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Hi Joan,
You have a good profile, and the fact that you are a woman from the Philippines gives you an edge in terms of diversity. The GMAT is not great, so if you are looking for a scholarship, you will have to set your sites lower than if you simply wanted to gain admission. I suggest you go to the BusWeek rankings https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ra ... a_profiles and choose schools below the top 20 and look to see what their median GMAT range is. Some schools to try for you might be Mays (Texas), Smith (Maryland) and Cox (Southern Methodist U).

I think you are an ideal candidate for an MBA - regarding a regular master's, that's not my specialty, so I can't really say - I think you should consider what your actual career goals are, then do some research to see what is the best path to getting there.

Good luck!

Joy
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Hi Niyati,

I would definitely take a year or two to improve your GMAT and gain some work experience. Particularly for European schools, you are on the young side (usually candidates have around 5 years professional experience). For INSEAD you have the international exposure, and you have an interesting goal that aligns with your experience. What you need now is to gain work experience - preferably something entrepreneurial, either your own venture or someone else's, or something very connected to your future goals, that will provide a good basis for your organization in the future. And, work hard on your GMAT - reach for 700.

All the best,

Joy

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Good for you!! I do remember you, yes I think you have a shot at top 10 - I'd go with Columbia, early decision and Chicago to start with. Well aligned with finance goals and relatively large intakes. Darden also a good option. And if you are willing to go with a great non top 10, then choose a good backup, like NYU Stern. Every client I've ever had who went there was VERY happy.

Good luck,

Joy

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Hi Aniket,
From what you've written, there's nothing that really stands out about your profile, so you will need to work really hard with your essays and recommendations to do so. Perhaps you have developed leadership skills along the way, or good business skills - you'll need to find and accentuate them. Your GMAT score on top of your profile means you will probably not have much of a chance at Tepper or Ross, which are top 8 and 11 schools that like high GMATs and high achievers. Some of the other schools you mention are within your GMAT range, so I would go with those, and then work on the rest of your application as I suggested above.

You are probably young enough to wait another year, and work hard to improve your profile - get involved in some volunteer work, improve your GMAT, etc.

Good luck!!

Joy

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Hi Siddhartha,

There's a lot of missing information above, but based on what you've given I'll answer. Assuming you are a male, you probably know that you are in an over-represented category (Indian male engineers looking to move to the business side). Without knowing the school you went to or your grades, or if you have any sort of leadership, or what kind of community service you have done, I would say go for top 30 schools, maybe shoot for a top 20 or two as a stretch. You can easily find a list at Business Week - they provide names and rankings of all the international MBA schools, along with the specializations of each, so you can narrow your search to the ones that focus on your industry.

Good luck!!

Joy
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Hi

I have applied for the ISB YLP. It requires me to upload my GMAT score report and marks. I gave the GMAT twice but the second time my score dropped.
My question is which score report schould I upload, the first one in which I got higher marks or the second one?

Please help. Deadline is near.

Thanks

Hey Joy,

Profile:
White, Male
GPA: 3.1 overall (essentially didn't go to class first two years, 3.75 GPA in upper class coursework, Major GPAs of 3.9 and 3.6)
Finance and Econ double major from non-Ivy top 20 US program.
GMAT: 720 (didn't really get a chance to study the first time so I'm retaking it in 1.5 weeks but work has been so crazy I haven't been able to study for it again) Hopefully, I can get it up to a 740/750-ish.

Decent extra-curriculars in college, plus Econ Tutor, and Finance TA.

Spent 2 years in Private Wealth Mgt for High Net Worth Individuals (at a boutique firm that the Ad Com's won't have heard about). Small firm (got raises every 6 months but no promotion due to size of firm (would have to jump from Analyst to VP).

Quit my job to try and pursue military (I wanted to deploy). Long story short some trivial medical issues kept delaying application/process. While working out a ton I coached high school basketball (Varsity Asst and JV Coach), coached summer league, and coached the youth feeder program. Basically, when everything was resolved I got an eye infection that lasted three months. At this point, I'd been out of the corporate world for a year; military was pulling out of Middle East (and major concerns about budget cuts). I had committed to coaching another season, when the season was over I found a job in RE valuation. Boutique firm that the Ad Coms have never heard of. After 18 month trainee program became associate. Job definitely has been great experience, worked on some really cool projects, recently named employee of the quarter. Also, awarded CFA charter recently. LOR should be strong. Will have 5.5 years work experience; currently 28.

Targets: U Washington (Foster), McCombs (Texas), UCLA, Duke (Fuqua), maybe Tuck (early action), Kellogg, Booth, Wharton, Notre Dame.

