The MBA Admission

A consolidation of various “MBA Admission” related posts from my blog

Arun Shiam Kumar Rajamohan

MBA Applications

• Some Useful resources

• My GMAT Experience
• To MBA or Not
• Self-Awareness
• Decisions
• Leadership
• What makes you a unique Applicant?
• Low Academics
• Prototype of my MBA Resume
• Career Goals (Story line)
• Sample MBA Interview Questions

Some Useful resources

###Check Bookmarks--> MBA App Research for the updated list###
Where to start
• http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/international-indian-mba-schools-accepting/19927-mba-
admissions-thread-of-gyans.html
• http://www.mba.com
• http://www.pagalguy.com
• http://www.managementparadise.com
• http://mbaleague.blogspot.com
• http://daveformba.blogspot.com
• http://www.mba-forums.com

Grammar/Usage Reference
• http://www.esnips.com/doc/2a311beb-310e-483a-8fe7-302f12d87dc3/The-Communique
• http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/index.html
• http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar

BSchool Research
• http://www.vault.co.in/pagalguy/PagalGuyBuzz_BOOK.pdf
• http://blog.clearadmit.com
• http://www.accepted.com
• http://mba.us.com/guide

Essays
• http://www.quoteland.com
• http://www.accepted.com/grad/default.aspx
• http://www.statementofpurpose.com

Other Good Sources and Resources

• http://www.esnips.com/web/BSchoolEntranceExamsGoodDocs
• http://www.geocities.com/gaurav.mittal83/1.htm
• http://esnips.com/web/gaurav-CAT
• http://esnips.com/web/gaurav-CAT1
• http://askpsycho.blogspot.com/2006/08/gmat-scoring-demystified-atleast.html
 Ebooks
• http://www.web-books.com/
• http://www.planetpdf.com/
• http://www.gutenberg.org/
• http://www.FlazX.com/
• http://www.koobe.net/
• http://www.xpressionz.com/
• http://www.phatnav.com/books/
• http://etext.lob.virginia.edu/ebooks/
• http://www.onlyebooks.org
• http://gauravkiduniya.blogspot.com/
• http://www.managementparadise.com

Misc
• http://esnips.com/web/gaurav-CAT/
• http://esnips.com/web/gaurav-CAT1/
• http://www.visualthesaurus.com/

Opencoder
 • http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/applicants/
• http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/students/
• http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/alumni/
• http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/list/applicants/
• http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/list/students/
• http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/list/alumni/

My GMAT Experience

Thought I should write a little on my preparation for GMAT.

I am sure no one would ever have had such a strange and sweet experience with the
GMAT. Having just graduated, I aspired to attend a Bschool as quickly as possible
and attempted at India's most demanding entrance exam: CAT 2005 was a huge
flop. Decided to pursue a comprehensive preparation and gave my best shot, the
following year. Had joined the test batch series from T.I.M.E and Career Launcher. I
understood that both GMAT and CAT were similar in terms of preparation, despite
dissimilarities in their patterns. This encouraged me to schedule a GMAT
appointment for December, immediately after CAT. Believe it or not, it worked
extremely well. I gave no additional efforts, except for understanding the structure
and basic patterns in the exam. Princeton review for GMAT is the book that I
referenced for both GMAT and CAT. No official guide; No JJs; No 1000 SC/RC/CRs!!!

Anyway, managed a score of 730. Final Score: 730/VA: 39/QA: 50/AWA: 4.0

The ideal approach for beginners would be to start with reading experiences of
previous GMAT takers posted in pagalguy.com and scoretop.com. Not everyone gets
to follow the same strategy, I would recommend to adopt one strategy that best fits
in your abilities.

Feel free to review The Communique that I collected whilst preparing for the CAT.
Currently, I am in the processes of sending applications to various schools for the fall
2008 cohort.

Wishing good luck for all future aspirants!!!

To MBA or Not

It’s almost certain that one would find things difficult converting applications to
admission offers, if he has no idea of why he needs an MBA. Perhaps, “Why MBA” is
the most important question that I had to explain as part of the whole application
process. And honestly, entire application process helped me realise my short-term
goals and where I should be heading up to.

