GradJournal Community & Forum - Masters, MBAs, PhDs

Subru,

Welcome to Gradjournal!

Your GMAT seems ok for a good program. However, for schools like Wharton and Stanford etc., a much higher GMAT would be better. IS programs are not so hot now, so they would be relatively less competitive (than say Finance, Marketing, etc).

The other important element in the application process is the Letter of Recommendation. I would say this is more important that the essays.

For essays, the main points that you would want to drive thru are: passion and potential for research. Relate how your experience, characteristics, etc. are linked to either your passion and/or potential for good research. Anyway, if you like me to give some comments on your essay, just drop me a note.

PS - I also have 6.5 years of experience (4 in marketing research, and a couple of years teaching in a test prep + some months teaching at a local college)

Won the best thesis award at PG, and have recently presented a paper at an international conference

- Ashwani

Hi geeky, greetings from a fellow Singaporean.

While googling on a way to convert our NTU 5.0 CPGA scale to the more common 4.0, I came across your post in the funkygrad forum.
It has a link to your blog, which led here.

Congrats on the publication of your paper, and also on being able to living out your dream!
Reading your post on funkygrad and following your journey on your blog made me 感慨万端。
To quit your job, sell your house, and journey, not least with a young family, far for a dream and a future is a really really gutsy move.

I am hoping to follow in your footsteps; will u pls help in some queries that i have?
My background:
I'm 2 years out of NTU, with 4.2/5 in Accounting, working mid-office in a bank.
Am currently preparing for my GMAT, and am planning on getting references, in time for application processes starting in september.
My aim's to get into a really good Msc Course in the UK, in Finance (because my preference, economics, has maths requirements too stringent for a quant-light accounting undergrad course). Like yourself, i don't haf a 1st class, nor was I a 4As scholar nor a officer in NS, and i do not have any external funding.

My questions:
1) i'm concerned that a 2:1 will a disadvantage in applying to the top schools, as UK-based forum threads tell of successful applicants mostly having an undergrad 1st. But in your opinion, just how does an NTU 2:1 against stack up against all other competition? Granted, this question should not really concern me as I should be doing my best regardless, but it does help me gain a better perspective of my choices: i can defer my application for a year and work on supplementary evidence supporting my case; i can apply to lower-tier schools, or look to Unis other than those in the UK; i can forget about a Msc work on my career. Your feedback would help me place where i'm standing.

2) how did you manage to get LOR after leaving school? My course was such that there were no same tutor for >1 course. I wasn't particularly attached to any prof. Do u haf any advice on how i can approach one for help?

3) what were the most innovative/unusual ways in which your colleagues with marginal grades stand themselves apart from the rest?

4) will u haf a look at my SOP?

Hope to haf ur feedback,
cheers,
dl

hi geeky,
i have been a member on your forum since one year. since then i have gathered the information about applications from here. i want to follow a phd program in finance. my profile is given below.
MBA-finance BZU, Pakistan silver medal    -  two year program-
B Sc mathematics and statistics BZU, Pakistan with gold medal    - two year program-
GMAT-total 730 (96th percentile) break down is 50 quant , 37 verbal
teaching experience of one year for 5 courses in BZU
please suggest me of my possible options i,e. where should i concentrate my efforts and what are my chances of being admitted in a good enough program.my aim is not to get into any top ranked program.

hi geeky,

feeling like a confession on this thread but definitely appreciate it is here
there is such a dearth of information for phd applications so i really appreciate that you are hosting this forum

i would really like some feedback regarding my profile

female applicant deciding between strategy and org behavior
i am chinese by heritage and have language fluency; thus am interested in international business and cultures
gmat score -- 770, stronger in verbal
just graduated with mba from a 12th ranked school; had 1/2 tuition merit scholarship
undergrad gpa was a 3.6 from an academically rigorous school ranked in the top 5
during my mba, i did about 6 months of research in org behavior, worked on projects in china and in india, and won a couple of small school awards

the kicker is that i'm in my mid-30s and have had no direction in my career whatsoever
fields of knowledge span biological sciences to high-tech to music to food services entrepreneurship

currently, i am developing curriculum for a standardized test prep company and teaching students there as well

i'd like some input as to what schools i should be looking at, since my application is going to look rather wild
it is true that i have strong desire to seek out new information and adapt well to it, but the switching of fields may be alarming to the adcom
should i consider entrepreneurship as well as strategy and org behavior?

thanks very much for your time and consideration