Profile Review Request : Ask mbaMission

Hi! I'll get right away to my stats and do let me know how my profile looks, thanks!

GMAT - 700 (Q48 V37 split)
Nationality - Indian
U.G - 3.01 CGPA BBA with a specialization in Finance and Accountancy (Course integrated with ACCA London, completed 10/13 professional papers, increasing difficulty of course as the avg is 2.90 CGPA)
At university, I represented the university at national level music competitions, winning 1st place in all and won multiple accolades.
Led the hospitality, logistics, and sponsorship teams for multiple events.
W.E - 2.5 years (3 by the time I start classes in Jan), Supply Chain Solutions/Logistics/Transportation
In 3 years, been promoted thrice, once over 4 months, and the other 2 over a year each. work as an Analyst (track was Associate Analyst, Quality Analyst, Product Analyst, lateral shift to Analyst)
I am also a professional musician, heavily involved in session work, performed at multiple international venues throughout South India, sold out shows generating over 200000 INR, have multiple singles and an album under my name. Freelance a lot as a musician.
Tennis - District level seeded among top 300 in my state however now I play it leisurely as a sport.
Travel - I'm part of one of the largest motorcycle clubs. We tour the country as well as host CSR activities and contribute to the society. I have also been heavily involved in community service during covid, allotting resources to various households that required resources.

As part of international exposure, majority of my formative years were spent in France, UK, and the US. I now work with cross-functional and cross-border teams in my line of work, mainly interacting closely with my US and Hong-Kong counterparts.

My LORs are from the SVP and one of our Senior Principal Product Owners.

I have applied for R2 at INSEAD (Dream school so I'm not overly confident) and I would say that my essays are structured decently, however the anxiety is through the roof.

How does my profile look overall?

Thanks!

Hi Calico,
Thanks for reaching out with your profile. In terms of work experience, you're just within INSEAD's range of 3-8 years, though of course on the low end. But it seems like you've been on a fast trajectory with the multiple promotions but still have some concerns that as an Analyst you wouldn't have as much leadership exposure as others.

Your international exposure, through schooling and work too, is excellent and much valued by INSEAD. I am also quite impressed with your musical accomplishments! Interesting about the motorcycle club too, not something we typically see.

Stats wise, again your GMAT is definitely in INSEAD's range, albeit just below their average. On the surface, the CGPA seems low but it sounds like it was a difficult program so hopefully you were able to explain that context in the application.

All in all, I think you have a good profile for INSEAD but as you know it is a highly selective school. If it doesn't work out, I would recommend retaking your GMAT and reapplying with a bit more experience.

Hope that helps, and good luck!
Kate

Calico wrote:Hi! I'll get right away to my stats and do let me know how my profile looks, thanks!

GMAT - 700 (Q48 V37 split)
Nationality - Indian
U.G - 3.01 CGPA BBA with a specialization in Finance and Accountancy (Course integrated with ACCA London, completed 10/13 professional papers, increasing difficulty of course as the avg is 2.90 CGPA)
At university, I represented the university at national level music competitions, winning 1st place in all and won multiple accolades.
Led the hospitality, logistics, and sponsorship teams for multiple events.
W.E - 2.5 years (3 by the time I start classes in Jan), Supply Chain Solutions/Logistics/Transportation
In 3 years, been promoted thrice, once over 4 months, and the other 2 over a year each. work as an Analyst (track was Associate Analyst, Quality Analyst, Product Analyst, lateral shift to Analyst)
I am also a professional musician, heavily involved in session work, performed at multiple international venues throughout South India, sold out shows generating over 200000 INR, have multiple singles and an album under my name. Freelance a lot as a musician.
Tennis - District level seeded among top 300 in my state however now I play it leisurely as a sport.
Travel - I'm part of one of the largest motorcycle clubs. We tour the country as well as host CSR activities and contribute to the society. I have also been heavily involved in community service during covid, allotting resources to various households that required resources.

As part of international exposure, majority of my formative years were spent in France, UK, and the US. I now work with cross-functional and cross-border teams in my line of work, mainly interacting closely with my US and Hong-Kong counterparts.

My LORs are from the SVP and one of our Senior Principal Product Owners.

I have applied for R2 at INSEAD (Dream school so I'm not overly confident) and I would say that my essays are structured decently, however the anxiety is through the roof.

How does my profile look overall?

Thanks!

mbaMissionKate and dee1pug1 thanks for the replies!

To address my work-ex, I'll probably highlight a few points from my CV here.

Mentored cross-functional and cross-border team of 2 directors, 12 team leads and 55+ seniors and juniors of the Quality
Assurance Department, improving efficiency of 100+ XYZCo. employees across the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and India.
• Collaborated with cross-border counterparts in US and Hong Kong, to shape the core product which is utilized by
major freight forwarders and 3PLs in the Supply Chain Industry, securing XYZCo. a valuation of $510M USD.e
Product Analyst, Bangalore, India (Jan 2022 – Jan 2023)
• Spearheaded scrum calls using Agile - Waterfall Hybrid methodology and evaluated testing scenarios written by the
Quality Assurance Team, resulting in one of the most complex, comprehensive test suites within XYZCo.
• Persuaded senior managers from the United States and Hong Kong to implement proprietary features for one of the
biggest Freight Forwarders in the market, resulting in investments of over $1M and onboarding of one of the biggest
Logistic Service Providers in the supply chain domain. (Received Medallion award for the same)
• Expedited the integration of 5 major LTL Carriers to our application ranking XYZCo. among the top 15 companies
in the Supply Chain space. This integration assisted in obtaining a total network of over 250,000 international carriers.
Quality Analyst, Bangalore, India (Jan 2021 – Jan 2022)
• Supported the VP of Engineering in the US team in validating our flagship intermodal system and negotiated global
calls with senior managers resulting in the onboarding of one of the biggest freight forwarders in the world.
• Handpicked to verify a pivotal component, optimizing carrier paths using Machine Learning, increasing operational
efficiency for Drayage carriers in the United States and Canada, enabling our clients to achieve carbon neutrality.
Associate Analyst, Bangalore, India (Aug 2020 – Jan 2021)
• Collaborated with cross-module counterparts to produce the initial test suite for the company's application to the senior
management. This cross-functional suite comprises of over 1000 different scenarios and is followed by the team leads,
seniors and juniors of the cross-border Quality Assurance Department. (Received a spot award for the same)

