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A B-school resume provides the Admission Committee a quick overview about “you” so it’s important that it is well written, clear, concise and impressive. We at MBAchase have done multiple interviews and extensive research for bringing the following tips to make your resume the best among the best.

• Firstly your resume should be easy to read and eye-catching. It is advisable that a B-school resume does not extend beyond one page. Thus you should be as concise as possible in stating information in each section of your resume.

• Use action phrases to highlight any action or any achievement. However avoid using the same action word/phrase again and again.

• Person with less than 2 years of work experience should give their educational details first while person with more than 2 years of experience should provide their professional experience first.

• While printing your resume make sure that your resume is printed with a laser or high quality ink-jet printer. Also make sure that your resume is not smaller than 10 point and larger than 12 point font size.

• Name should the biggest font item on your resume. While providing your personal information, remember to put your name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address etc. prominently at the top of your resume. Avoid using a nickname to identify yourself.

• E-mail is a must but phone number is optional. Prefer writing cell number instead of your home number so that if somebody from the admission committee tries to contact you they can reach you directly.

Moving on from the personal information component of a resume the next component is your educational background.

• In providing your educational background for a B-school begin with your highest level of educational achievement including information such as university attended, degrees earned, major, minors, grade point average, date of program completion etc.

• While furnishing your grade point average or GPA try to include your major GPA only if it is really good else it is advisable to provide your overall GPA.

• Remember to always provide the grade point scale your school is using.

The next component of a resume is the professional experience part. Professional experience is most important section in your resume and needs to be highlighted prominently. Thus you will have to be creative with this section by describing and emphasizing your experiences in the most relevant way possible.

• Try to quantify the outcomes of your effort.
• Ensure that your career progression is clear and easy to follow.
• Use action phrases to highlight your duties and achievements.
• Follow the reverse chronological order to showcase your professional achievements. You must include the name of company, location, dates of employment and job title for each of your work experience in the resume.

Apart from your educational, personal and professional information you also need to furnish your entrepreneurial experience and information about community service, if any, done by you.

• If mentioning your entrepreneurial experience then you should mention your involvement, achievement and current status of the venture. If you have done a full time start-up then it should come under the professional experience section of your resume else it should be given under the entrepreneurial head only.

• Remember to mention the duration of your engagement.

• While mentioning your contribution in community service mention your achievements, name of the NGO of which you are a part, its URL and your involvement in the NGO in 1-2 sentences. Also mention the duration of your involvement for community service.

The above points tell you as to what to do while preparing an impressive resume. However there are certain DO NOTS also that you should keep in mind while preparing your resume.

• Do not include personal information like citizenship, age, date of birth, race, religion, gender, marital status, passport related info etc. in your resume.

• Do not include references on your own. Give them only if and when it is asked for.

• Avoid using first person pronouns. Also it is advisable not to include your picture for your resume.

MBAchase team believes that the above few tips will prove useful to you in preparing B-School resume that will surely help you in getting admission in the B-school of your choice. For more details you can visit our site at http://mbachase.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=135 or send email to adcon@mbachase.com

Indian School of Business (ISB) is an educational institution that offers business management courses and programs. Following are essay questions for admission in 2010 MBA program

Link for free profile evaluation – free 30 minutes talk with an ISB alumni

ISB Essay 1

Give 3 reasons as to why you should be selected to the class of 2011. These reasons should ideally differentiate you from the applicant pool and should be backed with some data. (300 words max)

This question is aimed at understanding you better and is an excellent opportunity to showcase your experience: at the workplace, community service or at the previous school/college. Think of how you would be adding to the “diversity” of the class (something from your work experience or background that is fairly unique). Remember, business school education models respond to customer segments, geographical location, gender, social or economic background and the more you emphasize your past in terms of these variables and (more importantly) how these variables shaped you, the better positioned you are. Show how your past experience gives you a unique perspective and how this can add to the diversity of the class.

Link for free profile evaluation – free 30 minutes talk with an ISB alumni

ISB Essay 2

Describe a challenging assignment you have handled (at work or outside) to date. What were the challenges and how did you handle them. What were the personal learnings you derived from this assignment. (300 words max)

What makes an assignment challenging: a unique untested/ unorthodox / unconventional idea, limited support by people, something that has not been worked upon before or a mixture of all of these. Personal learning can be in terms of: 

1. how you build support

2. how you test the idea

3. how you connect it with customer needs etc.

This essay is an opportunity to showcase your leadership potential.

