S.P Jain (SPJIMR in full or SP as it is usually referred to) is one of the most underrated business schools in the country. One of the highlights of the S.P.Jain admissions process is that applicants have to choose their specialization at the time of application. While this might be tough for freshers who do not have enough information and self-awareness to choose a specialization, it is a boon for applicants with work experience.
Specialization Matters
The biggest advantage of such a process is during placements. The placement team will ensure that for each specialization there are enough recruiters coming on board during the placements. For example, for a person with 3-4 years of work experience in the operations sector, S.P.Jain will be a much better option than maybe even the IIMs since there will be recruiters coming down specifically to hire people with such a profile. At an IIM the placements committee does not have the responsibility to specifically find 60 niche operations jobs.
The college also enjoys having a huge locational-advantage with Mumbai being the financial capital of the country as a well as the city where the most sought after Marketing recruiters such as HUL are headquartered.
Profile-based Calls & Score-Based Calls
S.P.Jain also has two different routes through which it gives out calls after you fill in the application form, the deadline for the same is 23-November.
Profile-based Call: The first is an interview call based purely on your profile — your profile should be in line with the specialization you apply for and what recruiters hiring for that specialization look for. This shortlist is out even without a test score. Once the CAT/GMAT results are out you need to meet the criteria given in the table below.
| Qualifying Criteria | CAT 2020 | GMAT 01 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Qualifying Criteria | 85 percentile | 85 percentile | |
| Sectional Qualifying Criteria | 75 percentile | 75 percentile |
Score-based Call: This shortlist is released after the CAT scores are out and based purely on your CAT scores.
This goes on to show that if you get a profile-based call, you will need a lower percentile to get an interview call than if you get a score-based call.
How To Fill The S.P.Jain Application Form
A great profile needs to rank highly on the following parameters:
- Academic track record
- Co-curricular & extra-curricular track record
- Profile-specialization match
So a lot depends on making a good application that reflects each of these. We will look at a screenshot of how each component of the online application looks and then discuss the best way to go about filling it.
Academic Achievements
Academic achievements primarily relate to such achievements as standing in the top performers in your class at various levels, X, XII, Graduation Year or in an exam such as the NTSC or JEE or Math Olympiad.
How does one go about filling this part?
Make a list of all academic achievements. Rank order them not in chronological order but in terms of
- Level of achievement or position you secured
- Level of competition or perceived toughness – NTSC, Olympiads, AIEEE, JEE
- The scale of the achievement – school, city, state, district national
In case you do not have 3 academic achievements then list co-curricular achievements such as paper-presentations, journal publications or anything that is related to your academics.
Describe in less than 50 words: Try to be as brief as possible if the achievement is something that can be easily understood. Use the remaining space to describe how this is something that you have been consistently good at. For example, you have only one top 1-5 in terms of academic achievement but you have always been driven to do well academically. Add that part in the description — throughout your education, you have stood in the top 10% (do not write 10%, calculate your position) of your class etc.
Add anything that puts your achievement into perspective — the only person from your town/village/school/institution to achieve this, the number of participants etc.
Versatility
For the versatility section please make a list of all your areas of interest that fall out of the curricular and co-curricular category.
Do not approach it from the perspective of what evaluators might find attractive but rather look at the level of interest/achievement you have in that area. For example, if dancing is your biggest passion/interest then rank it first. Do not rush to rank social-service activities first.
If you have certificates and achievements great, but even if you do not, you can still go ahead and fill up three areas as long as you have a strong interest and have done more than your peers.
For example, if reading is a major passion, you will not have any certificates to show for the same! But use the description space to present how much you like reading — favourite genres, favourite authors, reading since age so and so, read so many books a month etc. Any genre is fine as long as it has some international/intellectual significance. For example, fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, all are fine. Just ensure that you do not cite Chetan Bhagat :-).
The same applies to any other area of interest that does not correspond with certificates. Applicants from this part of the world (TN & AP), please do not write watching movies since everyone does it. If you watch world cinema or any specific genre of movies a lot, are knowledgeable and can hold a conversation about the same then you can go ahead and mention movies.
Since this deals with versatility ensure that you choose three different areas. If you have participated in CSR activities at your workplace or volunteered for NGOs please include that as well.
Most importantly, when it comes to extracurriculars (not to be confused with interests), please understand that it is not a case of what you have done but what you have accomplished. So participation in various events is just that participation, no points for that, did you win anything is the question.
Again this does not apply to interest such as theatre or plays. For example, I will cite theatre or dramatics as an area of interest and cite that I have played major parts in plays right from my early schooling to college and PG, the high-point being a performing XYZ play directed by ABC etc.
Overall Versatility Rating: Rate yourself based on the diversity of things you have participated in and the level of interest across areas.
Responsibility Shouldered
The two sections, personal and professional are clearly demarcated.
In the personal section, include any activity where you took or were given the responsibility. They can be
- on-going or long-duration responsibilities such as helping you brother/sister in his/her education or guiding him/her throughout, taking up some household responsibility owing to a family situation (working parents), or
- specific short-duration responsibilities such as arranging the wedding of a sibling or family member etc or having to help out your parent in a specific task etc.
In the professional section include responsibilities that you undertook that were not part of your KRAs or job description. They can be can be
- handling responsibilities higher than your designation due to the absence of manpower
- special projects/initiatives that you undertook or were given to you
- organizing events at your workplace
In both cases use the description to put in perspective
- the scale/importance of responsibility,
- the role you played and
- the quality of the outcome
Programme Details
This is possibly one of the most important aspects of applying to S.P.Jain — choosing the right specialization.
How does one go about this? The first question is whether you are applying with work experience or applying as a fresher.
Work-experience candidates should apply to the area in with the reason “relevant work-experience”. This has to be the first preference.
If you are applying with IT work-experience, unless you can really connect the nature of your work with another specialization, choose Information Management (IM). In previous years, applicants whose profiles did not match with the specialization they applied to have been reassigned to a different specialization! DO NOT make your first preference based on “special interest in this area”, make that your second preference.
In many cases, you might not find your profile relevant to any other area apart from the one in which you have work-ex. In this case, choose any of the areas as a second preference citing special interest in this area.
Freshers should apply only to Marketing or Finance.
Operations and IM both attract recruiters who are looking at people with relevant work-ex. The batches of both streams usually have an average work-ex of at least 2 years.
If your job profile involves being part of the design, procurement, production, quality control, maintenance, or logistics — anything that is part of the entire process of manufacturing and delivering a product or service (not IT products or services) — you can apply to Operations.
Mechanical engineering freshers also do not stand a chance of getting an Operations shortlist since management roles in Operations cannot be given to a fresher, recruiters look for candidates with hard-core ops work-ex.
The same thing applies to CSE/IT freshers applying to IM. Post an IM degree you will be handling business roles in IT and there is no way you can take these roles up without having been part of a software product/services projects.
Non-engineering freshers such as Commerce, Economics or BBA graduates can apply to Finance. You can choose a second area as Marketing based on “done specialized courses in this area” or “special interest in this area”.
The reverse holds true for Engineering freshers, Marketing first and Finance next.
Please note that for Finance you will be competing with people who have “graduated in related area” such as the backgrounds mentioned above and CA. So do not mention it as your first preference unless you are really serious about it and are sure that despite your profile not being relevant you will get a shortlist through a stellar CAT score.
A safer option is to apply to Marketing (since recruiters in this sector look for freshers) based on “special interest in this area” and Operations/Finance as a second preference under “done specialized courses in this area” or “special interest in this area”, whichever is relevant.
If you are mentioning Special Area Of Interest, you have to provide an explanation in 50 words.
Use this space to mention
- why you like this specialization and how your skills or traits are aligned to the same and
- the things you have done informally that demonstrate your special interest in this area.
You might have done a lot of things for which you have no certificates to show —
- say organizing events in your college and firm or working unpaid for an event management for Marketing
- following stock-markets or investing on your own keenly for finance
- in both fields, you can mention the books that you have read to improve your knowledge of the same
The last part of the form is the work-experience details, the filling up of which should be pretty straightforward.
Also, freshers — internships DO NOT COUNT as work experience, whether it is done before or after college; work-experience needs to be full-time, paid, work. Start-ups can be counted as work-experience provided you have registered the firm and have proof of the same. Work experience in the family business also needs to be supported by salary slips.
Will I get a call from S.P.Jain?
If you look at the comments thread for this post you will see that there is a deluge of queries.
It is understandable. Everyone would be jumping at the chance to get a call at 85 and they just want to know if they can get a call.
Here is a simple way to figure out if you will get a call.
Profile Alignment + Exceptional Academic Profile (90,90,80) + ECAs + CAT
Percentile of 85 = Profile-Based Call
Profile Alignment + Decent Academic Profile + CAT Percentile of 96-97 = Score-based Call
When you apply you are applying to have a shot at both calls.
Both calls are given out after the CAT score is out. So you qualify for either one or the other.
Each of the parameters above is mutually exclusive.
You need to score points on each count.
First Milestone — Profile-Specialization Alignment
Please understand that profiles are not evaluated independently of the specialization you have applied to.
Most aspirants think that profile-based calls evaluate the quality of your academics, extracurriculars, and work-ex in isolation. Wrong.
The question is never — do you have a good profile.
It is always — do you have a good profile for Marketing, Finance, Operations or IM.
So if you are planning to apply to specializations without following the guidelines above then you are taking a risk and you can rest assured that in all likelihood you will not get a call. This profile alignment applies to both score-based and profile based calls.
SPJIMR puts out the summary profiles of all the candidates who are part of the current batch. We took an exhaustive look at it and this is what we found:
MARKETING: 25 percent freshers, mixed educational background
FINANCE: 25 percent freshers, only 1 engineer
OPERATIONS: Only 1 fresher (city-topper in graduation), average work-ex of 2.5 years, 50% mechanical engineers
IM: No Freshers, only 2 students with less than 24 months of work-ex, all candidates had IT/Tech work-ex
Second Milestone — Academics
If you have more than one — X, XII or Graduation — less than 80 then a profile-based call is well-nigh ruled out.
Please understand that since they are giving out calls at 85 percentile, they will expect you to have the academic capability to handle a rigorous 2-year MBA program. The only way for them to check this is your past Academic profile.
You might have a 90 or 10 CGPA in your X, a 75 or 7.5 in your Grad, both of which are great, but if your XII marks are less than 80 due to your IIT attempt, then there is no way that with two 70s you can get a call unless you some insane spike in your work-ex or extracurriculars.
Most institutes now rate the profiles quantitatively so that there is not subjectivity involved — points for crossing particular slabs.
If X Marks have 10 points, then they are divided into slabs
- 90 and above – 10 points
- 85-90 – 8 points
- 80-85 – 7 points
The above slabs are just representative.
So it is not that they are thinking — Oh, this candidate has grad marks below 80 but he has great work-ex let us walk into the sunset and debate his candidature.
You score or drop points based on the slabs and if you drop three points then it is tough to make it up elsewhere there are always enough people who tick the top-tier of all slabs and checkboxes.
Third Milestone — Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars kick in only after you have cleared the other two milestones. Given India’s population, you know that there would be enough people who clear the first two. This is where a good extracurriculars or versatility comes into the picture.
A good extra-curricular profile can be one that has a major achievement in one area — state/national-level sports, concert-level musician/dancer or any other achievement that clearly puts you in the top percentiles in that area — and one more interest which can be minor.
Another kind of profile can be one that has a lot of width — sports, music, social work, leadership — average achievements in one or two areas and minor in others.
