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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
GPA: 3.92
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
 09 Oct 2011, 07:41
Quote: Hi Brian,
Thanks for your valuable suggestions
Adding to My profile in Detail
Aiming Gmat Score:720
My Profile
-------------
Age:23
Gender:Male
Undergraduate university: VIT university(Vellore institute of technology->one Among top 10 in India)
GPA:8.11/10
Extracurricular aactivities->
->Organizer of Riviera 2010(an international sports and cultural fest)
I was a part of Organizing committee in which i was heading Guest care committee where i managed almost 6000
participants and Guests providing them accommodation ,Food and other basic facilities it was a very huge task
as i was the only head of Guest care committee and it was a huge success and was appreciated with laurels.
->Part of Electroutsav 2007(a national electronics fest)
->I was handling Special guest care committee where i did a similar kind of work as above mentioned in the
Riviera 2010
-->At school level Participated in sports(Cricket,basketball Etc)
->Work Exp-->2 Years working as Websphere administrator at Infosys Technologies Limited(India) India's Largest
Software solutions organization
->Why MBA->career progression(To become an Efficient leader)
->Target schools-->ISB,Harvard ,stanford ,MIT sloan ,Kellogg,Hass,London business school,Wharton etc.
->Accomplishments->Please find above in extracurricular activities column
->Program target->International business
Hope this Information helps in assessing my profile
Thanks in advance
Regards
Srinath
Srinath,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 720, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and Sloan, between competitive and stretch (closer to stretch) at Haas, and between competitive and stretch (closer to competitive) at London Business School. With respect to ISB, because of the quick ascension of the school within the past 10 years (and associated variation in competitiveness), it is harder to specifically evaluate your profile.
The key challenge right now in your profile is your career goals. With your stated goal of 'career progression' and becoming a more efficient leader, in combination with your relatively young age, in our experience MBA programs will not look upon this favorably. Rather, with this information, they would instead look at your GMAT and GPA, and work experience at a well-known Indian company, and say you have potential but that you need to work for a few more years before you understand truly what you want to do longer-term. To combat this belief, in your essays you will need to be much more specific about your short and long-term career goals, including target industry (and target firms - name them), target functions (eg. marketing, operations), and target geographies. You mention that you are interested in international business, but as you can imagine even that is pretty broad. The schools need to see a lot of introspection and thought put into your application. To be honest, right now I would encourage you to actually not research specific schools as much as I would say learn about industries and jobs that would make sense for you and your background.
Additionally, since you have less than the average length of work experience for MBA programs, you will need to really focus on specifying accomplishments at work that you have achieved during your tenure. Typically, in our experience, it is possible to be accepted into a top MBA program with just 2 years of work experience (at application time, or 3 years at matriculation), but the ones who are generally more able to do this are not in corporate positions (eg. consulting, banking).
Regarding your extracurricular experience, it sounds as if you have developed some great leadership skills and organized some large events. This is tremendous, and you will want to leverage this experience significantly on your resume and in at least one of your essays. It's particuarly important to highlight, because with two years of work experience, you have had less of a chance at work to show your leadership capabilities than someone with 4-6 years of experience.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
GPA: 3.92
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
Followers: 3
Kudos [?]:
11
[0], given: 0
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
09 Oct 2011, 08:18
Quote: Nationality : India
Sex/Age : Male, 32 yrs
Undergrad : 70% from a major state university, Major Civil Engineering
Grad : 3.7/4 , Major – Civil engineering with focus on Transportation Engineering and Planning, Merit based scholarship
GMAT – 690, Q-48, V-35. AWA 5.5
Certification - Certified E.I.T by state board of ohio, Will tale P.E next year.
Work Ex:
1.5 yrs Graduate Engineer Trainee in India (industry – Construction) : Supervised and manage a construction site for a the biggest highway construction project in India – Golden Quadrangle (similar to the interstate system in USA)
3 yrs – Associate Engineer (Transportation Planning) – A not for profit government organization, fully funded by tax dollars.Involved lot of modeling travel behaviour. Involved in developing mathematical models and managing two programs for the agency.
3 yrs Transportation Planning Engineer (Transportation Consulting) – Provide consulting services (travel demand modeling and transportation planning) to government agencies in USA. Manage projects from scope development to delivering the final product. Marketing services to clients. Develop new applciations and sell it to clients. Brought more then 150K in new revenue.
