Ask ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting

DavidZM,

Thank you for the submission of your profile. 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 Kellogg, between competitive and stretch at Haas, between competitive and stretch (closer to competitive) at Tuck, competitive at Fuqua, and strong at Texas McCombs.

Here are some items to consider in your profile:

First, it will be important to mention how big your graduating class was at your undergraduate institution. Since you finished at the top (literally), it would be more impressive the more students in your peer group. This point is even more important given your below-average GMAT score. So, definitely make sure that the graduating class size is called out in your resume.

Similarly, double check that all of your promotions are implied with different (and increasing seniority titles) in your resume. Too often, we see candidates with work experience at one firm pre-MBA who do not give themselves enough credit by listing each role separately. Additionally, discuss how prestigious it was for you to receive the "leadership diploma" from your university, such that it helps to differentiate you.

Regarding your plans for the LGBT organization for teenagers, this sounds like a great idea. However, if you are going to refer to it in your essays or the MBA interview as something that you aspire to do in the future, I would encourage you to consider reaching out to people who perhaps have started similar organizations elsewhere. That way, you can elaborate on these discussions and talk more in depth about why you'd need an MBA to help you develop the plan, and it makes your plan sounds more credible. In our experience, the gay community is generally under-represented at business schools, so your discussion of the plan for this teenager support group (and any other elaboration on your background) is an issue to be strategic about in your application.

Regarding your career plans, you would be a career changer - your pre-MBA work is in logistics (and with an engineering degree) with a transition to marketing. This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. As you know many MBA students are career switchers. However, in your essays, it will be important to talk about why you want to make this transition, as well as what salient skills that are critical in marketing that you would bring to the table.

Best of luck,

Nidhi Manglik,

Thank you for submitting your profile. Since you leave out a significant amount of information (including career goals, leadership/extracurricular details, promotions and current responsibility at your firm, etc.), it's difficult for me to give you a specific evaluation for specific schools. Instead, I will mention a few salient points that stand out in your profile:

First, given that you are in the very competitive Indian IT applicant pool, it is imperative that you attempt to differentiate yourself in your applications. This can be done in any number of ways, including your post-MBA career goals, existing interests and passions, or otherwise. However, with what you presented, nothing "stands out" as unique. This is even more important given your below-average GMAT score. Do you enjoy extreme sports? Have you received patents? Did you run a marathon? Have you overcome significant obstacles in life? Honestly, in our experience, these individual items are things that admission committees remember about candidates, and can help to differentiate people from competitive applicant pools.

Second, when you mention that you are "associated with" 2 NGOs, it does not imply the actual level of involvement you have with these organizations. Too often, we see candiates with significant extracurricular involvement that do not give themselves enough credit. So, if you are indeed quite involved with these NGOs, I would encourage you to elaborate on that activity within your resume. Similarly, to the extent that you can tie this (or other) extracurricular or leadership experience to your post-MBA career goals, it will help you with your chances.

Finally, given your undergraduate 74% finish, indicate on your resume your graduation rank (as a percentile) compared to your peers. MBA programs know how to evaluate Indian universities, but the percentile helps to frame your academic strength even further.

Best of luck,

Hi Gil Levi

I am yet to take Gmat, probably i would give an attempt in 2 months.

My Profile in breif
------------------
I have
->2 Years of work experience in a software industry
->CGPA 8.11/10 in my undergraduation
->High school percentage->88.6%
->Secondary school->86.5%
->In my college i was also part of many organizing committees

In am not that good at Verbal so kindly suggest me a good Gmat score to get into a good university,waiting for your valuable feedback

Regards
srinath

All -

Generally speaking (this goes to all posters), please note that the more information you provide in a profile, the more specific I can be with respect to advising you as a candidate about your application strategy. If you are looking for a quick insight or general comments only, then you don't have to submit a full profile. But, I can give much more specific information and a much better estimate of your application chances with the following information:

Age, gender, undergraduate university (and/or reputation) and GPA (or percentile rank if outside the US), graduate degree (if applicable) and GPA, extracurricular activities in school and during full-time work, GMAT (including splits), length of work experience and extent of leadership roles, industry, reputation/size/prestige of your company, why MBA, post-MBA aspirations short and long-term, target schools or target school rank, interesting or impressive accomplishments/achievements, etc.

Srinath,

Thank you for submitting your profile. Since you leave out a fair amount of information (including career goals, leadership/extracurricular details, the reputation of your undergraduate institution, promotions and current responsibility at your firm, what you mean by a "good" school - is this HBS or is this a top 25 program?, GMAT score, etc.), it's difficult for me to give you a specific evaluation for specific schools. Instead, I will mention a few salient points that stand out in your profile:

In general, MBA programs will not seriously consider your high school grades / rank very much, unless you point to it as a strength area to make up for a low undergraduate GPA or GMAT score in one of your essays. What is much more important to programs is your career progression after the undergraduate experience and what leadership skills/traits you have shown during that time.

As mentioned previously in this thread, there is no such thing as a "safe" GMAT score, since the GMAT is but one of a number of metrics that MBA programs use. And, since I don't know what types of programs or program rank you are targeting, I can't really provide feedback for what those programs' incoming profiles look like with respect to GMAT score.

Regarding extracurricular activities, being part of organizing committees can mean very different things - it could mean you were one of 50 people organizing the event, or it could mean you were the Executive Director and put in 30+ hours per week in planning over the course of a significant period of time. So, those details make a difference, and you will want to make it clear what kinds of details you provided to the organization in your CV.

Hope this helps.

Best of luck,

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

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

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

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,

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,

Hi Brian,

Thanks for Your valuable advice

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,

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

Thanks Brian!!

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.

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,

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,

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.