Ask ARINGO - if your GMAT is (or might be) below 720

Hi, your profile sounds very good - but you are correct in labeling yourself part of an over-represented group, and you must therefore make every effort to stand out. If you think you can improve your GMAT then by all means go for it. It can definitely make a difference, as if all other parameters are equal, it's likely they will go for the candidate with the higher GMAT.

Other ways to stand out, as you yourself mentioned, is with an outstanding application that has fantastic essays and recommendation letters. Your essays need to be well written, provide as well rounded a picture of you as possible, and show the committee someone they would very much like to meet. Your writing technique needs to show your achievements without bragging about them, but by remaining objective; you need to show self awareness, humility, and the ability to learn from mistakes. There are a list of what Aringo calls 'admission drivers' that need to be highlighted as well. If you search the Aringo website, you can probably find them there...

Your recommenders should be highly enthusiastic about you, and provide specific examples of the qualities they mention.

Regarding the work visa - I don't know if it helps; that is, I don't know to what extent schools take that into consideration, if at all, in issuing their acceptances.

Good luck!!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi Aringo

I am planning to apply to Cornell - Johnson and INSEAD.

Following are my information:
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Nationality: Vietnamese
GMAT: 700 (Q - 51, V - 33, IR - 8, AWA - awaiting)
(I did quite well on Quant with extra time at the end, but really poorly at Verbal, probably because of getting distracted)

Degree at National University of Singapore
Major: Information Systems
GPA: 3.96/5 (~3.19/4)

Work Experience: 3,5 years
Company: IBM (Singapore)
Position: Consultant
Industry: Technology (SAP)

I have been in two SAP projects, in which my team provided SAP System (an Enterprise Resource Planning system) service for Human Resources Department of two largest clusters of government hospitals in Singapore.

IBM Services Excellence Award
Certificates of Appreciation awarded by a client company

School CCAs:
- English Speaking Contest (Mar 09)
Team Leader - First Runner-up

- A small university volunteer group - IT Director, Vice President

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Please advise how competitive my profile is regarding those 2 schools.
I only target 1 year programs so I choose these schools.

Also I have a few questions:
1. If my profile is not strong enough and now is round 3 for both schools, should I wait for another year to strengthen it?
2. If I decide to apply for round 3 for both schools and got rejected, would it be a disadvantage when I re-apply next year?
3. Please advise if you think there are any other good schools in my range

Thank you very much & Happy new year!

Hi! Regarding Cornell, your GMAT is fine - just a touch above average. Your GPA is also above average for the school, which is good. You seem to be adding value to the organizations you are part of, which is good. Your profile doesn't include other volunteer/extracurricular activities, so I can't comment on that. A social orientation is important for Johnson, so you would want to try and show that. Your work experience is for a well-known global firm, so that's great. You will want to try and distinguish yourself in your essays and recommendations, and to show as much leadership and strong teamwork as you can. As well, if you can highlight any initiatives you have had, within the workplace or outside of it, that will work in your favor.

Regarding INSEAD, many of the same comments apply. You are a bit on the young side, with less work experience than many who will be applying. You will want to highlight your international experience and your goals in international business, to show your fit and the school's fit to your goals. You will want to show a very broad range of personal interests, and try to distinguish yourself.

In general Round 3 is more difficult than the first two rounds for both schools - more competition and fewer places available.

INSEAD discourages reapplication unless there has been a significant development professionally or personally, so you might be better off waiting to apply for the next intake. They have a January intake, so you don't have to wait an entire year. Johnson is probably a bit more welcoming of reapplicants.

There are plenty of other good schools in your range - I suggest you take a look at our free chances calculator (link below my name) and then see which schools are within your competitive range.

All the best,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi Joy,
Could you please share your views that after submitting the application, is it good/recommended to reach out to some of the current students whom one has earlier contacted to get to know the program better? I mean just to let 'em know that application is submitted... And will it be of any help as far as one's candidacy is concerned, if one asks 'em whether they think they can put in a good word for him/her at the admissions office?

Does it really make any sense?

Hi, I'm wondering if I can get a quick evaluation on my chances at the University of Florida.

Age: 26
Gender: Male
Undergrad: Marketing & Supply Chain Management (3.02 GPA)

Work Experience: 36 months upon matriculation. Started at my company in 2011 as a lab technician. I was promoted to Production Manager within 3 months. I spent over a year as Production Manager until last year when I was promoted to Vice President of Operations. During that time, I also started my own real estate investment firm, which I have owned/operated successfully since September 2012.