Work experience diversity: Have worked with people from various countries – South Korea, China, South Africa, Taiwan, Lebanon, Jordan, Romania, Bangladesh.
Post MBA goal: Management/Strategy consulting or Investment Banking (fixed assets such as airports and roads).
Extracurricular:
Undergrad: Vice captain college basketball team – won silver in all state tournament, Organizing committee of college annual function – responsible for raising funds.
Grad : On stage performances , Member of various student groups but did not run for any elections because I was working on two internships.
Social: Volunteer at Big Brother Big sisters – last 2 yrs, Member of big brother big sister recruitment advisory committee, Sponsor 50% of the fees two college kids in India. – last 3 yrs
Target Schools (in descending order): MIT, Tuck, LBS, Darden, Booth, Haas (not sure about this). If possible, please feel free to recommend other schools based on my skills set and goals.
Misc: Rated 3.5 by USTA National Tennis Rating Program
Recommendations: From current client PM, current boss, a former co-worker and Booth graduate
Thanks in advance.
Abhishek
Abhishek,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 690, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at Sloan, Tuck, LBS, Booth, and Haas, and between competitive and stretch (closer to stretch) at Darden.
Right now, the key challenge within your profile is that you appear to have both a below average GMAT score (for top MBA programs) and a below average undergraduate GPA. In our experience, a 70% at an Indian institution would not typically place one within the top of their class. However, if this is not the case, and if you received honors and/or have a high graduation percentile (proportion you finished higher than), it is critical to point this out in your resume. In our experience, it is possible for applicants to overcome either a below average GMAT score or a low GPA, but it becomes more challenging to overcome both at the same time. To some extent, the fact that you have a master's degree will help, particuarly if the University you attended has a strong reputation and/or is well-known globally.
In terms of your GMAT split, like many engineers, your quantitative score is higher than your verbal score. As such, you will want to focus your essays more on your leadership skills, including stories of persuasion, presentation, communication, etc. The reason is that admission committees, in our experience, know that you have a solid analytical foundation, but they want to know how you communicate and lead in a professional setting.
With regard to your career goals, you would obviously have a strong link to your past with work within the transportation industry in either management consulting or investment banking. Keep in mind, though, that those firms are known to have a bit of a bias to younger MBA graduates. I have seen numerous older MBA candidates receive job offers with these firms, but you may find yourself pressed with follow-up questions in the MBA interview (or even at business school in interviews for those jobs) about if you're really convinced that you want to work in these fields. To this end, I would encourage you to research the various white papers that these firms write about the transportation sector and talk about this in your essays. Similarly, since you have some work experience in the US, you would bring a very interesting perspective on the relatively poor state of our transportation infrastructure and ideas on how we try to solve that in light of government budget/deficit issues. I'd encourage you to write about this or other similar "I bring a unique perspective" items in your essays. In our experience with candidates, one of the things that older applicants bring to the table is a really deep point of view on topics from their industry.
In terms of your extracurricular activities, it appears that you have done a variety of items involving some leadership. My reaction to what you presented is perhaps just to prioritize what activities were most important/most impressive, such that you can focus on them in your CV.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Director
Joined: 28 Jul 2011
Posts: 597
Location: United States
Concentration: International Business, General Management
GPA: 3.86
WE: Accounting (Commercial Banking)
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
09 Oct 2011, 08:21
Hi Brian, Thanks for Your valuable advice
_________________
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
GPA: 3.92
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
Followers: 3
Kudos [?]:
11
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
09 Oct 2011, 08:43
Quote: Hi,
Short-term/long-term lurker to this forum. Thanks for this thread.
Recently scored 660 on GMAT (q:41, 57% rank; v: 40, 89% rank). Had six weeks of study time; could have used a bit more.
Personal details
Age: 31
Nationality: Australian
Experience: Banking / government investment management (large sized fund over several billions) of 7 years, 4 in Sydney, 3 in New York, at very respected institution. Consistent career progression.
Undergraduate: Bachelor of Economics (quant field, summa cum laude, 3.80 GPA, with a journal publication). Also have a BA (philosophy, politics) with a 2.5 GPA.