If either of you are alright with it, I can provide my essays on personal chat although personally I feel as though they are decent essays. My concern lies more towards the fact that my GMAT score has a split of Q48 and V37 (Sub-par to the rest of my Indian Male counterparts), and my GPA.

Thank you so much for taking out the time to review and reply!

Cheers

~Calico

Edit: I am aware that as an Indian, I'm part of the over-represented bunch, but I'm hoping that my background of being from the Supply Chain/Logistics segment and my undergrad in Finance and ACCA would probably set me apart from the Engineering IT graduates. *fingers crossed*

Hi again! All those work accomplishments sound great. I think they will like your supply chain/logistics background and cross-border work for sure! I agree with the concern about your GMAT / GPA. Can't change the GPA, so you may want to think about retaking GMAT. If you do secure an interview with INSEAD, definitely check out our free INSEAD Interview Guide here: https://shop.mbamission.com/products/in ... view-guide\

Kate

Calico wrote:mbaMissionKate and dee1pug1 thanks for the replies!

To address my work-ex, I'll probably highlight a few points from my CV here.

Mentored cross-functional and cross-border team of 2 directors, 12 team leads and 55+ seniors and juniors of the Quality
Assurance Department, improving efficiency of 100+ XYZCo. employees across the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and India.
• Collaborated with cross-border counterparts in US and Hong Kong, to shape the core product which is utilized by
major freight forwarders and 3PLs in the Supply Chain Industry, securing XYZCo. a valuation of $510M USD.e
Product Analyst, Bangalore, India (Jan 2022 – Jan 2023)
• Spearheaded scrum calls using Agile - Waterfall Hybrid methodology and evaluated testing scenarios written by the
Quality Assurance Team, resulting in one of the most complex, comprehensive test suites within XYZCo.
• Persuaded senior managers from the United States and Hong Kong to implement proprietary features for one of the
biggest Freight Forwarders in the market, resulting in investments of over $1M and onboarding of one of the biggest
Logistic Service Providers in the supply chain domain. (Received Medallion award for the same)
• Expedited the integration of 5 major LTL Carriers to our application ranking XYZCo. among the top 15 companies
in the Supply Chain space. This integration assisted in obtaining a total network of over 250,000 international carriers.
Quality Analyst, Bangalore, India (Jan 2021 – Jan 2022)
• Supported the VP of Engineering in the US team in validating our flagship intermodal system and negotiated global
calls with senior managers resulting in the onboarding of one of the biggest freight forwarders in the world.
• Handpicked to verify a pivotal component, optimizing carrier paths using Machine Learning, increasing operational
efficiency for Drayage carriers in the United States and Canada, enabling our clients to achieve carbon neutrality.
Associate Analyst, Bangalore, India (Aug 2020 – Jan 2021)
• Collaborated with cross-module counterparts to produce the initial test suite for the company's application to the senior
management. This cross-functional suite comprises of over 1000 different scenarios and is followed by the team leads,
seniors and juniors of the cross-border Quality Assurance Department. (Received a spot award for the same)

If either of you are alright with it, I can provide my essays on personal chat although personally I feel as though they are decent essays. My concern lies more towards the fact that my GMAT score has a split of Q48 and V37 (Sub-par to the rest of my Indian Male counterparts), and my GPA.

Thank you so much for taking out the time to review and reply!

Cheers

~Calico

Edit: I am aware that as an Indian, I'm part of the over-represented bunch, but I'm hoping that my background of being from the Supply Chain/Logistics segment and my undergrad in Finance and ACCA would probably set me apart from the Engineering IT graduates. *fingers crossed*

Hi mbaMissionKate !
Thanks a ton for replying once again. Yeah, I am slated to write my third attempt on Friday. Hopefully I can knock it out of the park with a 740+ with a more well-balanced split. I was wondering whether at 700, it would be diminishing returns at this point unless I can make a sizeable jump. My first attempt was a 620 with a Q39 V36 which I spun into my application as well to show my dedication and self-discipline to practice but yes, hopefully I can score a lot higher.

Fingers crossed!!

That is great you are giving it another go. I think any increase above 700 is helpful! Good luck!

Calico wrote:Hi mbaMissionKate !
Thanks a ton for replying once again. Yeah, I am slated to write my third attempt on Friday. Hopefully I can knock it out of the park with a 740+ with a more well-balanced split. I was wondering whether at 700, it would be diminishing returns at this point unless I can make a sizeable jump. My first attempt was a 620 with a Q39 V36 which I spun into my application as well to show my dedication and self-discipline to practice but yes, hopefully I can score a lot higher.

Fingers crossed!!