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 
Hi sir,
Here’s my application form details:
Specialization
1st Programme Applying For: PGDM
2nd Programme Applying For: PGDM (BM)
Preference 1: PGDM
Preference 2: PGDM (BM)
Specialization 1 for PGDM: Finance
Reasons I have (Specialization 1) *
Relevant work experience, Special interest in this area
Specialization 2 for PGDM: Information Management
Reasons I have (Specialization 1) *
Graduation in related area, Relevant work experience
Academic Details
10th: 89.17%
12th: 86.31%
Graduation (B.Tech in IT from SPIT): 8.76/10 (76.84%)
Work Experience
Industry: IT Consulting Products or Services or Software
Function: Strategic Planning
Designation: Entrepreneur in Residence
Describe Your Role Briefly: As an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), I reported directly to the CEO, leading strategic initiatives. I contributed to raising $12.4Mn in investments and $1.5Mn in venture debt. In my role as Infrastructure and Data Engineering Team Lead, I optimized processes, notably reducing server costs from 26% to 23%.
Total Work Experience (In Months): 25
Academic Achievements (Can you please help me select 3 out of these 5 academic achievements that according to you are most impactful)
1. Top 100 (India)
– Institute Granting the Award: IEEEXtreme
– Year: 2019
– Award/Position: None specified
– Level: International
– Description: Secured 1st place in Mumbai, 17th place nationally, and the 226th position globally among 4,103 teams in IEEEXtreme 2019, a global 24-hour hackathon-style coding competition.
2. Impactful Solution
– Institute Granting the Award: IIT Dharwad
– Year: 2020
– Award/Position: 3rd
– Level: National
– Description: Achieved 3rd place in Devhack 2.0’s Impactful Solution award, recognizing software’s significant societal impact amid competition from 350+ Indian teams.
3. Higher Primary Scholarship
– Institute Granting the Award: MAHARASHTRA STATE COUNCIL OF EXAMINATION
– Year: 2009
– Award/Position: None specified
– Level: State
– Description: Received the Higher Primary Scholarship Exam (MSS) award by the Maharashtra State Council of Examination, achieving the 99.99 percentile in the state and ranking 17th out of 738 in Mumbai.
4. MH-CET rank
– Award/Position: None specified
– Level: State
– Description: 3438 (out of 2.5 lakh candidates)
5. JEE Mains rank
– Award/Position: None specified
– Level: National
– Description: 53222 (out of 12 lakh candidates)
Versatility
1. Team Lead (College official app)
– Interest: High
– Proficiency: Expert
– Award: None
– Level: College
– Description: Led the official app project, managing requirements, product design, and team, resulting in 1,000+ Play Store downloads and a 4.6 rating.
2. Chairman- Fun Committee (Previous Workplace)
– Interest: High
– Proficiency: Expert
– Award: None
– Level: None specified
– Description: As Chairman of the Fun Committee at Previous Workplace, organized activities to promote work-life balance and improve employee eNPS, fostering a positive workplace environment.
3. Beach Cleaning
– Interest: High
– Proficiency: Expert
– Award: None
– Level: None specified
– Description: Dedicated over 30 hours to cleaning Dana Pani and Versova beaches, under the mentorship of Afroz Shah, UN Champion of Earth, promoting environmental preservation.
4. Licensee and Curator (TEDxSPIT)
– Interest: High
– Proficiency: Intermediate
– Award: None
– Level: College
– Description: Organized TEDxSPIT events in 2019 and 2020, curated content, managed logistics, and led a team. The events were held at SPJIMR auditorium with 300+ attendees, creating memorable experiences.
5. Marketing Head
– Interest: High
– Proficiency: Intermediate
– Award: None
– Level: College
– Description: Served as the Marketing Head for Student Council, Oculus 2019, and TechRace 2018, demonstrating leadership and marketing skills. Secured 2.5 lakhs in sponsorship for the events.
Overall Versatility Rating : Very Good
Responsibilities Shouldered
Personal:
Level: Medium
In a personal context, I assumed a significant responsibility when my dad was recently hospitalized due to a serious car accident. During this challenging period, I took care of my mom, dad, and managed the entire household, ensuring their well-being and daily needs were met.
