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

Hi

I am a 26 year old male from India, currently working in Dubai. I need some guidance on my MBA application process. I am in a dilemma about where all to apply. Below are some details of my profile:

10th – 94.2%; 12th – 80.2%
B.E. (Hons.) Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS – Pilani, Dubai – CGPA: 7.05/10, First Division
GMAT – 1st attempt (April’13) – Q42, V26, Total: 560, AWA-5, IR-5
2nd attempt (March’14) – Q46, V27, Total: 600, AWA-5, IR-4
3rd attempt (Dec’14) – Q46, V40, Total: 700, AWA-4, IR-7
I do not intend to give another attempt at GMAT.

Experience: I have been working with a top MEP construction company in Dubai as an Assistant Quantity Surveyor for around 3 years 9 months now and will have completed over 4 years by the time I start the session anywhere in 2016.
My job is a techno-commercial role based out of projects and my responsibilities include maintaining the project cash flow and monitoring costs and value throughout the project duration by preparing billing projections / forecasts, cost to completion reports, regular payment applications as per the forecasts, variation claims, etc. All these projects have been huge projects with project values ranging from 15 Million AED to over 140 Million AED. I also liaise with the Consultants, Clients and other Contractors for commercial issues. Many of these people happen to be from nationalities other than India and other South Asian countries.

All my experience has been in Dubai with a single company since my graduation after engineering. I have not worked in India or in any other country.

The major reason that I want to an MBA is that I want to move out of the construction industry. While there is money in this industry, it comes with a lot of experience and is a slow process. Moreover, at this stage, I feel I am not learning as much as I used to a couple of years back. As I have done well with whatever has been thrown at me, I need more challenges to sustain myself and enough of that is not happening right now. Also, the construction industry is fairly volatile here with the market booming at times and failing miserably at others, which does not inspire a lot of confidence. Future success in my role involves an interest in and grasp of contractual knowledge, which I am not very much interested in. Currently my job involves dealing with lots of numbers and excel sheets which I love. As my job role is in Operations and I report directly to the Operations Manager, I am looking to use my interest and experience with numbers and working in tight deadlines and in a team, while supplementing it with formal theoretical and working knowledge of management principles and concepts, in General Management / project management roles or Operation roles outside the construction industry. I am keen on moving on to Consulting roles which could also involve travelling, an aspect that is not at all present in my current role.

I do not have extensive extracurricular activities to talk about other than an odd volunteering experience here and there.

I have thought about applying to Insead, HEC in France, Rotterdam in Netherlands, Mannheim in Germany, NUS,NTU, Insead in Singapore. I did not include any colleges from USA in the list as those are very expensive programs and the duration of most programs is 2 years. I would prefer to do a one year MBA but I am also open to doing a 2 year MBA in case I do not get any good one year MBA. I am a bit skeptical of European colleges in light of the downturn in the European market.

However, recently I have started wondering whether I am limiting myself by applying to only a few colleges. Should I consider US colleges too as they are the traditional powerhouses for MBA and they continue to dominate the overall MBA landscape? A quick look at the costs for most decent programs revealed costs to the tune of 130,000 to 160,000 USD, which is a lot in my case. How do I go about in deciding where to apply? I do not want to limit myself but I feel restricted when I look at such high costs for an MBA. Are the scholarship chances at most US schools realistic in my case?

Any help that can guide me in the right path will be appreciated. I can provide any additional info as well if required at all.

Thank you

Hi,

I want to apply for MBA programs in USA and ISB, India.

Please look at my profile and advise me:

1. which best US schools I have shot at?

2. In which US schools I can get scholarships?

3. What are my chances in getting in ISB?

4. How is the profile overall?

My profile:

Gmat score: 700

Degree: Btech. In chemical engineering with Mtech. In chemical engineering and design (dual degree course)

College: IIT Delhi

PG cgpa: 8.6/10

UG cgpa: 7.34/10

12th: 78.4%

10th: 88.6%

Work ex.:

Current: 1 year of start up (with good funding) experience in operations with the responsibility of launching venture in different cities in India.

Past: 3 years of ex. at reliance industries limited. Worked at world's biggest refinery.

Extra curricular:

Associated with an NGO for past 3 years for spreading awareness for yoga and meditation.

Apart from this what can do to make my profile sound more intresting?

Thanks!

Hi,

Request you to analyze profile and provide your thoughts on schools I am targeting.

27 year Indian male with 4 years of full-time experience in Sales and Marketing consulting (Analytics).

GMAT1 – 710 (Q49 V38)
GMAT2 – 730 (Q48 V42)

Engineering graduate from a top10 Indian tech school (Non-IIT)

GPA 8/10 (Top 15%)

Worked for a niche consulting firm focused on Pharma sales and marketing.

