HOW TO GET I NTO A TOP

B_SCHOOL
A HA RV A RD/ CRA CK V ERBA L A LUM NUS
PERSPECTI V E

WHY MBA?

WHAT DO
B-SCHOOLS
LOOK FOR?

6-STEP MBA
PROCESS
 OURMBACONSULTANTS
Arun Jagannat han - Admissions Coach

Founder and CEO at CrackVerbal, Arun brings to the table valuable insights
into the value of an MBA, much of this knowledge accrued over the years
from a ring-side view of students making a transition from pre-MBA
applicants to post MBA graduates climbing the corporate ladder. He also
brings with him a plethora of information specific to individual programs
given his extensive network among the B-school community, including
admissions committee members at top B-schools across the globe. Arun is
one of the official expert MBA admission consultants on PagalGuy and
provides guidance to applicants on other forums such as BeattheGMAT and
GMATClub.

Shreekal a Kurup - Application Services Counselor

Shreekala has a strong background in operations (PMP, Six Sigma), accrued
during her 7-year stint with Hewlett-Packard, where she worked in client
facing roles for marquee customers. She is a fellow of the ISB Goldman Sachs
10,000 Women Entrepreneurs program. At Crackverbal, Shreekala has
channeled her corporate experience and deep understanding of the world of
management to help thousands of students and professionals make the right
choices from a plethora of options.

Vijayendra Khanna - Application Services Counselor

Vijay has extensive experience across the higher education, technology,
and printing industries. He holds degrees in business management and
finance from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, and is also an
international student ambassador for MMU. At CrackVerbal, he has
worked with hundreds of MBA aspirants, guiding them to make the right
choices towards pursuing an MBA.

Pradyot Anand - Industry Mentor

Pradyot has 10+ years of professional experience spanning strategy &

planning, management consulting, and technology across industries in
Asia, USA, and Eastern Europe. An alumnus of ISB, Hyderabad, Pradyot
graduated in the top 10% of the ISB batch and made the Dean?s List.
Having served on the Admissions Panel at ISB for quite some time, and
mentored many successful MBA candidates, Pradyot is one of those MBA
Admission Consultants who knows exactly what makes an AdCom tick.
 Manvendu - Industry Mentor
Manvendu is one of the most seasoned consultants on our panel. He is
an alumnus of Ross School of Business. He also has an MS from
Arizona State University and a BTech from NIT. He has 12 years of
experience in the US and India, working with big names in the industry
such as TCS, Motorola and Dow Chemical. He moved to India to start an
Energy Analytics startup called Enermark. Manvendu finds it
invigorating to help passionate people with big dreams realize their
potential.

Nit in Vig - Industry Mentor

Nitin has over 6 years of experience across Telecom, IT, and
e-learning. Nitin graduated from Indiana University?s Kelley School of
Business, majoring in Finance and Business Analytics. He currently
works as a Sales Manager for one of India?s largest e-learning
companies. Many CrackVerbal students under his tutelage have gone
on to bag admits to top-notch B-schools.

Shirupa Gupt a - Admissions Coach

Shirupa has the distinction of being the only person on the

CrackVerbal Admissions Panel to have taught painting (or indeed,
taught anything) to professors at ISB and IIMB. She is a versatile
individual with a yen for the arts and for teaching and mentoring. At
CrackVerbal, Shirupa wears two hats ? as instructor, and as Admissions
Coach. She puts her creative forces to use, helping students develop
and present their stories with appeal and panache.

Vasudha Gopal - Admissions Coach

Vasudha is an ex-techie and ex-project manager, with 8 years of
corporate experience at Cisco behind her (and also 8 years of
proofreading and fine-tuning colleagues? application essays just for
fun). She loves the English language with all its idiosyncrasies and has
a raw score of 48 on the GMAT Verbal section. At CrackVerbal, she
uses to advantage her natural zeal for coaxing words, sentences, and
application essays into putting their best foot forward.

To view more of our prestigious consultants CLICK HERE

 ABOUTTHEAUTHOR

Here's a sneak peek int o t he out st anding prof il e of

Raviraj, a CrackVerbal al umnus, a highl y mot ivat ed and
goal orient ed individual , who is al ways l ooking f or new
chal l enges and opport unit ies! Raviraj Jain, an engineer
f rom IIT-Bombay, is an al umnus of t he General
Management program at t he Harvard Business School . He
RAVIRAJJAIN scored a 750 on t he GMAT!

