Ask ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting

Hi, from what we can see of your profile, your chances aren't too high in acceptance at top 20 schools. You don't give us your class rank, but 2.9 would probably put you in the lower end (if I'm wrong, that would make a difference). Work experience is not too extensive; you don't mention any achievements, and being laid off counts against you - also, are you not currently employed? That's also a strike against. Much better to apply when you have a full time job. The lack of extracurriculars is also an issue. GMAT is decent, but not eye-catching, and probably won't be enough to counterract the other points. If you get into a part time program, you should probably go for it. If not, and you choose to reapply next year, first doing something to improve your profile (good job, community service, etc.) then you might choose to apply to a mixture of part time and full time.

Hope that helps, good luck with whatever way you choose to go,

Joy
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Hi Joy, I appreciate your candor and any feedback you think would be constructive - here's the core details of my profile:

-Went to a Top 5 public university - Majored in Business Administration with a Major GPA off 3.6
-Minored in Mandarin Chinese, which was tough, which pulled my overall GPA down to 3.3.
(Note, transferred to above university after leaving a small D3 school where I played lacrosse. GPA prior was 3.6.)
-Did a summer abroad at Beijing's Guanghua School of Management
-Did I-Banking as an analyst in NYC at one off the usual suspects
-Recruited from the bank to a small tech company and grew the business from pre-revenue to $10mm+ (SAAS business)
-680 GMAT (took it twice)
-Leadership in the community as a Big Brother as a part of BBBS
-Will have a total of 5.5YR WE, looking to apply this Fall ('14)
-White male

Objective would be a top 10 program. I've been told that I wouldn't need to take the GMAT again by one of your respected peers, which I was thankfully surprised however a few friends and forum members make the point that to be a strong candidate to a top 10 I will have to, is that so? As you see it, would you say I'd be admitted to one top 10 program?

thanks,

Hi, it sounds like your professional experience and achievements are impressive. Do you have leadership/management experience? That is an important profile feature, that enhances your candidacy. If not, the fact that you have leadership in your extracurricular activities will also count. You need to highlight any initiatives you have taken, in work or elsewhere, that have provided added value and show your entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial abilities. Grades are good, learning Chinese is good. You haven't stated what your goals are; this is an important part of the application; needs to be something that jibes with your previous experience, but can also be an area in which you can stand out. From what I see so far, you have a chance with a 680 but remember you will be going up against people with VERY strong profiles AND high GMATs. So to be considered strong, you need to really polish your CV, provide outstanding recommendations and show them why you are bound for an extremely successful career in your chosen field.

Good luck!



Joy
Senior Application Consultant
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Hi Joy, regarding your questions, here's some additional feedback.

Leadership / Management: Professionally I believe have a lot of leadership experience as I essentially built the company from the ground up, including hiring various team leads which now report to me. We're a very small company but I have about 9 direct reports.

Outside of the office I did start a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that has done significant work overseas and is growing each year. Does that change any of your general feedback? How about my need to retake the gmat? Would those 100+ hours spent studying be better spent on the essays and extracurricular activities or studying to go from, say, a 680 to 710? Lastly, instead of retaking the GMAT does taking Math for Management through Berkeley's distance education program 'check the box' for quantitative competence? My quant was lower on the GMAT but I was hoping finance background and that course could suffice. However, I realize for any top 10 program all boxes need to be checked without any doubts.

It sounds to me like you really do have everything squared away, except for the GMAT. I don't know anything about the Math for Management, so it's hard to say - but I do know that if you are going to apply with a 680, then something like that can definitely help offset the score. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone asked me if they should put their extra time into writing essays or raising their GMAT scores... There's no one answer, it's different for every person. Do you really need over 100 hours to write your essays? Doubtful... Here's an idea for you - how about you apply to 2 or 3 of your choice schools in Round 1, along with 1 safety school, and meanwhile start studying for the GMAT again. Then you keep studying, and do another 2 or 3 applications - for another choice school and 1 or 2 fallbacks, while you retake the exam. If you score better, you can immediately inform the schools you already applied to that you have improved. They should take it into account. Then you apply to the second round schools with the higher score.