GMAT: 650 on my first attempt. I am confident that I can get to 700, as all of my practice GMATs have yielded scores in excess of 680.

Hi Gil,

I'd request for my profile evaluation and your advice. My profile details:

Age: 33
Gender: Male
Nationality: Indian

Education:
- Bachelors in Science (Mathematics) - Mumbai University (May 2004)
- GPA: 2.7
- GMAT: 570 Q42, V25. Will be retaking in Apr' 14.
- Business Management Program from IIM Indore (one of Top 10 Indian Business Schools) - Jan to Jun' 10

Work Experience: More than 10 years of WE
- Consultant (Physical Security) at M&M Corporate Risk (July 2010 - Present). Executed Projects for Fortune 500 companies and the Best Organisations in India.
- Commissioned Officer in the Army (April 2004 - March 2010). The entire tenure was spread over inhospitable terrain and extreme weather conditions. Handled a team of 150 troops and maintained op readiness.
- Associate (Sales) at Domestic BPO (June 2002 - September 2003). Mentored a sales team of 10 people.

Extracurricular:
- Recruitment drives and rallies for encouraging the youth to join the defence forces.
- Safety & Self defence training sessions for women
- Guest speaker for risk & security training sessions

Schools:
1. Darden Business School
2. Duke University (Fuqua)
3. Rotman (Univ of Toronto)
4. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
5. NYU (Stern)
6. Cornell (Johnson)
7. Schulich (Toronto)

After MBA I want make a career into Management Consulting (Strategy). I'm looking to apply for Fall 2015. What do you think are my chances at the schools I've listed?

Request you to suggest few schools with present GMAT score.


Thanks in advance !

Hi, absolutely - it's definitely recommended. You can let them know and thank them for their assistance along the way. If you feel comfortable enough, you can certainly ask them to put in a good word. One way is for them to write an unofficial email to the person at Admissions responsible for your region. Just a few lines about how impressed they were with you, feel you are a great fit for the school, etc.

All the best,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi, you have some great work experience with lots of leadership, that's definitely working for you. Your extra curricular activity looks good too - and quite interesting.
OTOH - you have a few major things working against you. One is the GMAT score, which is low for ALL of the schools you have mentioned. Some of them say that the total range of scores begins at the low end of 560/570. But who is that person? In my experience, it's someone with a truly extraordinary profile - someone famous, or perhaps from a well known family - or who has accomplishments like having already established a company and exited for a few million dollars. So work on your GMAT - especially because your GPA was fairly low, and also presents a problem.

The third issue is your age. By the time you will be starting your MBA, you'll be 35, which is quite old for an MBA. You'll be in class with students 10 years younger, with half or less than half your work experience. You might consider going for an EMBA, and I would suggest you check out those programs as well.

So first thing, raise your GMAT score. Second, look at EMBA programs.

Good luck!!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Thanks a lot Joy for the feedback.

I'm surely going to retake the GMAT and also look at EMBA options.

Hello,
Male
Country India
My Gmat 540 Q40, V24
Btech in Chemical Engineering with GPA 3.5 - Vellore Institute Of Technology
2 Years of Experience in Metal Industry( 2010 to 2012)
Started My own Business in 2012
Associated with a local NGO since 2012
Planning to retake my exam in feb
Can you please suggest me business schools Full Time MBA.

Thank you,
Himanshu Mehta

My Gmat 540 Q40, V24
Btech in Chemical Engineering with GPA 3.5 - Vellore Institute Of Technology
2 Years of Experience in Metal Industry( 2010 to 2012)
Started My own Business in 2012
Associated with a local NGO since 2012
Planning to retake my exam in feb
Can you please suggest me business schools Full Time MBA.

Thank you,
Himanshu Mehta[/quote]




Hi There!
Until you retake your GMAT, I haven't too many schools to suggest. If you are able to up your score to around 650, you might be a competitive candidate at 2nd tier schools like Emory, Georgetown, Babson or USC… Without more details about your profile, I can't be any more specific.

Good luck with the exam!!

Joy

Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hello Aringo: would love your profile evaluation.

GMAT 710
Canadian uni, undergrad in business
GPA 3.84
MBB 2 years at round 2 application, 2.5 at start of MBA
previous internship experience in investment banking, corp strategy, startups
Board member at non profit
Founder of a program educating high school students on certain business disciplines (won't disclose specifics - 10 high schools involved)
case comp, club President, etc for uni extracurricular

I am going to apply for hbs, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, and Booth. What do you think?

