Month: April 2016

How to build your profile for B-School admission.

CV

“How to build my profile” is the most common question that the MBA aspirants face as some of the topmost Indian B-Schools (such as Indian School of Business and SPJIMR) are relying heavily on the profile of the candidate while considering them for the admission. Even for other B-schools, having a strong profile is always advisable as it will help you to stand out during the Interview stage and will help you to present yourself as someone having an all-rounded personality. Importance of a strong profile further increases for freshers as they have to compete with those having Work-Experience. I am listing a few ways through which you can improve your profile and increase your CV points. Please note that the list is not exhaustive and only includes of activities that I could think of while writing this post.

Internships

I am not from Engineering background so don’t have much idea about it but I am pretty sure that quality internships done during your undergraduation years help you a lot. You can search for internships in the following forums :-

Internshala :- An amazing website where you can enter all your details and requirements and they will mail you all the internship opportunities in your preferred location.

AIESEC  – AIESEC is making its presence felt in many campuses and it is a good organization to gain some leadership experience as well as international internships.

Campus Ambassador Programs

Various national and international organizations and institutes have campus ambassador programs. You can apply and be the face of the organization in your campus. This will provide you leadership opportunities and you can add this experience in your CV. Here are a few such programs.

Online Courses

There are various websites from where you can learn almost every skill on this earth online. Most of these courses are free while a few are priced very nominally. Join a relevant course, complete the assignments and earn a certificate! Some of the online learning forums are Coursera, EdX, Udemy, Iversity,  etc.

Content Writing

If you are good at writing, you can search for content writing jobs on internet and earn your pocket money. ContentMart is one such place where you can find such jobs. Do not forget to ask for a certificate from your employer

NGO

Voluntary Experience is valued a lot during B-school admissions and also during campus placements post-MBA. Find out the NGOs in your city and contribute on weekends.

Certifications

CFA Certification for Finance Enthusiasts is an extremely valued certification. If you can afford, prepare hard (it’s not easy) and go for it. It will pay huge dividends. Join this facebook group for more info.

For Sales & marketing enthusiasts, you have SMStudy certification. Similarly, there are certifications for Product and Project Management.

Foreign Language Course

Join Alliance Francaise in your city for French, Cervantes Institute (or certified by Cervantes Institute) for Spanish and Max Muller Institute for German language. They have weekend courses too which you can conveniently join. For other languages and other centers, you can search on UrbanClap. If you cannot afford classroom courses or don’t have time, you can even learn online and earn certificates on EdX.

Paper/Poster Presentations

Undertake small research projects with the help of your faculty and present them in various national and international competitions. They will act like a jewel in your academic crown.

MUN (Model United Nations)

MUNs are extremely profound platforms to hone your public speaking skills, to keep yourself aware of recent happenings in the world and to make new friends. Find out which MUN is taking place in/near to your city and take part.

Initiatives

Nothing is considered more valuable than building up something on your own. It can be as grand as getting your own startup/NGO registered or having a regular tech/movie/food review blog. Think, speculate, brainstorm. Do not sit idle.

Hobbies

Apart from all these, you can also choose to just indulge in your favorite hobby and win accolades in that field. It can be music, sports or anything under the sun that interests you. The catch is to build an all-rounded personality.

That’s all I can think of now. Do FOLLOW my blog (Green colored tab on the left side of the screen) as I will be writing more on GMAT, MBA and Indian School of Business. If you are following the blog, you will get an email whenever I publish a new post.

-KA

 

 

Most Common myths about ISB (Indian School of Business)

ISB Pic

Indian School of Business (Hyderabad and Mohali) has been ranked as the 29th Best B-School in the world by Financial Times 2016 Ranking. Even then, a majority of Indian MBA aspirants are not aware about the basic features of this school. Many consider it “Out of reach” and do not even care to apply. This post is intended to be a ‘myth buster’ and I hope it will be informative to the aspirants.

1. ISB is only for professionals with 4-5 or more years of work experience.  

It is true that 2 years of Work experience is mandatory for a seat at ISB (yes, it is not a school for the freshers). It is also true that the average work experience of a batch at ISB is 5 years. But around 20% of the batch (as told to me by an AdCom member) has 2-3 years of Work Ex.

2. I am still at college. So I cannot apply to ISB.

ISB has a unique program (or you can say “mode of entry”) for final year and pre-final year students. It is called the Young Leaders Program (YLP). If selected, one seat will be reserved for you, but you can only join when you complete the compulsory 2 years of work ex. You can find more details on YLP here.

3. I just joined a job after graduating for college. I need to wait for 2 more years before applying to ISB.

For working professionals with less than 2 years of Work-Ex, ISB has something called the EEO (Early Entry Option). The mode of application is exactly the same as the normal mode but if offered an admission, you will be allowed to join only when you finish the compulsory 2 years of Work-Ex.

4. My GMAT score is less than 700. So my chances at ISB are low.

This year (Batch of 2016-17) ISB has admitted an aspirant with a GMAT score of 600! If you have good amount of work experience and exceptional achievements at your professional career and you are able to portray them well in your application essays and recommendation letter, a low GMAT score won’t stop you from getting an admit. But it is strongly advisable to target a score of more than 730 (the more, the better). Also from next application cycle, ISB will also be accepting GRE scores.

5. ISB Hyderabad is the main campus while the Mohali one is the off-campus.

ISB strictly follows “One School, Two Campuses” concept by ensuring the following :-

1. The number of students (550 in Hyderabad and around 250 in Mohali) are divided in such a way that the overall diversity and average work experience in both the campuses remains similar

2. All the professors in both the campuses are selected from a common pool and many a times the same professor teaches at both the campuses in different terms

3. Placements for both the campuses happen together (Students from the other campus have to fly down to the campus where placement is being organized)

4. Students are not allowed to tell their prospective recruiters during the placements that from which campus they belong to(to remove any biasing)

6. The Fees at ISB is too high for me

IIM A, B, C and XLRI all have fees somewhere around 17-19 Lakhs. The fees at ISB is 25 lakhs (including hostel, excluding food). Also, you must remember that unlike other b-schools, you will be unemployed only for one year and not two (as PGP at ISB is only 1 year long).

Also, loans are easily available. For example, under the SBI Scholar Loan Scheme, ISB is the only college apart from IIM A which is listed as “AA institution”, which means 30 Lacs loan will be made available to you without any collateral. Here is the complete list.

I will be writing more on GMAT and Indian School of Business. Make sure you FOLLOW my blog (Green color button on the left side of screen) so that you get an email every time I publish a new post. Use the comment section for any queries and I will be happy to reply to each of them.

-KA