Extracurricular activities: part-time musician; organized over 200 shows over a 3 year period. Part of political-party club in undergraduate education.
As usual, looking at top 10 schools with finance/economics focus.
Columbia
NYU
MIT
Harvard
etc
Thanks,
Mark
Mark,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 660, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at Harvard, Sloan, and Columbia, and between stretch and competitive at Stern.
Right now, the major component of your profile that strikes me as the most relevant to expand upon further in your application is the notion of the different GPAs with your two undergraduate degrees. With one degree in a quantitative field at 3.8, and another degree in a qualitative field at 2.5, I (and I suspect, the admission committees) am confused as to what is your 'true' capability. It's possible that you had a double major and had a hectic schedule, or it's also possible that you perhaps started out in the 'wrong' field (for you) and later found out that finance/economics is your strong suit. In any event, you're going to need to elaborate what the story is, hopefully in a way that explains the variance.
Additionally, as you know, one of the challenges in applying from a finance-related field to business schools is that the GMAT 'bar' is quite high. Aringo specializes in helping candidates with lower GMAT scores, and it's certainly possible to gain admission with a score in the 600s. That being said, if you have not taken the test more than once, I'd encourage you to take it again - provided you have time to do this and if you think you can score higher. I suspect that you have the capability to score better given the competitive and quantitative aspect of the work environment you're in.
Finally, since you are looking at schools with strong finance departments, you will need to elaborate further on the specific finance area(s) that you have interest in.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Intern
Status: R2 Submitted
Joined: 15 Jul 2010
Posts: 7
Location: Viet Nam
Concentration: Finance, General Management
WE: Consulting (Accounting)
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
10 Oct 2011, 07:19
Dear Brian,
Could you please evaluate my profile?
Female, 27, Vietnamese
GMAT : 650 (Q50, V27) (79%) Awa 5 (56%)
GPA: 7.72/10
WE: 5 years - 3 years senior audit associate in PwC Vietnam and 2 years internal audit supervisor in a well-known real estate Co. in Vietnam
ACCA qualified, I was sponsored by PwC to study ACCA and finished it in 3 years (2007-2010). ACCA is a UK professional certificate specializing in accounting and auditing.
It is easy to recognize that my strength is Quant ability in my profile. I also attended National competition for Algebra (however no prize). My Quant scores in university are usually over 80%. My English is not bad but it reflects in Gmat score not good (my first GMAT has verbal 29 - 52%). However, my working environment is English speaking. My reports are in English and communication with bosses/clients is mainly in English.
Extra curr: Limited. I used to have post published in magazine (poems) when i was 13 yr old (too long time ago). Recently I've just had some charity activities with a charity club.
My shorterm goal is to be a financial analyst in corporate finance field, my long term goal is to be a CFO, however, I am also interested in General Management because I treasure the skill sets that a GM should have to handle a firm.
I am considering these schools for Fall 2012 in Finance concentration
UCLA
Penn State
I also considered Wharton but now I think that it's stretch. For those school I would like to get GA/scholarship.
Thanks,
Ly
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
10 Oct 2011, 07:53
Thanks Brian!!
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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
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Schools: columbia, chicago, Insead, wharton
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
14 Oct 2011, 12:20
Demographics: Indian, Male, 30 years
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience. : software engineer in 6 years in a top Tech company - Part of the core team members to launch a brand new product - took from a prototype to a 50+ million dollar product; Intituted and ran integration efforts for 3 different countries for the same product. awarded the best employee of the quarter award last year.
2) GMAT: 680, Q45, V 38, AWA 6 - [Irony - took Gmat 3 times already.]
3) College info:
Education: Undergraduate - Engineering BE Information Technology [2002] India - 76%
Graduate: M S - Computer Science - UT Arlington - 3.5
4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience: One of Founding members - Ameture Drama troupe - conduct stage drama every year. Successfully donated proceeds to selected charities every year for 5 years now.
Extra curriculars - Best outgoing student - Undergraduation. Division Representative - Work life balance group in Office - Organization wise Table tennis tournaments for 2 years. Local Yoga club member - Yoga practioner from Age 15.
