
- CFA (chartered financial analyst)
- trader certificate from FCSM (Russian SEC)

Post-MBA Goals: work for PE or a venture fund
Target schools:
Harvard
Stanford
Columbia

Thanks a lot!

Hi Paul,
New to the club, felt glad to know that you would be offering some advice here.
Eager as well as curious to know what would be your take on my profile.

Indian Female.
GMAT :730, AWA :6
Age : 25
WE : 3.5 yrs so far ( will be 4 at the time of applying)
-- Top IT major of the world.
-- Fast growth in the company,(every year have moved to higher roles)
-- Working in Singapore from past 1 year for a banking major through my current company.

GPA : 72/100 BE ,in a non-IIT engineering college from India.
Topper in 7th and 8th Semester of BE in Information Science.

Extra Curricular :
UG : Member of speaking clubs, IEEE student bodies,Placement Coordinator, Hostel leadership
Post UG : I feel this area is my weakness with nothing much to speak about. I could not involve myself into extra curriculars as much as I wanted to due to high work pressure.
Initial 1 year post UG: Volunteered as a teacher for Chemistry to teach 11th standard students.
later on , initiated social events in Office and Client premises, which included parties, functions, and voluntering activities for various social causes too.

I had applied for HBS,Wharton,Ross and Tepper in year 2010, and though I got rejected in the first three.Tepper
accepted me.But I could not attend it since I was unable to arrange the required finances.

My Short term Goal : Management Consulting in Hospitality /Retail/Tourism/media industry.
or general management roles in the above industries.

Long term goal : Entrepreneurship in one of the above fields. or as cliched as it may sound, general management role in (in a much higher position , preferably the top) in any of the above fields.

My target schools (definetly would be schools which offer no cosignor loans for international students):
1.Stanford (Stretch)
2.Chicago Booth (Stretch)
3. Fuqua
4.yale
5.Goizueta
6.Kenan Flagler
7.ISB

I have decided to get admitted to a b school at any cost this year.So planning to diversify my applications across schools.
Your opinion and suggestions will be highly appreciated
Thanks !!

hi paul,
do you know when the nex batch of apps will be out (for applying to start in 2012) for top 10 ish schools and what do you suggest doing now until the apps ae available?

Hi Paul,

I am a fresher just out of B-school.I want to do my MBA again from a top 10 college in about 4 years time. I am a bit worried about my profile and looking at ways to enhance it. My profile:
10th - 86%
12th - 61%
Engineering-IT(top-20 college in India) - 8.52/10
PGDM-eqivalent to MBA(top-10 college in India) - 2.4/4.33
FRM(both levels)
0 work-ex(got a job as a derivatives analyst at a leading offshoring firm)
Extra-curriculars-average

Interested in Financial risk management & consulting.

Before applying I plan to:
-complete my CFA(all 3 levels)
-earn a diploma in Spanish language

Plz shed some light on my chances of getting into a top b-school as well as ways to improve my CV(especially given my shaky academic record).

Thanks in advance.
Amitabh

Hi Paul,
First of all thank you for providing such helpful insight into the choices of B Schools.

I have a slightly different profile and was wondering if such a profile would be acceptable to B schools.

Age : 27
Work Exp : 8 yrs
Industry : Merchant Marine ( Oil Transportation )
Designation : Navigating officer
Previous GMAT : 690 ( Q 48, V 37 ) , Planning to take the GMAT again in 1 months time.
Choice of Schools : Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, Tuck, Stern, Columbia, INSEAD, LBS
Post MBA Concentration : Energy Consulting/ Brokerage

With absolutely no experience in the " Corporate " world, would my profile be suitable for B Schools listed above. Also what kind of score should I be targetting ?

Thank You

IEsailor wrote:Hi Paul,
First of all thank you for providing such helpful insight into the choices of B Schools.

I have a slightly different profile and was wondering if such a profile would be acceptable to B schools.

Age : 27
Work Exp : 8 yrs
Industry : Merchant Marine ( Oil Transportation )
Designation : Navigating officer
Previous GMAT : 690 ( Q 48, V 37 ) , Planning to take the GMAT again in 1 months time.
Choice of Schools : Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, Tuck, Stern, Columbia, INSEAD, LBS
Post MBA Concentration : Energy Consulting/ Brokerage

With absolutely no experience in the " Corporate " world, would my profile be suitable for B Schools listed above. Also what kind of score should I be targetting ?

Thank You

Hi --
can you please post this question in the main "ask Paul Lanzillotti" thread? I am going to lock this old thread, as it is several layers deep in the "ask Paul Lanzillotti" thread.
Respectfully, Paul Lanzillotti
_________________

This thread is locked. Please post any new questions in the main ask Paul Lanzillotti thread here - ask-paul-lanzillotti-153/

I locked this thread because not only is it hard to navigate to, but it does not offer the visibility that the normal "ask Paul Lanzillotti That" offers on the forum.

Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti
_________________