Dr. Karan Madhok has been academically trained as a dentist. He obtained his undergraduate degree (BDS) from one of the highly-ranked & internationally-renowned institutions in India, MCODS (Manipal). He worked extremely hard to get an offer letter from Ivey Business School (Canada) and received a scholarship of $40,000 even though he applied in Round 4! Faith Career's dedicated study abroad coach, Tanmay Singh, had a great time working with Karan because he was sincere and honest in his preparation. Read on to learn more about Karan's journey.
#1) Karan, could you please briefly describe your profile?
I am a dental surgeon by qualification and a healthcare management consultant by profession. I have garnered about 4 years of experience working with some of the reputed consulting and CI firms, including a Fortune 500 company.
#2) Why did you decide to pursue an MBA?
I believe that I’ve reached a stage, where an MBA is the required accelerant for the growth of my career, which would help me achieve both my long term and short term goals. Furthermore, not having a business background, I had lately started realizing the gap in my business acumen, which I felt would often hold me back from contributing to the success of a project, to the extent I'd want. I also felt that my learning had hit a ceiling and in order to break through and also to enable myself to land more senior leadership roles, an MBA was essential.
#3) What were your top 3 reasons for selecting Tanmay Singh to be your mentor for your Ivey MBA application?
I have had the privilege of knowing Tanmay sir for over 2 years now. I got to know him through his business partner and my dental school alum, Anshul sir. Over the years we interacted several times, and I got a chance to know him more and more with each instance. But the three main reasons why I chose to work with him are:
Knowledge & Expertise: Having been in this industry for 9 years, Tanmay sir has accumulated vast amounts of knowledge and expertise around different countries, schools and programs, which allows him to tailor his approach based on each individual student and each individual school. Apart from that, his methodology, whether we talk about LinkedIn networking, or of approaching coffee chats, is tremendously effective and helpful.
Empathy: Being a professional mentor is one thing, but Tanmay sir shows exceptional amount of empathy towards his students. This trait in my opinion makes him stand apart from the rest. He creates an inclusive and comfortable environment which allows people to open up more freely about the situations and problems. And believe me, this is one journey which becomes a whole lot easier if you have an empathetic mentor and coach, who not only guides you professionally but is also there to support you, motivate you and uplift you in times of need. And that is Tanmay sir.
Passion & Dedication: Tanmay sir has an enormous amount of passion and dedication towards his craft and this passion is clearly highlighted by the effort he puts into each student and their profiles. He loves what he does and that automatically creates a professional relationship which fosters collaboration and trust. His dedication towards his work is evident in his tireless approach of making sure that he keeps pushing the students to not only give their best but to also go one step beyond and always excel at what they do. He is always just one call away, day or night, and his solution oriented approach always ends up being beneficial for the student no matter what the situation.
#4) What 3 tips would you like to share with an aspirant working on their study abroad application?
A) Always do you research! Before you begin the application process, you need to analyze your short term and long term goals and figure out which country, which school and which program is the best fit for you.
B) Everything that is shared by Tanmay sir, whether it's the Personal Branding Questions or the Inventory of Examples, fill them up religiously. They are going to take you a long way.
C) Network! Network! Network! Always make sure whatever school you are targeting, you reach out to and speak with alumni, and present students. Arrange as many coffee chats as you can because they give you an unparalleled insight into the school and the program and gets you acquainted with the ground reality. Tanmay sir’s LinkedIn Networking workshop would come handy. Use his templates. They made my life a whole lot easier.
#5) How did you prepare for the interview after submitting the Ivey MBA application? What all steps did you take to prepare for the interview?
For me, the interview preparation started even before I submitted the application. I diligently worked on the personal branding questions (PBQ) and the inventory of examples (IOE) that Tanmay sir provided, as soon as I signed up to work with him. I believe working on these sheets really made me think and introspect. Writing down the answers to all the questions and then highlighting the key phrases immensely helped me in framing my answers and effectively summarizing everything that I wanted to say within a timeframe of 2-3 mins.
