Hey there. I’m writing this entry from the terminal area at Reagan National Airport as I’m waiting for my flight back to Chicago and I’m kinda sad to be leaving. Of course leaving my family is part of that, but a BIG part of it leaving this niiiiiiiiiice weather here in the great state of Virginia. It was 68 degrees when I hopped out of the car and, when I checked in for my flight, the kiosk said that the current temperature in Chicago is 24 degrees, which will certainly be lower by the time I land. As y’all can imagine, I’m going to be a sad soul when I walk out of O’Hare and that cold air hits me. The past month up north has taught me that I’m definitely a warmer weather kind of dude by nature and having spent the past two-plus years in ATL after having spent two years in perfect Palo Alto weather added to that. If y’all don’t see any blog updates from me for a long time, it’ll probably be due to me freezing to death or, at a minimum, getting so cold that frostbite took away my fingers…hahahahhahahahaha! I’m such a wimp on this weather stuff.
Anyways, one great thing about the holidays is that it offers a lot of free time to veg out and chill out…or, in my case, it provides time to get caught up on responding to user emails. I’ve gotten so tired of having to put in “I’m sorry it has taken me so long to respond…” lines in my responses to people that I’m going to force myself to be much better about clearing out the Inbox in 2009. It’s true that I don’t draw a salary for this joint, but I still feel a responsibility to provide this service to y’all in the best way possible. Let’s see if I can be a little quicker at it in the new year.
The reader who emailed me for this entry is a recent graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology who is interested in applying to business school after getting an MS in Petroleum Engineering and working in the industry for a few years. As I read his email, I became puzzled about his true reasons for doing the MS in Petro. Eng. and whether he was actually interested in that type of gig for the right reasons. It’s probably not any of my business, but I couldn’t help but mention it in my response. I don’t know if this response will be applicable to many of you out there, but, on the off chance that it is, I’ve copied it below.
——
KJ wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
I happened to read through your blog and found it really helpful. Thank you very much for the great effort you are putting in.
I understand that you must be busy, hence I shall keep my email brief.
I am an Indian student ( 23 Male ) and recently graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology.
- I did a 5 year dual degree course ( B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engg. )
- CGPA = 3.0 / 4. 0
- An International Conference Publication of my final year Undergrad Thesis work.
- An internship for 3 months in Melbourne during my 3rd yr . break.
- Decent Extracurriculars which include raising capital alongwith my team for my college fests and being on the student executive body of my hostel as a Technical Secretary.
My Long term Goal is to target a Top 10 B-School from the US.
In order to do that I am planning to apply for an MS in Petroleum Engineering from US and then work in the Oil and Energy Sector for 2-3 yrs. and then apply for my B-School.
The reasons for doing MS in Petroleum Engg. in paricular are:
- I would end up getting a good inernational exposure from the US and Oil and energy jobs require international travel and work.
- This Sector jobs pay well. This would enable me to save money for financing my MBA.
I request your advice on these things:
1.) If I do the MS as I mentioned above, and considering my undergraduate profile, do you think I stand any chance at all at a top 10 US B-School.
2.) What additional things apart from just good academics and CGPA, can I start working for from now on. ( For eg: I am passionate about helping underpriviledged kids by means of teaching, can I exercise that interest of mine during the course of my MS and would it also help me in my B-School application ) . Is there anything similar that I should be involved in.
3.) Would you think this plan is workable.
Thank you very much once again for the time that you are taking out and helping people like me. I am extremely grateful.
Sincerely,
KJ”
——
My response:
KJ,
What’s going on, man. I hope this message finds you doing well. I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to respond to your email, but I’m sure you know how it can be when one gets as many emails as I do. Also, I’d like to congratulations on your recent graduation from IIT. I’ve heard that the competition to get in there is pretty intense and graduating from there with your undergrad and a grad degree is a pretty big deal as far as I’m concerned. It’s good that you’re thinking about how to best prepare for business school apps several years in advance because many applicants crash and burn from rushing into the process. With this in mind, I hope you find my comments below useful as your craft your strategy going forward.
Now that we’ve gotten those intro statements out of the way, let’s dive into your questions:
—
- “If I do the MS as I mentioned above, and considering my undergraduate profile, do you think I stand any chance at all at a top 10 US B-School.” –> Based on what you’ve told me, it seems like you’ve got a chance at a top-10 US B-school, but there are still many holes that will determine your ultimate admissions results:
—> GMAT score
—> Extracurricular activities (you say that you’ve got “decent” extracurriculars, but that’s a rather subjective characterization, isn’t it?)