I have had the odd student — an engineer with good academics and a big brand work-ex — who got a call for Finance but have not seen a single case where they eventually cleared even the first Group Interview. They themselves felt that the peer group they were sitting with was in a different league as far their knowledge and profile-match for Finance went. The same students made it to IIM-B and other big schools but could not clear the first Group Interview of SPJIMR.
So before commenting and asking me whether your profile is good, please do a sanity check above.
If you clear all the milestones your profile will be competitive.
But does it guarantee a call, it depends on the quality of the other applications.
For Finance, for example, you will be competing with candidates with two 90s and an 80 and a big brand Commerce college plus a CA/CPT/IPCC plus big brand work-ex plus social work and other extracurriculars.
What if I DO NOT want to apply to the specialization my profile is aligned with?
Well very often, especially for those with IT work-ex, the whole point of an MBA is to escape IT and rediscovering one’s real passion:
- Marketing — owing to an extroverted personality that puts people at ease or above-average exceptional communication skills or something that tells you that you will be great at making ads
- Operations — Mechanical Engineers, usually
- Finance — it is either straightforward – the money and glamour associated with Finance as projected through Wall Street and Wolf of Wall Street, a fascination with stock markets knowing a thing or two about it and maybe having invested your own or someone else’s buck or two, a fascination with stock markets knowing nothing about it or a reason that is still inscrutable like the nature of God
So whatever your reason, if you want to change your domain — do not apply to SPJIMR. Both recruitments and admissions are aligned to profiles.
Does this mean that your MBA dreams are sealed?
Not really.
All other b-schools give you more leeway in that you are not asked about your choice of specializations in the application and in the interviews but only your reasons for an MBA in general.
What sort of profiles get calls
The whole idea of a profile-based call is to give calls out to exceptional profiles even if the CAT percentile is quite low.
From past data, it is very clear that they look at exceptional academic profiles first and then they look at other aspects of the profile. This is but understandable since the MBA is an academically rigorous course, so if they are letting you are a much lower level of CAT score, you need to have a much higher level of academic profiles.
Think of it this way, they have a certain weight for X, XII, Grad, and CAT Score. If your X, II, Grad are so good that you will get very high marks for those, a lower CAT Score will suffice.
What is a good academic profile?
A 90/90/80 is par for a SPJIMR profile-based call.
It is pretty tough to get a profile-based call with lower marks than these, unless you have some crazy national level achievements or a professional degree such as a CA or CFA that is very relevant for a Finance specialization.
A rejection for a profile-based call is not a rejection of your profile
Do not take my comments about whether you will get a profile-based call or not as a referendum on the quality of your profile for MBA applications in general and become despondent!
Also, do not take rejection from SPJIMR for a profile-based call as a rejection of your profile. SPJIMR will give you a score-based call, even after rejecting you for a profile-based call if you score above 96-97 percentile!
Another thing, I do not blog for a living, I am the Chief Learning Officer for IMS and do this out of my interest over and above my daily responsibilities. Why am telling you this? So that you don’t get jittery if you do not receive an immediate reply and post — Sir, please reply sir comments 🙂 You will usually get a reply anywhere within a minute to 36 hours depending on my schedule.
This has already been a super-long post. Hope I have covered most of the stuff needed to fill the form and give you a fair idea of whether you will get a call.
I would like you to post a comment only if you feel that you have a query that the post does not answer and please do not post a query without mentioning which specialisation you want to apply to.
I can easily make out if someone has only skimmed through the post and dumped their profile in the comments looking for a quick-fix and would not bother to reply, you might as well read the post again and improve your RC skills 🙂
The CAT Writer 
Hello sir,
I have a query regarding the Achievements part of the form. Recently, I came runners up in a contest named the Economic Times Campus Stars, hosted by the Economic Times Digital. It is an annual, national level competition which aims at finding out the brightest engineering students in the country through aptitude tests, domain specific tests, GDs, leadership activities, and an interview by the CXOs of India Inc. in the final round.
I want to include this achievement in my SP Jain application but I am in two minds whether to include it as an academic achievement or a versatility thing. Can you please tell me which is more relevant?
If you think it can go in the versatility section, please state what to write in the ‘Name of the activity’ section.
It would be of great help if you could guide me past this dilemma.
Thank You
Arkaprovo Das
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Hi Arka,
Since it had domain specific tests and aptitude tests, you can make it a part of Academic Achievements. It strictly falls into the category of co-curricular achievements and is thus closer to academics than ECAs, which is what versatility is about.
All the best!
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Hello Sir
Just wanted to ask, would you suggest me filling SpJain and other colleges where specialisation needs to be decided before hand(like tiss and mica). I am a FRESHER and don’t really know which specialisation to choose ??
Considering I don’t end up with top few colleges after CAT wont it be a better option to wait a year gain some experience and then apply to such colleges ?
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Hi Aksh,
You are absolutely right, if you are unsure then it makes sense to apply only to General Management programs. Good to see people thinking along the right lines instead of all I need to get into some “good” college.
All the best!
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hello sir, please comment on my below mentioned profile,
Specialization opted: 1) Operations and supply chain management 2) marketing
10th, 12th and UG score : (92.46; 89.5; 7.71/10)
Important certification/ Programs: 1) “Ongoing Professional Development (OPD)” in major “Operational Buyer”. This is the CIPP program accredited by IFPSM
2) Certification course of “CATIA” (Product design and experience software) from Indo German Tool Room, Pune.
Work Experience : 52 months as Operational Buyer in department of supply chain and logistics.
Academic Achievements : 1) NMMS (National Means cum-Merit Scholarships): National level
2) In top 600 among test takers around 2,60,000.: State level
3)Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma: National level
Versatility: 1) People management: in organizing committee of National level sport event
2) Team Player : part of Guinness world record
3)Speech competitions 4) Agriculture : interested in this field 5) Social service: Part of CSR initiatives
Responsibility shoulderd: 1) groom search sister marriage 2) extra responsibility of office 5S and 1st certified office under my work.
please comment,
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Hi Sourabh,
You have an excellent profile for Ops and you should get a profile-based for sure.
Leave out the groom search bit (it can lead to questions that you would rather not handle and it is not that important a responsibility).
Somehow I get a feeling you are from COEP (I am basing my hunch on the Ops experience and the Guinness record, am I guessing right?)
All the best!
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Thank you sir for your valuable feedback. you are right, I am COEP’16 batch pass out.
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I was heading IMS Pune for a year, 2017, and all COEP call-getters had the Rubik’s Cube solving record on their resume 🙂
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Hi Tony Sir,
Please have a look at my profile.
10th(CBSE) – 93.1% ( CGPA – 9.8)
12th(CBSE) – 90%(450/500)
Graduation B.Tech( National Institute Of Technology)- 90.8% (SILVER MEDALIST of my department 2015-19 batch)
academic achievements:-
1. SILVER MEDALIST in graduation(2nd rank)
2. got Prime Minister Trophy Scholarship from SAIL for outstanding performance in academics for 4 years from academic year 2015.
3.JEE MAINS 2015 AIR- 51,539
ECA:-
1.SSB – got selected to undergo SERVICE SELECTION BOARD by group discussion and group interview by INDIAN NAVY in 2019.
2.volunteering in an NGO and also working in a project there.
3.played State Level SoftBall tournament in 2008.
4.tutored a child
Certifications:- i have done various online certifications on marketing and analytics.
WorkEx :- worked only for 2 months in Operations in Vedanta Limited then resigned from there.
I want to apply for marketing.
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10th result becomes 90.25% after including optional subject IT( Which is not counted by CBSE for overall CGPA calculation)
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Hi Jai,
You should get a call for Marketing given your exceptional academics, achievements and versatility. One of the few outlier profiles I have seen this year!
All the best!
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Hi sir
[Question 1: Are the interview processes different for early interviews(profile based) and later profile-cum-score based interviews? ]
I have tried to replicate my SP Jain form in this comment. Please review my profile as well as form. Looking forward to your suggestions and edits.
I am choosing my first preference as Information Management and second as Marketing
X: 10 CGPA,95%
XII: 91%
Graduation(Electronics Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur):
70.36% (as low as 64% in one sem)
[One-year academic break between class 12th and graduation.]
Academic Achievements:
1) JEE Main 2015 Rank: 36,000
JEE Advanced 2015 Rank: 18,800
UPSEE(state-level engineering entrance exam) Rank: 1050
2) Toppers scholarship from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan for scoring 10 CGPA in class X.
3) School topper for two consecutive years in Internation Mathematics Olympiad and National Science Olympiad conducted by SFO
Work Experience: 16 months, Jio Platforms
(Business Intelligence, UI Development, Product Management-UI)
Relevant courses: Become a product manager, Course, LinkedIn learning
Become a business analyst, Learning Path, LinkedIn Learning
Internships:
1) ExxonMobil: Market research project for a polymer product (2 months)
2) IIM Lucknow Marketing Management- Online (4 weeks)
3) Digital marketing and campaign management at an image advisory firm (4 weeks)
[Question 2: Can I mention these internships under important certifications/programme? If not, in any other section?]
Versatility:
1. Debating- Participated in a number of debates, won accolades for Leader of opposition, Youth Parliament(2011), secured 1st position in debates under Genesis & Mecharnival (College Fest)
2. Social Service- Taught underprivileged children who lived near college campus under NSS,HBTI. Coordinated essential goods collection from girls hostel for Rahat 2018.
3. Public Speaking- Table topic winner at RIL Toastmasters Club. Hosted Just-A-Minute sessions, impromptu dance events under college cultural fest(2017) and annual function in school(2012).
4- Reading- I read to know different cultures and perspectives. Reading challenges my thought process and enables me to think through a problem with different dimensions.
Thanks & Regards
Simran
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Hi Simran,
You have a pretty good profile and stand a good chance to get a call for IM (more than 24 months of work and 80 in grad would have meant a guaranteed call).
The interview process is the same for both profile-based and score-based calls — in the former the marks for the profile compensate for the lower CAT score, and the latter the scores compensate for the lower profile score — both get calls based on the composite score which works out to the same and the rest of the process is then common.
The form is fine you can put the internships in the certifications.
All the best!
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Hi Tony Sir,
Thank you for this much needed post. Please help me with following doubts:
a. I am CFA Level 1 official candidate taking the Feb 2021 attempt and also planning to take CFAI’s Investment Foundations Program in a similar timeline. I wish to highlight both of these but the form is asking for “level achieved”. Please suggest how to go ahead with it?
b. Please tell me if the following ranking for versatility is fine:
1. Water Polo – Interest High – State – Rank Second
2. Swimming – Interest High – National – Rank None (as options are 1,2,3 only) – AIR 7th will write in description
3. President Student Chapter – Interest High – International – Rank First – My student chapter received the “World’s Best Student Chapter” Award
4. NCC – Interest High – National – Rank None – SUO (Highest rank), A Grade in “C” Certificate, 2 camp medals
5. Entity Control Board for AIESEC Ukraine – Interest High – International – Rank none – Team Leader for Case Solving to improve the customer experience for international exchanges
Apart from these, I also have certificates in classical music and social services but I am allowed to highlight only 5 fields. Should I replace any of the above? (There’s a possibility to merge Water Polo and Swimming but then either I will be able to mention National level or a state level 2nd rank, which I feel is a tough choice.)