Link for free profile evaluation – free 30 minutes talk with an ISB alumni

ISB Essay 3

Briefly assess your career progression till date along with your assessment of your future career goals. Discuss how your career goals will be met by the ISB’s one year program. (300 words max)

Discuss how you have progressed in terms of greater understanding/responsibility over the years. You should demonstrate both “size” and “impact” progression starting with your first job. For each of the job use financial, decision making, span of control, team size and customer related facts to demonstrate the “size” of the job. To demonstrate the “impact” of the job, demonstrate how your role contributed to the strategy of the firm/organization. It may relate to past and future competitiveness of the organization and the role’s contribution in ensuring that you did a great job. You also need to talk about “WHY MBA” and how this fits with your future career plans. The admission committee would like to ensure that you have thought about your future career plans seriously and that doing an MBA will help you to reach your career plan.

Link for free profile evaluation – free 30 minutes talk with an ISB alumni

The month of June-July-August-September is the time when most GMAT takers take their test. MBAchase has interviewed successful students and have done extensive research on the web for top tips in order to get highest score in the GMAT exam. After that, MBAchase expert team went through tons of discussion sessions to bring the following top 10 tips for you. 

1. Start early - The time required to prepare for exam depends on individual to individual. Nevertheless, a solid 2-3 months, in general, is good enough to study and practice enough to score well on GMAT. 

2. Set early deadline goal - If your exam is in the end of August, set an internal goal of end of July as being the exam date for you. This strategy seems simple and of common sense, but many people fail to follow it. Group of people who have followed this technique have actually been benefited by having proper revision time and having time to handle surprises (like escalation at work, getting sick, attending wedding of a friend, etc.). 

3. Study Material - There are standard practice test material available in the market: review those, talk to your friends, get an expert's advice and then select 1-2 books as material to prepare. The most important reference book that we recommend is ‘The Official Guide (OG)’ and MBAchase Math/Verbal workbooks as supplement. 

4. Plan, prepare and proceed - Someone has rightly said that, “recipe for success is - plan your work and work your plan". Make a reasonable plan and stick to it. Clear out other commitments and put GMAT preparation as the top priority for those 2-3 months in which you are preparing for the exam. 

5. Participate in discussion forums - Participation in discussion forums will help you enjoy the process of preparation by asking and answering questions. It also helps you in getting awareness on different aspects of GMAT exam that you may otherwise miss. Remember forum is a place where multiple brains are sharing information, and your brain is just one of them. Learn from others, and share your learning while you do so. 

6. Self study or private tutoring - The answer to this question depends on individual study style. However, if you have been out of touch with basic English and/or Maths for sometime, it may make sense to go in for at least some introductory courses. However, it is important to discipline yourself, make a routine with realistic goals and do serious preparation. 

7. Balance your time devotion - Time should be devoted in accordance with the section that you are weak at. For Engineering students, quant section may be easy to score but verbal may be daunting. It would be wise (and of course) common sense that you devote more time on verbal without ignoring quants completely. 

8. Practice, practice and practice - Take as many GMAT tests as possible. MBAchase recommends taking at least 6 CAT tests and may be another five non-CAT tests. Taking CAT tests will help you prepare the exam in GMAT simulation mode. You will find good set of Non-adaptive test set on mbachase.com to get ready for CAT version of the test. 

9. Take time to analyze - Practice as much as possible, but also take proper time to analyze the result. Learn from each and every mistake of yours and never repeat it again. MBAchase team recommends that you keep some kind of an error log and review it on periodic basis.

10. Master the fundamentals - Last but not the least, master the basics. While preparing for GMAT, it is important that you have clarity on fundamentals. Remember, GMAT is a standardized exam to test your fundamentals in verbal and quant.  MBAchase team strongly believes that low proficiency in English will not necessarily preclude you from cracking the GMAT verbal. Similarly, the fact that you may be from a non-mathematical background will not prevent you from getting a perfect score in the quant part. Follow the above tips and we are confident that you will get an excellent score in GMAT.    

MBAChase will also be publishing a next set of blog on detailed preparation plan for verbal and quant.

The Admissions for the One Year PGP @ ISB for the class of 2011 is now open. ISB will hit the road with information sessions starting 26th June from Mumbai. Details about the venue and registrations can be accessed at http://www.isb.edu/infosessions . The application portal is also LIVE. Here is the link for the same. http://pgpapp.isb.edu/user/default.aspx.

MBAchase recommends aspirants to start on the application process as soon as possible.

The ongoing economic slowdown has not deterred the MBA aspirants from taking the GMAT exam with the objective of making it to the premier MBA institute. Presently one is witnessing a mixed response to the slowdown. However the data reveals that there has been a definite rise in the number of applications that the premier business institutes have received. 