—> Work experience (both duration and quality; along with the relationships you’ll built that will lead to B-school recommendations)
—> Strength of your “Why MBA?” story (i.e. your rationale for pursuing an MBA and reasons to believe that you’ll be able to handle the rigors of the program)
You’ve got to remember that, while a good undergrad profile gives you a decent starting point, it isn’t the end-all and be-all of the MBA admissions process. Many people get into top B-schools with a jacked-up undergrad profile (myself included), but make up for it after college…so, I’m sure there are MANY cases of the opposite being true, as well. I’m saying all of this to remind you that your MBA application profile has wide bounds, so keep that in mind over the next few years leading up to when you start cranking out apps.
- “What additional things apart from just good academics and CGPA, can I start working for from now on. Is there anything similar that I should be involved in.” –>
—> Academics: If you end up in that MS in Petro Eng program, you’ll want to knock that joint out of the park. I always think of strong performance in a grad program as evidence that you can handle academics at the grad level, which can’t hurt when applying to B-school.
—> Professional: So far, your professional work experience is made up of that internship in Melbourne, so you’re going to want to add to that over the next few years. As i’ve mentioned in a few past entries, I highly recommend choosing a pre-MBA career path that will interest you (more on that below) because you’ll likely perform better at something you truly enjoy. If you have an idea of what you want your long-term career to be, it wouldn’t hurt to start networking within that industry and joining related associations in the near-term to build up your knowledge and your Rolodex of contacts.
—> Extracurricular: You’ll want to get involved in activities in both the MS program and once you start working that will allow you to characterize your extras as “Strong” or “Great”, instead of simply “Decent”. You mentioned a passion for teaching underprivileged kids, so you could pursue activities related to that. I’m sure you have plenty of other areas of interest, so you should have no problem getting involved in groups related to them. Just keep two things in mind here…First, choose activities that you’re truly interested in because you’ll enjoy them more and it’ll be easier to relate them to your overall MBA story. Second, don’t just participate in these extracurricular activities…get truly involved and make your impact felt. Trust me, it’ll be well worth it if you really leave your imprint on those organizations.
- “Would you think this plan is workable.” –> At a high level, your plan seems totally workable, but I’ve got a bigger question for you…is this plan what you TRULY want for yourself? Please don’t think that I’m belittling what you’ve laid out above, but the reasoning you provided rings a little hollow to me. You’ve already got an undergrad and a Master’s degree in MechE, which I can totally get with because I did a similar thing before applying to business school.
The iffy part to me is your plan to get pursue graduate studies in Petroleum Engineering and then to follow that by working in the Oil and Gas industry for a few years. This is a great path to follow if you have long-term aspirations of returning to the industry after business school. But, as you stated above, your reasons for going into the Petro industry are that it would allow you to get international work experience and pays a lot of money (which would allow you to save money for your MBA). If those are your own reasons for it, then you could go in any number of directions and accomplish those goals. You didn’t say anything about being interested in the Petro industry or having any long-term interest in making upward moves within it, which seemed odd to me. You might have left those ideas out in an attempt to be brief, but, if you really had a passion for that work, it should have been a part of your “boom-boom-boom” overview. At least, I’d expect that if I were considering your application for admission.
I would encourage you to reflect on this issue in the next couple of weeks and ask yourself if you are REALLY interested in working in the Petroleum industry. It certainly does pay a lot and would be a great avenue into business school, but I’ve heard that it can be a tough lifestyle for some positions and getting that MS in Petro Eng certainly won’t be easy. Think about what your true long-term goals are (having a long-term goal of targeting a top 10 B-school in the US is not sufficient) and, if you’re interested in Petro, then keep on doing what you’re doing and prepare to get some good results when you apply to business school. If you discover that you don’t have a passion for Petro, then you owe it to yourself to figure out where your passions lie and develop a new career/life plan accordingly. Trust me…you don’t want to start your career in one direction and then have to make a drastic change after business school if you can help it. Sure, there are plenty of career switchers in business school and I was one of them, but you’ll experience an easier road if you begin on the right track for you and then simply continue on it after the MBA. It’s pretty daggone difficult to turn an aircraft carrier…think of your career as an aircraft carrier and then start that reflection period that I suggested above
—
Good luck with your MS in Petro. Eng. applications in the near-term and your MBA application process in the longer-term. I hope you’ll think over my comments about that extra MS degree and have a long conversation with yourself about whether that is something that you truly need. I’m a huge fan of education if the person feels that it’ll be additive to their overall profile, but, if not, it might end up as an unnecessary time-sink. Take care and have a happy holiday season.