Also, can I state “leadership development” as the “Name of the activity” for AIESEC (5th point above) as that is the core of the organization and all our activities revolve around it?
c. Is coaching kids for swimming during vacations a good example for personal responsibility? I had taken up this responsibility voluntarily because of my strong desire to give back to the society and do not have any certificate for it.
OR Should I write about how I have tried being a coach / mentor and helped my team members and few friends, whenever they were lost, to figure out the answers or way forward on their own? I really love doing this and connect to it but I am afraid it maybe too abstract.
Thanking you in anticipation.
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Hi MS,
You cannot mention CFA unless you are already certified, just like preparing for the CAT is not equivalent to having cleared it!
Transfer the President Student Chapter to the responsibility shouldered section (professional since it is a post)
Get rid of NCC, including classical music and social service (SPJIMR has a strong social-service tilt and they even have a summer internship which is a rural one.
You can convert AIESEC to leadership development.
Make coaching and mentorship a part of the personal responsibility shouldered, do make it too abstract — mention the age range of kids you mentored, use concrete phrases such as — decision-making guidance, navigating life choices, managing mental strength etc.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Thank you so much for your quick and valuable input 🙂
Just one question, for professional responsibility I was thinking of mentioning a project from my current job wherein I had to set up a new Sales & Marketing Division in 4 months. Do you believe President Student Chapter with international award (which was not a paid job) will have more significant impact?
Also this should have been a basic question to be asked first, but probably I had suppressed it. Is academic record of 90, 86, 69 a very big challenge to look forward to the profile based call? I’m an engineering graduate with 3 years of work-ex in finance and applying for the same. (I’m not very hopeful on score based call as most probably I’m going to score 85-90 %ile in CAT)
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Hi MS,
The responsibility shouldered is more of a PoR sort of a thing.
You can mention your setting up of the S&M division as part of your description of work-ex.
Your profile is competitive for Finance and your work-ex will balance your academics. The only catch will be the lack of relevant educational background, I will not rule out a call though, as I said the profile is still competitive.
All the best!
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Sorry, work-ex *30 months as of Nov 2020
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Thank you so much! Really grateful..
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Hi Tony Sir,
Thank you for this wonderful post and going out of your way to help us in the comments section.
Kindly review my profile for IM specialization. I am a 2018 Engineering undergrad
Academics –
X- 95%
XII – 95.67%
B.E – 8.15 CGPA
Work Experience –
30 Months (as of Nov 2020) at Standard Chartered Bank as a Frontend Developer.
Academic achievements –
1. Published an IEEE paper for my work during final year project.
2. Secured 277 Rank in Karnataka CET(Amongst top 0.184% of students who appeared)
3. Represented my college for e-yantra Robotics competition at IIT Bombay (Top 300 teams across the country)
Versatility –
1. Active Volunteer for CSR activities conducted through my current company.
2. Photography and Videography – Was part of the College Photography Club and covered various events.
3. Travel Vlogging
Responsibilities shouldered –
Professional –
Head of Sponsorships and Revenue for the Annual Techno Cultural Fest.
Co-ordinated a Vishal Shekhar music concert and managed promotions, ticketing and venue production setup for a footfall of 6000+ students.
Personal –
Assisted my mother with setting up a well equipped library and computer lab at a school for kids from poor economic background, where she is currently the Principal.
I have one more interesting point for the professional responsibilities section which was during my Final year internship at a startup. Do you think I can put this as the Professional experience and shift the College Fest part to the personal responsibilities?
Thanks in advance 🙂
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Hi Chinmay,
You have a very good profile that will get you a call in all likelihood.
College fest is still a part of the professional responsibilities, you should keep that (one point) and the internship.
All the best!
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Hello sir , I want to apply for marketing , and I honestly dont have any interest or prior knowledge about any other stream.
also, I have done 2 3 courses in marketing domain , so where should I ideally mention them?
X – 10 cgpa (95% cbse)
XII – 85% (cbse)
Grad – 9.02 cgpa (Btech ECE VIT VELLORE)
Academic achievements :
1) Class topper (In top 2) throughout schooling (LKG – 12th)
2) Received 25000 Rs scholarship for scoring 10 cgpa in X.
3) Received 5000 Rs scholarship by qualifying and obtaining GRADE -IV in 18th MERIT SEARCH
EXAMINATION (class XII) conducted by NATIONAL EDUCATION COUNCIL.
4) INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIADS:
a) INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIAD OF MATHEMATICS (IOM) 2013 (LEVEL 2 QUALIFIED)
INTERNATIONAL RANK – 851 , SCHOOL TOPPER.
b) IOM 2013 (LEVEL 1 QUALIFIED)
INTERNATIONAL RANK – 1507 , SCHOOL TOPPER , scored – 85.648/100
c) IOS 2012 – SCHOOL RANK -2, State Rank – 440
d) IOS 2013 – STATE RANK – 440 scored 83.17/100
5) Awarded BLUE BLAZER (Scoring more than 90% for 5 consecutive years)
6) Awarded BLUE SCHOLAR BADGE (Scoring more than 90% for 3 consecutive years)
7) Awarded for maintaining 100% attendance for 3 consecutive years in school.
8) Awarded MR. DPS KASHI for the session 2015-16.
RESPONSIBILITIES SHOULDERED :
PROFESSIONAL –
1) Served as a) PUBLICITY & MARKETING HEAD b) LOGISTICS HEAD for the session 2018-2019 of
INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS & TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERS (IETE-ISF, awarded as
BEST Student Chapter 2020 of VIT) .
2) MANAGER for SYNERGY’19 (NATIONAL TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM).
3) EVENT CO-ORDINATOR OF “221B BAKER STREET” in RIVIERA 2018 (Cultural Fest VIT).
PERSONAL –
Took complete care of my mother when she was prescribed bed rest due to Ligament tear in L4 – L5 level.
VERSATLITY :
1) VICE CAPTAIN of school cricket team for Inter-DPS Cricket tournament’ 12 & ’13 (ZONE
LEVEL), 2nd youngest player in BOOMER INTER SCHOOL CRICKET TOURNAMENT’07 ( CITY
LEVEL).
2) ALL INDIA RANK-6 in The Debate Championship’13 organized by tGELF at S.H.I.S.
GURUGRAM.
3) SCHOOL WINNER of DEREK O’BRIEN’S FASTER,SMARTER,BETTER CHALLENGE’13.
4) INTER HOUSE QUIZ COMPETITIONS (School Level)
a) 1st in Hindi & General b) 2nd in General c) 3rd in Maths
SOCIAL INITIATIVE –
1) Part of a documentary movie “HAMARI ASHA” depicting atrocities on women in our society
Youtube link –
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=baCQ4kvt1Fw&ab_channel=VishwamitraTripathi.
2) Manager of IETE CARNIVAL’19 – A Social Initiative where various school students attended
a 3 day workshop about “Sustainable Future” free of cost.
3) Received “Certificate of special effort” during Cancer Awareness Campaign organized by
Cancer Aid Society.
Thank you sir
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Hi Shubhendu,
You have a pretty strong profile that will get you a call in all likelihood.
You should mention your Marketing courses as part of professional certifications (that is not ideal but it is the only place you can slip it in)
All the best!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Tony sir. Thank you so much for this article. I have a 9.5 CGPA in class 10th, 95% in class 12th and a 7.5 CGPA in my under graduation – which I did in B.Com (Hons.). I also have a few exams of Actuarial Science cleared and 13 months of work experience. I have left my job now and looking to take up a management course. Out of the 4 specialisations, would choosing Marketing and Operations be a silly thing considering I am not too sure about Finance. The blogpost says that it is very important for a profile to match the specialisation selected – so in my case should that be an issue considering I do not align myself in any of the other specialisations?
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Hi LL,
Well, if you are not interested in Finance then with your profile it does not make too much sense to apply to SPJIMR, you will be much better of applying to General Management programs.
You can get a call for Marketing but Ops is fully ruled out and so is IM.
The first call is likely to happen since you have great academics but the final conversion will not be easy since interviews are Group Interviews with along other candidates so unless you are passioante about Marketing, it will not be easy.
All the best!
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Hi Tony Sir,
Thank you sir for your post on the form filling. It has helped a lot.. I would like to apply for IM and Marketing Specialization. Please review my profile regarding the same and i’m looking forward for your suggestions and changes.
Academics:
X: 10 CGPA (95%)
XII: 97%
Graduation (BTech ECE) : 88.1% (NIT Raipur)
Academic Achievements:
1. MERIT Certificate from CBSE for 10 CGPA In class X Board exams.
2. Received a scholarship of Rs 5000 from KVS(Hyderabad region) for my academic performance.
3. Topper of the class (in top 2%) from class 6th to class 10th.
4. Secured AIR of 16774 in JEE Mains 2015 among the 13.03 Lakhs who appeared for the exam.
5. Got the BEST RESEARCH PAPER AWARD at ICET Conference in Pune for my research paper as part of final year project in graduation.
6. Published my research paper in IJRTE Journal as part of my project work.
7. Secured 90% marks in the ALL INDIA ANNUAL UN INFORMATION test organised by USO of India.
Work Experience:
15 Months of professional IT work experience in Consulting.
Versatility:
1.Was the House vice captain and school vice captain in classes IX and X respectively.
2.Was the Head of the Mentorship club SAHYOG in NITRR with a club of 70 members.
3. Had contributed in social cause of SMILE FOUNDATION (NGO) towards teaching of under-priviliged children.
4. Part of CSR Activites at my workplace in volunteering.
Certifications: I have done many technical certifications. but none as part
I’m looking to keep my first preference as IM and 2nd as Marketing..
Can you please tell me whether my profile can have a call and any suggestions which i can take on and improve.. Also the academic achievements, should it follow a chronological order?
Regards
Sriram Kumar
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Apologies!! Certifications, i missed the portion that i havent done any in the marketing or any other specialization
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Hi Sriram,
You have a very strong profile and have a very high chance of getting a call for IM and Marketing. The only catch can be your work-ex which is marginally lower, 24 months would have sealed it, but still super competitive for a call.
You should list the achievements in terms of impact.
All the best!
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Thank you sir for your comments and suggestions.1 quick query, regarding work experience until now i have 15 months.. so the work ex is considered till the time of interview or till the time of joining the institute sir?
Regards
Sriram Kumar
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It is considered until the time of application (what if you quit next month :-)).
Do not worry about the duration, just apply, your profile is pretty competitive.
All the best!
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Good morning sir,
Please look into my profile.
10th- 93.1% (CBSE)
12th- 94.8 (CBSE)
Graduation- 7.9 CGPA (Till 4th Semester)
Graduation Course- BSc Maths Honours with Minor in Economics (DU)
Versatility- 1. Reached the Finals of Asian Lawn Tennis Championship Finals in 2014.
2. Won more than 10 State and National Level Tennis tournaments.
3. Ranked 154 in Asian Tennis Federation Junior rankings.
4. Ranked 21 in All India Tennis Association National Junior Rankings.
5. 3rd in SRCC Model United Nations Debating.
6. 3rd in ARSD Model United Nations Debating.
Responsibilities held- 1. Head Boy for the session 2017-2018 (12th Standard)
2. Vice House Captain for 2016- 2017.
3. Tennis Team Captain for 7 years at school.
4. Delegation Head of college’s English debating society.
Academic Achievements-1. Blue Blazer awardee for continuously scoring 90% and above for 6 consecutive years.
2. Top ten percentile in class 12th boards.
3.Preseneted Policy Paper in a Case study Competition.
Courses- I have done online courses in Data Analysis, Economics, and Data Sciences.
