Profile Evaluation

[ananyatoday]

Here is a basic overview of my profile. Could you please tell me what range of schools I should apply to?

Origin: Indian, Female 30 years old
GMAT: 680
Education: Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, India. 85%
Govt scholarship recipient.
National Merit Scholar in Math and Science.

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, USA 3.02 GPA, Research Scholarship recipient


Work Exp:
-Moved from Web Application Developer to Technology Manager in the past 5 years at a small Educational Not-For-Profit in NYC.
Responsibilities:
- Led 2 teams of developers and consultants to build and customize 17 international websites
-Developed and conducted on site and on line trainings for staff and teachers across 130 countries such as Isreal, West Bank, Taiwan, Morocco
- Manage 1 direct report

Activities:
-New York cares volunteer
- Work with residents of assisted living to teach them basic computer skills
- Volunteer at housing works fundraisers
- Led interviews for U.S.-Mongolia Emerging Youth Leaders program to engage under-served youth in a community journalism- US State Department Initiative in collaboration with Mongolia Education Alliance
- Conduct interviews and orientation sessions and have escorted high school exchange students as a part of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)- a US State Department Initiative
- I’ve provided direct language support in Hindi to high school students in the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) to improve their communication (both oral and written)
- I’ve been working with a Bedouin tribal camp owner (Wadi Rum, Jordan. This not through any organization but I lived in his camp when I was in Jordan so I know a bit and things started moving from there.
- Founded a board game club in the community that worked well for 2 years but died last year.

Recommendations:
Ex-boss
Ex-colleague
Alumni of Columbia Business school


Want to do an MBA in social enterprise/entrepreneurship

I am applying to ISB, Columbia, Yale. Do you think I can get in to any one of them?


Thank you very much for evaluating my profile.

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Congrats on beginning the MBA admissions process! Based on the info you provided, sounds like you have solid work experience and a respectable GMAT score, and your experiences volunteering and involvement in activities as well as your nonprofit industry experience fit well with your interest in social enterprise.

The biggest piece missing, that maybe you just did not mention is what your career goals are and why you feel you need an MBA to reach them. If you successfully explain your short and long term goals, your rationale for the MBA, and why each specific school's program is right for you, I would think you would have a decent chance at all three of those programs, with Columbia being more of a reach. And Yale does have strengths in non-profits, social enterprise, etc, so it should not be difficult to make a strong case that their program is a good fit for you.

Be sure to focus on your essays and get feedback on them, especially with Columbia's shorter word counts. Their essay questions for this year came out; you can check out analysis for this year's question here if you are interested: http://www.mbamission.com/blog/2013/05/ ... 2013-2014/.

Good luck on your applications!

Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
jen@mbamission.com

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[ananyatoday]

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you for evaluating my profile. Here is why I want an MBA and why I think now is a good time.

I have been a tech manager at an educational not-for-profit for close to six years now and during my six years I've grown from a developer to managerial role. I have obtained a rare combination of skills and experience i.e. technology, international education and youth exchange. I'd love to utilize this skill set in starting a social enterprise on my own. Given my managerial experience at a NFP, I've realized there is so much I don't know. For example: How do I draft budgets? How does one attract more funding into an organization? How do I develop a strategy for entire organization the next 4-5 years? What kind of factors does one need to consider while planning ahead? How do I market the mission of my organization? How do I attract people to come work for an organization? Columbia has brilliant staff and a great social enterprise program.
I think Columbia's Non-Profit Board Leadership is an excellent opportunity to view the upper layers of management of a NFP from an external point of view.

I could stick around longer without an MBA but that only pushes my goal of starting something on my own farther away. Had I started an MBA two years ago I would have done it just to make career switch into management. Now, I exactly know what I want to be when I come out of business school two years later.

What are your first thoughts on this? Is this a compelling start to build on?

Thanks so much.

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi,

Yes I think that is a good start, and I think the 'why now' makes sense for sure based on the skills you have developed and the point you are at in your career. If possible you will want to expand upon your goal of 'starting a social enterprise' after business school and further explain where you see yourself in the shorter and longer term after the MBA. For MBA degrees, more so than for other Masters degrees, having a clear career path in mind can really help your application (as opposed to focusing solely on the academics and skills you'll gain without mentioning where/how you'll use them). In a competitive application environment at these top schools, if someone can really explain their vision of their career path and exactly how the MBA will help, they may have the edge over someone who is more vague about it, all other things being relatively equal.

I hope this feedback has been helpful, and feel free to come back with additional questions. If you feel it would be useful to have a discussion with one of our consultants in more depth so they can really talk through your profile and challenges and goals for the application, we do offer 30 min free consults at any time (if interested, please see http://www.mbamission.com/consult.php), fyi.

Wishing you the best on this exciting application process!

[ananyatoday]

Hi Jen,

Thank you for your guidance so far. One last question: What do you think my chances are at Oxford (Said Business School) and INSEAD round 3?

Thank you!

[mbamissionjenK]

Hiya,

Overall with STRONG essays I believe you'd have a shot at both schools, with Oxford being more in-reach, BUT... round 3? That is getting quite late, and keep in mind most spaces are already taken, so you are competing with a LARGE number of applicants, for very few spots. So that does make it tougher. In that case both would be reaches. Not impossible; depends a lot on how your overall application comes together. Good luck and keep us posted!