Harvard Business School

(Cl ass of 2013) Not only has he worked for LinkedIn, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson, and redBus, he is also the Founding Director of
LiveMinds Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (an innovative start-up
leveraging technology to cater to the high potential cab
booking and on-wheel advertising market in India,
working under the brand www.Bookmycab.com) and
Co-Founder of www.Hellointern.com (India's first portal
which helps students secure internships in companies
across the country).

Honor s & Awar ds

Awarded "Best Business Idea" at PAN IIT Global
Conference 2008, winner of Best Student Enterprise of
2007, qualified Indian National Physics Olympiad,
ranked 4th in Regional Mathematical Olympiad, qualified
Chemistry Olympiad, and scored a 99.92% ile in CAT 2007
 FOREWORD

This book written by Raviraj Jain, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, sheds
light on what exactly B-schools look for in a candidate and how they gauge you
entire personality. This book will show you how you need to go about you MBA
application process to get an admit to a top B-school.

This book has been divided into 2 parts, the first part talks about how a B-school
assess your uniqueness and the second part will walk you through what sort of
mindset you need to have while you apply to a top school.
PARTI
WHATDOBUSINESSSCHOOLSANALYZEINYOUR
APPLICATION?
1. Int el l ect judges whether you can handle a rigorous curriculum. This is usually
gauged by your grades, GMAT/ GRE, and the reputation of your undergrad university.

2. Work Experience judges how employable you would be post your MBA. This is
usually gauged by where you worked, your progress in the company's hierarchy, and
the diversity of your responsibilities.

3. Leadership Pot ent ial judges your potential to reach the peaks of your career and
donate millions to your grad school. This is gauged by your leadership roles in
college, the initiatives you took at your place of work, and your history of
excellence.

4. Diversit y judges how well you can learn from your peers. A larger class means a
greater diversity. This is gauged by how unique you are.

5. Focus is perceived through passion and determination and how motivated you
are to succeed in life. This is gauged by the story in essay and the diversity of your
profile.

6. Sel f Awareness is perceived through whether you know your shortcomings and
strengths and hence are able to utilize your abilities to the maximum. This is gauged
by the content in your essays.
Click here to download your application analysis score card!
PARTII
6- STEPMBAAPPLICATIONPROCESS

1 SELF INTROSPECTION

2 TAKE THE GMAT

3 SELECT B-SCHOOLS

4 ESSAYS

5 RECOMMENDATIONS

6 INTERVIEW
 1. SELFINTROSPECTION

?Why MBA?? may be the shortest question in the professional world you
could think of, but also the most crucial one, as you will be sacrificing quite a lot
on your professional and personal fronts in order to get the MBA tag!

As a Chinese proverb says, ?A journey of a thousand miles begins with a

single step.? If you belong to the above flock of people, you earnestly need to
have a Pre-Application Plan before you start applying to various business schools.
Yes, you may have done your bit of research on B-schools or even taken your
GMAT, but if you do not have a clear idea about why you want to pursue an MBA, it
is going to be a tough journey!

Click here to read an interesting write-up that will help you answer the
question, "Why MBA?"
2. TAKETHEGMAT

Once you are clear about your post MBA goals and how MBA will help you
achieve those goals, it?s time for some ACTION!!!
Most of the top B-schools require your GMAT score, which showcases your
academic potential. A high GMAT score indicates your potential in analytical
writing skills, math skills, and the English language.

Here are some quick f act s about t he GMAT:

- GMAT is a st andardized t est , considered a very important criterion for
B-schools to select MBA aspirants based on their academic potential.
- GMAT is a comput er adapt ive t est , which used to be a paper-based test.
- A high score on t he GMAT can al so hel p you get a schol arship, which will
enable you to manage your finances better.

Click here to learn the art of taking GMAT practice tests.

