mchakrain

Lbs,insead,imd,wharton

I think that my GMAT/age combination didn't fit well into any of the US programs.European Schools such as INSEAD defintely require a 700+ GMAT score as it is a 1 yr program and the competition is intense.LBS might tolerate slightly lower score but you need to fit into the class(Age,WE,International Experience).You also have to very clear in your essays : why you want an MBA and what is your career plan.I think I wrote that I want to switch to finance which I think is very vague.You have to correlate your WE with the career path you want to pursue.It has to be relevant. I targeted all the top schools in US/Europe. Europe - You can try INSEAD but you definitely need 700+ in GMAT.LBS is looking for international experience but I think that the average age for LBS FT is 7 years. Canada-I think Queen's is a good fit for people with Science and Technology/IT background. Australia - AGSM is the top ranked school in Asia-Pacific.The average GMAT is slightly lower(660) but the placement salaries don't compare favourably against US/European Schools. I think you need to ask yourself the following questions before you decide the school 1.Where will I like to work after the MBA ? 2.What kind of application package can I put forth with my combination of WE,GMAT,GPA etc ? 3.How well is the MBA school recognised globally ? 4.What is my area of interest ?Do I have a career plan in place ? 5.What kind of placement salaries do the school offers ? In terms of competition,I think Canada and Australian schools are easier to get into.IMD,in Europe is a good school and likes older candidates(30+ age) but with only 90 seats getting in is tough.They concentrate more on work experience and have a pretty stringent admissions process.You will need to write 8 essays and if shotlisted for interview will need to fly to their campus(in Switzerland) to participate in a case study,presentation and interview process(Check their web-site). European schools usually tolerate higher job experiences than US schools but with your experience(10yrs +),I think IMD is the only option.The average WE for both INSEAD and LBS is 7 years.

Nope,I have a family to support and especially London is so expensive to live in.I have started exploring opportunuties within my organisation.Last year,one of the guys joined the Management Associate program after completing his EMBA.So this is one option.

No one mentioned Queen's MBA.Forbes ranks it as #1 amongst international MBA schools.

Higher age-you maynot fit into a FT MBA program.I had a similar predicament when I was rejected by top 10 US and European FT MBA program but was selected into LBS EMBA program this year.

I agree with you.Comparing Indian MBA's with US/European MBA is like comparing chalk and cheese.

I think we should try to make our application as competitive as possible.The moment you start looking at the marginal cases,you deny yourself the chance of presenting the strongest case for admission.

A big relief especially after 10 rejects in the top FT MBA programs.I simply didn't fit into their programs-higher age,more experience and lower GMAT score-I guess. At least I don't have to leave my current job.The next obstacle is to make the switch to the job of my choice after the MBA since placement services are not available to EMBA students.

I think you will be able to find the median GMAT scores in the school's websites.

I got a call from the admission last Thursday and was told that I had been admitted to the program.It took the adcom 3 weeks after the interview to decide on my candidacy.

Please improve your score to 700+ to give you a realistic chance of getting in.Competitition is fierce especially in the Indian IT pool.

Online MBA's are a waste.

Speak to the Admission Officer and try to find out what you can do to get off the waitlist.Maybe they need you to submit additional essays or want you to speak to alumni to clarify your career goals. In my case,the school(LBS) delayed the final decision and asked me to submit a personal statement clarifying my career goals and how I will contribute to the program after speaking to a few alums. Different schools might have different procedures but you need to speak to the admissions officer to get the clear picture.

Finally I made it...

I think you should try for the Executive MBA/Part time MBA option.It will be difficult for you to get into a full time MBA program now,especially with 10 yrs of WE.

I have been admitted to the Sep'06 intake in the Executive MBA program at London Business School.

I have quite a few GMAT Books for sale.Excellent Condition !!! 1)Kaplan 800 2)Kaplan GMAT 2005 with CD ROM 3)Princeton Review with CD ROM 4)ARCOS with CD ROM 5)Peterson's GMAT with CD ROM 6)Official Guide to GMAT 7)Barron's Guide - GMAT & GRE Selling Price 40% of original. Please contact me at mchakrain@yahoo.com if you are interested.

