Ishmeet SinghCEL – BITSAA Forum

May 13, 2007

Perspectives on MBA Admissions

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Agenda

Background

MBA Application

Life after MBA

Summary

Running Head 12-Point Plain, Title Case

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Background

Management Consultant, A.T. Kearney (2005- present)

• Location: San Francisco

MBA, Kellogg School of Management (2003-2005)

• Full-time

Work experience (2000-2003)

• Chip Design, IBM Microelectronics Division

• Worked on some cool products (Play Station-3, Apple G5)

• Location: Bangalore, Austin TX

BITS (1995-2000)

• BE, EEE

• MSc., Chemistry

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MBA Application

Schools applied •Kellogg, Michigan, CMU, McCombs, U-Chicago, Duke

GMAT•Score 690

•Preparation: 1 ½ months

Essays • 3-4 months, started in September• Career switcher – from engineering

to product management/ business devp.

• Applied second rounds

Recos • Immediate managers at IBM• Supervisor at non-profit

Work – ex • 3 years

Interviews • On campus mostly

School Visits • Visited most schools that I applied to

Extracurricular • Highlighted community service contributions

Application profile Lessons

• Think hard- spend a lot of time selecting the right schools

• I was all over the place

• Be above average, don’t sweat if you don’t get 770!

• Take it once and do it right. This is the easiest part of the application.

• Start early – A good essay is a result of several iterations

• Connect the dots – Leverage your work experience

• Have your essays reviewed by alums, friends, lit. majors, anybody else who wants to read them

• Don’t sweat over them

• Make sure your recommendation letter is not negative. This is a red flag for adcom.

• Quality over quantity

• 4-5 years with varied experiences

• On campus or alumni is a matter of personal preference

• Very important – shows genuine interest

• Highlight one strong extracurricular, don’t try to be an all-rounder

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Life after MBA – Management Consulting

Exposure to clients in diverse industries – hi-tech, manufacturing, retail

Solve different issues – sales and marketing effectiveness, global procurement, product development, etc.

Hypothesis driven problem solving – analytical and quantitative (the stuff engineers are good at)

Travel Mon-Thurs to client locations all over US and some international (yes, lots of airline and hotel points!)

Average work day 8AM-8PM (sometimes longer)

Fast paced, managing expectations is key

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Summary

Know why you want to do an MBA

Select the right schools.

• There is no backup school – only apply to schools you want to attend

Plan well ahead. The application process is time consuming

• You need to balance your work

Primary research is the key

• Talk to current students, alums

• Visit schools, sit in on a class