Interview With Shailee

Hi, I am Shailee and I am a Senior Brand and Business Development Manager for Couturiers, New Delhi. I am a graduate from the Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi, which has consistently been ranked as the number one school for economics and commerce in India. Prior to working for Couturiers, I worked with EXL services as an Associate for 2.4 years and a further 2 years as an Assistant Manager. Currently, I am in the process of moving to Madrid as I have been accepted to the International MBA program at IE Business school.

Being a graduate of SRCC and having attended the best school in India I wanted the best for my education and an MBA seemed the next logical step. However, after having worked for more than four years in the UK, I realized that I wanted a more international degree and did not want to continue my studies in India. I aimed for the top-ranked business schools in Europe and IE fit my criteria perfectly.

The most difficult part of the entire application process turned out to be the GMAT for me. I started taking 200 hours of classes with Rajiv Sharma. However, my score in the GMAT only came up to 580. This was a huge disappointment for me and I believed that I was misled by his claims of helping students get 740 after only 50 hours of class.

Fortunately, I met another MBA applicant who lived in Brussels and met Hubert Silly at a forum. She advised me to work with him. I was very happy because upon discussing my problems with GMAT and my aspirations, Hubert advised me to attempt an alternate test, the ieGAT. After two months of hard work and excellent guidance, I cleared the test and the interview and was accepted at IE. Had I been introduced to the MBA Center before my stint with Mr. Sharma, I believe I would already be in the midst of my MBA degree at the moment. However, I am happy that Hubert and MBA Center have been instrumental in helping me get a second chance at my dream.

As I am moving to Spain to attend IE in September, I cannot say for sure what life at IE is like. But a university with students from across the globe, numerous college events scattered throughout the calendar year, college life promises to be a fun mix of studies and adventure. The truly international experience at Madrid was one of my primary reasons for choosing to go to IE. These universities are major innovative and multinational hubs and I hope to be a part of the experience too.

As someone who took almost a year to get into a good college when it should have taken only three months, the first piece of advice I would give an applicant is to give yourself a time limit in which you get into a program. If you are taking too long to get into a school then I believe that the school is wrong for you. Choose a program that fits your needs ans your skills. People talk of Harvard and Wharton and all the well-known schools, but many do not have the necessary skills to be admitted there. Be realistic. There are over 5000 business schools in the world and so if you get into any of the top 20 business schools listed in The Financial Times, you are already in an elite school.

Another advice I would happily give is to work with professionals. I recommend the services of the MBA Center as they proved invaluable to my success. In fact, I have already asked the MBA Center to help my brother as he prepares for his MBA next year as I know there is no better support out there.