I attended an hour long interview with 2 of the alumni recently.I have listed the questions I was asked for the benefit of others in this forum. 1. Why do want to do an MBA? Explain what you mean by products? 2. Do you manage a team or manage projects? 3. Tell us about a situation where you had to manage a conflict? What did you do? How did you convince them? What was the outcome? 4. In your project, who are the different stakeholders? 5. How do you convince a senior manager? 6. What if you don’t make it to the MBA program? What are your career options? What will you do? 7. How do you influence others? 8. In your work, did you encounter cultural differences? How did you manage that? 9. How will you balance work, study and other commitments? 10. Tell us a situation where you had to make a decision and how did you go about it? 11. What are your areas of improvement? What efforts have you made to change them and how? 12. What support are you getting from your organisation for doing your MBA? Who is financing the studies? What do your wife think about the investment that you are planning to make? 13. Tell us about outsourcing in your organisation? Are this your thoughts or is this an organisation strategy? What happens if your job gets outsourced? 14. Any Questions?

Thanks for all the feedback guys.Let me just give you some background of what happened in the LBS EMBA Admission process.I was shortlisted for interview and based on the feedback received from the interviewers(LBS alumni), the admission manager came back to me saying that I need to resubmit my essay on career objectives as my career goal is not very clear from my current essay.However,they did find several elements in my application which make my candidacy compelling but they wanted me to clarify my career goals after discussing with LBS alumni.I rewrote my essay(posted earlier) after my discussions with LBS alumni. There are few things which I found out : 1)Unlike a full time MBA program,the objective of the EMBA is to equip students with tools they can directly apply on their current job so that they can progress in their current job. 2)Changing careers or switching jobs maynot be looked in the correct light by the admission committee. 3)Should I stick with my original essay version or make my goals more generic(e.g effective manager) rather than making it specfic(e.g move into investmnet banking or business etc.) What are your thoughts guys ?How do I position myself in this essay ? The original essay I submitted is given below. Our students participate in the Executive MBA Programme for many valid reasons. Please outline your career objectives and explain how gaining an MBA qualification would help you to achieve them. Citigroup offers Fund Accounting as a value added product to its customers. My current role in technology involves support and implementation of Citigroup’s strategic and Global Fund Accounting platform. My next career step will be to move from a service delivery role in technology to a service definition role such as a career in business as a product manager. As a product manager, I will be expected to manage my own portfolio of clients, implement business plans, devise strategies to maintain competitive edge over our rivals by providing a superior product offering to our clients by working closely with my counterparts in technology, operations, marketing and sales teams globally to deliver end to end solutions that meet the requirements of our clients. Besides, a product manager also has to demonstrate superior knowledge of the product and take ownership of the product. While my current role has a focus only in technology, my long-term career plan is to pursue a general management career where I am expected to take critical decisions that have a demonstrable and significant effect on the day to day running of the organisation .To be effective in this role, I will need to broaden my horizon by gaining cross-functional knowledge on general management practises and how to manage and lead complex organisations successfully in a challenging global environment. The core courses of the EMBA program will give me sufficient foundation in general management principles and prepare me for my long term career goal which is to become a senior general manager in an investment bank. In the second year, I will like to specialise in electives such as marketing, strategy, finance and leadership which will give me solid theoretical understanding of diverse topics, the knowledge of which is critical to succeed in my short-term career role as a product manager. If I am to continue with my current career path it won’t be possible for me to build such a diverse knowledge base without an MBA. Through my work, I feel that I have gained a specialised knowledge of only one functional area such as technology, which has made my outlook more and more one-dimensional. However to succeed as a global leader, I need to broaden my outlook and equip myself with superior business and managerial tools, which the EMBA program will do. Besides, I feel that I understand technical aspects of the IT systems but lack the knowledge of the main forces that drive the business forward. Business education will equip me with the necessary business tools to appreciate the business processes and help me become a better manager. It will open new insights based on which I can fully appreciate the factors critical to successful running of a business and how to implement strategies and decisions to make a business unit more profitable. If I am to continue with my current career path, progression to senior management will be slow, as I will lack the well-rounded skills that one gains from an MBA program.