I am sure every MBA aspirant will have great dreams and am no different.
Ambitiously, I aspire to establish not for profit ventures and associations, operating
similar to those of profit-businesses, but measuring profitability in terms of social
impact. I chose a path that allowed me to develop problem-solving skills both as a
manager and team player. The General Secretary/transit planning experience at
BITS, co-ordinating of medical camp and sporting events at Oracle offered me
priceless value additions to my administrative abilities. My contributions to the social
activities group and canteen committee at Oracle, various clubs such as Marketing,
Sponsorships, Publications, Correspondence and National Service scheme at BITS
provided me plenty of opportunities to work as a team. The database administrator
career offered me invaluable experiences on prioritising tasks, resource allocation,
client interaction (requirements understanding, data analysis, solution proposal,
negotiation, implementation, etc) and managing information. I picture myself with
certain business skills and now, I lacked a fundamentals-toolkit that will help me
build frameworks to counter business problems. I believe that MBA is the best
available enhancement to supplement my skills, at this time of my career to make
the most of unforeseen opportunities. Given that I do not have a previous business
experience, I intend to take up management consulting as a strategic career step
immediately after my MBA. I believe that researching and implementing solutions
across cross-functional issues will add tremendous experience in terms of having a
mindset to run an organization. As part of various consulting assignments, I look
forward to cultivate potential contacts and this will have straight significances in
advancing me to my second strategic career phase: A top-level position in a
small/medium or entrepreneurial venture. Focusing on multiple business units, as a
leader, will help me learn to discover opportunities, formulate strategy and manage
risks. This will be the final cog in the wheel, before I make my mark in the
entrepreneurial and eventually social entrepreneurial arena. I have had many short-
term goals that eventually evolved all the way, however, my long-term ambition has
been the same.

“Why MBA” question, in actuality, turned out to be “Why not an MBA”

Self-Awareness

This is the second most important (next to “why MBA”) question that an MBA
aspirant needs to work on for a powerful application. It’s imperative that he relates a
common theme across his strengths, past experiences, current experience, MBA,
career immediately post MBA and career long-term post MBA. To me, this self-
realisation helped me identify the right kind of schools that could fit into my
experiences and aspirations. For example, I understood that I am more of a “learn
by doing” kind of a guy. Accordingly, I was obsessed with schools that operate Case-
Method as the primary teaching style than the Lecture-based style.

Unquestionably, it’s essential that an applicant clearly articulates and demonstrates

past successes in the application, but make sure that it doesn’t sound arrogant.
Talking too much of successes can apparently have an egotistical tone, but sticking
to the central theme of relating past successes to future goals, can significantly
reduce the “overconfident” factor. On the other end, being over modest can
sometimes provoke you disregard potential successes, which is again a bother. Make
sure to maintain a good mix of both "Marketing" and "Modesty" and not
"Exaggeration".

Decisions
Everyone has great dreams and ambitions, but not everyone has a structured game
plan. I accept that given the unpredictability of the environment surrounding us, it’s
practically impossible to formulate “the ideal strategy”. But, in my humble opinion,
this is never an excuse for not planning short-term objectives that could eventually
lead towards achieving one’s ambition. The best way to start organising future goals
could be, perhaps, to start thoroughly researching the past successes, failures and
more importantly the decisions that we experienced.

One thing people would be surprised to know about me is that I am ‘a Civil Engineer
and a Chemistry Graduate’ by qualification, ‘Oracle Database Administrator’ by
profession but now, aspiring to become an MBA. I simply perceive these career
changes as just advancements and I consider that I have been hitting my priorities
right. I intend to comprehend my full potential in every aspect of my professional
career; consequently, my short-term goals have been evolving over the years.
However, my long-term dream has remained the same. In my second year of
college, I decided to leave behind the civil/chemistry academia and focus on IT skills
to become a DBA. It is not unusual for engineers with non-computer science
background to carry out such shifts, but to me the decision was not so obvious. I had
ruled out options such as MS/PhD that could narrow my career options and deny the
generalist perspective. In contrast, the DBA career seemed to provide the perfect
broad focus that I needed. I was thoroughly impressed with the fact that Information
Management is a critical aspect that a firm has to effectively deal with, for survival.
Consequently, I discovered that no other immediate career as the DBA could couple
as much, with my skills, before I stride towards my ambition.

I knew that this career change would be an uphill task for any fresher, especially for
one with a non-computer science background. Companies rarely invest in
inexperienced DBAs because the DBA tasks are highly critical and even a slightest
mistake can cost millions. The risks that I, as a fresher, won’t find a job were high.
But despite all the threats, I decided to move ahead and carefully designed my game
plan. I pursued numerous electives and projects to diversify my IT skills. I also had
the opportunity to instruct graduate level senior students as a professional assistant
for a database related course. Finally, the DBA certification facilitated me the crucial
breakthrough. The very fact that only experienced professionals pursue this and that
I was able to clear it in record time, right during my college tenure, helped me sell
myself as a competitive DBA. And now, with around three years of experience as a
DBA, I trust that an MBA would be the next perfect priority that can significantly
accelerate my dream.

