Profile Evaluation

[ssaces]

Hi,

I just took my GMAT on 24th May and would appreciate some advice on choosing a MBA based on my desired goals and expected trade off.

Background Info:

Personal details: 29, Male, Chinese, Located in Singapore, Speaks English and Mandarin fluently.

Academics:

- 2nd Upper Class Honors in Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from National University of Singapore - equivalent GPA of approx 3.38/4. Screwed up my 1st year modules (avg GPA 2.84), while doing alright with my 2nd to 4th year modules (avg GPA 3.55).

- GMAT (unofficial) - 740 (Q50V40)

Work Experiences:

- 5 years in the military as an officer in an engineering vocation (2006 - 2011). Approx 2.5 years spent leading about 15 technicians in the maintenance of helicopters. The rest of the time is spent in training (~6 months) and as a staff engineer in HQ.

- Above average performance during performance ranking
- Played a significant leadership role during a crash investigation
- Involved in high level meetings as the secretarial officer
- Part of an organising committee for a conference (responsible for marketing the event), managed to attract abt 800 attendees.

- 1 year in an american MNC (2011 - present) in the aviation industry as an engineer analysing data. Not much achievement to speak of yet since 4 months of the year were spent in training, and there isn't much leadership role to play in my current job.

Extra Curricular:

I co-organise a weekly ultimate frisbee game with abt 20-30 participants followed by a group dinner afterwards for about 1+ years thus far. There are about 300 members total in the frisbee group, so there's abt 10% member attendance each week. Participants range from all walks of life, and all over the world (easily over 20 nationalities in the group, and locals usually make up less than 15% of the participants each week).

- Not sure how relevant this item is
- Could this be marketed as a cultural networking session?

Goals after MBA:

- Planning to make a career change to consulting, or to jump up in the corporate management ranks in the aviation industry or possibly switching to the oil&gas industries.

Dilemma:

- My company will sponsor partly for a part-time local MBA. This limits the choices of universities in Singapore to National University of Singapore (ranked 23rd by FT), Nanyang Business School (ranked 35th by FT) and Singapore Management University (unranked as the MBA program is only 3 years old. Double accredited by AACSB and EQUIS thus far).

- Out of pocket cost for these MBA after sponsorship would be around 8K USD.
- Not sure if having a part time MBA from either of these 3 universities would assist me in my goals of going into consulting.

- Second option would be to try for Insead, as it has a local campus in Singapore, but only a full time program. To achieve this, I will have to quit the company (can only quit in 2015 due to a bond with the current company), and pay the school fees of 60K euros by myself.

- Upside is that within the next 3 years, I can still take another sponsored part-time masters like MFE and beef up my application.
- Flipside is that I will have to pay about 70K USD more compared to the first option, and I will be 33 by the time i graduate from Insead (if ever)

- Key dilemma: Not sure if the Insead MBA is required for me to achieve my goals given the 70K USD difference in price tag

Currently I am leaning towards the Insead option, thus I would appreciate if advice could be given on how I can beef up my profile/resume to have a better chance at Insead. Or if you have opinions on why the first option (aka company sponsored part-time local MBAs) should be the way to go, I am very interested to know about it too!

Thanks a lot for reading this really long profile!

[rachel]

Hi! I think there is no right answer to your question on which program is the way to go. If I were in your shoes, I would consider a few things. First, where do you want to end up in the world? Do you want to stay in the part of the world where you are now, or are you interested in having a more global career? How you answer that could play a part in your decision-making process. Clearly, Insead has a more internationally known name than the local MBA programs in Singapore. Second, you can't overlook the cost issue. One program will allow you to graduate from business school with no, or very little debt. That is something that matters in today's world, and it's worth considering as you weigh your options. Lastly, I would recommend looking at the employment report for the local MBA programs. That will let you see what kind of recruiters they have come to campus and where people get jobs.

As for your profile, your GMAT score is strong, and it sounds like you have some solid work experience. Remember that what's key to an MBA application is highlighting your professional accomplishments, not responsibilities. I like your frisbee club, and I think that reflects some leadership. Are you involved in anything else??

Best of luck,

Rachel Beck

http://www.mbamission.com

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[ssaces]

Dear Rachel, thanks a lot for your reply! I guess I am leaning towards the Insead choice as I am more interested in a global career, but as you mentioned, the cost is a big concern, thus the dilemma :)

I guess there isn't much else that I do that showcases leadership potential unfortunately. Would showcasing cultural sensitivity help for Insead? Thus far I had the good fortune to visit about 30 countries, and had managed to stay with locals in about 10 of those countries to experience their culture. Not sure if this is something I should write about in one of the essays.

Cheers!
JD