5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA. : N/A
6) Your target programs : MBA in - Tuck, Hass, Insead, LBS, Kellogg, Booth, [Wharton ?]
7) Your post-MBA goal.
Post MBA goals: Management consulting - short term. Long term - Move back to India to join family business.
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
GPA: 3.92
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
Followers: 3
Kudos [?]:
11
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
14 Oct 2011, 19:38
Quote: Dear Brian,
Could you please evaluate my profile?
Female, 27, Vietnamese
GMAT : 650 (Q50, V27) (79%) Awa 5 (56%)
GPA: 7.72/10
WE: 5 years - 3 years senior audit associate in PwC Vietnam and 2 years internal audit supervisor in a well-known real estate Co. in Vietnam
ACCA qualified, I was sponsored by PwC to study ACCA and finished it in 3 years (2007-2010). ACCA is a UK professional certificate specializing in accounting and auditing.
It is easy to recognize that my strength is Quant ability in my profile. I also attended National competition for Algebra (however no prize). My Quant scores in university are usually over 80%. My English is not bad but it reflects in Gmat score not good (my first GMAT has verbal 29 - 52%). However, my working environment is English speaking. My reports are in English and communication with bosses/clients is mainly in English.
Extra curr: Limited. I used to have post published in magazine (poems) when i was 13 yr old (too long time ago). Recently I've just had some charity activities with a charity club.
My shorterm goal is to be a financial analyst in corporate finance field, my long term goal is to be a CFO, however, I am also interested in General Management because I treasure the skill sets that a GM should have to handle a firm.
I am considering these schools for Fall 2012 in Finance concentration
UCLA
Penn State
I also considered Wharton but now I think that it's stretch. For those school I would like to get GA/scholarship.
Thanks,
Ly
Ly,
Thank you for submitting your profile. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 650, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at Wharton, between competitive and stretch (closer to stretch) at UCLA, and, at a minimum, between competitive to strong at Penn State. Keep in mind that Aringo specializes in advising applicants on the top 30 programs, so it is harder for me to speculate about your chances at a school like Penn State (a good program, no doubt).
Your career goals are logical, and in our experience the admission committees would not have significant concerns about your ability to transition from accounting to corporate finance. That being said, to the extent that you can talk about what kind of industry you are interested in (perhaps based on your prior work history), that would help to strengthen your career goal picture with more specificity.
I am not sure if you attended college in Vietnam, but if so, schools might not be as familiar with the grading system there than, say, in India. So, if you graduated with distinction and/or near the top of your class, make sure to highlight that on your resume.
You are right in that your verbal GMAT split is the concern. To me, the fact that you converse with clients in English (and have done that successfully) is a testament to your English skills. To that point, I would propose that you consider writing some of your essays talking about client engagement and/or presentation skills where you conversed in English. Additionally, if you are interviewed for top programs, they will be keen to see your English skills in that setting. To the extent that you can come across as comfortable and personable in English, it may help you to some extent. Additionally, to the extent that you can show that you would positively contribute to the business school community and that you would proactively engage with other students, it will be beneficial. In our experience, schools are sometimes cautious about students whose verbal skills are in question, as they are not sure that they would fully integrate with the student body.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
GPA: 3.92
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
Followers: 3
Kudos [?]:
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
15 Oct 2011, 08:57
Quote: Demographics: Indian, Male, 30 years
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience. : software engineer in 6 years in a top Tech company - Part of the core team members to launch a brand new product - took from a prototype to a 50+ million dollar product; Intituted and ran integration efforts for 3 different countries for the same product. awarded the best employee of the quarter award last year.
2) GMAT: 680, Q45, V 38, AWA 6 - [Irony - took Gmat 3 times already.]
3) College info:
Education: Undergraduate - Engineering BE Information Technology [2002] India - 76%
Graduate: M S - Computer Science - UT Arlington - 3.5
4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience: One of Founding members - Ameture Drama troupe - conduct stage drama every year. Successfully donated proceeds to selected charities every year for 5 years now.
Extra curriculars - Best outgoing student - Undergraduation. Division Representative - Work life balance group in Office - Organization wise Table tennis tournaments for 2 years. Local Yoga club member - Yoga practioner from Age 15.
5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA. : N/A
6) Your target programs : MBA in - Tuck, Hass, Insead, LBS, Kellogg, Booth, [Wharton ?]
