Ask Stratus Admissions Counseling : Ask Stratus Admissions Counseling - Page 2

vj1994 wrote:Hi folks !

I have a question.

I got an admit from ISB and the program begins in April but I am waiting for results from Tepper and Kellogg.

Since I wanted to spend some time with the family , I resigned in Februray to stay with family for around 1.5 month.

At the same time , if I get a positive result from either tepper or Kellogg , I might be jobless for next four months. Will this affect my application or post MBA prospects ?

Posted from my mobile device

Riti4357 wrote:Hello everyone!

I am a female mechanical and automation engineer from India graduated in 2016. I am on an extended career gap since i graduated. I want to pursue my masters in finance but my profile is not tailored for the same currently. Landing an internship in finance has been a very tasking job and my attempts have been unsuccessful. However, I want to apply this year and I have begun my preparation for GMAT(full time right now). Could you please make any suggestions on how i can improve my profile and make up for the time lost in any way? I am open to studying in singapore , europe , US(if i could get any scholarships). Thank you.

kalyani2095 wrote:Hi,

I am having trouble choosing between Cornell MBA and HEC Paris ( Jan intake)
My post MBA goal is to work in the consulting space.

I would greatly appreciate your guidance in helping me decide

Thanks.

targetbusiness wrote:Hi Stratus Admissions,

I would like to request a suggestion/opinion on a confusion I am facing. One of the B-School Forum Moderators suggested that I reach out to you for help as you people have a rich experience in the MBA admissions process.
I received an admit from a business school in Georgia, USA with a full scholarship and stipend/graduate assistantship. Therefore, I asked other MBA schools for which my decision was pending after the interview if it is possible to provide my application decision sooner as I already have a decision in hand and wish to make an informed decision before paying out the enrollment fee. The schools reverted with a request to send them a copy of "Admission Letter" and "Scholarship Letter" before taking the case to the Admissions Committee for decisions.
Now, I am little confused whether to provide the letters or details such as the name of program, amount, the deadline for payment, etc. to those schools. I am not sure whether this would put my only admit into jeopardy or help me.
Kindly advise. Hope to hear from you soon.

mjaininc wrote:Would love to get a review on my profile in terms of a Rotman or Oxford Said MBA.
hi @mjaininc-- this is a bummer-- I wrote a lot of detailed stuff in reply and now I can't find it! I'm resending my answers and hope you get these--
Indian Male

2012-2013
Diploma in Economics - Distinction - London School of Economics (London, UK)

2012-2016
BBA (Finance) - GPA 3.99/4 - Distinction - Hult International Business School (Boston,USA; San Francisco, USA; Shanghai, China; Dubai, UAE)
Valedictorian/Dean's List for 6 continuous terms/On boards of Hult Consulting and Finance Clubs
Interned at a Consulting firm in Boston & at an Asset Management Firm in London

GMAT: 720 (Q49/V39)

Work Experience:

2013-2015
BAT Team Leader
Bloomberg L.P. (London, UK)
Led the EMEA BAT Analytics Team.

2015-2017
Senior Associate Consultant
TISX Global (Boutique Financial Consulting) (Mumbai, India)
Strategy Consulting for SMEs.

2017-2020
Lead Principle - M&A, ECM
TISX Global (Boutique Financial Consulting) (Kolkata, India)
Led M&A and ECM assignments amounting to INR 1.73 Billion.

Advisory member on the boards of 2 separate NGOs, focusing on tribal health. Also, advisory consultant to two different government departments.

Target Post Rotman/Said:
Investment Banking or Asset Management (Impact Investing/Real Estate)

Have seen several application with GMAT scores over 720 being rejected by Rotman & Said. What are my chances? So I think your odds at Rotman and Said are pretty good. Your GMAT is good for both-- but even more important-- esp to Rotman-- you have some good work experience and I see you as "employable" in the MBA pipeline. Rotman cares about this a lot.
Also, what about the "fit" in terms of what Rotman & Said require of its students/applicants? I'd need to know more about you to know about your "fit" but Rotman and Said will value people who have had impact-- and all MBA programs really will value this too. From what i see here I think you could be a good fit either place.