-Marquis
Anyways, one great thing about the holidays is that it offers a lot of free time to veg out and chill out…or, in my case, it provides time to get caught up on responding to user emails. I’ve gotten so tired of having to put in “I’m sorry it has taken me so long to respond…” lines in my responses to people that I’m going to force myself to be much better about clearing out the Inbox in 2009. It’s true that I don’t draw a salary for this joint, but I still feel a responsibility to provide this service to y’all in the best way possible. Let’s see if I can be a little quicker at it in the new year.
The reader who emailed me for this entry is a recent graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology who is interested in applying to business school after getting an MS in Petroleum Engineering and working in the industry for a few years. As I read his email, I became puzzled about his true reasons for doing the MS in Petro. Eng. and whether he was actually interested in that type of gig for the right reasons. It’s probably not any of my business, but I couldn’t help but mention it in my response. I don’t know if this response will be applicable to many of you out there, but, on the off chance that it is, I’ve copied it below.
——
KJ wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
I happened to read through your blog and found it really helpful. Thank you very much for the great effort you are putting in.
I understand that you must be busy, hence I shall keep my email brief.
I am an Indian student ( 23 Male ) and recently graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology.
- I did a 5 year dual degree course ( B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engg. )
- CGPA = 3.0 / 4. 0
- An International Conference Publication of my final year Undergrad Thesis work.
- An internship for 3 months in Melbourne during my 3rd yr . break.
- Decent Extracurriculars which include raising capital alongwith my team for my college fests and being on the student executive body of my hostel as a Technical Secretary.
My Long term Goal is to target a Top 10 B-School from the US.
In order to do that I am planning to apply for an MS in Petroleum Engineering from US and then work in the Oil and Energy Sector for 2-3 yrs. and then apply for my B-School.
The reasons for doing MS in Petroleum Engg. in paricular are:
- I would end up getting a good inernational exposure from the US and Oil and energy jobs require international travel and work.
- This Sector jobs pay well. This would enable me to save money for financing my MBA.
I request your advice on these things:
1.) If I do the MS as I mentioned above, and considering my undergraduate profile, do you think I stand any chance at all at a top 10 US B-School.
2.) What additional things apart from just good academics and CGPA, can I start working for from now on. ( For eg: I am passionate about helping underpriviledged kids by means of teaching, can I exercise that interest of mine during the course of my MS and would it also help me in my B-School application ) . Is there anything similar that I should be involved in.
3.) Would you think this plan is workable.
Thank you very much once again for the time that you are taking out and helping people like me. I am extremely grateful.
Sincerely,
KJ”
——
My response:
KJ,
What’s going on, man. I hope this message finds you doing well. I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to respond to your email, but I’m sure you know how it can be when one gets as many emails as I do. Also, I’d like to congratulations on your recent graduation from IIT. I’ve heard that the competition to get in there is pretty intense and graduating from there with your undergrad and a grad degree is a pretty big deal as far as I’m concerned. It’s good that you’re thinking about how to best prepare for business school apps several years in advance because many applicants crash and burn from rushing into the process. With this in mind, I hope you find my comments below useful as your craft your strategy going forward.
Now that we’ve gotten those intro statements out of the way, let’s dive into your questions:
—
- “If I do the MS as I mentioned above, and considering my undergraduate profile, do you think I stand any chance at all at a top 10 US B-School.” –> Based on what you’ve told me, it seems like you’ve got a chance at a top-10 US B-school, but there are still many holes that will determine your ultimate admissions results:
—> GMAT score
—> Extracurricular activities (you say that you’ve got “decent” extracurriculars, but that’s a rather subjective characterization, isn’t it?)