7) Your post-MBA goal.
Post MBA goals: Management consulting - short term. Long term - Move back to India to join family business.
Kulki,
Thank you for submitting your profile. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 680, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at Tuck, Haas, INSEAD, LBS, Kellogg, Booth, and Wharton, between competitive and stretch (closer to stretch) at Darden, between competitive and stretch at Tepper, and competitive at Texas McCombs.
Right now, the key strength that I see in your profile is your experience at one of the top tech firms. It will be important to highlight your professional progression and leadership.
There are several reasons why this is salient. First, since you have been working for six years as an engineer, you will be expected to have progressed from purely technical contributions and you should now be starting to lead projects, be asked to contribute on special initiatives, etc. Second, based on information that you provided, it does not appear that your GMAT, GPA, and universities attended would necessarily be considered top-tier for the top global MBA programs. For example, while the University of Texas at Arlington is a good school, it would not typically hold the reputation of the University of Texas at Austin (a top 50 school).
Regarding your interest in consulting, I am assuming you would have interest in doing consulting for tech firms, based on your background. Also, make sure in your essays to elaborate on the nature of your family's business. The larger and more linked with your background, the more it would help with your application.
Since you are in the competitive Indian / male / technical applicant pool, your strong involvement in extracurricular activities will also be a benefit.
Additionally, I really like that you were awarded the "Best outgoing student" from your university. The reason, besides the fact that business schools seek out outgoing/Type-A personalities, is that it's actually somewhat rare for an engineer to be the type who wins this award. I would encourage you to actually try to weave this into one of your essays and talk about how you were nominated and/or what was the motivation behind you winning this award. If you used this to help you get your job at the tech firm, for example, this is an even better story. Part of my motivation for saying this is admission committee members, in the back of their minds, are thinking, "Is this person going to be successful in the recruiting process? Can they present themselves well and stand out?"
Best of luck,
_________________
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Intern
Joined: 23 Jun 2010
Posts: 21
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V37
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
19 Oct 2011, 10:34
Profile Evaluation: 710 and 4 years 3 months work ex
Hi,
PFB details of my profile:
ACADEMIC:
• Inidan Male Engineer with a score of 710(49 Quant,37 Verbal)in GMAT and 67% in Engineering.
PROFESSIONAL:
• After working for 2 years in Quality assurance and testing in top Indian IT MNCs, I joined my family business in Business Development role to launch a product relevant to my work ex. The product was launched successfully and we managed to get a few clients
• When I got an opportunity through reference to join top US IT MNC(my current company), where my role is more of client facing and less of technical thing I joined it as I had always wished to take my business to global level
• I now have both the technical and business work experience in the same sector of IT - quality assurance and audit management- and current work experience with regular global client interaction has given me international exposure and an opportunity to learn from MNC's methodology in business.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR:
• Won Zonal level Dance competition, been a part of official dance group of companies I have worked in, and still pursuing dance and learning Salsa.
• Active participation in CSR activities
• Coordinator and Anchor of Annual Awards Function of top IT MNC
• Semi Finalist for International Level Poetry Competition
• Table tennis and badminton Champion in College
• Won many prizes in elocution, debates, and drama competitions in school and College
Please suggest what schools I have got chances? Have I got chance in top schools?
Thanks.
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
GPA: 3.92
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
Followers: 3
Kudos [?]:
11
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
23 Oct 2011, 12:57
Quote: Profile Evaluation: 710 and 4 years 3 months work ex
Hi,
PFB details of my profile:
ACADEMIC:
• Inidan Male Engineer with a score of 710(49 Quant,37 Verbal)in GMAT and 67% in Engineering.
PROFESSIONAL:
• After working for 2 years in Quality assurance and testing in top Indian IT MNCs, I joined my family business in Business Development role to launch a product relevant to my work ex. The product was launched successfully and we managed to get a few clients
• When I got an opportunity through reference to join top US IT MNC(my current company), where my role is more of client facing and less of technical thing I joined it as I had always wished to take my business to global level
• I now have both the technical and business work experience in the same sector of IT - quality assurance and audit management- and current work experience with regular global client interaction has given me international exposure and an opportunity to learn from MNC's methodology in business.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR:
• Won Zonal level Dance competition, been a part of official dance group of companies I have worked in, and still pursuing dance and learning Salsa.