Professional:
Level: High
Beyond my roles at WorkIndia, I managed the procurement and setup of 600 laptops, formed an admin team, oversaw hiring for Data Analysts and Engineers during team expansion, initiated an internal fun committee to boost work-life balance and productivity, and singlehandedly orchestrated placement drives at various campuses.
I’ve also won two awards at my previous workplace: the Tech Ninja award for my contributions to the tech team and an award for exceptional contributions in tech and product engineering in two consecutive years. But I am not sure if I should specify them or where I should specify them.
Sir, please help me with:
1. Select 3 out of 5 specified academic achievements
2. If the answer is yes, where should I include the workplace awards mentioned at the end?
3. Overall profile review and suggestions
Awaiting your response. Thanks in advance.
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Hi Tony Sir,
This is there is no option to select profile based or score based in the form. Will there be a new form coming in for score based?
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Hi Rajesh,
You make a common application.
If your profile rating meets the cut-offs, you will get a call before the CAT results, else, you will get a score-based call after the CAT results.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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That was a beautiful explaination. I have saved this blog for my future references.
Just a query – how does SPJIMR look at gap years. I have 1.5 years of gap after grad. I have a decent profile (89/90/70) and expecting above 97 in CAT. Will the gap trouble me getting a call or during interview process ?
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Hi Junaid,
Glad you found the blog useful.
They have a question about the gap year in the form if I am not wrong. S long as explanation is fine, and your academic profile and other aspects are competitive, it should affect your chances of getting a call.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello sir
Profile:
8/9/8, General Engineer Male (Tier 3 college, affiliated to State University)
Extra curriculars: Won a couple of literary events at college level
POR: Volunteered to help organise an international event in college
Co curriculars: presented a review paper on final year project in an international conference hosted by my college in my final year (The project wasn’t anything new nor did we add anything of our own)
Work experience:
I have 23 months work ex (upto July end) in QA project management (Software)in a consumer electronics manufacturing company.But my work does not involve coding/technical work so to say. Basically Testing Lead
I have done 2 minor internships in marketing during my college days but I can’t say that I learnt anything worthwhile nor was the work that good.
Should I apply for Ops or marketing as my second preference, keeping IM as my first?
Is there any chance for getting a call?
I don’t expect to score more than 97 percentile (maybe even less)
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Hi H,
I would say Ops or Marketing depends on your interest. Ops as I wrote requires hard-core Ops experience and Marketing focusses on ECRs and PoRs.
You academics are decent but the 8 in Xth is maybe a bit worrisome as far as a profile-based call goes.
I think a 9/9/8 would have been definitely competitive.
If you hope to score above 95 then do apply.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
Kindly share your views on my chances of getting a profile based call (finance).
Profile: 89/93/82 GEM B.Tech IIT Delhi
Academic achievements: CFA L1 and L2 (top decile), 49xx rank in JEE Advanced, CBSE merit award for 100% score in 12th grade math.
Extracurriculars: Coordinator of Corporate and Alumni Relations division at Entrepreneurship Cell, 3 months of volunteering experience at Teach for India.
Workex: 9 months at a digital assets investment firm as an investment research analyst. (2 internships at startups, one as a data analyst intern and the other as a product research & strategic initiatives intern).
Keenly looking forward to hearing back from you.
Best Regards,
A
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Hello sir,
I graduated from Electrical and Electronic Engineering stream in Btech. I have a 2+ years of work ex currently but not anything related to Ops and supply chain as such.
Can I apply under “Graduation in related area” category or under “Specialised interest in this area”?
My work is kinda like a scrum master. The thing is I am having a hard time connecting my work ex to Operations & SCM.
I can’t apply marketing as I already have a high work ex and not any inclination towards it whatsoever
My profile is 88.83 in Xth (ICSE Board), 91.2 (ISC Board), 82.9 (State University and a no name college in uttar Pradesh)
Please advise sir
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Hi Jignesh,
Unfortunately, this just means that there is no point applying to SPJIMR in that case since the whole process revolves around profile-alignment.
All candidates who get through have hard-core Ops.
You are better off applying to another school.
All the best!
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Hey Tony,
Thanks for detailed article it’s very helpful.
