Profile Evaluation for MBA

[mundra.saket]

Hello,

Could you please evaluate my profile and suggest some realistic schools in Canada and EU. I wish to join a school with strong focus on Finance and entrepreneurship.

GMAt Score - 690 (Verbal 40, Quant 44)

Education]
1) B.Eng (Honors) in Computing from Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology, Staffordhsire University from 2001 to 2005. GPA is 3.5 out of 4. Also, I ranked second in a Batch of 80 students.

2) Pursuing CFA - Waiting results for Level 2

Professional Profile

1) Entrepreneur at Genesis Financials from November 2007 - Present
2) Research Analyst at an Emerging Markets Hedge Fund , Mumbai from April 2008 - March 2009
3) Software Engineer at Tata Consultancy Services Limited from January 2006 - March 2008

PROFESSIONAL ACHEIVEMENTS

1)Enhanced Expected Portfolio Returns by 5% and reduced Risk by 3% using Portfolio Optimization and Diversification at VCAM Investment Manages in October 2008.
2) Received Certificate of Customer Appreciation twice for reducing System Downtime by 100% in October 2006 and February 2007.
3) Promoted to role of Module Lead within 6 months of joining TCS to lead a team of 4.
4) Re-engineered monitoring processes for VSNL’s CRM Systems, reducing escalations by 25% and resulting in savings of Rs. 1 million for TCS.


Extra Activities
1) Contributor at Financial Forum Seekingalpha.com
2) Taught underprivileged children with City Education Society (NGO) in Delhi in June 2008 and August 2005.
3) Active member of TIE Delhi.
4) Chief Conference Coordinator - CNFE 2005, Annual Technical Festival at APIIT, Panipat, India.
5) Won Re-engineering contest, Moksh 2003 - Annual Cultural Festival at NSIT (Formerly DIT), Delhi University.
6) Volunteered in organizing Innovision 2003 - Annual Technical Festival at NSIT (Formerly DIT), Delhi University.

[mbamission]

I think your 3.5 GPA and 2/80 ranking in college are pretty strong. Your GMAT score is a bit lopsided, but a score of 690 is respectable. How many times have you taken the exam? Are you considering taking it again to pull up your verbal score? It's also great that you will potentially earn your CFA which is a great way to substantiate your quantitative skills.

In terms of your professional experiences, your transition from software engineering to finance is pretty interesting. In addition, if you have concrete stories to describe your role as an entrepreneur, that should be a great way to differentiate your professional experiences.

I do think your extra-curricular activities are relatively light based on the information you provided. Perhaps you can supplement this with personal stories. What is the extent of your international experience (from a personal, professional and community perspective)? This will be important for applying to programs in Europe like INSEAD and LBS (you should be competitive at these programs).

We specialize in the top programs in the U.S. and Europe, so I cannot comment on Canadian programs. I hope this helps.

Best of luck with the application process!

Monica Okrah
MBA Mission
646-485-8844
Website: http://www.mbamission.com
Blog: http://www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: http://www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: http://www.mbamission.com/consult.php