• Active participation in CSR activities
• Coordinator and Anchor of Annual Awards Function of top IT MNC
• Semi Finalist for International Level Poetry Competition
• Table tennis and badminton Champion in College
• Won many prizes in elocution, debates, and drama competitions in school and College
Please suggest what schools I have got chances? Have I got chance in top schools?
Thanks.
Profile Evaluation: 710 and 4 years 3 months work ex
CaptainM,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 710, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at global top 15-20 MBA programs, while you would be between competitive and stretch (closer to competitive) at top 20-30 MBA programs like Kenan Flagler, McCombs, and Marshall.
In terms of strengths, having both experience on the technical and business side (at a large, multinational organization) is a positive, especially for someone with an engineering background. However, the experience itself is not necessarily what will win you points with admission committees. Rather, the amount of progression you made (ie. how many promotions) and your quantifiable accomplishments are more important than having a bit of diversity by function. Additionally, you mention that you were successful in winning several clients with your family business -what becomes more important is how large of a client? Was it pro bono work or was it a $300K contract?
Regarding your academic background, it is quite common for engineers to perform better on the quantitative part of the GMAT relative to verbal. As such, since you do have some client-facing experience, talk about accomplishments where you have led presentations, showed clients key learnings, communicated to your top management team, etc. Additionally, mention your graduation percentile rank on your resume if it is strong, since you want to try to differentiate yourself as much as possible.
Regarding how you present yourself, be very careful not to use any acronyms in your MBA applications (or on your resume). As an engineer myself, I am used to doing this, but your use, for instance of MNC for a multinational should just be stated with the full word.
It is difficult for me to recommend specific schools for you to consider, since you did not elaborate on your interest in an MBA, what you want to do after you graduate, and what aspects are important to you in a school. Since the Indian, male, engineer, IT applicant pool is extremely competitive, you will need to craft a coherent story as to why you need an MBA now and what you'll do with it.
Regarding your extracurricular activities, I like the fact that you have not just participated in events but have also excelled in them. One aspect that you can talk about in your essays is the fact that you'd have interest in student initiatives surrounding debates and the annual "follies" show common in most top MBA programs. At Kellogg, for instance, Special K! is our follies event, and we just started "The Kellogg Debates" where students and professors engage in economic discussions about global business issues.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
30 Oct 2011, 02:00
Dear Brian,
My GMAT is actually not bad, but my undergrad GPA is below 80... does it ruin my chances of gaining admission into a Top-20 program?
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 117
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
GMAT 1: 700 Q V
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
30 Oct 2011, 08:32
Quote: Dear Brian,
My GMAT is actually not bad, but my undergrad GPA is below 80... does it ruin my chances of gaining admission into a Top-20 program?
brainiac,
Thank you for your question.
Every year in the past few years we saw candidates gaining admission with BA average in the 75-79 range (and at times also in the 70-74 range) to Top 10 programs (and certainly to Top 20 and 30 programs). The following video on the Aringo website discusses ways in which candidates can address a low GMAT score and/or a low undergraduate GPA: Aringo Video
Best of luck,
_________________
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
04 Nov 2011, 03:05
Thank you for the answer Brian!
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
04 Nov 2011, 05:25
HI Brian,
Please evaluate my profile
Age:
28 years
Academic profile:
Chartered Accountant (2004)(Equivalent to CPA in US)(Has secured merit rank, remained in 99 percentile), CFA Charter holder (2008), Bachelor of Commerce (2003)
GMAT 640(Q50,V27) AWA 5.5
Work profile:
I have 7 years of experience in Investment Banking and Fund raising. I am working as a manager in Fund Management Group in Arcil, largest distressed asset player in India. I have remained in top performers in my Company. I have raised more than $150 million in funds at Arcil. Prior to Arcil, I was working in Investment Banking in JPMorgan tracking Financial Institutions across Asia Pacific. Prior to JPMorgan, I was working with SR Batliboi & Co. (Associate firm of Ernst & Young in India) in Assurance.