THEZENCORNER

Food for thought

Did you know this about the GMAT?
1. The GMAT is a standardized test.
2. You can re-take the GMAT after an interval of 16 days.
3. You can only take the GMAT 5 times a year.
4. There are 400 authorized test centers to take the GMAT!
5. The GMAT will cost you $250 every time you take it.
6. Your GMAT score is valid for 5 years!
 3. SELECT B- SCHOOLS

As an MBA is a huge investment of your time, effort, and money, you just
can't afford to pick up any B-school that grants you an admit. A wrong choice will
adversely affect you in the future, so you need to think through it.

Consider these points before choosing your school:

- Are you ready to opt for a 2-year MBA program, having considered the costs?
- Are you more comfortable in a small class size with personalized attention?
- Does the faculty profile impress you?
- Does the B-school have enough research expertise?
- Do your dream companies recruit from the B-school of your choice?
- Does it excite you to be in the classroom of this school for the next 2 years?
- How strong and impactful is the alumni network at this school?
- Can you afford the MBA program at this school?

Click here to know how you can choose the right B-School for you!
THEZENCORNER
Food for thought
These are 6 Key Points every candidate must keep in mind
while choosing a B-school:

1. PROFILE FITMENT
2. GEOGRAPHY
3. 1 YEAR VS 2 YEAR PROGRAMS
4. RANKINGS
5. SPECIALIZATIONS
6. B-SCHOOL SPECIFIC INFORMATION
4. WRITEYOURESSAYS

Essays are a great way for the AdComs to know you as a person. Your essays depict
your unique traits, your achievements, strengths and weaknesses, and what you
are most passionate about in life! A well-written essay is a gateway to the next
step, that is? the interview; a poorly-written essay, whereas, will restrict your
chances of getting an admit to your dream B-school. So, it is very crucial to spend
considerable time and effort on your essays to bring out your best qualities
through the written word.

Great essays should:

- Be coherent
- Be written from the heart
- Have a excellent beginning and ending
- Highlight your unique qualities
- Use simple language and employ very few technical terms (if at all)
- Clearly bring out your goals in life

Click here to read what factors you need to look at while writing essays!
THEZENCORNER
Food for thought
These are the top 10 mistakes you should avoid in an essay:
1.. Fail to answer the question
2.. Write essays that lack an underlying theme
3.. Sound negative (whining and complaining)
4.. Use cliches or superficial ideas
5.. Write a resume in prose
6.. Write what you think the AdCom wants to hear
7. Fail to catch grammatical and spelling errors
8.. Lack passion
9.. Not showcase your differentiating qualities
10.
. Omit lessons learned or takeaways when describing an
experience
 5. GETYOURRECOMMENDATIONS

Just like essays, recommendations also form a significant part of your MBA
application. Top B-schools usually ask for 2-3 recommendation letters that will
help them validate your competence, performance, and accomplishments.

The right recommender should be:

- Someone who has been your supervisor during the experiences you described
in essays
- Someone who knows you closely and for a long period of time? so that s/ he can
use anecdotes about you which are beyond the normal course of work
- Someone who has seen you grow
Choose recommenders from different organizations if possible. It is important for
the recommendations to be aligned with your essays.

Click here to read about 4 must-knows when getting your

recommendation letters.
THEZENCORNER
Food for thought
Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to your
LoRs
1. You need to submit the names and contact details of
your recommenders.
2. The school will send them a web form. This web form
will have some rating questions.
3. Your recommenders need t o have an of f icial email ID.
4. Recommendat ions f rom f amil y members & prof essors
is a st rict No-No.
5. It's a bad idea to write your own recommendations.
 6. ACETHEINTERVIEW

The final step to get in is the interview process! Once you have impressed the
AdComs with your GMAT score, GPA, essays, and recommendations, an interview
call from a top B-school is a BIG opportunity for you which many other applicants
miss out. So make the most of it!

Prepare yourself in advance for some of these general questions:

- What is your greatest strength and weakness?
- Where do you see yourself 5 years down the line?
- Tell us one incident that changed you as a person.
- Tell us about when you demonstrated leadership qualities.
- What are your favorite pastimes?

Click here to read about what an adcom looks for while interviewing you
THEZENCORNER
Food for thought
These are the first three things that an Adcom notices in a
prospective candidate:
1. They want to know whether your essays reflect the
person you are. So, be natural and clear in articulating
your goals and achievements.
2. Dress professionally and have a smiling face to bring out
the positivity in you.
3. If you do not know the answer to any question asked, be
honest.
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HERE!
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