Pravin destroyed the myth that Indian applicants need
the mythical 99th percentile on GMAT to get a top school admit; he put together an impressive
MBA application and secured admit to a Ivy League School. Read his story below.
Pravin G
GMAT: 720
Education: B.Tech (Chemical Engg.), IIT MADRAS, GPA: 7.8/10
Work Experience: 8
years, leading commodities trading firm
Post MBA Industry of Interest: Buy-side, Financial services
Consulting
Admit: Columbia Business
School
Why a global MBA?
I worked as a commodities trader for 8 years for
a leading MNC trading firm. With 3 promotions in 8 years, I was doing quite
well career-wise and financially. But, I felt that my growth was saturated in
terms of professional development. I believed that I should widen my scope and
decided that Global MBA was the best option to pursue as it opens the doors for
many different opportunities. So, I decided to embark on this road in May 2018
and started my MBA application process.
Challenges/Doubts I had
The main challenge was that I had very less time for
the round 1 application deadline. I had to take my GMAT, pick schools and
submit the application in a period of 3-4 months. Although I heard everyone say
that I couldn’t secure an admission because of less time, and because I had 8
years’ experience (much above the 4-5 years average experience), I believed in
myself and went ahead with the process. Here, I approached Sumeet Verlekar, a
Berkeley MBA alumnus for help throughout my application process. He helped me
turn my weaknesses into strengths.
Acing the GMAT
It is very important to identify what your
strengths and weaknesses are in the first place. I encourage everyone to take
an official mock GMAT once to see where you stand for yourself. Analyze what
you are strong in and see what can be done to maximize your score in your
strong topics. Once you have done that, focus on your weakness and see if you
need some coaching in that particular area. I was very strong in Quant, but I
was a bit weak in the verbal section. I had to dig deeper to see which
particular area in Verbal is my main hurdle. After realizing that SC was my
weakest point, I used a few popular SC prep courses to improve.
Once you have done your homework with the
preparation, I would advise everyone to take as many mock GMATs as possible.
Don’t just take the mocks and leave it there. It is very very important to
analyze your mistakes and not to repeat them, come the actual GMAT. When you
are giving mocks, take the full exams in a single sitting just like the actual
GMAT. Train yourself to sit for the entire length of the exam. And, finally
don’t ignore IR and the essay sections.
GMAT Test Day
On the day of the test, be calm and approach the
exam as if it is one more mock. Don’t take unnecessary pressure. And, manage
the time wisely. Don’t get stuck on a single question for so long. The exam is
designed in such a way that one mistake here and there will not hurt your final
score by a lot. So, it is always better to answer something and move on rather
than spending 7-8 minutes on a question.
Also, beware that you need to answer all the
questions within the stipulated time. The score will drop dramatically if you
do not answer all the questions. So, the key factor on the day of the exam is
time management.
I approached it as any other mock exam. I didn’t
take any pressure and I felt that worked out in my favor.
MBA Application Process – My Experience
I had my GMAT score ready in about 45 days. After
that, the main challenge was to pick the schools. Sumeet garnered all his
experience and helped me choose schools which fit my profile and ambitions
well. Without his advice on this, I wouldn’t have chosen the schools that I
did.
Once that’s done, it is all about the applications.
To get out the genuine and most efficient applications, give a day or 2 for
yourself to think through your life from childhood. While you are doing that,
think about why you have done something the way you have done it. Try to pen
down all your thoughts. Don’t be surprised, but my first draft was 80 pages
with my past stories. That’s the extent of detail I am talking about. After
multiple iterations, try to get 5-6 solid stories in STAR format. This format
will help you lay out the essays in a very structured way. Sumeet grilled me a
lot and help me convey a strong and authentic purpose behind pursuing MBA and I’m
very thankful to him for getting these hidden stories out. They were helpful in
my essays as well as my interview.
I applied to Columbia Business School. I did a lot
of iterations of essays with Sumeet and finally had the ready-to-go versions
ready in about 40 days.
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School is in New York. It is an
Ivy League School and constantly in top 6 every year. There are 3 main reasons
why applied to CBS.
1)
Being in New York,
it gives me an unbelievable access to the professionals from different
industries and different functional roles. I can go and meet any one of them in
a heartbeat. That is a great incentive to have if you are in a Business School
2)
CBS has world
renowned Value Investing program – As my background was in trading and I wanted
to pursue buy-side opportunities post MBA, this was a no-brainer.
3)
The J-term program
of Columbia offers you an unmatchable opportunity of meeting diverse people. As
many as 68 countries are represented in my current batch of 220. Just imagine
the diversity and the quality of the class room experience.
Given the above reasons, I applied to Columbia
Business School and secured an admit.
Advice for future applicants
Be genuine. Don’t worry too much about anything. Do
what your heart says. Don’t listen to the pessimists around you. GMAT/GRE
scores matter but they are not everything. The score is just one piece of the
puzzle. It is all about the holistic profile and well-balanced application.
Take your time to craft out the application beautifully in terms of content. Be
concise and to the point. I would urge you guys to take help of someone like
Sumeet, who can streamline your thoughts in a structured way.
For more tips on this or other topics
or to get regular updates on new articles, write to me:
sumeet [underscore] verlekar [at the
rate] berkeley [dot] edu
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