X – 82%
XII – 86%
Graduation (BBA in Foreign Trade from a state level gov university) – 84%
Don’t have any work experience, but I do have a year gap from 2023 – 2024.
Participated in inter-school cricket.
Participated in inter school debate competition
Did internship in digital marketing for 2 months
Participated IMUN and represented as delegate from Figi
Is there any opportunity to get call for Finance or Marketing from SPJain?
Looking forward to hear from you.
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Hi Priyanka,
You can apply to Marketing but would not say that it is a sureshot; Finance is more or less ruled out since the education profile is not strongly aligned to the same.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hey Tony,
A bit confused about two things.
1. I have Project Management WorkEx in the biggest O&G company in the world. It involved procurement, and supply chain among other things. Hence my first preference is Operations. However, should I fill in IM as my second preference given that I have project management experience (although background in IT)
2. I have a couple of academic achievements but I do not have certified proof of them. What shall be done in that situation?
Thanks
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correction – *no background in IT*
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Hi Naman,
1. I think you can apply for IM, since IM grads also get Ops roles in ITES and Tech.
2. They will ask and check for proof at the second stage. So you have to include only stuff for which you have proof, else you have write to the concerned people to get proof or letters of validation (say, third rank in school)
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
Thanks for the detailed blog, very helpful.
Profile- 98/95/76.5 Bachelor of Arts ( History + Political science), Fresher
Extracurricular – Participated in Debate Competitions at College and volunteered at an NGO local level but do not have a written record for the same
Achievements- 1st rank in District in Class X, 3rd Rank in District Class 12
PORs- School Captain and house captain
Specialization- Which one to choose from Finance (have an interest in this but do not have the required skill set and background) Or Marketing
Sir, will I get a call from SPJIMR if I select marketing as 1st preference and finance as the second preference for specialization, as I do not have the relevant work experience and background as well as do not have any significant extracurricular achievements and PORs?
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Hi Ankit,
Finance is completely ruled out since your education background is not aligned to the same.
Apply to Marketing, your marks and academic diversity will make your resume competitive.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Thank you Sir
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hello Sir,
For 12th and 10th scores,should I consider all the subjects while calculating the percentage or can we go for best 5 of the subjects for the subjects?
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Hello Sir,
For my 10th and 12th scores, can i consider best of 5 subjects for percentage calculation, or should i be considering all subjects?
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Hello. My profile is 96.8/89.2 and I am in 2nd year graduation BBA. I think I will score easily above 85% in Graduation. The thing is I want to get into Finance. I’m willing to and can do CFA L-1. I have heard that L-1 is not sufficient for Finance shortlist and one needs atleast CFA L-2. Do you agree with this? I am specifically asking for SPJIMR
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Hi Abdul,
SPJIMR Finance is pretty competitive and this most people are doing a CFA.
I would say CFA L1 will make your resume very competitive since you already have a BBA degree which is relevant.
Engineers applying to Finance will definitely need an L2.
More importantly ensure that you score well in your graduation!
All the best!
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Sir. I would also hope so. But, as per NEP, I have Marketing as my major in BBA and Economics as Minor so I am not exactly studying finance in anyway 😅. Although I have heard economics can also be considered somewhat equivalent to finance as far as the relevancy to finance specialisation is considered. What are your thoughts on that?
You mentioned about keeping my graduation score good. In your opinion, what should be the minimum Graduation score I should have?
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Hi Abdul,
Economics will be seen as being aligned to Finance.
As far as graduation marks go, above 80 or 8 CGPA is what you should aim for. If your boards award marks on a lower scale they will be normalised. You need to be within 3-4 percentage points of the topper.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Just to be clear on one thing…. Are we talking about a profile based call or profile &score based call?
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Hello sir
Are Profile based calls’ interviews conducted in January? What If we are unable to attend? Are we considered alongside score based interviews or we are let go for that year?
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Hi Umesh,
Interviews start once the results are out in January.
You are given slots to choose from and if you cannot attend you can ask for a reschedule in later slots.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello sir, just wanted a perspective from you to better decide what to proceed with. I am a GEM Candidate 8/9/8 profile and currently 33 months of work ex . In CAT 2024 form , I will have 35 months of work ex in a very reputed smartphone manufacturer.