I am more inclined towards Finance stream because of my clear interest Macro Economics. I think Finance is the only subject which would fulfill that interest. Also, I have done certain basic projects in stock trading.
Is my profile suitable for this?
Do reply sir.
Thanks and Regards.
Sahishnu
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Hi Sahishnu,
You have an exceptional profile, with strong Academics and ECAs, and you should be able to get a call for sure.
The catch is that Macro Economics is just one subject in a whole 2-year syllabus and is part of the compulsory courses in the first year in almost all b-schools.
So choosing Finance for one subject that you can anyway learn on your own does not make any sense. You need to choose a specialization based on the jobs you see yourself in the best fit for. Both of these webinars will give you an in-depth idea —
As far as the SPJIMR app goes, while you will get the first call, you will find it very tough to convert Finance given the lack of relevant educational background and the competition from all the CAs and CFAs.
I would suggest either not applying to SPJIMR if you are not clear about your specialization even after watching the wbeinars.
The next best thing will be to apply Marketing first and Finance next to maximise your chances of conversion.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Thank you so much sir for your inputs.
I went through your webinars sir. I don’t have much problem with marketing either but I gave an upper edge to Finance because of my interest in Economics, financial economics and little bit because I find myself more of a creator rather than an enabler. Just that. Apart from that, I think I am outgoing, confident, and love meeting/interacting with people in general.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Sir,
The post is amazing. It has helped me a lot. Please review my profile and I’m looking forward for your suggestions and changes.
Academics:
X: 10 CGPA (95%) CBSE
XII: 94.4% CBSE
Graduation (B. Tech ECE) : 93.6% (NIT Raipur)
Academic Achievements:
1. Recipient of Prime Minister Scholarship for 4 consecutive years (2015-2019).
2. Director General (CISF) Meritorious Award for performance in 12th Boards.
3. Published my research paper in ICTCS 2019 on Diabetic Retinopathy Detection using Convolutional Neural Network.(I have another project on ML which I did as an intern at IIT Roorkee)
4. 97.04 %ile in JEE Mains 2015.
5. Secured 4th and 9th Olympiad Rank and 1st and 3rd State Rank in Second Level of Science and Mathematics Olympiad (Xth).
6. Markers Cup for Mathematics and English for highest marks in school for 12th Boards.
7. Received Merit Certificate and Full attendance Award from VIII-X standard.
Work Experience:
16 Months of professional IT work experience in Data Analysis and have received an award for excellent performance for the same.
Versatility:
1.Was the vice Head Girl and Squad Leader in classes IX and X respectively.
2.Was a member of Entrepreneurship Cell of my college and have organized the flagship event, E-Summit.
3. Secured medals in Shot Put, Discuss Throw, Tug-o-war, Throwball in school.
4. Secured first position in Extempore, Elocution, Recitations, Calligraphy in school.
5. Have compered in various events and fests of my college and school.
I’m looking to keep my first preference as IM and 2nd as Marketing. IM aligns with my profile but I am worried about my work ex. It’s less than 2 years! I did a digital internship in marketing for an NGO but I do not have any certifications for the specialization.
Also I am confused as to whether I should put the paper as academic achievement or not.
Please guide me.
Thanks and Regards,
Astha
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Sir, for personal responsibility, is the following fine?
Helped my mother to relocate during my father’s transfer from CISF’s Reserved Training Centre, Bhilai to Bokaro Steel Plant, Bokaro while he was detailed in Jammu & Kashmir. (2019)
Or Should I mention helping my brother to prepare for JEE Mains and Advanced
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Hi Astha,
You have an exceptional profile that should get you a call for IM, the work-ex is marginally low but that should not matter.
You can let go of the paper presentation unless it is a very prestigious publication that everyone would know about.
You can use the relocation example for personal responsibility.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Tony Sir,
Thank you sir for your post on the form filling. I would like to apply for IM and Marketing Specialization.
Please review my profile regarding the same and i’m looking forward for your suggestions and changes.
Academics:
X: 80.16 %
XII: 81.83 %
Graduation (BTech ECE) : 81.40 % (NIT Silchar)
Certifications:
Summer Analytics 2020,Data Science Course(C&A club, IIT Guwahati)
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Developer 2020 Certified Associate
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2019 Cloud Operations Certified Associate
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing(Google Certified Course)
KPMG Consulting Data Analytics Virtual Internship(InsideSherpa)
Beginners guide to Trading and Investing in Stock Market( Udemy)
Academic Achievements:
1. ISHAN UDAY SCHOLARSHIP – The award Is a special scholarship(monthly) granted by the University Grant Commission(New-Delhi)
2. Secured AIR of 44683 in JEE Mains 2014 among the 13 Lakhs candidates who appeared for the exam.
3. INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIAD OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE – Secured 3rd position in the class and 9th state rank in international Olympiad of English language.
Work Experience:
1. 21 Months of professional IT work experience as Solution Delivery Analyst in Risk and Analytics sector with Deloitte
2. 7 Months of experience in Retail industry as Business Development Associate
Versatility:
1. Summer Internship(IIT madras) – Participated as summer intern and worked on neural networks under EE department(IIIT Madras).Received appreciation from the professor for doing good work.
2. Marketing Internship(IIM Lucknow) – Successfully completed a remote internship in marketing management under prof. Sameer Mathur(IIM Lucknow).
3. Photography – Received honourable mention in an online photography competition from the minimalist studios and also member of photography club, nit Silchar
4. Painting – Received 1st division in painting examination(annual) conducted by Nikhil Bharat sangeet samiti (Kolkata)
5. Dramatics – part of the dramatics team that represented nit Silchar in spring fest 2015 (cultural fest, IIT Kharagpur)
Responsibilities shouldered –
Professional –
I was appointed as the Training and Placement Co-ordinator and was one among the 16 selected students from a batch of 600 students to
shoulder the responsibility of the placements and internships of the final and pre-final students. The batch recorded 100 percent placements.
Personal –
I actively volunteered for an NGO – Children of Hope India for the period 2016-2018.
I also received a certificate of appreciation for outstanding performance as a volunteer. I also personally guided my younger sister in clearing her medical entrance examinations.
I’m looking to keep my first preference as IM and 2nd as Marketing.
Should the internships be added in the versatility section?
I have organized various events in my college as we can add only maximum of 5 sections in versatility and only 2 sections for responsibilities, I have not added them. Should I swap something from the above or is there any way if you suggest where in I can add them too?
Regards
Mayank
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Hi Mayank,
You have an exceptional profile and you should be able to get a call for IM.
The summer internship at IIT Madras does not add much since it is a technical internship. I suggest removing it and adding the NGO work to the versatility section since you have received a certificate as well.
You can let go of the college fest event management since the PCom is already mentioned and bigger in scale.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Dear Tony sir,
Trust you are well.
Thank you very much sir for all your amazing posts. They are always a great source of value addition.
Requesting you to please review my profile. It’d be really great to have your insight and suggestions 🙂
Academics:
X-95%(10 CGPA)
XII-87.8%
Graduation-86.4%(B.Tech-Manipal Institute of Technology)
Sir,I’ve completed my graduation in Mechanical Engineering with minors in Business Management(electives being Marketing,Finance,HR ,Operations & Supply Chain Management).I wish to apply for Marketing and this is what helped me foster my interests in this field.
Academic Achievements-
1.Certificate of Merit from CBSE for 10 CGPA in class Xth
2.10 GPA in final sem of Graduation
3. Bagged 94th rank at national level & second at State in “Sir CV Raman Young genius awards”
4.Secured 1st Rank in school level in “Mathematics Talent Search Examination”
5.Stood 87th at State level & 19428th globally in National Science Olympiad.
Versatility:
1.Runner-up at Regional Level Quiz conducted by ACC Ltd.
2. Awarded for commendable performance in National Level Colouring competition.
3.2nd in Smartkid Painting competition by ICICI Prudential & certificate of merit(Group A at state ) in All India Camel Colour Contest (Both achieved in lower standards though as a kid).So not something that is very recent.
4.Most Active Child at Zonal & District Level in Children Science congress.(No certificate)
Responsibilities shouldered:
1.Class Representative of Mechanical-C for the academic year’18-19.
2. Class Representative of Mechanical-C for the academic year’19-20.
3. Finance Organiser in ‘Revels 2018″-Cultural fest of Manipal Institute of Technology.
4.Management Head at MIT Student support Team (No certificate)
Certification:
1. “Introduction to Data Analytics for Business” by University of Colorado Boulder on Coursera
2. “Excel Skills for Business” by Macquarie University on Coursera
No work ex but as far as my internships are concerned.I’ve interned with Deloitte & Reliance.With Deloitte internship dealing with project aimed at reduction of Advertisement & Marketing costs of Clients.
Sir since you have also mentioned about citing hobbies.Some of my pastimes include dancing and Modelling and have performed at many related cultural events & college fests.
Sir the preference that i would like to go for is :
1.Marketing
2.Finance.
Sir,it would be really great to have your valuable insights and suggestions regarding any improvisation that can be done.
And sir there were some queries from my end.Given the details,should i really mention the internship details.Like will they do any good?
And secondly sir, while mentioning things in Versatility section.How old can the achievements be?
Given my interest in painting,I have many many such achievements at various levels right from the childhood.So is it wise to include them or should all achievements be recent only?
Thank you very much for your valuable time in advance sir. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Warm Regards,
Shivam
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Hi Shivam,
You have a great academic profile and that should enable you to get a call for Marketing.
You can include your internships as part of Professional Responsibility shouldered.
Mention the biggest achievement in painting and preferably not too far into childhood use the 25 words to describe your interest in painting.
All the best!
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Hi Tony Sir ,
Thank you very much for your amazing post it is very insightful . I am working as a Software Engineer with Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions with experience of 29 months till now .
Below is my profile , I am also expecting a 90+ percentile in CAT 2020 ,will this be competitive enough for specialisation in IM or operation .
X – 10 cgpa (95% cbse)
XII – 89% (cbse)
I have a gap of 1 year after 12th
Grad – 75%(Btech ECE LPU)
Academic achievements :
1) Class topper throughout schooling ( Received allowance each year for excellent academic performance from Defence Ministry during my father’s service in Defence)
2) Toppers scholarship from Kendriya Vidylaya Sangathan for scoring 10 CGPA in class 10
3) Represented college in the INK Makers event at Hyderabad,2017
4)Represented college at International Go Kart championship conducted by LPU SAEINDIA,2015
5) 1st position in the B-Plan Competition held at the university.
Certification:
Machine learning A-Z:Hands-On Python & R In Data Science course from Udemy
Work Experience:
Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions , 29 Months(Till Now) , Working as Simulation responsible . Responsible for creation of simulation environment and testing the software for Jaguar Landrover team.
RESPONSIBILITIES SHOULDERED :
PROFESSIONAL –
Working proactively to improve the testing procedure currently being followed in the department .
Taking up additional role to support other teams
PERSONAL – Providing career guidance to my sister and helping my father with financial decisions.
VERSATLITY :
Social service initiatives in College (Distribution of stationaries to govt school kids and spreading awareness on social topics )
Good knowledge of Indian mythology
Team player: intra department activites – Support to other teams
Helping the new joinees get acquainted with the new roles
Automotive enthusiast and an ardent F1 fan.
Should the Machine learning course be included in the certification section , i also have a 6 month internship with Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions should i include that or it will be repetitive.
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Should i select both the specialisations with special interest option or can i use relevant work experience option if i select IM
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Hi Devashish,
Your academic profile is decent but you need to order some things.