—> Work experience (both duration and quality; along with the relationships you’ll built that will lead to B-school recommendations)
—> Strength of your “Why MBA?” story (i.e. your rationale for pursuing an MBA and reasons to believe that you’ll be able to handle the rigors of the program)
You’ve got to remember that, while a good undergrad profile gives you a decent starting point, it isn’t the end-all and be-all of the MBA admissions process. Many people get into top B-schools with a jacked-up undergrad profile (myself included), but make up for it after college…so, I’m sure there are MANY cases of the opposite being true, as well. I’m saying all of this to remind you that your MBA application profile has wide bounds, so keep that in mind over the next few years leading up to when you start cranking out apps.
- “What additional things apart from just good academics and CGPA, can I start working for from now on. Is there anything similar that I should be involved in.” –>
—> Academics: If you end up in that MS in Petro Eng program, you’ll want to knock that joint out of the park. I always think of strong performance in a grad program as evidence that you can handle academics at the grad level, which can’t hurt when applying to B-school.
—> Professional: So far, your professional work experience is made up of that internship in Melbourne, so you’re going to want to add to that over the next few years. As i’ve mentioned in a few past entries, I highly recommend choosing a pre-MBA career path that will interest you (more on that below) because you’ll likely perform better at something you truly enjoy. If you have an idea of what you want your long-term career to be, it wouldn’t hurt to start networking within that industry and joining related associations in the near-term to build up your knowledge and your Rolodex of contacts.
—> Extracurricular: You’ll want to get involved in activities in both the MS program and once you start working that will allow you to characterize your extras as “Strong” or “Great”, instead of simply “Decent”. You mentioned a passion for teaching underprivileged kids, so you could pursue activities related to that. I’m sure you have plenty of other areas of interest, so you should have no problem getting involved in groups related to them. Just keep two things in mind here…First, choose activities that you’re truly interested in because you’ll enjoy them more and it’ll be easier to relate them to your overall MBA story. Second, don’t just participate in these extracurricular activities…get truly involved and make your impact felt. Trust me, it’ll be well worth it if you really leave your imprint on those organizations.
- “Would you think this plan is workable.” –> At a high level, your plan seems totally workable, but I’ve got a bigger question for you…is this plan what you TRULY want for yourself? Please don’t think that I’m belittling what you’ve laid out above, but the reasoning you provided rings a little hollow to me. You’ve already got an undergrad and a Master’s degree in MechE, which I can totally get with because I did a similar thing before applying to business school.
The iffy part to me is your plan to get pursue graduate studies in Petroleum Engineering and then to follow that by working in the Oil and Gas industry for a few years. This is a great path to follow if you have long-term aspirations of returning to the industry after business school. But, as you stated above, your reasons for going into the Petro industry are that it would allow you to get international work experience and pays a lot of money (which would allow you to save money for your MBA). If those are your own reasons for it, then you could go in any number of directions and accomplish those goals. You didn’t say anything about being interested in the Petro industry or having any long-term interest in making upward moves within it, which seemed odd to me. You might have left those ideas out in an attempt to be brief, but, if you really had a passion for that work, it should have been a part of your “boom-boom-boom” overview. At least, I’d expect that if I were considering your application for admission.
I would encourage you to reflect on this issue in the next couple of weeks and ask yourself if you are REALLY interested in working in the Petroleum industry. It certainly does pay a lot and would be a great avenue into business school, but I’ve heard that it can be a tough lifestyle for some positions and getting that MS in Petro Eng certainly won’t be easy. Think about what your true long-term goals are (having a long-term goal of targeting a top 10 B-school in the US is not sufficient) and, if you’re interested in Petro, then keep on doing what you’re doing and prepare to get some good results when you apply to business school. If you discover that you don’t have a passion for Petro, then you owe it to yourself to figure out where your passions lie and develop a new career/life plan accordingly. Trust me…you don’t want to start your career in one direction and then have to make a drastic change after business school if you can help it. Sure, there are plenty of career switchers in business school and I was one of them, but you’ll experience an easier road if you begin on the right track for you and then simply continue on it after the MBA. It’s pretty daggone difficult to turn an aircraft carrier…think of your career as an aircraft carrier and then start that reflection period that I suggested above
—
Good luck with your MS in Petro. Eng. applications in the near-term and your MBA application process in the longer-term. I hope you’ll think over my comments about that extra MS degree and have a long conversation with yourself about whether that is something that you truly need. I’m a huge fan of education if the person feels that it’ll be additive to their overall profile, but, if not, it might end up as an unnecessary time-sink. Take care and have a happy holiday season.
-Marquis
Nice effort Marquis. I am reading your blog from two years.