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Joy,

I was wondering if you had the free time, could you share your opinions and thoughts about a "mini ding report"?

Like you previously mentioned, I too thought I had a pretty strong profile for schools like Duke but today, I was informed that I was not invited to interview (which I think is like a soft ding)

I also specifically applied to Duke's MBA/MEM program, did that hurt my chances? I actually thought that could have helped.

Please let me know if you would like any additional information and thanks for all your help,
Daniel

Hi, from these highlights, your profile looks good. You'll be up against people with higher GMATs, so you must really show yourself to be exceptional in other ways, through your essays and recommendations. I also suggest you do intensive research to show your 'fit' for each of the schools you'll be applying to. One size all won't cut it.

You haven't mentioned your goals, but make sure they are clear, well thought out, solid, reasonable, and that you can speak about them with passion.

Good luck!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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_________________

Hi Aringo, Kindly evaluate my profile. I am 26/Male/Indian

1) Brief description of your full-time work experience. What do you do?

June 2010 - Oct 2011
Started my career in Software Testing - Accenture
Worked as an ASE(Associate Software Engineer)- Functional Tester at Accenture for a Canadian Telecom client.

Oct 2011- Present
Working as Manager-Marketing and Sales at our startup company, founded by my elder brother
We became Authorized Channel Partner of Eaton Corporation in early 2012.
Our focus is UPS Systems for Industry and IT.
I've greatly improved the leads generation process, added good clients and found some sources for getting
regular business.As it's a startup, I get involved in a variety of roles.

We got Eaton Excellence Award in the Emerging Partner Category (Sep 2013)


Total 6 employees ; 2 salespersons report to me


2) Your GMAT : 710 (80 + percentile in both quant and verbal) , AWA : 5.0 , IR : 4

3) College info: B.Tech (Computer Sc. Engg. from GGSIPU- a government univ. in Delhi,India ) : 71.8%

4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities :

-As a 9th standard school kid, I was a scribe for a blind gentleman
-I won the title of Mr. Fresher in college (2006)- Here, I also led a team of six for an impromptu skit
- Worked weekends to enroll out of school children in public schools
-Public speaking program : We visit schools on Saturday mornings and conduct classes on Public Speaking

Hobbies
I enjoy performing musical whistling to karaoke music


5) Target programs : I was rejected this year by ISB,Cornell,Duke and Kenan Flagler. I understand that the

competition is intense and my nationality/GMAT doesn't help much.Please evaluate my profile and suggest me

some decent US B-schools where I might have a pretty good chance of getting admitted next year.

7) Career Goals : Want to work 5-6 years after MBA in Marketing/Consulting role preferably in Manufacturing or Hi Tech. Finally,want to re-join our business.

Hi, there are a number of top 20-25 schools you can try. You might want to focus on schools that emphasize marketing/entrepreneurship. U Texas (McCombs), Indiana (Kelley), Emory, Babson. However, I'm a bit surprised you were not accepted to Kenan Flagler. Before applying, consider investing in having a professional consultant review one or more of the packages you sent out this year, to see if there's something problematic in how you are presenting yourself. Whether you ask Aringo or someone else, I've seen too many applications that failed because a perfectly good applicant made unnecessary mistakes in their choice of essay topic, how they explained their career goals, how they described their achievements, etc...

Good luck!!!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi Joy, can you help me assess my profile? Thanks!


Profile: 28 years old male from Santiago, Chile, single, no kids.

Education: two (separate) Bachellor degrees, one in Journalism/Communications in 2010 (from the best school in Chile, Universidad Católica) and another one (executive) of Business Administration from U. Gabriela Mistral 2013 (mid tier private school in Chile). 3.07 and 3.7 GPA respectively, must mention that I was working during both studies. My thesis in Journalism was about the struggle for an hydroelectric plant in a river near Santiago (Proyecto Alto Maipo), my Business Administration thesis was a Business Plan of a restaurant "breakfast-food based" chain.

GMAT: Haven't taken it yet, I aim for +720 at least

WE: 5 years I was in charge of the operations in Chile of a small sports information and statistics analysis called Real Time Sportscast from Singapore. I had a team of +30 college English speaking local students from all over the Country who had to make livefeed data reports to a call center in Singapore. (I worked for this company while studying Journalism). I also forecasted the results of football matches from Chile both from a statistical and information point of view. I reported to the head of CMs in Singapore and had to be in constant contact with the Singapore call center. Lots of work during weekends and free hours (that is why both my GPA and extracurriculars are rather weak)...