Does that sound feasible, and perhaps takes some of the stress out of it?

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
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Thank you for taking the time to review my profile; I really appreciate it. Let me know what you think!

My profile:

• Work Experience: 5.5 years at a Fortune 50 at Matriculation (Corporate finance in the Manufacturing industry)
• Age: 28 at Matriculation
• GMAT: 710 (Q49 Q38) AWA 6.0, IR 7 (Will be retaking in a couple of months-hopefully will get a 740-750)
• School: West Coast state school with regional recognition
• Major: Accounting BS, Cum Laude
• GPA: 3.7
• Background: I received a full-ride scholarship to a regionally prominent state school, and now work for a major F50 manufacturing company. I am a graduate of their finance leadership rotation program, and have worked in multiple divisions and financial functions with international experience.
• Extracurricular: I have been a national leader for 3 years with a non-profit dedicated to developing leadership skills in minorities and various other leadership roles in organizations inside and outside of work. I also regularly conduct leadership/teamwork workshops for non-profits and corporations, and I have been a very passionate mentor for over 20 young professionals and college students.
• Leadership: I have had multiple leadership roles in my work environment and in my extracurricular activities. The largest team I have led was around 25 people. Unfortunately, I have never been a manager with my company (co-workers are very "experienced").
• For Fun: Conceived and executed a leadership convention (raised $35,000 with 250 attendees), once shaved my head for charity (raised $2,500), and I have started a MBA applicant blog that is picking up a lot of attention (1,000 views in 10 days) (https://grantmeadmission.com)
• Bonus: Applied to Tuck this year, was waitlisted and then transferred to the reduced waitlist. I am 99% sure that I will not get off the waitlist (rumor is they are over-enrolled)

My Career Goals:

• Short Term: MBB Consulting focused on the manufacturing industry and/or tech
• Long Term: To be the first Chinese American CEO of a Fortune 500

My School List:

• Harvard
• Wharton
• MIT
• Tuck
• Duke
• Yale

Hi, I like your profile - and I like your 'spirit' that comes through. I think with stand-out essays and truly enthusiastic recommendations, you have a good shot. And yeah - upping your GMAT to 750 wouldn't hurt, either, but even if not, don't count yourself out.

You might want to toy around with other career paths - just to see if that would give you an extra edge. If you are staying with consulting, then there are also other programs to consider as well. Kellogg, Chicago, Columbia... INSEAD if you would consider going abroad.

Let me know if you have other questions...

Best regards,

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
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My profile: GMAT 710,,,, Q50, V37, AWA5
Academics: BE in Mechanical Engg.
GPA: 78.7% or 8.6 on 10 point scale (Don't know how to convert in 4 point scale)
Country: India
WE: 4 years in petrochemical industry

I am targetting for Full tuition scholarship with GA.

I have shortlisted Broad (Michigan state), Smeal (Penn state), WP Carey (Arizona state), Mays (Texas A&M), Terry (Georgia Uni.).......

Please, evaluate the chances in these schools and also pls recommend some other schools.

Thanks in advance............

Hi,

Plz evaluate my profile -

Indian Male
GMAT 1 : Q49, V31 - 660, IR 7, AWA 5
GMAT 2 : Q50, V27 - 650, IR 7, AWA 5,
GMAT 3 : Q50, V31 - 690, IR 8

Working experience: 8 years as on 1st June'2014 - 3 years in manufacturing, 3 years in project management, 2 years in Supply Chain Management.

Graduate : Mechanical Engineering
GPA: 7.83 in a scale of 10 (India's top 10 Engineering College)

Other professional course :
Project Mgmt Professional (PMP) from PMI, US
Certified supply chain Professional (CSCP) from APICS, US
Certificate in business accounting by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA),
Six Sigma Green Belt from International Quality Federation.