Leadership

The MBA Admission is more comparable to the dating process. Whether that be
dating or admission, in order to find a better match, you should establish “fit” with
both the concerned parties. Each BSchool has it’s own trait and it’s essential that, if
you believe that’s the right school for you, you must highlight these traits in your
application. This is possible only by researching the school rigorously. Blogs,
message boards, alumni and current students may be valuable resources.

But as a rule of thumb, every school looks for one common characteristic :
"Leadership". Schools expect their students to have demonstrated leadership abilities
in the past and present. Of course, they do understand that Leadership is not just
leading people but also managing extra curricular activities, innovating, teaching,
managing multiple assignments, handling pressure, etc.

To me, my college experience provided me with plenty of such opportunities and I

did highlight them on my applications. The five-year tenure provided me the best
flexibilities to capitalize on non-academic activities. The "General Secretary"
responsibility had put me in charge of the finances and administration of 30+
student run clubs and departments. On the job, I had to manage large groups of
people and conduct events as businesses that would generate profits. The council
meetings and general body meetings served as boardroom wars, helping me
understand people and processes better.

The university operates two semesters and students travel home twice a year for
vacations. Transit planning was traditionally outsourced to a third-party student,
approved by the Institute and almost every student runs his travel requirement
through this facility. In an effort to improve the transparency of financial
transactions, I took it over and integrated with the activities of union council.
Transiting 5000 students was no easy task and I had to group a team of 12 students
to run this effort. The entire process embraced two important stages: One, having
the desired train tickets reserved in accordance with the student requests and two,
arranging buses to get to the nearest major railway station. Managing the
information provided by students and minimizing discrepancies were the most
demanding rudiments. The effort involved managing heavy finances and strategic
relationships with Indian Railways and Roadways.

My enthusiastic attitude helped me build better relationships and the fact that I
never hesitate to voice my opinion, served as the perfect supplement. I have
eventually understood that leadership is the ability to break down complex problems
into actionable fragments and drive the team by communicating the vision clearly. I
have also understood that a leader must accurately define the roles and
responsibilities of individual members in his team. Delegating responsibilities is
important because it not only instigates involvement among the players, but also
encourages their leadership capabilities and I view this as the success of the group
on the long run.

I am sure that every MBA prospective student would have sweet leadership
experiences. Never forget to highlight them on your application even you are not
explicitly asked.

What makes you a unique Applicant?

IIM is the latest buzzword that you will normally come across in applications from
India. To those who don’t know what IIM is all about: it represents the “Indian IT
Male” and not the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management. If you fall this
category, then you need to ensure additional efforts to persuade the admissions
committee that you are different and not another typical IIM. Extracurricular
activities, unusual growth curve in your team, social involvement, etc can certainly
differentiate you; so start engaging with such activities right now, if you haven't
already.
I am no different from a typical IIM. In my applications, I had talked about my ability
to bond with strangers and build a network of trust fully utilising my enthusiastic
outlook. Honestly, almost every activity that I engaged with, had coupled an element
of fun and I demonstrated in my apps that this passion and high-spirit greatly
enhanced my learning and working environments, with numerous examples to
support.

Managing information and time was no easy task for database administrators and in
particular, having come from a non-traditional background, I found that it was a
huge challenge to work on multiple IT projects simultaneously and gain credibility
among my team mates at Oracle, who had at least two additional years of
experience than I did. But my experiences from college and enthusiastic personality
helped me offset all fear and execute critical tasks successfully. I have learned to use
the fun-factor as a successful tool at my workplace to build outstanding associations.
I also have a history of having infused a number of fun-related activities to the work
environment such as celebrating birthdays, organizing team-outings, Caroms/Chess
tournaments, etc. I believe that the "enthuse" has ensured high energy across the
team, building personal relationships within professional environments. The
credibility earned me additional responsibilities such as team’s resource planning,
workload management and tasks allocation. I had also structured and documented
many critical tasks, helping the team avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ and save time. I
now serve as the point of contact for such activities and I train many of my senior
colleagues in that aspect. Despite being the junior most in the team, I had played
significant roles in the recruitment process and introduced several innovations. All
these successes helped me achieve "Exceeding Expectations" rating at the Oracle’s
employee performance review and have been recognised for demonstrating excellent
information management skills.