My motivations for Rotman - Right in the centre of the Canadian financial services industry. Easy immigration policies of Canada. Top tier 2 year MBA in Canada. Have already attended a couple of classes by Rotman faculty at Hult, and they were impressive. CDL as well, is an amazing opportunity. I was very impressed with CDL when I visited Rotman and I agree there is much appeal to Canada. Especially now with covid19!
My motivations for Said - Couple of really close friends over there who gave amazing reviews. Love the opportunity to belong to a college as well as the business school. The Oxford setting is lovely, love the regatta. The name recognition of Oxford.

StratusMBACounselor wrote:One thing to be clear on is make sure the career goal is not just out of left field. So in looking at your resume I'd want to see was there RE? how does the impact investing fit? If these things not clear-- you may want to ride your finance exp more -- and I also encourage you to reach out to students at both places-- through ambassador links-- to find people with similar backgrounds and see if your goals sound reasonable to them at each school.[/color]

mjaininc wrote:

StratusMBACounselor wrote:One thing to be clear on is make sure the career goal is not just out of left field. So in looking at your resume I'd want to see was there RE? how does the impact investing fit? If these things not clear-- you may want to ride your finance exp more -- and I also encourage you to reach out to students at both places-- through ambassador links-- to find people with similar backgrounds and see if your goals sound reasonable to them at each school.[/color]

Thanks for your detailed assessment Donna.

As for RE I did advise a couple of REITs on yield optimisation, and did enjoy the mandate. As far as Impact Investment is concerned I have no direct experience in that field, but can see the appeal it is going to have in future asset allocations, so seems like a nice prospect. Any inputs regarding this? So that's good news on RE-- and a pivot to RE finance could make sense. Impact investing can be tricky on the recruiting side-- so do some further research on how successful people are at Rotman or Said on this. Not having this as part of your MBA goal explicitly does not mean you can't investigate this with MBA and take classes, do competitions etc-- and maybe you will make the leap-- but on the admissions side one lens that adcom-- and particularly at Rotman-- has -- is can this person be successful in our MBA pipeline. So make sure you read their employment reports and see where people are going-- and then talk to club leaders -- say impact investing club and see who got the jobs. What kind of background did they have coming in? If you do that research and feel comfortable that you have a similar profile then it could work. When I work with my clients we spend sometimes several weeks working through this so I don't mean to say we can solve it over GMATclub-- but hopefully this gives you some ideas. And if you want a more thorough discussion let's have a consult where you can find me here: https://stratusadmissionscounseling.com/consult/

I am also happy to stay in Investment Banking/Financial Advisory, as long as I am able to switch to a larger firm with big ticket size deals. It's just that the growth at my current firm is plateauing. Also leadership is always a big consideration in goals for MBA so think about how you will be able to pass the plateau with more leadership!

Thanks!!

doublewhammy wrote:Background and nationality - Indian (male), age at application - 26, Business education (Undergrad and post-grad from top tier institutes in India)
GMAT: 720 -740 (Realistic target)
Undergrad Gpa- 7.48(equivalent to 4.0 acc to gmac)- top 30%

Post grad Gpa - 2.93/4.33 from IIM (top 30% of class)
Common Admission Test 2015 (GMAT equivalent for Indian bschools, 200,000 test takers in a year) - 98.5 percentile


Work experience and leadership - 3.5 years (during application) CPG firm in India, led a team of 10+ graduates for all these 3.5 yrs, youngest and fastest to get promoted, youngest state head, highest growth and achievement nos. in first 2 years

Recommendations from Pan India Heads

Community and others -

Volunteering at a school for special needs children - mostly kids who don't have resources for correct diagnosis - tried to teach them nuances of human interaction and to make them independent in their daily tasks

Hosted a tedx event and achieved a blackbelt in martial arts, opportunity to represent country and state in international and national competitions

Post MBA goals - transition to consulting in CPG/manufacturing and then start an entrepreneurial venture



zero international experience, but experienced many cultures in India

Ideal GMAt score considering my background?
Which schools shall I target - Stretch, Realistic, Safety?