I want to be in top global MNCs which are in engineering & manufacturing field (such as GE, Exxon MObil, BP, SHELL, GM) and want roles in management grade.
Plz suggest international schools that will suit my requirement and what will be my chances at those schools.

Regards,
Subhodhi Roy, PMP, CSCP

Hi Arnab,
I won't be much help to you - my knowledge of schools at this level is fairly scanty, and I don't have access to your full profile. Here is a link that might help you - all the 184 international MBA programs listed by Bus Week. Good luck!

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
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Hi Subhodhi,
Here are some lists of schools that might help you:
Top schools for Productions/Operations:

1. MIT Sloan
2. Carnegie Mellon Tepper
3. Wharton
4. Michigan Ross
5. Stanford
6. Kellogg
7. Purdue University—West Lafayette (Krannert)
8-9. Columbia
8-9. Harvard
10. Indiana Kelley
11. Texas McCombs

Top schools for Supply Chain Logistics:

1. MIT Sloan
2. Michigan State University (Broad)
3. Arizona State University (Carey)
4. Carnegie Mellon Tepper
5. Stanford
6. Pennsylvania State University—University Park (Smeal)
7. Wharton
8. Ohio State University (Fisher)
9. Michigan Ross
10. Purdue University—West Lafayette (Krannert)
11. University of Tennessee—Knoxville

Within those schools, you have a wide range from Top 5 to far more reachable schools. Without having your profile it's hard for me to make an assessment, but you could try for a school from the lower and middle ranges, and then maybe a top 'dream' school...

Hope that helps.
Al the best,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
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Hi Aringo,

Looking for some feedback about my chances at 4 schools in particular: (1) Indiana-Kelley, (2) Iowa-Tippie, (3) Notre Dame, (4) IESE

Basics:

26 y/o male. Dual citizen American/Jordanian.

Academic background:

BA in Political Science + 3.31 GPA at the University of Iowa '10;
JD w/ business and corporate law concentration + 3.39 GPA (roughly top 30% of my graduating class) at the University of San Diego School of Law '13.


GMAT:

1st take March 2014: 6/8/620 (38, 37)
2nd take June 2014: 6/8/660 (44, 38)

Work experience:

Currently working abroad as a "trainee" (i.e., not yet qualified associate) on the project finance team at a top regional law firm in the middle east. I've been here 10 months so far, will be at 13-15 months when I apply, and about 23-24 months when I matriculate. Despite only being a trainee, I've been given associate level work since day 1 and have essentially become the managing partner's "go to" for securities matters and derivatives transactions. I haven't received a "promotion" per se but they've increased my billable rate and my salary once already (at about the 6 month mark, which is not something they do for every trainee - i.e., there are others who started before me but whose rates have stayed the same) and I'm hoping for another at the 12 month mark but I'm not sure they'll do so once they find out I'm planning to leave next summer.

"Why MBA" story:

While I like law, I am much more interested in the financial side of deals. I've noticed that since I've been here there are, broadly speaking, two main aspects to a particular transaction: (1) words, (2) numbers. For example, when I was working on a rather large bond issuance ($1.25 billion dollars), I would catch myself wondering more about the rate that the bonds were going to yield. I would spend my spare time looking up similar bonds (i.e., similar sized issuers, time length for repayment, market status - i.e., pace of QE, etc.) to try and guess what the rate on these bonds might be. It occurred to me that I could do that kind of stuff for a living, and not on the "side". In other words, I'd much rather work with the numbers on a deal than on the words. It's also a little about information consumption, as a transactional lawyer my information consumption is mostly statutes and regulations (some case law), but if I were in fixed-income research (where I want to start) I would be looking at charts, graphs, spreadsheets, using excel, crunching numbers, etc. In terms of goals, short-term: entry level fixed-income research analyst focusing on structured products and derivatives, mostly for the reasons I mentioned above; long term: derivatives and similar products structuring, for example, right now I get to tailor a certain derivative contract to fit within the relevant legal framework and meet my client's legal needs, which is cool but I'd much rather structure the contract from scratch (i.e., the client comes to me with a particular idea or problem, then I use some creativity to come up with a novel concept, some financial modeling/quant skills to nail down the nuts and bolts, and some commercial skills to pitch it accordingly to the client). I think I have a good understanding of the "words" of such contracts (i.e., the language mechanisms that control the contract) but I really need to improve my quant skills to have a good understanding of the number mechanisms that control the contract. That's where the MBA comes in, it will boost my quant skills, financial modeling skills, commercial skills, and provide me with the knowledge, credential, and network that will help me transition from law to finance much easier.