I tried to differentiate myself with this "Enthuse" trait!

Low Academics

It’s never a crime to possess low undergraduate grades, but it’s a grave blunder if
you fail to address this weakness in your MBA application. I have a poor
undergraduate record and honestly, it's the accountability of my own. However, it’s
not an indicator of my potential and intellectual ability. I attribute my low GPA to the
decision that moved me away from Civil/Chemistry careers and work towards
Database Administrator profession. My college provided me the right flexibility to
focus on my aspirations rather than worry about academic grades. I pursued
numerous IT electives/projects to diversify my computer science skills. The
infrastructure had also allowed me to comprehensively engage with numerous extra-
curricular activities. Subsequently, I prioritized my total focus perking up my IT and
administrative abilities and eventually integrating them. I also believe that the
figures such as GMAT, DBA-certification score, High School performance and Oracle's
employee performance rating: “Exceeding Expectations”, demonstrate my academic
and professional capabilities.

I am sure that you can find the right reasons that either directly or indirectly
contributed for your low grades. Be sure to address them as part of the application,
even if you are not explicitly asked for.
Prototype of my MBA Resume

##Click here to access the enlarged version##

Career Goals(Story line)

##Later I translated this table to “Why MBA” essay##

Learning in the past/ Learning on a long/
Phase
Future/ objectives continuous run
• Leadership, teamwork, networking, • Non profit focus
inventory management, budgeting and • Networking
planning, money management, financial • Leadership
#1 transactions, general body meetings, • Team play
College resource allocation, teaching, managing • Decision Making
critical/high priority tasks, diverse IT • Learn multiple
skills, risk taking abilities. cultures
• Play strengths and
defend weaknesses
• Time management, Multi tasking,
• Put my ideas into
Prioritising issues, Information
action/learning
management, Resource allocation,
• •Integrate
Leadership, Teamwork, Communication
information
#2 skills, Commitment (Late hours), Problem
technology and
DBA Career solving and client interaction (Interact with
management skills
client, analyse data, understand problem
• Learn to formulate
and propose solution; Debugging),
and implement
Interviewing skills.
broad/long-term
objectives, by
• Strong foundation on business developing short term
fundamentals such as finance, accounting, strategies
marketing, statistics, organizational • Learn to initiate and
behaviour, strategy, economics, manage change
communications, technology, operations • Learn planning,
• Heavy emphasis on strategy organising, leading
• Broad Curriculum and gain diverse set of and guiding
#3
skills
Business School
• Strong focus on General management,
strategy, leadership, entrepreneurship and
non-profit
• Learn to develop strategies and solutions
to business problems
• Networking
 • Consulting as a strategic career step for 2-
4 years–Because I am a person with no
previous business experience and this is
experience is going to be very critical
• Generalist focus/ general strategy
consulting. Work on projects that are
cross-functional and across different
industries
• Develop high level contacts as a part of
consulting assignments
• Analyse different business situations.
#4 Consulting would give a broad exposure to
Strategy/ Management an array of management problems
Consultant • Research, analyse, report, implement and
administer solutions to business problems.
This adds tremendous values as a
manager. Broaden the thinking and gain
the confidence to solve business issues
• I believe that Consultants gain
tremendous experience in terms of having
the mindset to run a company, adding
value, sales and marketing. Consulting
career would prepare me to gain skills for
general management positions

• Learn to identify and assess potential

business opportunities
• Focus on multiple business units,
#5 corporate strategy and leadership
Top-level General • Focus on business development, general
management position strategy and internal consulting
in a Small/Medium/ • Formulate, implement and evaluate cross-
entrepreneurial functional decisions
venture • Learn to manage organisational
operations, transitions, growth, etc
• Ultimately, learn to manage risks

• Identify and launch a potential business

venture
• Lead the venture towards being a
#6 successful establishment
Entrepreneurship/ • Ultimately, establish not-for-profit
Social ventures and associations and operate
Entrepreneurship/ Not- similar to for-profit businesses, but for
for profit associations measure profitability not in just terms of
money, but in terms of impact on the
society and social values

Sample MBA Interview Questions

Personal

• Discuss yourself/ Walk me through your resume and explain your roles and
responsibilities.
• Name three words or phrases to describe yourself to others
• What is an activity you are involved in? Why is it important to you?
• What contributions would you make to a group?
• What do you do to relieve stress?
• What are your hobbies outside of school and work?
• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
• Please discuss the factors, both professional and personal, influencing the
career decisions you have made so far.

Goals

• Why the MBA? Why now?