Please outline your career objectives and explain how gaining an MBA qualification would help you to achieve them. My discussions with LBS alumni have helped me immensely in clarifying my career objectives and how gaining an MBA qualification would help me to achieve them. The reason I want to pursue an MBA at this stage in my career is to gain the vital managerial and business tools, which will help me to become an effective manager. In my current role as a technology project manager, I am constantly challenged to take decisions, which I have taken, either based on intuition or using my technical knowledge. Also, I have realised that as I grow into senior management position, the decisions that I will take will require not only knowledge of technology but also a good understanding of general management principles. Although I understand technical issues, I lack the understanding of how business runs. I need to see the bigger picture to understand the issues facing an organisation and what business strategies must be used to increase profitability and competitiveness. Business education will equip me with the necessary knowledge and tools, which will help me in decision-making process. I also want to understand how senior mangers approach problems and how they think strategically to solve business problems. I have observed senior managers who lead large and diverse teams and make critical decision, which has a significant impact on the running of business. The way the approach the problems and the way they apply management theory, people management skills, financial management, strategy to arrive at decisions has a far-reaching impact on the day to day running of the business. Clearly a general MBA with specialisation in different functional areas such as marketing, finance, strategy, organisation behaviour will help me to broaden my horizon and give me the tools to start thinking strategically to have an impact on the running of the organisation. In my day-to-day work, I interact with bankers, accountants, and people with finance background and operations staff. People from different technical backgrounds use different terminologies to communicate which I have often found it difficult to understand. I want to gain understanding of other functional areas so that I can start speaking the language of business. I also want o gain people management skills so that I can manage larger size teams effectively. An MBA will help me to gain these business and managerial tools to accelerate my career progression into senior management and achieve my long-term career goal to become the global technology head. How will you contribute to the MBA program or to the study group experience ? Working in the world’s largest financial firm with global presence in 100 countries has given me the opportunity to interact with diverse teams and people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds, exposure to different working cultures and practises. My international experience has been enriched further by my diverse assignments I undertook earlier as an IT consultant. I had early international exposure as I worked across different technology departments of Citigroup. My strong experience of working in technology and the exposure to implementing different IT banking systems has helped me in developing a unique perspective while the experience of managing diverse technology projects in one of the leading technology organisations has given me insights into best industry practises and processes. I have thus experienced both the functions –technology and finance by working in the IT division of a leading financial firm. Through my interactions with senior technology mangers, I had been able to mould my leadership principles and have gained tremendous insights into how to lead diverse teams through challenging client assignments. I also gained exposure to leading business practises such as outsourcing through my involvement in managing outsourcing projects. Through my rich and varied experience, I think I will play a lead role in enriching the experience of my study group and play a pivotal role in discussions and case studies. By working in teams of different sizes, I had been able to built upon my interpersonal and team skills, which I think, will help me to foster close ties with my study group members.

Master in Finance is advisable if you want to pursue a career purely in Finance.Also,it maynot lead to managerial position as the job prospects would be on more technical areas of Finance.If you want a more general background or want to lead a managerial career path in Finance,I think MBA(Finance) will be a better bet. However,I must say that it is possible to join an investment bank as an Associate in a finance role by either pursuing a MIF(Master in Finance) or an MBA(Finance).MBA just gives you more flexibility because you might well decide to pursue a career in Mgt. Strategy Consultancy after your summer internship in a finance role in an investment bank which might not have quite suited your taste buds. I think the adcom will definitely look at your Quant score in GMAT to figure out your success in pursuing a MBA(Finance) specilisation but career change from architecture to finance is a definite possibility,this is where an MBA(Finance) comes into play.