2.5 years as s Product Manager for a small local import FCMG company. I was in charge of the Liquors line of business, which accounted for a 6 MM USD anual revenue for niche international liquors brands, ranging from a 3 USD canned beer brand to a 5,000 USD 100 years old cognac.

I total I was responsible for more than 40 brands. I had great international exposure as I reported to over 10 different export managers from different companies and atttended conferences with my latin american peers from different markets in France (Cognac), Spain (Jerez de la Frontera) and Scotland (Glasgow). Had a 14 sales / trade marketing team reporting to me. I was in charge of whole Marketing and Sales strategy for all brands.

I haven't had any promotions as this is not possible, but I have had significant accomplishments, specially in brand building, for eg taking a sparkling wine brand sales from 50 cases a year to 15.000 in two years and starting four single scottish whisky brands from zero to a 1 MM USD revenue in 2013.

While I was working I also earned my second Bachellors Degree in Business Administration, classes from 19 to 22 PM from monday to friday (8-14 on saturdays) for two years. (Hence the small Comm. service, as you'll see later, during 2011 - 2013)

Community Service / others: Went to community services and voluntary work in rural locations during summer breaks in different chilean rural towns building and reparing houses (mostly during early college years)... I also was part (during school) of CVX (catholic movement).
I have intrests in Photography, hiking (went to hike a 4.000 mts mountain this summer) travels (haven't been able to travel as much as I wanted, apart from work travels I have been in South America, USA, Ecuador and Galápagos), Sports: Skiing, Tenis, Football (scocer), Basketball, etc. I like to practice and also follow sports a lot. I play bass guitar, I was part of a thrash Metal group. Music is a very important part of my life, with tastes ranging from Opera to Death Metal. I also like gardening and painting on my free time.

I have never been active in politics, a couple of months ago I joined the Red Liberal movement, a small center-oriented political group.

Possible letters of recommendation: As said, from the CEO of my company (also Wharton Alumni), Commercial Directors or Export Managers of the brands we represented, wouldn't be too far fetched I am very aware they value my business and marketing capabilities a lot.


Intake: September '15

Career goals (short term): start a career on Management Consulting / Strategy / General Management (in Chile or abroad)
Carrer goals (mid term): start my own imports FCMG company in Chile
Career goals (long term): start an excellence driven high school for low income chilean children in order to tackle poverty, inequality, provide opportunities but also improve the human capital in Chile

Schools targeted:

First tier (assuming a +730 GMAT score): INSEAD, Kellogg, Chicago, Tuck, Wharton (The owner and CEO of my Company is Alumni and currently he is the head of the Chile Alumni and he could write a rec for me) LBS... Am I too far fetched?
Second tier I target Duke, Ross, Darden and Yale (I believe I would be a strong fit for this last program... I have a deep pasion for history, political science, world politics and global events so maybe there is a chance there?)

Self aware (?) weak points: Low GPA, no significant leadership roles in School / College, small and outdated comm service, only significant WE in a small / unknown company, no WE in a well known multinational company (I am currently looking for a Job either in Sales / Marketing in a blue chip to override this).

Thank you very much for your thoughts!

All the best
Chileanunderdog

Hi Chilean Underdog

You have quite an interesting profile, it speaks of a hardworker who has filled his hours with meaningful things, trying to better himself. Regarding the lack of community service, I would not worry about it; there are schools it matters more to, and you might steer yourself more towards programs that value well-roundedness and diversity, as opposed to counting the number of hours the person devotes to society through an organized program. You can also balance this aspect by talking somewhere about how you try to contribute to others and the world THROUGH the things you are already doing. Also you would want your recommenders to talk about this - how helpful you are, willing to give extra time, what a good team player you are, etc. Also, if you ever did any unofficial mentoring, volunteering, time spent in forums answering questions, etc. this can also help balance. Do mention the music, and other things that help us learn more about who you are as a person.

Regarding your goals, I'm not so sure about the mid and long term. Since you are 28 and have never started a company, it might look less than feasible that you plan later to open your own business. You might consider a plan that keeps you with the company you will work for, rising to the top. Same with the long-term goal; seems unrealistic. We don't see you interested in education anywhere in your background, so why the sudden interest? And if it's something you are really passionate about, why are you going to wait another 15-20 years to do something about it? I'd work on creating a plan that fits your background, makes sense and that you can get behind when you write and speak about it.

Good luck - a high GMAT will go a long way towards helping you get into these schools you are shooting for.

All the best,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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