I gave SPJIMR GIs and don’t have hopes of converting and MDI Gurgaon interview went average. If I don’t convert any of these colleges, does it make sense for me to give another attempt at CAT ? I scored 97 percentile this year with sectionals of 98/88/89. Given the unpredictable nature of CAT, my score may go down in the CAT 24.
I wanted to know does having a 3~4 years of work ex makes me ineligible profile wise for SPJIMR batch?
And If I convert MDI Gurgaon this year, should I take it or try again next year for an older IIM? I am only after placements
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Hi Harish,
I think you should take up SPJIMR or MDI if you convert.
You will get great options at both.
Given that CAT is fickle, unless you are dead certain that you can get a higher percentile, join one of the two now.
Your work-ex will be marginally on the higher side by the time you join next year.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello sir,
Please review my profile.
Academics – 94%, 68%, 88%. Graduation B.A. Philosophy, did a masters too in M.A. philosophy (result expected 7 CGPA)
Certifications- Digital marketing from Internshala, Digital marketing from Google, SEO training from N.B digital(startup) , NGO internship.
Academic achievements- College topper (1st)(grad), Two consecutive year School topper (1 st) ABHO Hindi olympiad.
Work ex- Aug 24- currently, (2 months) Marketing and brand coordinator at Sun Industrial services, and freelancing at startup as a SEO intern
Personality- achievements at numerous School level dance competitions, achievements at school multiple speech competitions, achievements School level boxing and football matches, NGO internship, College event organization (commitee member).
Responsibilty shouldered- Professional- School house captain of the winner house, B.O.S Allumini member of grad college contributed in designing new syllabus according to NEP. Personal- Tutored and mentored younger brother.
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Hi Sanskriti,
Your profile seems good and will be very competitive for Marketing. The only drawback might be the XII marks which are a tad low for a profile-based call but you should still apply.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hi sir,
Please review my profile & kindly suggest what to highlight in my application form –
Academics – 91.5%, 93.5% (PCB), 73.48%. Graduation B.A. in Human Resource Management.
Certifications– 2-month course from Sri Venkateshwara college, DU – HR Analytics. Coursera certifications – 1. Learning & Development by HRCI. 2. Simplilearn – MS Power BI with Beginners 3. Preparing to manage HR by University of Minnesota Also, Completed 6-month HR internship at NGO, 3 months as HR Intern each at EY & Droom.
Work ex– Currently working as HR Operations specialist at Hilti India Pvt. Ltd. since July 2024
College level – 1 yr Member of Aaghaaz – women development cell, 1 yr at NSS, was also a part of organising committee at Inspirix HRD Cell
Other interests– 16K+ followers on LinkedIn, Top 1% mentor at Topmate, connected with 100+ students/Professionals, conducted 1 day beginner excel workshop at VLink Pvt, ltd. , contributed in interview panel for preparing IEEE Students for placement, Hosted session on PCOD Awareness month
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Hi Aayushi,
You have a pretty competitive profile, and you should get a profile-based call for Marketing.
So, go ahead and apply. As far as which ones to highlight and which ones to not, you are working in HR, so you should know which ones are high impact!
All the best!
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Hello sir,
I am really skeptical about SPJIMR form filling, hoping for an honest profile review as soon as possible because today is the last day of form filling.
ACADEMIC SCORES
Percentage wise : 78, 91, 84
ACADEMIC ACHEIVEMENTS
Versatality
I am hoping a quick and brutally honest review as soon as possible, please consider it as i might have only an hour to submit this form.
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Hi Vansh,
I was on leave and could not reply on time. Hope you applied since there is always the score-based call.
Your profile is decent but may be not competitive enough for a profile-based call because of the Xth marks. Since profile-based calls have a cut-off of 85 percentile, they demand stellar academics.
Hope the CAT went well,
All the best!