Elaborating on the issue of enhancing one’s educational qualification during the present times, Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern College of Business Administration said, "Certainly if someone in [finance] has been thinking about going for an MBA, this would be a great time to act on that impulse. "I don't know any better than the next person what the job market will be in the next two years, but more education expands your qualifications." It is imperative to point out that not making an investment in oneself might turn out to be a futile decision, once the economy bounces back. History is witness to the fact that there has been surge in admissions to business schools at the time when the economy is witnessing a down trend. Meanwhile Joseph Baczko, dean of Pace University's Lubin School of Business, reiterated the earlier point made by Sarikas when he said, "In the best of times people don't have the time [to get an MBA]. Today there is an incredible opportunity to sharpen your skills and differentiate yourself in any market." Wilson, GMAC's President said, "This is a good time to park yourself in an MBA program and build up your portfolio of intellectual capital. Graduates will emerge in two years or so and be in a different market."  A study conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council reveals that 77% of full-time MBA programs have stated that their applicant pool grew in 2008. And, the study further reveals that they are likely to witness a rise in the number of applications in the forthcoming year. In all probability it will be the highest ever.So, this is the right time to go for MBA.

This article is written by Wricha.

Letters of Recommendation (LOR) is an extremely important part of MBA application process. A powerful and credible LOR can help an applicant getting through the school of his /her choice if other documents in the admission package meets minimum acceptable requirement of the B-School. MBAchase team has interviewed some recent recommenders/MBA alumni and has come up with top 7 tips (not in priority order) that MBA recommenders should follow:

1. How well recommender knows the candidate - It is extremely crucial to define clearly the capacity in which the recommender knows the applicant. From an applicant’s perspective, it is important to get the recommendations done from the people who know you well than getting them from big shots in your company.  After reading the recommendations, admission committee should feel that your recommender knows you well.

2. Examples are must - Citing examples and instances from your professional and personal life is a key here. Your strengths should be well substantiated with examples. The LOR should come across as an original and credible piece.

3. Traits rating and subjective essays must be consistent / complementary - Some schools ask recommender to rate students on specific traits (e.g. leadership, teamwork etc.) in addition to asking for subjective LOR. In such cases, it is extremely important to be careful and ensure that best rated specific traits are substantiated in the written essays with examples/data/facts. Text recommendation and objective rating should depict the same attributes such as: if you write that communication skills are great then do not put him in average or above average category for communications. Similarly, the poorly rated ones should be part of the candidate’s area of improvement.

4. Focus on key strengths, don’t shy away from your weaknesses - While writing strengths, it is not a good idea to list all positive skills as candidate’s strengths. It is important to choose top 3 or 4, and elaborate them with examples in few sentences. The examples of some key strength could be a great leader, team player, a good manager etc. The questions on weakness should never be left un-answered. Everybody has weaknesses, and leaving it blank or writing it poorly gives an impression of a non-credible LOR.

5. Weaknesses must be carefully crafted - Weaknesses should be mentioned as mild skills-based shortcomings that applicant can fix or is working to fix them. It should never give an impression that applicant has the weakness as critical flaw. You should avoid presenting your attitudinal problems, such as short tempered nature, laid back attitude etc, as weaknesses.

6. Answer “Add any additional comments or statements” question wisely – A significant number of schools give recommender freedom to write anything they want about the candidate by asking this question as the last question for the recommenders.  If written carefully, this will certainly help candidate to distinguish himself or herself among other applicants.

7. Check for lacunas - Proper revision of LOR is important to ensure consistency, ease in readability and consistency of message. If your recommender really likes something about you, then that should be clearly highlighted. Conclude with a strong recommendation and provide contact information in the end. 

Current economic conditions have created uncertainties in getting loans for the top business schools.  But, this is not the end of world. You will be surprised to hear that a lot of top business schools offer full tuition fellowships. 

Here is a businessweek link that provides fellowship information in detail: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2008/bs2008094_035405.htm

"I used to be better at logic but do poorly on verbal and sometimes you need help." says Amol. And while he hasn't taken an official GMAT yet, he's confident, with the practice he's been doing, he's going to do better on the verbal portion than he would have when he started with the MBAchase one month ago.

Apparently, non-native speakers of English are in an unfavourable position when it comes to the verbal portion of the GMAT. But even people who have grown up with the language don't have it easy.

While even the most adept test takers polish their verbal skills to succeed, some test takers commit the mistake of relying on their gut feelings instead of studying the material.

Unlike Math which has definitive answers and techniques that can be studied and learnt during a review period, when it comes to verbal, the mechanical approach doesn’t work.

The approach most students take to crack GMAT is to open a test book and sign up for a review course. There's no lack of material, because there are few surprises in the verbal section, considering , concepts have been very stable. However, that doesn't make the verbal part any easier; the topics just evolve in a slower fashion. Below listed are a few techniques which might be useful:

• Practice Web-Reading

• Take online Practice Tests

• Focus on Specifics

Who are we :
We are educational consultants experienced in MBA consulting services helping B-School aspirants realize their MBA dreams. We work with applicants as their coaches and mentors to help them secure admission into B-Schools of their choice. Our team consists of people who have been through the demanding process of securing an admission into top notch US B- Schools and have a first-hand experience of  what it takes to be successful in the process.