The “Improve your profile” myth

As a mentor I end up wanting to tear my hair out when I hear aspirants say, “ I will improve my profile with internships and certifications” over a year or so before I start CAT prep. Nothing gets my goat more. Reality is almost every single thing which counts as profile for a Top B School selection is already fixed by the time you prepare and all these snazzy certifications, and NGO work ex ( rolling my eyes here), don’t make any difference in GETTING INTO an IIM. The only things that count as Profile for IIMs are 1. 10th and 12th marks 2. Grad marks 3. Gender 4. Being a non engineer 5. Work ex 6. CA/ CS Provided all 3 levels are finished.

As one can see almost all these except work can’t be changed. No Prof gives a flying duck for those internships or certifications at the ENTRY level. These are very minor CV points AFTER you join a B School.

Coming to work ex. Work ex becomes a significant factor in getting admissions only once you cross 18/24 months. But except for consulting and a few other industries many Indian recruiters prefer those in the 0-18 months work ex range. In fact if you cross 36 months most recruiters won’t touch you with a barge pole! Also should one really delay one’s career goals by 24 months? Most grad level jobs will pay 3-7 lakhs. By working 24 months in these jobs you are effectively delaying compounding effects of a post MBA salary by 2 years!! A post MBA salary from even b schools ranked 20-30 will usually be in the 12-15 LPA range even after discounting all the fakery in placement reports!!

So practically the only major factor in your control for SELECTION is CAT score. Showing a fake work ex certificate from your aunt’s NGO won’t cut much ice with most Profs!

Rant done!

PS: The best thing any student who is any of these horrid college societies in first and second year of college can do is QUIT THEM! No Prof really cares about naach gana. They are more bothered about your college marks! And frankly while the activities are fun to do mostly they are a waste of time and students end up compromising their acads in pursuit of them which is a cardinal sin! Do them only if you can ensure your acads are not compromised whilst doing them