Misc.

Not full time work experience but worked part-time at a rec center throughout college to help make ends meet, interned for a federal judge in law school, and did an internship at a talent agency in NYC summer going into my senior year in undergrad.

Don't have a ton of volunteer experience, but did "dance marathon" (i.e., raising money and participating in a 24 hour danceathon for kids with cancer) my soph year in college, volunteered for about a year with junior high school kids through United Action for Youth my senior year in college, and did a high school student reach out program for a day in law school.

Got the highest grade in my corporate finance course in law school, a straight finance course with no law and it included several finance majors. I also did very well in my corporate and securities law courses. Including the highest grade on a group project that involved the economics and governance of a volatility linked structured product.

Did a research project/paper for the nationally well known political poll "the Hawkeye poll" (my specific paper was on the level of trust people had in the UN and how that impacted their opinion of the UN as an organization).

Speak Arabic proficiently. Will have lived/worked abroad for over a year when applying, and nearly 2 years when matriculating.

Native Iowan (lived there from age 8 through undergrad, this might only matter for Iowa-Tippie, if at all).


Questions:

Can you give me any insight/estimates on my odds at the schools I plan on applying to? I'm applying ED/R1 to all of them.

Also, how much can I improve my chances if I were to boost my GMAT score? In other words, lets say I could only afford another GMAT re-take or one of the smaller Aringo packages (i.e., 3 or 7 hours) (if I were able to get a discount, either through gmatclub special or the lese fund), which investment would have the greater payoff?


Apologies for the length and thanks in advance.

1) Work Experience:
5 years as a Naval Officer. Did two deployments defending oil platforms and anti-piracy in the Arabian Gulf while leading 20 Sailors in my division and also served as an Officer of the Deck (in charge of driving the ship and executing the mission for the Captain) for a crew of 280. On my second tour, I did another overseas deployment on an aircraft carrier where our mission was providing air support to Afghanistan. I led 120 Sailors in my division and also served as Officer of the Deck for a crew of 4,500. Outstanding FITREPS at both commands.

2) 321 GRE (Q84%, V81%)

3) College info: United States Naval Academy, 3.19 GPA in Econ, white male, 29 years old when applying

4) Extra Curricular: Very little due to my deployment schedule and having two young children. My extracurricular activities are all related to helping out with Sailors at my command (ex. Officer candidate rep for Sailors interested in getting a commission)

5) Important certifications: Top-Secret/SCI Clearance

6) Target Programs: HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, Sloan, Tuck, Fuqua, Ross, McCombs

7) Plan to apply during Round 1 of 2014.

8) Post-MBA Goal: Work in non-CPG marketing (Google, Nike, Microsoft, Ford, Nissan, etc)

Thank you for your time!

Hi there!
You've brought up several issues; I'll answer as best I can.
Let's start with the GMAT.
At the schools you have listed, it's fine for Indiana and Iowa; a tad low for the other two - but not out of range.
The Jordanian angle can work nicely for you - play that up for the diversity factor. As well the language you speak - and the time you are now spending in the ME working - that's terrific.

I'm concerned that you seem to lack leadership experience; however it's good that you are getting experience now in the field you wish to go into. I would work hard to find anything leadership like in your resume, in your essays, and ask your recommenders to focus on natural leadership abilities that have presented themselves. Promotions and additional responsibilities are great - highlight them as well - try to make yourself seem that you stand out from the pack.