If you read the post correctly, you will have noticed that professional responsibilities do not refer to your KRAs that is taken care of in describing your role. This refers to any positions of responsibility that you have held in college or even an internship you ahve done, you can include the Bosch internship here.
You can include the MAchine Learning in the certification section.
You should remove team-player and helping new-joinees since they do not fall into Extra Curricular Activities that showcase your versatility.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Thank you sir this is really very helpful .
After ordering can i apply in the below sequence
1.IM(with relevant work experience , given the IT background)
2.Operations (with special interest.)
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Yes.
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Dear Tony Sir,
Hope you are doing well!
Following is my profile
Acads: 10CGPA/ 95.2%/ 75% (Engineering- Electronics and Communication)
Work Ex: I have 18 months of experience in research & analytics field.
ECA: I have decent scholarships and Math Olympiad ranks. Along with that I have PoR from school and college.
I would like to put IM as first preference due to my work experience but I’m inclined towards operations.
So if below are my preferences, should I expect a call or should I mention something else other than operations?
1. IM
2. Operations
Thanks for your time and advice
Regards,
Sakshi
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Hi Sakshi,
If your work-ex is aligned to IM then apply to IM. The second preference usually works if you have a profile that is competitive for both.
Operations is quite competitive and it might be tough for you to get a call if you are interested in Marketing you can apply to it as a second preference if you can link your research and analytics to the same or cite area of interest.
Alternatively, you can just apply as you have planned, there is nothing wrong with trying for Ops.
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
The post is amazing. It has helped me a lot. Please review my profile and I’m looking forward for your suggestions and changes.
Academics:
X: 9.8 CGPA (93.1%) CBSE
XII: 88.2% CBSE
Graduation (B. Tech ECE) : 87.6% (NIT Raipur)
Academic Achievements:
1. Published Research paper in ICTCS-2019 on Diabetic Retinopathy Detection using Convolutional Neural Network.
2.International Mathematics Olympiad-2011-Secured 1st Rank in State and School, with All India Rank of 124 was awarded with Gold Medal and Merit Certificate(Top 500 Rank Holders)
3. TechNex(Agaaz)Secured 2nd Rank and Cash Prize for Entrepreneurial Innovation model, this was a Team event conducted by IIT BHU
4. 45725 Rank in JEE Mains 2015.
5. Secured Rank in IIT JEE 2015
Work Experience:
16 Months of professional IT work experience in Finance and Enterprise Performance for Deloitte USI and have received an award for excellent performance in an Firm Initiative.
Versatility:
1.Was a member of Entrepreneurship Cell of my college and have organized the flagship event, E-Summit.
2. Secured medals in 100m Race, Javelin Throw in school.
3. Participated in Extempore in school.
4. Have compered in various events and fests of my college.
I’m looking to keep my first preference as IM and 2nd as Operations and Supply Chain Management. IM aligns with my profile but I am worried about my work ex. It’s less than 2 years! Another point sir, I have work ex. in Finance and Enterprise Performance which deals with Financial Planning an Analysis and Supply Chain, should I opt for Finance Instead?
Please guide me.
Thanks and Regards,
Anmol Sarna
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Hi Sir,
The post is amazing. It has helped me a lot. Please review my profile and I’m looking forward for your suggestions and changes.
Academics:
X: 9.8 CGPA (93.1%) CBSE
XII: 88.2% CBSE
Graduation (B. Tech ECE) : 87.6% (NIT Raipur)
Academic Achievements:
1. Published Research paper in ICTCS-2019 on Diabetic Retinopathy Detection using Convolutional Neural Network.
2.International Mathematics Olympiad-2011-Secured 1st Rank in State and School, with All India Rank of 124 was awarded with Gold Medal and Merit Certificate(Top 500 Rank Holders)
3. TechNex(Agaaz)Secured 2nd Rank and Cash Prize for Entrepreneurial Innovation model, this was a Team event conducted by IIT BHU
4. 45725 Rank in JEE Mains 2015.
5. Secured Rank in IIT JEE 2015
Work Experience:
16 Months of professional IT work experience in Finance and Enterprise Performance for Deloitte USI and have received an award for excellent performance in a Firm Initiative.
Versatility:
1.Was a member of Entrepreneurship Cell of my college and have organized the flagship event, E-Summit.
2. Secured medals in 100m Race, Javelin Throw in school.
3. Participated in Extempore in school.
4. Have compered in various events and fests of my college.
I’m looking to keep my first preference as IM and 2nd as Operations and Supply Chain Management. IM aligns with my profile but I am worried about my work ex. It’s less than 2 years! Another point sir, I have work ex. in Finance and Enterprise Performance which deals with Financial Planning an Analysis and Supply Chain, should I opt for Finance Instead?
Please guide me.
Thanks and Regards,
Anmol Sarna
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Hi Anmol,
You should apply to IM since it aligns with your profile, which is strong academically. The work-ex is only marginally low, anything above 15 months is still competitive enough to apply. There is no alignment with Finance since you do not have the relevant educational background.
The year-gap due to JEE will not hurt, it is almost a part of growing up in India 🙂
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
All the best!
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Sir, Another thing I had an educational gap of 1 yr and reason I wrote was to prepare for IIT JEE, will it be fine sir?
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Hey Tony sir!
Hope you’re are doing well.
I have made a (insignificant but noticeable) mistake in my Application Form, already submitted in October. After raising a query on how to edit, I got a response, advising me to apply again as it is not possible to edit a submitted application.
Kindly review my profile :
Academics:
X: 87.40 % (9.2/10)
XII: 95.20%
Graduation (BTech Production and Industrial Engineering – NIT Kurukshetra) : 66.29 % (7.36/10)
Work Experience:
1. 19 months as Assistant Manager – Manufacturing Operations in an English construction equipment company
2. 7 Months as a Commodity Buyer in the agricultural machinery division of an Italian automotive giant
Other highlights:
Interned with Office of Deputy CM (Delhi) and worked on a challenging project management project that involved identifying bottlenecks in key infrastructural projects enabling DyCMO to intervene and expedite them.
As everything till now, seems aligned, I want to specialize in Operations and Supply Chain Management.
I had casually applied to SPJIMR being fully aware that – because of my low academic scores – I do not have any decent chance to get any call.
However, just so that I do not have any regrets in the future I am requesting you to answer my 3 questions :
1) Is there any sense to apply again considering my low acads ? Is there any penalty for applying twice ?
2) I have three research papers (on maintenance / TPM implementation) published in not so good journals. Should I include these in my application, if I apply again ?
3) What is the domain of (personal) responsibility shouldered column ? What kind of responsibility do they expect ?
Thanks a looking for taking out time to read this.
Have a good day!
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Hi Rodger,
Well, you are right that the odds of getting a profile-based call are slightly low given your Grads marks but since the profile-alignment with Ops is there, you can apply if you feel that you can score above a 96 percentile making a score-based call possible. There is no penalty for applying twice.
The research papers, given their technical nature and publication in mediocre journals, will not fetch you any points, you can exclude them.
Personal responsibility refers to any sort of crisis or trauma or work you have had to undertake at a personal/family level.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Sir,
Kindly look into my profile
Academics:
1. Class 10th (CBSE)- 10 CGPA (95%)
2. Class 12th (CBSE)- 92% ( Gap of 1 year for preparation)
3. Btech in Electrical Engineering from HBTI Kanpur(Govt College) with 78.54%.
Topper of my branch for all 4years and First Division Honours overall
Work experience:
1. 16 Months as a Buyer in Procurement and Contracts department of Reliance Industries including 6 months on-site experience in the maintenance department.
Professional Certification: Six Sigma Yellow Belt from Reliance Internal Training(R- University)
• Can I use this certificate.
Academic Achievements:
1. Topper of my Branch for 4 years with Honours division.
2. Stood among top 500 students at National Science Olympiad conducted by SOF in 2010 and awarded merit certificate and Gold Medal for City topper.
3. Led the Winning team of 6 at the National level Design Competition CONCATENATE at Techkriti’17(Annual Technical Festival of IIT Kanpur). Was awarded Rs 20000.
4. Won debates and essay writing competitions at the Inter-School level.
Versatility:
1. Part of management and marketing Team of Annual Cultural festival of college- Single-handedly Collected sponsorships from SAIL and others worth 1.05 lacs(II year of college)
2. Cultural Head of Cultural Festival of College: handled auditions till the stage handling and with coordinated celebrity Management Team (III year of college)
3. Student Head of the Anti-ragging committee of the University
4. Active Member of the Q-Frat (Quizzing Fraternity of college) (No certificates)
5. Won awards for dancing, poster presentations, and painting at university and district levels.
6. Made a micro project at my work suggesting a comprehensive model for solutions for optimizing and digitizing the process of procurement. The proposed solutions are now approved by the management and ready for application.
Person Responsibilities:
In my class 9th, my mother was diagnosed with fibromyalgia with endometriosis. Being a chronic patient of slip disc and my father being posted away, I single-handedly attended to all her medical emergencies while doing all the household chores and managing to get a perfect CGPA of 10 in class 10th.
Helped a mess worker of my hostel in studies to clear her matric exam.
Professional Responsibilities:
1. Mentored the New joinees for getting on-board our team.
2. Internship in the first year of college(with a startup from IIT KGP)- Conducted Workshop in schools in Kanpur region with keynote speakers from IIT and IIMs . Helped conduct national level aptitude test for schools.
Sir where should I mention the micro Project at work In versatility or professional responsibilities.
I am planning to opt for Operations and Marketing, operations being the first preference depending on my work ex.
Do I stand a chance of getting a call? Please advise for the selection of achievements to put in the application.
Can I put “special interest” in both the profiles? I am interested in strategic management and general management roles.
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Sir,
Kindly look into my profile
Academics:
1. Class 10th (CBSE)- 10 CGPA (95%)
2. Class 12th (CBSE)- 92% ( Gap of 1 year for preparation)
3. Btech in Electrical Engineering from HBTI Kanpur(Govt College) with 78.54% .
Topper of my branch for all 4years and First Division Honours overall
Work experience:
1. 16 Months as a Buyer in Procurement and Contracts department of Reliance Industries including 6 months on-site experience in the maintenance department.
Professional Certification: Six Sigma Yellow Belt from Reliance Internal Training(R- University)
• Can I use this certificate.
Academic Achievements:
1. Topper of my Branch for 4 years with Honours division.
2. Stood among top 500 students at National Science Olympiad conducted by SOF in 2010 and awarded merit certificate and Gold Medal for City topper.
3. Led the Winning team of 6 at the National level Design Competition CONCATENATE at Techkriti’17(Annual Technical Festival of IIT Kanpur). Was awarded Rs 20000.
4. Won debates and essay writing competitions at Inter School level.
Versatility:
1. Part of management and marketing Team of Annual Cultural festival of college- Single-handedly Collected sponsorships from SAIL and others worth 1.05 lacs(II year of college)
2. Cultural Head of Cultural Festival of College: handled auditions till the stage handling and with coordinated celebrity Management Team (III year of college)
3. Student Head of the Anti-ragging committee of the University
4. Active Member of the Q-Frat (Quizzing Fraternity of college) (No certificates)
5. Won awards for dancing, poster presentations, and painting at university and district levels.
6. Made a micro project at my work suggesting a comprehensive model for solutions for optimising and digitizing the process of procurement. The proposed solutions are now approved by the management and ready for application.