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Hello sir,
Kindly provide your feedback if I fit into the SPJIMR profile based selection bracket for specialisation in FINANCE
2. 12th: ISC: 94.60% (2nd ranked co-ed boarding school in the country)
3. College: 9.22 CGPA (76.44%) Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai University
4. CFA all levels cleared (Ist attempt)
5. FRM all levels cleared (Ist attempt)
6. Work-ex of 17 months at Kotak Sec Ltd as a Manager in FX division.
7. NISM certifications in Commodity and common derivatives; Investment Foundation Program certificate.
8. International scholarship of 1145 USD by CAIA association, USA.
9. State ranking open tennis championship (3rd round).
10. College level quizzer with winning prize at Umang College fest; Most Promising Quizzer of the Year at school among 900 students.
11. Departmental Executive of Sports at Rotaract Club of NM College, House Prefect at Alma Mater
12. Personal achievement: Lost 30 kgs weight by cross country running and healthy habits.
13. Participation in MUN, English and Hindi Elocutions, Round Square Conferences, etc
P.S: Thank you for all the advice you sent us through your IMS channel. I have finally seen the face behind those motivational voice notes and blogs. Truly grateful for mentors like you. Long live IMS, and I sincerely pray you be in the pink of health and happiness. 😀
Also, solely reposting this as my earlier comment seems to have been deleted. Extremely sorry for this in advance, sir. I have gone through all the comments and I felt I the need of getting my profile verified through you (psychological win) 😅
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Hi Nikunj,
You have a spectacular profile. Absolute A-lister for Finance. You will definitely get a call!
Glad you know that the blog has been useful! Thanks a lot for your prayers. Much appreciated.
Maybe we can catch up in the National Achievers’ Workshop incase you are in the cities I will be coming down to.
All the best!
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Hello again and warm greetings sir,
Nikunj this side,
It would be my privilege to interact with you. I’m based in Mumbai and am more than available to meet. Where do I find more details about the National Achievers’ workshop?
Generally, GEM is used in B-schools for a different purpose, but its literal meaning stands for you.
Thank you for being so kind and for finding the time to reply. Do check your LinkedIn for a poke (not the literal old-school FB poke, but a genuine connection request from a follower).
P.s. Just need a small assistance from your side sir:
I just appeared for my CAT (1st attempt) and I fear my scores are going to hover around the 93-95 percentile bracket (as per the raw marks), but meeting all sectional cutoffs. 🤞
How would you rate my overall profile (not just suitability for Finance but overall)? Asking this question as I really tried hard to crack IIM ABC, but somehow didn’t have the best academic season. Would you advise me to give a shot at lIM ABC next year?
On the hindsight, I’m just about hopeful of getting a call from lIM K&l (maybe an outside chance or you may straightaway give me the reality that my hopes are too generous). I want to understand my profile better so that I’m able to make the best use of my past and present.
Of course I now have the FOMO that even after having a decent profile, It wasn’t put to the full use and hence missed out.
Your feedback on profile improvement tips and a short comment on the possible path would be much appreciated. Doing so because I want to have the pedigree of the sharpest brains in the country, holistically.
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Hi Nikunj,
You have an exceptional profile overall and I do not see any more work to be done on that front.
My only suggestion would be that do not limit yourself to the A-B-C or nothing mindset. It is very limiting and is valid only in particular cases: if you seek jobs that you get only at A,B,C (and not off campus) and your profile is the perfect for that job. Else any of the old IIMs are a great bet to build a great career and interact with the best that the country has to offer.
So in the event that things do not work out this year for the best. Take another shot for sure. Do not bother about profile, work only on the CAT score.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
P.S: NAW is a WAT-GD-PI workshop that is help in Jan-Feb once the results are out. You will get to know about the same from the IMS website in a month or so.
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Noted!
I will work on my CAT scores given the tide doesn’t go in my favour this time.
Lastly, what are the chances of getting a profile-based call for ISB Hyderabad’s newly launched PGP YL program for candidates with less than 24 months of work? They are accepting CAT scores this time. Constraint: CAT 2024 expected percentile between 92-95.
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Hi Nikunj,
I think for your profile the IIMs will be a better bet.
This will be ISB YLPs first year. ISB primarily offers great roles for those with more than 5 year as of experience in areas such as Ops and Consulting. Am not sure recruiters for other profiles will start flocking to the campus in the new program’s first year.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Greetings for the day sir,
I think you made a valid point. In that case, if I don’t happen to convert a top tier IIM or a B-school on similar lines, then I will give it another shot next year.
Thank you for your feedback and time. 😇
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