Your volunteer work all seems to center around helping youth; mentoring - that is something to play up as well; why you did it, why it's meaningful to you - and you may find some strong leadership there, if not in your professional life.

I can't specifically tell you your chances, but I can say that applying ED is a good start, and will increase your chances.
As to whether to go for a higher GMAT score or using Aringo's services... maybe you can find a way to do both?
Again, it's hard to say which will be more beneficial. A higher GMAT could put you in a much more secure place.
on the other hand, I've seen so many mistakes people made in their applications, because they were not aware of some basic rules in writing MBA essays.
I think that a 660 GMAT and top notch essays would beat out a 680-700 GMAT with lousy essays, but I'd love to see you have both.

Maybe write your essays yourself for your first school, and then take a consultant even for just an hour, to read through them and make sure you are on the right track. And maybe consider applying to fewer schools, and using the extra money to get some consulting help.

Hope all of this is of some help to you in deciding.
Best of success to you!

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
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Hi, your profile looks great - love the leadership!
I didn't catch a question... do you have something specific you'd like to ask?
I think you have selected a nice range of schools - some top tier 'dream' schools, and some good safety schools.
You'll need to build a good story about why you've chosen the goals you have, and try to show the connection between your military experience to what you plan to do in the future - it's there, I'm sure, you just need to find it.

Let us know if you have any more questions..
And good luck!

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
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Hi Aringo,

Would you kindly evaluate my profile below.

GMAT: 670 (V36, Q46), IR 5, AWA 5.5
Country: Philippines
Gender: Female
Age: 25
Major: BS in Management, major in Communications Technology Management, Cum Laude (top 2 university in the country)
GPA: 3.53 out of 4
I received partial scholarships for my undergraduate degree
Extracurricular: very limited, in college I was part of the scholars' organization for 2 years. My participation included tutoring at a public school during Saturdays and joining in caroling as a fundraiser during Decembers (Girls' alto voice head for 1 year)
Sports: Varsity player in college, and up to now still a competitive athlete. This is the reason why my extracurricular profile is very weak

Work Experience: 3.5 years in the ICT/telecommunications industry
Current job: relationship management executive in top telecommunications company in the country
I handle about 40 companies in the offshore and outsourcing industry (international clients). Apart from ensuring consistent and profitable sales revenues of my accounts, I supervise pre-sales engagements with the technical team, oversee project implementations, and assist with after-sales credit/technical issues.

Preferred Course: International Business/ International Management

Based on my profile, am I a good candidate for an MBA or Masters? Which schools should I target and which will have the best chances to offer a full scholarship? Since my family and I can afford only the living costs abroad, it is crucial to get a full tuition scholarship but I am not sure if this is possible given my profile. Another option I am looking into is to study in Germany where some schools charge little or no tuition fees. It may not be as good as the top US schools, but what is also important for me is the international exposure. This will help me reach my long-term goal of gaining a management role in an international organization (such as the UN) or in a multinational company.

I hope to hear your valuable inputs.

Thank you,

Joan

Hello,

I was wondering if you could have a quick look at my profile and give me feedback on it. I would really appreciate it.

I am a 23 year old female. I have 2 years of full time work experience in the social sector. My work entailed leadership development in head masters and teachers in the Indian government schools.
I recently gave my gmat and got a score of 600 with an IR score of 7. I am planning to retake the exam.

I have done my BBA from Symbiosis International University, India and secured a GPA of 3.6. In addition to this I have done level A1 certification in French language, have a good number of extracurricular activities to my credit and have been in a few strong leadership positions as well.

I have a fair amount of international exposure as well. I have been brought up in Canada, pursued my studies in India, have worked with the marginalized sections of rural India, and have completed a summer business course from Berlin School of Economics.

Post my MBA I would like to start my own social venture in the sector of alternative education.
I target programs are INSEAD, HEC, and the likes. I wanted to know, apart from retaking the GMAT and securing a much higher score what do I need to do to strengthen my profile? And if I go ahead and apply this year (for sept 2015 intake) what are my chances of being accepted to a good college?

Thank you
Niyati