Person Responsibilities:
In my class 9th, my mother was diagnosed with fibromyalgia with endometriosis. Being a chronic patient of slip disc and my father being posted away, I single-handedly attended to all her medical emergencies while doing all the household chores and managing to get a perfect CGPA of 10 in class 10th.
Helped a mess worker of my hostel in studies to clear her matric exam.
Professional Responsibilities:
1. Mentored the New joinees for getting on-board our team.
2. Internship in the first year of college(with a startup from IIT KGP)- Conducted Workshop in schools in Kanpur region with keynote speakers from IIT and IIMs . Helped conduct national level aptitude test for schools.
Sir where should I mention the micro Project at work In versatility or professional responsibilities.
I am planning to opt for Operations and Marketing, operations being the first preference depending on my work ex.
Do I stand a chance of getting a call? Please advise for selection of achievements to put in the application.
Can I put “special interest” in both the profiles? I am interested in strategic management and general management roles.
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Hi Shagun,
You have a pretty strong profile that is likely to get you an Ops call, so apply to Ops first citing relevant work-ex and Marketing next citing special interest.
One cannot mention all the projects at work so it is best to leave out the micro project.
The rest is fine.
All the best!
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Thanks for the feedback Sir.
Just one more query
Professional Certification: Six Sigma Yellow Belt from Reliance Internal Training(R- University)
Can I use this certificate?
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Hi Sir ,
Would like to know what does “Specialized course(s) in the chosen area” under Specialization refer to?
I want to apply under Finance , I have done Courses from Coursera on “Introduction to corporate finance” and “Introduction to Financial Accounting” by Wharton online (with Certification).
Will this be counted under “Specialized course(s) in the chosen area” ?
My Profile:
Academics:
X: 9.6 CGPA (91.2%) CBSE
XII: 93.8% CBSE
Graduation (B. Tech ECE) : 77.10%
Specialization:
1.Finance 2.IM
Academic Achievements:
1. Ranked 24548 among 10 lakh aspirants in JEE mains
2. Stood 2nd in X and XII standard in class
Work Experience:
30 months , IT
Versatility:
1.Volley ball player (2nd in inter branch tournament), was also part of college team.
2.Coordinator of TECHNO-CULTURAL FEST of my college.
3.Dance (Represented college in Inter college competition).
Person Responsibilities:
Organized my sibling’s wedding with very less helping hands.
Professional Responsibilities:
1. Trusted with responsibility to negotiate with client and manage team amid overshooting tasks , crippling workload , and inflating backlogs.
2. Amid the outbreak of COVID 19 , took the responsibility of BCP.
3. Shouldered with responsibility of designing and optimizing project process.
Awaiting your valuable feedback 🙂
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Hi Tony Sir,
Thank you for this detailed post.
Looking at my two 70s and average extra-curriculars I don’t have any hope for a profile based call. But it is my last attempt so want to give it a try.
Would like to know if there is any bit of chance to get a call and any suggestions, edits in my profile.
X – 96.91 ( school topper)
XII -74.00
Grad: 77.27 ( University Topper, College topper of BE-IT branch)
Work Ex-
– 27 month in Amdocs as Functional Test engineer(Software engineer)
– 2 months in Debugsbunny (Online coding teaching startup) as a content developer
Academic achievement:
– Ranked first among all students of BE-IT branch of 2017-18 batch of all colleges affiliated to university. Also stood as college IT branch topper.
– State Level- Ranked 7TH among 70,000 applicants in Maharashtra Talent Search Examination(MTSE) and awarded with scholarship
– School Level- Class topper (In top 3) from class 1st to 10th
Versatility:
1. Social Service- Interest high- Organized, participated in social events as college NSS SECRETARY,CSR volunteer. Worked with NGO MAITRI for 2 years in Melghat to reduce child death in monsoon.
2. Innovation Enthusiast (Doubtful about whether to mention it or not)- Interest High – Selected in Top 10 finalist in 3 Global and India level Amdocs innovation Hackathons. Contributed in automation of BAU processes using innovative tools resulting in 80% of the tickets by reducing 90% dependency on testing team.
Part of Innovation committee aims to identify daily pain points and find solutions to it.
3. Singing -Interest High – Completed Madhyama Purna level of Indian classical music. Intermediate in playing harmonium. Performed and won prizes in school, college, company level annual events and competitions.
4. Sports – Winner Of KHO-KHO , Badminton doubles and singles in college level sports week
5. Creative Art- Winner of college, school level rangoli, mehandi competitions based on social issues. Organized various college level competitions of creative art includes drawing, paiting, rangoli, mehandi etc.
Personal Responsibility:
– Because of my father’s demise I had to perform various family responsibilities from young age (7 yr old).I took it up as a responsibility to get
financial aid by studying hard to get scholarships. I also took care of household chores by managing my studies to support my working mother.
Professional Responsibility:
– Lead team of 5-6 people to become finalist in innovation hackathons awarded as Employee of the Quarter.
– As college NSS secretary lead team of 150+ people to organize college level social activities, residential camps.
– Lead team of 20 people under MAITRI NGO in Melghat tribal area to reduce child death
Thanks in advance for your time and help 🙂
Thanks & Regards,
Renuka
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Hi Renuka,
As you guessed, it is not going to be easy to get a call but given the work-ex, good versatility, and responsibilities shouldered, it makes a lot of sense to apply, getting a call is not as far-fetched as it seems because of the acads.
You seem to be a fighter, just keep at it.
All the best!
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hello sir,
i have 8 months of work-ex in sales with BYJUS and after that I have a gap of 1 year that I took to prepare for CAT. Will the gap year affect my chances of getting a call and get selected in SPJIMR?And if it will affect too much is it advisable to include family business work-ex of a retail shop if i have worked on it to cover it.I mean which one will be a bigger disadvantage-GAP YEAR or grilling based on work ex of family business?
Also my acads:
10th-CBSE-9.0 CGPA
12TH-CBSE-88.4%
Btech Computer Science -GGSIPU-84.8
No big academic achievement.
Can i even expect a score based call for marketing ?
Also sir, if i have been appreciated at my job for my work for which i have received certificate too, where can i include it?
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Hi Shubham,
The gap year will not really affect your chances of a call since you will get whatever marks you will get for having 8 months of work-ex instead of 20 months. To show work-ex in your family business you have to later submit proofs — offer letter, salary slips etc. If you can show that proof and also defend your work-ex then add that work-ex since it increases your chances of a call.
Your academics make your profile competitive but not a sureshot.
Mention your workplace achievements in the description of work-ex.
All the best!
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Hi Sir ,
Would like to know what does “Specialized course(s) in the chosen area” under Specialization refer to?
I want to apply under Finance , I have done Courses from Coursera on “Introduction to corporate finance” and “Introduction to Financial Accounting” by Wharton online (with Certification).
Will this be counted under “Specialized course(s) in the chosen area” ?
My Profile:
Academics:
X: 9.6 CGPA (91.2%) CBSE
XII: 93.8% CBSE
Graduation (B. Tech ECE) : 77.10%
Specialization:
1.Finance 2.IM
Academic Achievements:
1. Ranked 24548 among 10 lakh aspirants in JEE mains
2. Stood 2nd in X and XII standard in class
Work Experience:
30 months , IT
Versatility:
1.Volley ball player (2nd in inter branch tournament), was also part of college team.
2.Coordinator of TECHNO-CULTURAL FEST of my college.
3.Dance (Represented college in Inter college competition).
Person Responsibilities:
Organized my sibling’s wedding with very less helping hands.
Professional Responsibilities:
1. Trusted with responsibility to negotiate with client and manage team amid overshooting tasks , crippling workload , and inflating backlogs.
2. Amid the outbreak of COVID 19 , took the responsibility of BCP.
3. Shouldered with responsibility of designing and optimizing project process.
Awaiting your valuable feedback 🙂
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Hi Tony Sir,
Can you please comment on the below profile details?
10th – 90.42
12th – 90.00
Grad – 75.1(B.tech – ECE)
Work Ex – IT(27 months)
Specialization – Information Management & Marketing
Academic and ECA – nothing outstanding as such.
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Hello Sir,
Hope you are doing well.
I have prepared a draft for applying SPJIMR form.
Kindly check and let me know,
What are my chances for getting a profile based call?
And also is there any changes that needs to be made in the draft mentioned below.
ACADEMICS
Class 10 : 9.8 CGPA
Class 12 : 88%
Graduation : B.Tech Mech : 91.6%
Work Experience : 18 months
SPECIALIZATION
1. Operations & Supply Chain
2. Nil
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
1. Bronze medal holder for Graduation ( B.Tech Mechanical )
2. Research Paper Published (3nos.)
3. Awarded Best Student 2014 (School Level)
VERSATILITY
1. 101 Village Internship Program in J&K (3weeks Social Service activities)
2. Chairman-Vidyut Multifest (Organised a 60Lac budget program by heading a team of nearly 1000 with 10,000+ footfall)
3. Mime (Team secured prizes for University level fests for 3 consecutive years)
4. School Football Team Vice-captain ( 2014-2015)
5. Student Social Responsibility Project in a remote village ( As part of an NGO – Ayudh (International Organisation) )
Responsibility Shouldered
PERSONAL
1. Head the student team of Amrita Call Centre (1 among the 8 major Govt. centres) during Kerala Floods 2018. (Coordination for Rescue/Evacuation operations with Navy and Essential materials arrangements with other NGOs)
PROFESSIONAL
1. Led the team for Innovation Project in Company during the Training period which was later awarded as the Best Innovative Project of the Year in Company (Hyundai Motor India Ltd )
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Hello sir
first of all thank you for this wonderful post following which I was able to get a profile based call from spjain. (the results were declared today)
we are now required to fill personal summary and a lot of other details that I guess will have a high impact on our final selection, so can you please share a blog post or a video session for that as well . we have to fill the form by 30th December. so can you please help us in this regard as well.
Thank you sir for all your efforts for us
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You can watch this session taken by my colleague – http://tiny.cc/SPJIMR_Rec
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Hi Sir, Hope you are doing well.
I have received the profile based call, My cat scores are :
Overall : 94.36
Verbal: 68.48
DILR: 94.61
Quants: 96.52
I know that in a profile based call as well they require sectional cut offs of 75 percentile but my verbal percentile is below that. Is there any outside chance for considering me ? Or absolutely no hopes?
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Hi Mohit,
Hard luck, these are fixed cut-offs and the system automatically selects every one who has cleared the cut-offs.
All the best with the other schools
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Hello sir
Sir i received a profile based call from sp jain and interviews are in January or we can give them later with the ones who get score based calls. Right ? Please clarify this ..
And I have college exams in Jan so I was thinking of giving it afterwards as I would be able to prepare better. Is it a problem to give later or is any preference there that it should be given in Jan itself ? Bcz i remember in form b filling webinar of ims, sir saying that choose the option of january interview ..
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Hi Aksh,
As far as I know, technically there is no difference between January and February interview but it is just that the peer group that gets a score-based call given that all of them would have gotten at least a 96 will be different from the one you will encounter in a profile-based call.
On their FAQs, they have said that they would want to make things easy for you and hence want you to attend it in the first round without clashing with other school interviews in February.
So overall I do not see any clear reason to take it in the first round or second round.
Take the round in which you will feel that you can do a good job.
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I have got a score based call from SPJIMR. I wanted to know if there will be any session conducted on how to fill FORM B for the interview. It would be great if we could get some tips regarding the form filling as it forms a crucial part of the interview process.