• Why are you interested in a general MBA program?
• What do you expect from this program?
• What can you contribute to our program and into our classrooms? What
makes you unique among other candidates and why should we accept you?
• What would you do if not accepted?
• What are your long- and short-term goals? Why?
• Where do you see yourself in ten years?
• Which other schools are you applying to? How did you choose these schools?
Why so many/few? Which school is your first choice?
• How do you plan to use your MBA in your career and your community?
• Why does this school appeal to you?

Undergrad Experience

• Why did you choose your undergraduate major?

• Which school did you attend and why that one'?
• What was your major and why?
• Would you choose the same studies again if you could do it over again?
• What overall grades did you get? What is Honours?
• Which courses were you best at? Why?
• Did you work as an undergrad?
• Do you think your grades are an accurate reflection of your ability?
• What did you like most about this part of your education?
• What did you least like about this part of your education?

Professional Experience

• What was your first job out of undergrad?

• Have you been promoted?
• Talk about experiences you have had at work. Can you briefly describe the
key responsibilities of your current job?
• Describe a typical work day.
 • Discuss your career progression
• Give examples of how you have demonstrated leadership inside and outside
the work environment
• Discuss any experience you have had abroad
• How does your performance compare with that of your peers at a similar
level?
• What specifically have you done to help your company change?
• What have you done to develop those under your responsibility?
• What could you do to be an even more effective member of your
organization?
• Describe your most successful accomplishment at work.
• Describe a failure on the job.
• Why did you choose this profession? Why this company?
• What do you like best/about your current job?
• What are the key challenges of your job?
• Have you ever supervised employees?
• Have you switched firms? If so, why?
• What is most frustrating at work?
• Describe your relationship with your boss. What is good and bad about it"
• Where is your industry heading in the next five years? (all the more important
if your interviewer works in the same domain)
• How would co-workers describe you?

General

• Discuss a time when you successfully supervised a diverse group of people

toward a difficult goal. Give an example of when you accomplished something
significant that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been there.
• Tell me about a situation where you had to persuade someone to agree with
your point of view
• Describe a time when you had to gain upper management’s support for an
idea/proposal
• Name a time when you had to convince someone who didn’t report directly to
you to do something they didn’t want to do
• Describe a time when you had a conflict with another person in a corporate or
school setting
• Describe a situation in which you identified key problems early on in a project
and were able to avert a crisis
• Tell me about a time when you led a team to a goal even though the
individual team members were sceptical that it could be accomplished
• Tell me about a time when you worked with someone who didn’t follow
through. What did you do?
• How have you dealt with a person who was difficult to work with?
• Discuss a time when you had to make an unpopular decision
• Tell me about the toughest group that you ever worked in. What made it so
tough, and how did you handle it?
• Describe an ethical dilemma that you faced in your career. How did you
resolve it?
• Give me an example of when you pushed back against doing something
• What is the hardest decision you have ever had to make on the job? Outside
of your job?
• Tell me about a time when you took a smart risk
 • Name a time when you developed a unique and resourceful solution to a
problem
• Describe a situation when you had to make an important decision without
having all of the necessary information at hand
• Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, identify the
issues, and develop an action plan
• Give me an example of when you thought out of the box
• Have you ever had to bend a rule to get your work done more efficiently?
• Discuss a time when you didn’t succeed on the first try.
• What is the worst professional decision you have ever made?
• Tell me about a time when you weren’t very pleased with your performance.
• Describe a situation in which you wish you had acted differently with someone
in your group.
• Describe a time when you inspired someone to work harder.
• Discuss a project that required the use of your analytical skills.
• Tell me about a time when you led a team to success despite opposition from
others.
• Describe a situation where you brought an idea forward, and it failed.

Spontaneous

• Tell me about a topic you just read?

• What trait you possess that I would not get by reading your file?"
• To test your communication skills: Pick a subject from the current news,
assume I don't know anything about it and give me a brief synopsis.
• Describe a time when you had to convince an antagonistic group of the merits
of your proposal. Explain the process.
• What team skills will you learn in MBA program?
• What are three major challenges that your industry is currently facing?
• Who do you admire most as a leader, and why?
• What was your greatest accomplishment?
• How do you define success?
• What would you do if a team member wasn't pulling his own weight?
• Who are your heroes? Why?
• What have you done that you are proud of?
• Define teamwork
• Define leadership
• What is your favorite sport? What aspect of it appeals to you'?
• What is the last book you read? What did you think of it?
 mail.ask@gmail.com
http://totalenthu.blogspot.com