Serena1, I was in a similar dilemma trying to figure out PT(Part time MBA) OR EMBA(Executive MBA) vis-à-vis FT MBA.This are my findings after doing extensive research into this and talking to alumni of PT/EMBA : 1)ROI : Calculate it in terms of lost opportunity cost.Also,is your company sponsoring you. If not,I think FT is a better option(no brainer!) 2)Job prospects : I think this is the key factor.There is no point in wasting 2 yrs on a PT if you can get the job of your choice.Most B-Schools don't provide career service facilities to EMBA students.I am talking from LBS perspective. So unless, you have a job lined up in the area you want to pursue your post MBA career, there is little point in pursuing an MBA. Now some insider stories about HR and company perspective towards PT/EMBA : All MNC's will have a fast track program for Associates(typically you will become a VP in 18 months once you enter the program after your FT MBA but companies are unlikely to provide the same career path for PT/EMBA's. There is a prejudice against PT/EMBA's ,mainly b'cos there is less competition to get in(low GMAT scores are usually the norm compared to corresponding FT MBA. 3)Lack of career options : The main attraction of an FT MBA is career placement and if that is not available in PT/EMBA,then it is like drinking an alcohol free lager ! EVERYONE I HAVE SPOKEN TO INCLUDING PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE PT/EMBA HAS STRONGLY ADVISED ME AGAINST AN EMBA/PT MBA. I have spoken to admission officers of EMBA(LBS) and this is what they have to say :"My experience(9 yrs in IT) lies is on the fringes of a FT MBA,so I should give one last shot for FT MBA.I can always have an option for an EMBA in later years when I won't have a FT option." Morever,EMBA's are typically designed for middle level managers who wan't to move to senior level management, so there is a question of fitting into the class.Also,there is limited study group experience as most of these happen through virtual classrooms(dial-into conference calls ;maybe during work hours which will unnecessarily draw the attention of the curious(Read 'jealous') eyes of your peer workers). So ask yourself the following questions. I asked myself these questions and I could see the reality staring on my face: 1)Are you a career changer or career enhancer ? 2)Do you have a job to go back to ? I mean do you have a network in place to find an appropriate post MBA job ? 3)How will you balance your life/study/work balance ? 4)What's your ROI ? If you answer to any of these questions is unconvincing, blindly choose FT MBA.I know guys who have done MBA with 10 yrs of experience.(Recently I met an alumni at LBS FT MBA information session who used to dig holes in oil fields while working as a mechanical engineer in a refinery and she switched careers to finance after spending 10 yrs in her previous career. So age shouldn't be a barrier for FT MBA) Hope this helps !

My worst fears are coming true - Rejected by Tuck & INSEAD - GMAT score is definitely my undoing. Besides,I have done some research into Citigroup's INTERNAL HR network to find out about their Management Financial Associate program.Typically CITIGROUP

Where you put TUCK ?Did you see the recruitment figures for Tuck in the financial sector last year ?I think it is now in one of the top range.Plus,the alumni network is very strong in the sense that Tuck Alumni are extremely loyal to thedir school.So getting a job in Goldman Sachs shouyldn't be an issue if you are a Tuck graduate(President of Goldman Sachs is a Tuck Alumni). I am not sure about the worth of Anderson School(UCLA).They haven't provided any clear cut recruitment figures on their web-site.Whenever that happens,I get suspicious ! What are your thoughts about: IESE HEC CRANFIELD SAID Are this local schools ?I know that IESE is ranked #4 and HEC is ranked #8 in Europe.Not sure if these are Global Schools.SAID is excellent in terms of ROI as it is 1 yr MBA £25000-Tution Oxford Brand is strong in UK(What about USA ?) Placement is good. Average salary is £63000 What's you view ? Judge(Cambridge) is not as good as SAID.Rest are waste.Even Cranfield and Manchester Business School is not that great ! I am retaking my GMAT on 27th Jan to see if I can address the only weak aspect of my application and improve my score to 700+.Maybe the new vendor may change my luck.I have found that the the Verbal Section is easier in GMATPrep than PowerPrep and my weakness is Verbal.So maybe I can improve my score. Infact,I had been trying to book a date since 15th Dec'05 but ETS stopped booking any appointments from 17th Dec'05 to facilitate the transition to Pearson(New Vendor) and no dates were available until 11th Jan'06.I found a date availability with great difficulty and the next challenge will be to convince the schools to accept my score(in case I improve). In the practise GMATPrep tests,I have consistently scored between 710 & 730 but I don't know why I screwed up in the actual test 2 times.Maybe pressure/nervousness or maybe I was more keen to do well!.

Please share with us your : 1.Profile 2.What you wrote in the essays 3.When did you apply ? R1/R2 4.What did they ask you in the interview ?