I was planning to apply at NYU, Booth, Wharton and Ross in second round, INSEAD in March 2012
Do you think I must retake GMAT. Do my credentials at CA compensate for low GMAT score
Thanks and regards,
Rajiv Chandak, CFA
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Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
06 Nov 2011, 20:14
Quote: HI Brian,
Please evaluate my profile
Age:
28 years
Academic profile:
Chartered Accountant (2004)(Equivalent to CPA in US)(Has secured merit rank, remained in 99 percentile), CFA Charter holder (2008), Bachelor of Commerce (2003)
GMAT 640(Q50,V27) AWA 5.5
Work profile:
I have 7 years of experience in Investment Banking and Fund raising. I am working as a manager in Fund Management Group in Arcil, largest distressed asset player in India. I have remained in top performers in my Company. I have raised more than $150 million in funds at Arcil. Prior to Arcil, I was working in Investment Banking in JPMorgan tracking Financial Institutions across Asia Pacific. Prior to JPMorgan, I was working with SR Batliboi & Co. (Associate firm of Ernst & Young in India) in Assurance.
I was planning to apply at NYU, Booth, Wharton and Ross in second round, INSEAD in March 2012
Do you think I must retake GMAT. Do my credentials at CA compensate for low GMAT score
Thanks and regards,
Rajiv Chandak, CFA
Rajiv,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 640, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at the schools you list as your targets.
However, in short, you leave out a fair amount of information in your profile that may potentially improve your chances. You have seemed to focus entirely (at least in your profile) on your professional accomplishments and financial certifications. These are, undoubtedly, important. But you did not talk about your undergraduate institution and its relative reputation, undergraduate GPA (I think the 99th percentile refers to the exam score for certification), extracurricular activities, and future career goals/motivations. So, to answer your question, a strong CA performance can help, yes. In our experience, with a low GMAT you definitely want to point to other objective measures of your capabilities. But, I almost get the impression that you're a bit too focused on describing your professional accomplishments - remember that an MBA application is about telling a compelling, complete story.
If, for example, you can point to a rigorous undergraduate program, a strong academic performance, at least decent extracurriculars and non-professional leadership examples, and a reasonable future career goal set (which I assume includes some kind of finance because of your target school set), then you can potentially at that point also reference your financial certifications/performance and describe that the GMAT is an exception to an otherwise strong profile.
If, on the other hand, you have multiple opportunities in your profile elsewhere, then it becomes more challenging to overcome collectively, and you may consider retaking the GMAT.
With a quant split of 50 on the GMAT, in addition to your background and performance at well-known financial institutions, there is not going to be any concern about your analytical skills. Can you lead a group? Are you a good teammate? Can you persuade with a qualitative argument on a strategic issue where there is no data? These will be the potential concerns of the admission committee that you will want to consider when crafting your essays. These also would be issues where you would want to select recommenders who can speak to these abilities and can describe you as a strong applicant.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
07 Nov 2011, 21:59
Hi Brian,
Here is a little about me:
31 male/us
7 years work experience
GPA: 3.65 Business from Brigham Young University - Idaho
GMAT (current 600 aiming for 720)
Professional Designations: CFP
College Extracirriculars:
2 years as international service volunteer (Manager of 8 & 12 man teams in Brazil)
Won Startup Business Competition as CEO of 25 employees
Team lead for HR consulting project for global food manufacturer
Volunteer for Local Church leadership Council
Professional Background:
1 Year Social Media Consulting - Boutique firm - associate level - worked with a few global clients
3 Years Investment Sales - Wells Fargo Private Client Services - Territory Manager (oversaw team of 8 sales personnel), trained over 30 managers and sales professionals
3 Years Investment Sales (Current job) - Startup I founded (still small and wondering the impact of non exponential growth will have for adcoms),
Additional Info:
Volunteer as Senior Vice President for local church (300+ members)
Boy Scouts of America local chapter leader
Singer-Songwriter
Completely Rebuilt an Infiniti sedan (no prior mechanical experience)
Goal:
Gain acceptance to the best MBA program to help me gain the skills required, create the network needed, and acquire funding for my dream to launch a software company.
Schools I'm looking at:
Stanford
UC Berkeley
Harvard
Wharton
MIT
UCLA
Any suggestions?