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Hi,
You can look at this session that my colleagues have taken — https://youtu.be/R8unxlvhjZ0
All the best!
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Sir
I have done M. Sc (Physics) from BITS, Pilani. My scores are 95%, 93.8%, 63.2%. No work experience. I am thinking of applying for Financial (Ist Preference) and Marketing (IInd Preference). Do you think it is ok.
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Hi Virender,
Given that you will be competing with CAs and CFAs and you have no relevant educational background or work-ex, I have to say that it will not be easy for you to get an SP call where profile alignment is everything.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
Thanks for the amazing guide of an article.
It would be helpful if you could please provide your opinion with respect to Stream selection for SPJIMR based on my profile details as I am equally inclined towards each domain, be it Finance, Ops, Marketing or IM and the likelihood of getting a call from SPJIMR.
PROFILE OVERVIEW:
Academics:-
10th- 95%
12th- 90%
B.tech(in CS) – 82%
Work Ex- 36 months in a top IT firm
SAP -Functional Consultant(FI & CO)
My job responsibility included application & business process ERP Consulting in the domain of Financial Operations. Under the role I was required to enhance/streamline the existing functionalities in Finance via the means of configurations as per existing business processes and assist end users in case of errors in order to keep the financial operations ongoing.
Academic Achievement-
1-School Topper – 10th
Consistently excelled throughout my school years in academics and was always in the Top 3 in the class. I was also joint school topper in 10th grade(also featured as a top performer in the school annual magazine), while being school topper in English subject in 12th. I had also served as the SPORTS CAPTAIN and held various key responsibilities in the related areas.
2 – Special Academic Achievements –
I was a STATE TOPPER in Science in Class 12 in International Assessments for Indian Schools conducted by UNSW Global, Sydney.
I was also a recipient of the ‘Student Of The Year’ Award from NIE(Newspaper in Edition) Times of India which was based on my academic record, merit in sports and others activities which include creating social awareness, creative thinking, etc.
I had also received a scholarship amounting to Rs 80,000/- from the renowned engineering coaching center FIITJEE for excellent performance in 10th grade which included academic performance.
Versatility
1: Sports
I have shown active participation in various sports since childhood & have been pursuing Football for past 10 years. In this time I have won multiple tournaments and in two of them I have captained my side to the position of Runners Up. I have won multiple awards(some winners/runners up medals) in Football(Inter College, Intra University, Inter Department, Company level) and various running events at school level. It has developed the skills such as concentration, instincts, agility & adaptability in me as well as it helped me understand the courage and composure it takes to hold position of responsibilities.
2. Fitness-
Physical & mental fitness is an important aspect of my life. It enables me to be effective while playing sports and also helps in mental strengthening by reducing the stress. The importance of fitness had made me consistent and disciplined in other areas of personal and professional life.
3: Gaming –
I have been playing various video games and have played FIFA the most being a Football enthusiast. I believe playing video games not only adds to the creative edge but also adds dimensions to one’s problem solving skills by enabling them to view a problem with different perspectives.
4: Organizing & Campaigning for Events –
I have participated actively in events in each year of college either actively campaigning for events or an Organizer of the event. I have also been a Campus Ambassador for the events of others colleges as well.
5: Social Service –
I have participated in social services campaigns like creating Road safety awareness, Educating people on the needs of Sanitation until 10th grade.
Areas of Responsibility –
Personal-
Tutored underprivileged children from 6th & 8th standard.
Professional –
I had received OUTSTANDING rating in the yearly evaluation cycle for my consistent performance & commitment towards the work. I was also a Top performer in the compulsory training program by the organization. I have also held the position of Team Lead in the Travel Expense Management which included keeping track of the Service Requests in my domain in order to avoid KPI miss and also to assist my colleagues.
I have also represented my organization in Football & won Inter & Intra company Football tournaments.
Certifications:-
1: P200 SAP FI Certification (ES-FUNC-P200-ESAP-SAP-FI)
2: Global Agile Certification
3: SAP FICO(Financial Accounting & Management Accounting) by Udemy
Thanks,
Best Regards,
Prajjwal
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Hi Prajjwal,
You have an excellent profile and will get a call from IM for sure but not for the other areas since the work-ex is not aligned to them.
The second preference is usually just to make you guys feel good, you can apply to anything of your interest without expecting a call.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much sir for your guidance.
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Hello Sir,
Your article is indeed of great help. I guess something which is missing was a comment of a student which has a profile like me, for all those who are confused whether to fill the application or not.
I myself think that I have no realistic chance of getting a call from this institute. I would request you to please judge my profile which would help others like me.
Class 10th- 8.4/10 CGPA
Class 12th- 74 percent
Graduation- 6.1/10 CGPA (BS-MS in Chemistry from IISER Pune)
In my Master Thesis (final year of BS-MS program) – 8.7/10 CGPA
Some Achievements-
1) I was an AIR 575 in KVPY in class 12th.
2) While studying at IISER, I was poor at academics, but I was more focused on research. I have done projects/internships at institutes like IIT Indore and IISC Bangalore and my college as well with some of the great scientists/Professors.
3) While working at IISc with the current number one scientist of India, Prof. Gautam R. Desiraju for around 1.5 years, I had published a paper in the field of crystal engineering in one of the reputed journal (Angewandte Chemie International Edition- Impact factor ~14) as a first author.
4) At IISER Pune, I was one of the key members of organizing committee of the event Hindi Diwas one of the most visited event after the main cultural fest.
5) I was also engaged in a club called Disha where we used to teach underprivileged students.
6) I have also worked for a startup company as a paid R and D intern for a period of three months. The company was engaged in designing a 3d Printer which could print silicone and I was heading the Chemistry (materials) related department of the company. I also created processes of maintaining records of each and everything which will happen in R and D department, which was not there before I joined.
7) I was also helping the director of the company for making ppts for pitching for investment. And also was dealing with some customers.
8) I have various certificates in extra curricular activities from school such as dance, drama and painting.
I am aiming at getting above 97 percentile in CAT and have prepared accordingly.
I request you to please provide your valuable suggestions on the same.
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Hi Harsh,
As I mentioned in the article the first thing they look for is an excellent academic profile as demonstrated by X, XII and Grad Marks since they are compromising on CAT score.
After acads, comes work-experience and/or relevant educational background for profile alignment.
And last comes all the co-curriculars and ECAs.
And each stage is like a 1 or 0, if your acads do not pass muster or your profile is not aligned it will not matter how good your ECAs are.
So, in short profile-based call is out of question.
But this does not mean that you will not get a score-based call if you score 97 or above.
So go ahead and apply, if you score well you will get a call.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Thank you so much Sir, for your valuable suggestion.
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Hello sir, although I am not that hopeful about getting a profile based call but I want to know if my profile is competitive enough to convert a call if I were to get one
Acads-
Xth-88.83,ICSE
XIIth-91.2,ISC
Grad-82.9 , Btech Tier 3 University
Co curriculars
Presented a review paper on my final year project in a conference organized in my college
Extra curriculars
1)One sememster worth of social service
2)won a couple of creative writing events at college level
Internships
3 virtual unpaid internships in sales/marketing field (very basic stuff and I cannot say that I learned anything)
Certifications-
Java under Wipro Talent Next Program(learnt core Java under 26 hours of virtual training)
Work ex- 4.5 months (as of December 31 2021)
Work profile-Working as engineer in software verification in one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world. My work includes performing some mandatory test items (manual testing) and lead the test cycle for smartphones models(management).
So I was thinking about applying for Information management as my foremost choice folloeed by marketing
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Hi Shubham,
Your work-ex is on the lower side for IM; recruiters usually look at business side roles in IT/Tech and for that, they look at candidates with at least 16 months of work-ex.
You do not lose anything by applying but overall if you want to build a career in Tech/IT, I would advice getting some more work-ex.
But this is only for IM and Ops, if you are looking at Marketing or Finance then work-ex is not a pre-requisite.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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hello sir
hope you are doing well.
Sir please go through my profile and are there any chance of getting call.
Acads-
10th – 95
12th- 79
grad- 72.1 (Engg)
Work ex- JSW (4 months)
Academic achievements-
merit student in 10th (certificate from CBSE)
Published and presented Research paper in International Conference (ICACER).
Presented research paper in International conference.
olympiad gold medalist.
versatility
Social service- secretary of NGO from last 5 years
event management- Organised and managed events such as International conferences, National Symposium, College fest, and also events and activities for NGO.
Sports- State level Softball player and represented Nagpur division at state level for 3 years.
Responsibilities-
Personal- started book bank and library with the help of NGO at my home for underprivileged students who can’t afford to buy books for IITJEE and NEET prep.
professional – held various positions of responsibilities such as
Treasurer – Mechasso (student body)
Treasurer- ISHRAE (College chapter of professional engineers’ society)
Treasurer- Vortechs- national mechanical Symposium.
Secretary- Active buddies foundation(NGO)
Head organizing committee International Conference.
and also lead systems and designing team for the department (2 years) and NGO since 2016
Specialization –
Marketing-
no formal experience in marketing
but as mentioned earlier lead the team in designing and systems also managed Social media handles , youtube etc of NGO, college events, and college department.
Finance-
from engg background
but took finance electives in graduation (scored A)
and also enrolled for certification courses in technical analysis and financial modeling by BSE and NISM.
also enrolled in Certification course option Trading using Python.
I am hopeful to complete courses by mid jan or jan ending and get certifications.
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Hi Prajwal,
As mentioned in the post Academics is the first thing they look for in a score-based call since they are reducing the requirement for a CAT score.
Anyone without a 9/8/8 stands a very low of getting a profile-based call.
You can apply if you are expecting to score above 97 and can then get a score-based call.
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
While you article has been of great help, I still wasn’t able to find a profile that resembled mine in the comments section, so I would be highly obliged if you could comment on the same below as I feel very sceptical applying to SPJIMR as a fresher.
10th – 85.5%
12th – 91.8%
Graduation (up to 4 semesters) – 78.47 (B.Sc. (Honours) Chemistry from Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi)
Academic Achievements :
-Presented a review poster at an International Conference, sponsored by my college
-Worked as a Research Intern for a International Pharma Company, selected based on profile
Internships/Versatility/Responsibilities :
-Volunteer as a Teacher for underprivileged students of 10th grade as a part of The Bridge Program (post covid-19 lockdowns) under the banner of Teach for India.
-Interned as a Business Development Intern for a US based startup. Led a team of 6 for primarily for marketing their product(s), received a full-time offer.
Have a penchant for reading and chess, but nothing much to show for it. While this is completely a guess, but I expect to get something in the range of 98 in CAT. Is it worth applying/what are my chances?
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Hi Harsh,
You have not mentioned which specialization you are looking for!
Finance, Ops, and IM are ruled out.
You can apply for Marketing, even if you do not get a profile-based call, you can get a score-based call if you score above 97.
All the best!
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Apologies! I will obviously be applying for Marketing. As you have rightly mentioned, none of those three apply to my profile, except I forgot to state that I have a minor in Mathematics. So
I would be going for Marketing and Finance as my second option.
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Thank you so much for this comprehensive answer, sir.
Could you please let me know if someone with the following acads should apply for the marketing specialisation?
Xth – 9 CGPA
XIIth – 85.20
Gap year for preparation of medical entrance exams
Grad – 7.5 (English Literature- Amongst the top 4 students)
Work ex- 5 months in a Marketing startup
A good ECA with 15+ University level awards.
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Hi Aakash, Your profile is decently competitive but not a sure shot, worth applying though!