Post-MBA: Management consulting (finance/strategy), finance/strategy rotation program, or I-banking (real estate group)

Advice, I'm getting is all over the place. Some people say apply anywhere, others say definitely don't waste time/money/breath applying to H/S or Top 7.

Profile Evaluation needed.
Following are my details. I am still researching about the MBA colleges.
After MBA, I am interested in working as MC.
Long term goal, Expand family business.


My GMAT score is 710.
Experience 50 months.
Age - 26
I am an engineering graduate in IT from top Indian university National Institute of technology Karnataka.
CGPA - 7.63/10

Hello,

Please evaluate my profile:

Pool: Indian Male/28yrs/Single/IT

Academics: Electrical engineer from IIT
GPA: 6.57/10 (not good as per IIT standards)
Extra Curricular:

College:
1.Few positions of responsibilities(head/sub-head) in cultural/technical fests and alumni meet at college.
2.Won few awards in intra college level socio-cultural competitions.
3.Won gold in intra IIT table tennis competetion(freshers), represented my hostel in different sports activities.

High School: won few olympiads at state level and national level. Represented school at national level painting competetion

Work Experience: 6years (2 years in BFSI, 2.5 years in Automated trading firm, 1.5 years in big data analytics firm)

Work Profile:
- No international experience but coordinated among teams spread across different demographies
- Worked mostly in high-tech domains

Area of interest : Finance, strategy, consulting, high-tech

Gmat: 710 (Q 51 V 34 ) IR :8

Volunteer Work: Few at organizational level for underprivileged kids (for 2 years). But currently not involved in any NGO/CSR activites.
Founded a start-up for artists( as I am passionate about the use of technology in arts)


This was my 3rd attempt at GMAT. Although I could have done better, esp. in verbal , I am in no mood of a retake now. I am pretty much exhausted by my work load and family life.

Target B-schools : Chicago booth/Kellogg MMM/UCLA/Duke/Cornell/Darden/Ross/Tuck


Thanks in advance for your help.

Profile Evaluation needed.
Following are my details. I am still researching about the MBA colleges.
After MBA, I am interested in working as MC.
Long term goal, Expand family business.


My GMAT score is 710 / 50q/ 36v.
Experience 50 months.
Age - 26
I am an engineering graduate in IT from top Indian university National Institute of technology Karnataka.
CGPA - 7.63/10

Sir or Madam

My name is ANUJ SINGH . I gave my GMAT on 23 July 2014 and ended up scoring a disappointing 590 (Q40,V30) second attempt . I had spent around 45-60 days to prepare for the GMAT and the preparation was mainly concentrated on quant and improving speed. The verbal part on the GMAT was a quite a trouble during the preparation days , specially trying to keep up pace.

What I intend to do now is to use this GMAT score coupled with the application and try to get an admit. I am planning to retake my GMAT again in November and if the score improves , then use the new scores for further applications.

My profile :

GMAT 590 (Q40,V30)

Class X : 81% ,
Class XII : 77.4%

Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science : Overall 63.3% , with a final year %age of 70 [ Rajasthan Technical University ]

I have been searching around the net for the last 10-12 days in search of universities that take similar scores but it hasn't led me anywhere. Currently the university which I have in mind is Stuart School of Business at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago

Aim : MS in IT and MS in Finance

I have queries on following points , it would be kind of you if you could answer them :

1. My first question is how much is the possibility of getting admission in MS in Finance with that GMAT score ? I ask this because I prefer MS In Finance over MS In Information Technology .

2. My second question is how much is the possibility of getting scholarship with that GMAT score if i apply for a MS program ? I ask this because it would be of great financial assistance to me. But at the same time, it is crucial for me to get admission for Spring 2015 semester .

My undergraduate course was not related to Finance and nor do I have prior work experience to apply to Masters In Finance . What should I do to increase my chances of getting admitted into my desired course in your reputed university?

I suppose, I do not have sufficient time to start to work on & finish projects or papers related to Masters In Finance

Do I stand a chance ? Also it would be great if you could suggest schools that have a good placement record and accept this score. I would like to secure an admit and then plan ahead .

Thank you very much for your assistance and I look forward to hear from you.