doublewhammy wrote:

doublewhammy wrote:Background and nationality - Indian (male), age at application - 26, Business education (Undergrad and post-grad from top tier institutes in India)
GMAT: 720 -740 (Realistic target)
Undergrad Gpa- 7.48(equivalent to 4.0 acc to gmac)- top 30%

Post grad Gpa - 2.93/4.33 from IIM (top 30% of class)
Common Admission Test 2015 (GMAT equivalent for Indian bschools, 200,000 test takers in a year) - 98.5 percentile


Work experience and leadership - 3.5 years (during application) CPG firm in India, led a team of 10+ graduates for all these 3.5 yrs, youngest and fastest to get promoted, youngest state head, highest growth and achievement nos. in first 2 years

Recommendations from Pan India Heads

Community and others -

Volunteering at a school for special needs children - mostly kids who don't have resources for correct diagnosis - tried to teach them nuances of human interaction and to make them independent in their daily tasks

Hosted a tedx event and achieved a blackbelt in martial arts, opportunity to represent country and state in international and national competitions

Post MBA goals - transition to consulting in CPG/manufacturing and then start an entrepreneurial venture



zero international experience, but experienced many cultures in India

Ideal GMAt score considering my background?I'm impressed with your background and I think if you have a 720-740 GMAT that you have a lot of options
Which schools shall I target - Stretch, Realistic, Safety?

Assuming you have the 720-740 GMAT, and your goal to look at Consulting leveraging your CPG background-- some schools that come to mind are Kellogg, Booth (yes Booth-- look at Kilts marketing center), Wharton (yes great marketing there too), Fuqua, McCombs, Ross, Anderson, maybe Haas, Tepper, CBS

In terms of these the stretch are going to be M7 so Booth, Kellogg, Wharton, CBS
The targets-- Fuqua, Ross, Haas (maybe stretch), McCombs
Safety: Tepper, maybe also add Emory, Owen, or UNC

We have a process that really helps you to refine your goals and what you need most in an MBA so this list could change as you refine your needs-- but this is what comes to mind in quickly reviewing here. Feel free to reach out for a free consult on our site so we can have a longer discussion on your background --I'm Donna Bauman so look for me if you want to follow up from here or feel free to reach out to any of my Stratus colleagues for a consult instead. I think you have some different work experience from India and that makes you attractive to a class and also impressive to have the TedX talk and some of your other extracurriculars!

StratusMBACounselor
Could you weigh in on my profile?

gmatfan5 wrote:Hello all, and hope everybody is staying safe! Would love to hear your recommendations on best spots to apply given my career goals, and also places that you think I would have a decent shot of getting into. Thanks in advance!

Background:
White Male
Age 26

College:
Finance degree from "Public Ivy" (but not one that's quite UVA/Berkeley caliber) with top 10 undergraduate business school
3.6 GPA

GMAT: 730
This combination of high GPA/GMAT is a great one!
Work Experience:
4 years at top real estate mortgage banking firm (though unsure if MBA programs have a sense for what "top" mortgage banking firms are, so not sure how much this helps me). Have held multiple roles within the firm, a path I chose to broaden my skill set.

Extracurriculars:
Admittedly a weak spot. Outside of work I stay involved with a leadership role in my high school's alumni association, which is something I'm passionate about, but I'm not sure how this would be viewed by an MBA admissions office.They would like people who stay involved with their universities!

Post MBA Goals:
A lot of the interest in pursuing an MBA is to explore the PropTech field, where I could leverage my real estate knowledge but would certainly be looking at it though a different lens that MBA classes and connections would really help with. Ideally, I would secure a PropTech internship and then move on to a PropTech firm, and hopefully make connections at business school with more tech-oriented folks that could lead to a startup partnership down the road.
Very cool goal of exploring PropTech-- I'd look at schools with strong RE programs in doing your research-- strong tech too. Look at UCLA Anderson, UNC Kenan-Flagler and also Kellogg.
Other comments:
Would be nervous to seek a recommendation from a direct supervisor given economic uncertainty during the pandemic, but could get a good recommendation from a direct supervisor who now works for a competitor.