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Hi sir,
Its the last day to fill in the form. Could you please confirm if I should be writing that I was “‘preparing for exams” during the gap year or should I come up with an another story? Would that hinder my chances solely?
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Hello sir!
I have prepared a draft for SPJIMR. Sir please kindly let me know about my chances of being selected.
I have chosen my 1st option as marketting and 2nd as Ops
Academics-
1) Class 10th- 9.8 CGPA (93.01 %)
2) Class 12- 90.2%
3) Graduation- 9.07 CGPA ( upto 4 semesters since I am a fresher) ( pursuing BSc in Physical Sciences from Gargi College, DU)
Academic achievements-
1) School topper in English olympiad- won a gold medal
2) School topper in Maths olympiad- won silver medal
3) Secured highest marks in maths throughout class 12th
Certification-
Did a digital marketting certification from udemy
Versatility-
1) Secured a 2nd position in state level UC MAS Abacus competition
2) Marketting and sales intern at MyCaptain
3) Was a part of Editorial board- Zenith (we got our annual department magazine published)
4) Interned in an NGO- Kind Beings
5) Was a part of the Eco club ( did a couple of things at college level and also attended seminars)
6) certificate course in spanish and I am also fluent in bengali ( I am confused if I should write about this language thing)
Sir I am not sure what are the top 5 things that I should mention among these as I cannot include more or should I group two things and write in one for example NGO and the Eco club.
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Hi Rashi, You have a fairly competitive profile with strong chances of being shortlisted given diversity as well!
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Sir should I mention about this language thing(mentioned in point 6)?
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Hi Sir,
Can you please review my profile and I’m looking forward for your suggestions and changes.
Academics:
X: 9.8 CGPA (93.1%) CBSE
XII: 88.2% CBSE
Graduation (B. Tech ECE) : 87.6% (NIT Raipur)
Academic Achievements:
1. Published Research paper in ICTCS-2019 on Diabetic Retinopathy Detection using Convolutional Neural Network.
2.International Mathematics Olympiad-2011-Secured 1st Rank in State and School, with All India Rank of 124 was awarded with Gold Medal and Merit Certificate(Top 500 Rank Holders)
3. TechNex(Agaaz)Secured 2nd Rank and Cash Prize for Entrepreneurial Innovation model, this was a Team event conducted by IIT BHU
Work Experience:
28 Months of professional IT work experience in Finance and Enterprise Performance for Deloitte USI
Versatility:
1.Was a member of Entrepreneurship Cell of my college and have organized the flagship event, E-Summit.
2. Secured medals in 100m Race, Javelin Throw in school.
3. Participated in Extempore in school.
4. Have compered in various events and fests of my college.
I’m looking to keep my first preference as IM and 2nd as Operations and Supply Chain Management. Will it be okay?
Please guide me.
Thanks and Regards,
Anmol Sarna
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Hi Anmol,
You have a good profile for IM and stand a decent chance of getting a call.
All the best!
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Hi Tony!
I have 2 years of work ex with Zomato, and am the youngest Area Sales Manager in Z. I also have led a team of 10 and launched a new city single-handedly for the company.
10,12,GRAD: 10 cgpa, 94%, 7.5
I was supposed to give my GMAT tomorrow, but I was tested covid positive yesterday. I have a previous score of 620 which is not meeting the criteria. i can give the GMAT next month but that also does not fulfil SPJIMR’ s date criteria.
I have been shortlisted for the profile round. Should I go ahead and book an interview slot and possibly ask for an exception? Have you ever witnessed a case like this?
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Hi Aditi,
Congrats on the profile-based call! COVID-positive one day before GMAT is a bummer.
This is very much an exception. Book a slot and do write to admissions team asking for an extension to submit the GMAT score.
It is upto them after that.
Hope things work out.
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
Below is the profile oI plan on filling in for SPJIMR. Can you please review it and let me know of my chances
Academics-
X – 88%
XII (Commerce) – 80.31%
Graduation – 9.34 cgpa
Work Ex – 12 months – Morgan Stanley – Product Controller – Worked with overseas traders (Risk Management)
Certifications-
Global Financial Markets Professional – Bombay Stock Exchange (Duration – 1yr)
NISM Equity & Derivatives
Business Analytics & Advanced Excel.
Have worked on a detailed Cryptocurrency Research Paper back in Degree College as a solo project.
Is there a chance of getting a Finance specialisation. Do please let me know. Thanks a lot!!
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Hi Shruti,
Your profile is definitely competitive, given the acads, educational background, work-ex, and gender diversity. It just depends on how good the rest of the women applicant profiles are, the fewer the CAs the better!
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi sir,
Here’s my profile:
Academic background
10th (ICSE Sci) – 90.83%
12th (CBSE Sci) – 88%
Graduation BMS (currently in final year) – 81.9% (aggregate of 1st to 4th semester)
Specialisation preference – Marketing
Versatility –
1) I have a Maharasthra govt certified dance diploma (Visharad) in Hindustani Classical Bharatnatyam – Passed with First Class
2) I worked with Greensoles NGO and Fuel-a-dream crowdfunding platform to raise Rs. 20,000 to provide rural children with recycled footwear.
3) Singing is something I have always had a keen interest in, at the school level I have been part of the school choir from 3rd to 12th grade. I have participated in multiple singing competitions too. I also uploaded an Instagram cover on my page during the lockdown.
4) I’ve been into sports from early on, I was my school’s girls’ U-14 Volleyball Team captain (Should I mention this in versatility or is it too old to write about?) I’m also an avid lawn tennis player and practice kickboxing regularly.
5) I secured first and second place in Hindi Elocution in the 11th and 12th grade intra-school competition
Leadership Roles –
1) Joint Secretary of Alumni Association
2) HOD of hospitality in College Fest in 2020
3) Deputy Head Girl in school (8th Grade)
4) Captain of the U-14 Volleyball team
Personal Responsibilities –
During a financial crisis at home, I helped my mother set up a homemade chocolate corporate gifting enterprise. I assisted in packaging and logistical arrangements. This gave me detailed knowledge about the logistical and financial pov of starting a business.
Professional Responsibilities –
Please guide me as to what I can write in this section since I’m a fresher and have no work ex in the field, but I have done a digital marketing internship at Paytm Insider for 3 months, a Social Media Marketing internship with a home bakery and done a certified google course on digital marketing.
I have also led the marketing team of my alumni association’s flagship GEAMUN.
In 12th I also took the initiative to start MUN in my school – Billabong High International by reaching out to our vice principal and organising and kickstarting the entire event.
I was also one of the only 4 students selected from our batch of 100 in 12th grade for an internship facilitated by the school in a small firm for a week (since it’s for mere 5-7days should I mention this somewhere in the form or skip it?)
I have also been a committee member in my college entrepreneurship summit’s marketing team.
Do I stand a chance of getting a profile-based call for marketing specialisation? Since I’m not expecting more than 90%ile in the CAT exam
Looking forward to your guidance. Thanks a lot!
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Hi sir,
Here’s my profile:
Academic background
10th (ICSE Sci) – 90.83%
12th (CBSE Sci) – 88%
Graduation BMS (currently in final year) – 81.9% (aggregate of 1st to 4th semester)
Specialisation preference – Marketing
Versatility –
1) I have a Maharasthra govt certified dance diploma (Visharad) in Hindustani Classical Bharatnatyam – Passed with First Class
2) I worked with Greensoles NGO and Fuel-a-dream crowdfunding platform to raise Rs. 20,000 to provide rural children with recycled footwear.
3) Singing is something I have always had a keen interest in, at the school level I have been part of the school choir from 3rd to 12th grade. I have participated in multiple singing competitions too. I also uploaded an Instagram cover on my page during the lockdown.
4) I’ve been into sports from early on, I was my school’s girls’ U-14 Volleyball Team captain (Should I mention this in versatility or is it too old to write about?) I’m also an avid lawn tennis player and practice kickboxing regularly.
5) I secured first and second place in Hindi Elocution in the 11th and 12th grade intra-school competition
Leadership Roles –
1) Joint Secretary of Alumni Association
2) HOD of hospitality in College Fest in 2020
3) Deputy Head Girl in school (8th Grade)
4) Captain of the U-14 Volleyball team
Personal Responsibilities –
During a financial crisis at home, I helped my mother set up a homemade chocolate corporate gifting enterprise. I assisted in packaging and logistical arrangements. This gave me detailed knowledge about the logistical and financial pov of starting a business.
Professional Responsibilities –
Please guide me as to what I can write in this section since I’m a fresher and have no work ex in the field, but I have done a digital marketing internship at Paytm Insider for 3 months, a Social Media Marketing internship with a home bakery and done a certified google course on digital marketing.
I have also led the marketing team of my alumni association’s flagship GEAMUN.
In 12th I also took the initiative to start MUN in my school – Billabong High International by reaching out to our vice principal and organising and kickstarting the entire event.
I was also one of the only 4 students selected from our batch of 100 in 12th grade for an internship facilitated by the school in a small firm for a week (since it’s for mere 5-7days should I mention this somewhere in the form or skip it?)
I have also been a committee member in my college entrepreneurship summit’s marketing team.
Do I stand a chance of getting a profile-based call for marketing specialisation? Since I’m not expecting more than 90%ile in the CAT exam
Looking forward to your guidance. Thanks a lot!
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Hi Mitanshi,
Given your Acads, ECAs and PoRs, you stand a very good chance of getting a profile-based call for Marketing!
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Greetings Tony Sir!
I would appreciate it if you could give your input on whether I should apply for SPJIMR or not.
I’m going to take CAT 22’ and this is my second shot at CAT. I scored a 98.80%tile in CAT 21’
In your recent video on SPJIMR, I believe I have a spike in my diversity of work-ex and ECs but am below par in my Xth and XIIth
Please find the gist of my profile listed below:
Xth-77%
XIIth- 68.15%
Btech- 8.50/10
2x National Level Cyclists
4x state cycling podium finisher
Triathlete
Taekwondo black belt
Workex: 6 months of work-ex in an advertising firm. I work in the planning and strategy department.
My mock scores have consistently been north of 97%tile and I expect to score around 99.8 in CAT this year if all goes to plan.
My interest of specialisation in SPJIMR is Marketing.
Considering these points, would you want me to fill out the SPJIMR form?
Thank you for your time!
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Hi Shaunak,
Given the acads, it is an uphill task. While a profile-based call is definitely ruled out a score-based call is not, does not hurt to apply unless you are operating on a tight budget.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I had a couple of queries regarding some aspects of the form. I would greatly appreciate if you could shed some light on the same:
– I have held posts such as Vice Chairperson of Statistics Society, Subhead of Public Relations during my college terms. Additionally, I was also the Council Leader for my school. Where would it be most appropriate to mention these in the form?
– With respect to “Academic Achievements”, I am a rank holder in 12th & Final Year. As the third ‘achievement’, what should be given priority – participation in an inter-school science experiment/invention competition (no win) or group leader for research projects in undergrad? Though the papers were part of assignments, our methodology and analysis always incorporated advanced, higher-level tools (beyond syllabus like coding and predictive models) and we consistently topped. (For reference, our research topics were “cross market linkages of silver in India”, “economics of stockbrokers” etc.).
Please do let me know. Thank you in advance for your time.
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(Apologies for missing out on this detail – I hold a degree in BA Economics)
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Hi Priya,
The answers to both your questions are clearly mentioned in the post itself provided you did not skim and read it like an RC.
All the best!
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