After I submitted my Ivey MBA application, Tanmay sir shared a separate interview prep document with me. It had commonly asked interview questions in terms of prioritization and I wrote down the answers to all of them in neatly arranged bullet points, and per sir's suggestion, highlighted key phrases & words.
I went through these questions over and over again, practiced in front of a mirror, and even timed myself so that I would make sure I didn't answer too much or even too little.
Lastly, mock interviews conducted by Tanmay sir were of tremendous help along with his valuable feedback, working on which really helped me further refine my interview skills.
#6) What questions did Vicky Smith ask you during the Ivey MBA interview?
My interview with Vicky Smith went on for 50 minutes.
She asked me the following questions:
Talk to me about your journey. How did you end up being where you are today?
Can you talk about a time when you led a team? What were your learnings?
Why MBA now and why did you choose Ivey?
Talk about a time you were working as a team and a team member was slacking at work. How did you manage it/confront them?
What is that one thing about you that people often misunderstand?
Talk about a time you were working on a project and you had limited data. How did you handle that?
Talk to me about a time you resolved a conflict.
What are your sources for reading and keeping yourself up to date with the business world?
What motivates you or keeps you going?
Do you have any questions for me?
#7) How do you think you performed in the interview with Vicky?
I believe I performed quite well. Having diligently prepared for the interview and having prepared the answers to all the questions that had been shared by Tanmay sir, I felt quite confident heading into the interview. I felt that not only did I have a solid grasp over all the basic questions such as “Why MBA?”, “Why Ivey?”, “Why should we choose you?” etc, I was also prepared for any sort of bouncers that Vicky could have possibly thrown at me.
#8) How was Tanmay’s mentorship important while working on the Ivey MBA application?
I don’t think this question can be answered within the confines of this document. I don’t think any of this could have been possible without Tanmay sir’s guidance and mentorship. Right from our Discovery Call, he has been a constant source of motivation for me, providing me with not only the technical know-how of applying to foreign universities but also helping me become a better person at each step.
He has been like an elder brother, patiently answering all my queries, even the stupidest ones. From always being available to answer my questions to lifting my spirits every time I felt down in the dumps to meticulously correcting my tiny grammatical errors, he has been a mentor, and a constant support system. I don’t think any of this could have been possible without him. His empathetic nature never lets you feel like you are talking to a career coach, but rather a friend, a friend who would stand tall by you at all times and help you achieve great success!
#9) Congratulations for receiving a scholarship of $40,000! How did that happen? What did you do to bag that scholarship?
Receiving this scholarship has been truly surreal, that too of such a huge amount. I believe carefully writing one’s scholarship essay takes one a long way. One needs to make sure that they are able to accurately convey everything that they are trying to within the given word limit. Apart from that a candidate really needs to figure out how to best convince the admissions committee that not only is the said school the perfect fit for them, but more importantly they are the perfect fit for the school.
Always look at how you can align your goals and ambitions with the culture at the said school, how you as a candidate align perfectly with their values. Convincing the admissions committee of this perfect match, really helps a candidate’s chances of securing a substantial amount of scholarship.
#10) What are your final ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ for a study abroad aspirant?
Do:
1. Diligently and wholeheartedly work on all the documents that are shared by Tanmay sir. Pour your heart out while working on them.
2. Conduct thorough research around the schools you wish to target keeping in mind both your short term and long term goals.
3. Network! Reach out to alumni and current students, get a good ground reality around the school, the program and the career services. If you get a chance to meet the admissions committee members in person, make sure you do that.
Don’t:
1. Do not underestimate the power of coffee chats. They are of tremendous value in understanding the school and the program.
2. Do not just rely on the placement reports in choosing your schools. Make sure your values align with that of the school and that the school can help you achieve what you want from your career.
3. Lastly, I'd say, if you are choosing to make such a huge commitment of your time, money and energy, make sure you give your 200% at every step, because believe me that hard work gets rewarded.
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