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Admissions Consultant
Status: Senior Consultant, Aringo
Joined: 19 Jul 2011
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Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 0
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
13 Nov 2011, 16:54
Quote: Hi Brian,
Here is a little about me:
31 male/us
7 years work experience
GPA: 3.65 Business from Brigham Young University - Idaho
GMAT (current 600 aiming for 720)
Professional Designations: CFP
College Extracirriculars:
2 years as international service volunteer (Manager of 8 & 12 man teams in Brazil)
Won Startup Business Competition as CEO of 25 employees
Team lead for HR consulting project for global food manufacturer
Volunteer for Local Church leadership Council
Professional Background:
1 Year Social Media Consulting - Boutique firm - associate level - worked with a few global clients
3 Years Investment Sales - Wells Fargo Private Client Services - Territory Manager (oversaw team of 8 sales personnel), trained over 30 managers and sales professionals
3 Years Investment Sales (Current job) - Startup I founded (still small and wondering the impact of non exponential growth will have for adcoms),
Additional Info:
Volunteer as Senior Vice President for local church (300+ members)
Boy Scouts of America local chapter leader
Singer-Songwriter
Completely Rebuilt an Infiniti sedan (no prior mechanical experience)
Goal:
Gain acceptance to the best MBA program to help me gain the skills required, create the network needed, and acquire funding for my dream to launch a software company.
Schools I'm looking at:
Stanford
UC Berkeley
Harvard
Wharton
MIT
UCLA
Any suggestions?
Leadout1,
Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information above, and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 720, our experience shows that you will be a stretch candidate at Harvard, between competitive and stretch (closer to stretch) at Stanford, between competitive and stretch at Wharton, between competitive and stretch (closer to competitive) at Sloan, competitive at Haas, and strong at UCLA Anderson. However, since you have not yet achieved your target GMAT score, a lower score would have a negative impact on your chances.
For the purposes of my evaluation, I will also assume that, because you attended a BYU campus, you are Mormon. More about this later.
Regarding your profile, there are a few areas where you will need to provide adequate context. First, although you have a good undergraduate GPA, it may make sense to explain why you did not attend BYU-Provo, especially if you have a mitigating circumstance like you were from Idaho or if you received a scholarship from BYU-Idaho and took that over acceptance from Provo. At top MBA programs, in our experience, the bulk of the Mormon students have come from BYU-Provo, so this is part of the rationale for providing this content.
Regarding your work experience, it appears that you worked in social media consulting almost before the industry took off. With seven years of work experience and the first year being in social media, this would place you in the field in the ~2005 timeframe. So, this is not necessarily a negative, but you wouldn't get the bonus points for having worked in a new/innovative field like social media since, at that time, it was in its infancy stages.
In terms of your work in financial planning, it's clear that you moved up the chain quickly and had significant responsibility when you left to start up your own firm. What is going to be critical in your application is explaining the nature of your current business. You say that it's "small" and without exponential growth. "Small" can mean any number of things - 1 client, 10 clients, 100 clients, etc. and you'll need to talk about the amount of money you have under management. Additionally, since your career goals involve entrepreneurship, it will be important to talk about how you came up with the idea to start the firm, which would have been around the time of the financial crisis. What was your marketing strategy? Who are your target customers? What value proposition did you take to the market?
Your stated career goal is to start up a software company. Yet, it doesn't appear your major was in any kind of relevant engineering (eg. computer or electrical engineering), and I'm not sure the extent to which the creation of software was an important part of your existing business. To combat this, you'll need to convince them of the research you've done into the field, and you should be prepared to discuss what specific kind of software firm you're looking to start. A tie-in with financial planning is optimal.
On the positive side, you appear to be very involved in the community and you have strong initiative to start new things. I would encourage you to reach out to the Mormon communities at major business schools, as they typically are more than willing to talk to prospective students.
Best of luck,
_________________
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
20 Nov 2011, 03:22
Hey Brian,
Will the fact that I am a US resident (but not citizen) contribute to my admission chances to the leading programs?
Would this help in securing a job in the American market? Would this help on the scholarship front?
Thanks in advance.
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720 [#permalink]
27 Nov 2011, 00:24
great, thanks a lot!
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Re: Ask Aringo - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720
[#permalink]
27 Nov 2011, 00:24
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