Sincerely,

ANUJ SINGH

Objective: Master of Science degree in Finance.
Education:
• GMAT 720 (Quantitative-49/79%, Verbal-40/91%, AWA: 5.5 & IR-3]
• B.E.in Electronics & Communication Cumulative GPA -7.27
o Course Highlights: Engineering Math I, II, III, IV, Calculus, Probability, Statistics,
o Management & Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property Rights}

Skills: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project Manager 10, Matlab
Work Experience:
Finance Management Associate at Sankalp Associates (July2012-July-2014)
• Ganesh Warehouse Project [Project worth 1.15Cr or $153,000]:
 Bidding and acquisition of storage facility through Central Bank of India.
 Identified and Co-ordinated with the banks and was approved a bank loan of 1Cr for the bidding.
 Established a 5yr rent agreement @ 2.5 lacs/month with the Food Corporation of India for the same.
• Ramgharhi Canal lining: Construction of Cemented Canal Lining
[Project worth -6.5 Crore Rupees 0r $ 1,040,000 ] PWD M.P. State Govt.
 Assisted in planning of project Budget and Risk evaluation and Calculation using Microsoft Project Manager.
 Established and Maintained Supplier Accounts, processed invoices and maintained purchase orders.
 Maintained and tracked Project expenses, tracked progressed and weekly reported on Schedule and Cost variance and Efficiency (SPI, CPI) using Microsoft Project Manager, reducing Project Overflow Cost by 15%.

Lead Event Manager for Insignia’ 12, National level Event at SDMCET
[Project worth-4,000,000 rupees or $80000]
• Organized the complete event, leading a team of 5, with major contribution in procuring Sponsorship, financial accounting and book keeping.
• Established and maintained and accounts for the entire designing of web based registration system and on site registrations.
• Conducted post event audit of each dept.
• Budget Estimation of the entire event, including advertisements and event promotion expenses and registration costs 6 months in advance.
• Discerning the potential sponsors, establishing and maintaining contacts and follow ups.
• Defining the work distribution and Co-ordination with the department HOD’s and student council members.


I want to aim for the best possible schools, Can anyone give me an idea if applying to top schools will yield anything?
looking at schools like UCLA anderson, CMU, YALE, Kellog School of business.
Any suggestions are welcome. thank you.

Hi!Without seeing the exact language on the site, I would say to just give the one where you got the higher marks.

However, if they are asking for you to upload all scores, then you might consider putting both. This is because, it might be that when the testing company sends them your scores, they automatically send BOTH scores, and in that case, you would not want to look like you were hiding something. This I'm not sure about, you should check with the testing company.

In any event, they are SUPPOSED to relate only to your highest score.

All the best,

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
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Hi Vidit,

Your profile looks excellent - great business, leadership, extracurricular activities. GMAT is above average as well. You've done a lot at a young age. Do some work on your resume - clean it up, try to emphasize the leadership experience, don't bury it at the bottom. Offer brief description of the places of employment; and try to impress us with the family business size or positioning. Regarding your goals, you'll need to make the connection between short and long term.

Good luck, and let me know if you need anything else!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com
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Hi, probably H/S is out of reach, but if you have the money to spare, you might just apply to H. It's just one essay and a few recommendations, and you'll never have to wonder 'what if' - especially if you can get your GMAT up to what you think you can. I'll tell you - if you get over 740, you might apply to S as well, why not. That aside, you should then spread yourself out - apply to a few other top 10s - Chicago and Columbia, perhaps, since finance and consulting is in your path. Also check out Duke and Kellogg. Then you want to apply to a few lower-run schools, as mentioned above. Your greatest challenge will be creating your 'story' of the gap time when you were coaching; although I'll bet you can get some amazing stories about leadership, teamwork, management, etc. - things you will be able to take forward with you into any career. Another thing is I would try and connect your goals to your current job. Because you moved from wealth management to coaching to real estate valuation, it would be good if you want to continue on to something that relates to what you do now, rather than moving again to something new.

Good luck!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com
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Hi, your profile is good, though nothing 'jumps out' at me this moment. Of course, it might be that getting deeper inside what you've done, you have some great stories and accomplishments that will help you stand out. You need to look for them and highlight them on your resume, essays, and ask your recommenders to do the same. You come from an over-represented pool, as I'm sure you know, so you must do something to make them notice you.

The start-up sounds very interesting, shows initiative and leadership, so highlight that. Highlight any leadership in your job, and of course in the extracurricular activity.

Regarding goals, choose the one that makes the most sense in terms of your history, so you can show the connection.

In terms of school choice, the ones you are looking at are a stretch for you. You should definitely apply to some, but if you are determined to go to an MBA next year, I would also choose a few one-rung down, as safety schools. For the ones you wrote above, I would go for bigger intakes, so you have more chance, and/or ones that have a less international intake, in which case you will be more desirable.

Good luck!!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
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Dear Anuj,
I know how disappointing it is to score lower than you were hoping/expecting!
Regarding your questions, I'm afraid I won't be much help to you. My expertise is in the area of MBA applications, and about Master's in other areas, I know little. Perhaps there are other forums that can assist you - I wish you good luck!

Regards,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com
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Free, detailed MBA chances calculator
Admission tips and scholarship info per school
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