MBACrystalBall wrote:Profile details sourced from our
Profile Evaluation database.
Reference ID: SK_49
B.E in ECE, 4 years, currently as Project Manager/Business Analyst
1.Please let me know if my diverse background hinders my chances of being selected into a full-time program?
2. I am aiming for full tuition scholarship only. Please let me know the steps I need to take to get there from my current plane of experience.
3. I have a two years gap between my first job and current job in a corporate environment. Those 2 years saw me following my passion, starting up my own fashion communication/digital marketing agency, getting my hands dirty in the world of e-commerce-building an e-store to marketing them to amplifying the brand of national & international small fashion businesses(5 and counting). Will this be seen as a non-quality work experience?
4. My current job path trajectory is shifting towards that of data analyst/scientist in current job. Should I pursue it? (in terms of it adding value to my resume, rather than showing too much variation in my career choices)?
1. The variety of work you've done does raise questions that the typical applicant won't face. For starters, Adcoms would want to know the logic behind each shift. And the bigger one about whether the last 4 years have turned you into a Jack (Jill?) of all trades, but master of none.
2. You've just upped the ante with this one, since good schools are difficult to get into even without scholarship. What you could do to improve your odds are:
- Apply this season, and not wait for the next. That would put your profile in the median range for most bschools and that helps with the 'Fit' factor.
- Score as high as you can on the GMAT.
- Ensure that you write essays that'll not just make Adcoms happy, but make them want you to be part of their class more than you want it. That's when scholarships start rolling out.
3. You were still working full-time, right? It wasn't a gap then. You will have a separate set of Adcom concerns to address here about commitment to a new cause, lessons learnt etc.
4. As long as it isn't another radical change in the career path, it shouldn't hurt.
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Thank you so much for the clear and genuine reply to my pressing questions!
The following may not be what I explain to the AdComm, but hope it gives you more info to play with so you can better estimate if I am on the right track.
a) The logic behind the first shift was the opportunity to join my family business, that seemed more challenging with the opportunity of immense learning than my current job at the time. The stint was in US.
However, that brief experience led me to identify a market gap and led to me to start my own venture (about 8 months back). Within a few months of starting up, however, i was referenced by a friend to an analytics start-up that really needed someone to manage their app development projects. The opportunity was quite tempting, I gave in and ended up in my current job managing close to 3 mobile app development, and 2 enterprise level web app dev projects (in progress). By the end of this month, i will have at least 6 products to showcase in my portfolio.
While it may seem i became a Jill of all trades due to these shifts, on introspection, i realized a common thread running through all my experiences. It was my ability to take a nascent idea and actually convert it to a full fledged working product. So in these 3 years, i have been defining, planning, managing, executing and finally launching stable digital products
This also brings me to why i want to do MBA in the first place. I would love to use the MBA to be a Product Manager in one of the world's top companies dabbling in cutting-edge innovation.
b) The conundrum here is that, in the last 3 years i have also gained a deep understanding of marketing and digital analytics (with a ripe opportunity in my current job to shift to data analytics.). Should i then pursue an MBA to get into Management consulting? (having been strong in Math since school plus an exposure to how businesses are run, with the extra effort i am willing to put in through the MBA)
c) In terms of not getting into the top BSchools, I am ok with that. In fact, Simon Business School, Rochester is one of my choices. The idea is I want a conducive environment where my raw talent can take shape and there's lot of practical learning.
Though applying this season itself would be really impossible for me due to personal & financial reasons, I will still aim for an application late November or early January 2017.
Do you think i can use this year to build on my work experience and other credentials (leadership, extra-curr) to stand a fair chance in the run to a scholarship?
As I am in a very nascent stage of deciding to do an MBA, your advice holds a lot of weightage.
While i will definitely be coming to you for crafting the perfect MBA Essay, i want to know if such an essay can be crafted in the first place given my background.
Much thanks in advance.
SK_49