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  • Profile Evaluation
    From: saifrnaik  May 25, 2012 Posts 1

    Hello All,

             I would really appreciate it, if someone could evaluate this topsy turvy profile of mine and give me a honest feedback on whether Wharton would consider me a suitable candidate.

    I started of as any other typical Indian IT Male working as a software developer and integrator for a MNC after graduating in Computer Science in 2005 with 73.2% (ranking in the top 10 percent of my class). I worked for 3 years, winning many successful launch awards, when i suddenly decided to quit it all in 2009 and prepare for the Union Public Service Commission Examinations.

    The UPSC is a prestigious British Institution created in 1924 which selects senior civil servants in India ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Services_Examination ), it's known as the mother of all exams because of the sheer complexity of the syllabus and the competition ( half a million candidates appear for the exam in which 300 odd clear). I had to select two optionals in the exam, which need to be studied till the graduation level, Computer Science was not one of the choices, I went about choosing Sociology, Public Administration and Macro Economics as they were more suited to the role i was pursuing.

    I had decided to become a civil servant,because i had this conception that one could make a direct contribution to the growth of an emerging economy such as India by being a Civil Servant.

    I made it to the top 3000 rankings twice,and even though i have many more attempts left, I realised during my preparation that in this day and age of entrepreneurial government, it's private enterprise that can make a stellar contribution to the growth of the country, the role of a civil servant is that of just a steer-er. The importance of the MBA can be gauged from the fact that most Senior Civil servants today have to go through a compulsory MBA programme in the mid career training schedule. This is when i realized that an MBA is more suited to what i desired than being a Civil Servant, creating jobs and making a direct impact on the economy can do much more than just being an administrator.

    I  started a small social venture of my own in 2010 that trains informal sector workers in the basics of Computers, in order to improve their Social and Economic status. It proved to be successful, we received many positive reviews from the workers we trained.

      My post MBA goals are to start a venture that could have large revenue generation and job creation( I have a couple of  ideas in my mind), and a significant percentage of this revenue should be pumped in to human capital development in my country. This i believe would be a real contribution to my country.

    I gave my GMAT last week for the first time and scored a 690 (Q : 47 and V : 38) - 88 Percent.


    I would really appreciate it if you guys could give me some constructive feedback.

    Saif

     

  • Re: Profile Evaluation
    From: victormlee  May 27, 2012 Posts 2,555
    In reply to

    Hi, Saif,

    Please see http://engage.wharton.upenn.edu/MBA/forums/p/3282/9399.aspx#9399.

    Thank you,

    Victor

    WG '11

  • Re: Profile Evaluation
    From: victormlee  May 27, 2012 Posts 2,555
    In reply to

    To give you some initial frank feedback:

    1) I don't see anything in what you wrote that should inherently stop you from applying.

    2) That being said, it is not clear to me that you understand for yourself why an MBA is necessary, much less a Wharton MBA. You seem to suggest that an MBA is necessary more because others have suggested it is important, rather than coming to a self-realization of the importance of the MBA for your specific circumstances. 

    3) Your post-MBA goals are laudable, but they are a bit too high level and notional as currently written. If you decide to apply, you will need to be more precise, tactical, and realistic/detailed in your explanation of your post-MBA steps.

    -Victor

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