Significant experience in innovation: wrote self-learning algorithm for a data science-based iPad app for sales reps that suggests what message he/she should give individual HCPs based on the HCP’s preferences. The app has been a huge success and the firm has managed to secure $2MM worth projects in just 2 months after completing the POC (featured in yahoo finance and multiple other media, multiple projects are in the pipeline)

Significant leadership experience – Have led small (1-2 associates) to med size teams (5-6 associates) on multiple client engagements (most of the times I have managed multiple projects at the same time)

Collaborated with diverse teams – data science team and tech teams to develop the app

Additionally, I have worked part-time (~2 years) as a co-coordinator for an education startup, developing the curriculum for it using Learning Management System and Gamification. Helped it with the marketing strategy as well.

Currently working on my startup and launching in the next 2 months.

Extra-Cur: Chief coordinator of tech fest (attended by ~10,000 students from all over India) organized by grad school

Short term goal – Work in Management Consulting (MBB) advising hi-tech/tech startups on growth strategies
for a few years before taking an internal strategy role in a tech firm (facebook/google)

Long term goal – Start a tech based analytics firm to support sales and marketing problems for pharma/CPG/FMCG/tech firms

Target schools R1 – MIT Sloan, Darden, Tuck, Ross, UCLA Anderson
R2 - Fuqua, Kellogg MMM (If not possible in R1)

Hi Aringo,

I have a 720 but with a low Q...

I have taken the GMAT 4 times
November 2014: 690 Q48/V37
January 2015: 710 Q49/V38
July 2015: 710 Q49/V38
August 2015: 720 Q47/V41

I am applying to HBS, Wharton, Columbia, Booth, MIT, and Tuck.

How will schools view my GMAT performance? Is it holistic in that they will use 720 as my score but also take note that I have two Q49s and not be concerned with my 720's Q47? Or should I retake to try to score both higher and with a more evenly weighted score?

I am hoping schools will see that I have a 720 and not have quant concerns because of higher quant scores in previous tests. Am I better served to spend the rest of my time before R1 due dates working on my essays?

Thanks!
Alan

Aringo, Please provide a profile evaluation for me

Introduction
I am a 28 year old Indian male working in Canada for last 3+ years in a top tier aerospace company. I intend to apply to top 15 schools for MBA in USA.

GMAT Score
650 (Q49, V30, AWA 6, IR 7)
690 (Q49, V34, AWA 5.5, IR 4)
750 (Q49, V44, AWA Awaited, IR 6)

Education
- UG GPA: 74.6% (top 10%)
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi, India
- Won many extra curricular awards
- Master's GPA: 3.53
- Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Thesis based), 2 publications.
- McGill University, Canada

Work Experience
3.5 Years in a top tier Aerospace Company (Employs 30,000+ people and has 100 sites across the world)
- Working as Lead Certification Analyst (certify interiors for business jets for their structural integrity), making sure that the products conform to the regulations and industry standards.
- Manage a team of 5 engineers (for 1 program) and indirectly a team of 10 engineers (for 2 programs)
- Promoted to the above post after only 10 months of experience, pay raises double the usual amount for the past 2 years.
- Led 2 teams of 3 engineers each to oversee update of important company directives, guidelines and manuals that dictate the manufacturing and quality standards of the company.

Strong International Exposure
- Lived, Studied, Worked and travelled to multiple countries
- Nominated (only engineer) to go to France and USA to represent the facility at intra-company conferences and international symposiums
- Worked in International teams and leading a team of Engineers (located in UK, USA, France and Germany) to develop next set of methodologies that will save the company a lot of money once implemented.

Extracurriculars
- Tutoring kids at risk subjects such as Maths, Science and English from grades 3 to 12 (been close to 10 months now, 4-6 hours per week, volunteer basis).
- Team member of company's soccer team
- Teach professional and technical English (related to Aerospace Industry, both written and spoken) to colleagues after work
- Learning French and Spanish over the weekends
- Member of tennis and squash teams of YMCA and play as a member of Montreal Squash League
- Teach colleagues from work tennis after work
- Leading a team of 15 volunteers since 2013-14 for a community heart and eye checkup camp , held once every year for 3 days. This is a free event for anyone who wants to participate.

Post-MBA Goal
I plan to transition from Engineering based role to a management / strategy role in retail/technology. I wish to leverage my experience of leading diverse teams and apply the vast knowledge, exposure and experience I have gained in managing different product portfolios in retail/technology.

Target Schools

- Columbia (Early Decision)
- Chicago Booth
- Stanford
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Wharton
- Cornell
- NY Stern
- Kellogg
- Duke Fuqua (Early Decision)
- Michigan Ross
- CMU Tepper
- Yale SOM

All the above schools Round 1 or Round 2 , 2015, Full Time MBA

Questions
1. Do you think I have a decent shot at the school of my choice (listed above). It will be of immense help to me if you can categorize the schools above as
1) Not possible, forget about it!
2) Good Chance
3) Not at all easy but can be given a shot

2. Also please advise which schools I should target in Round 1 and in Round 2?.
3. Please also advise which other schools (not listed above) will help me achieve my career goals.
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Hi there,

Sorry for the delayed response!

Here is a quick breakdown of your chances for each of the schools you listed:

Not possible, forget about it:
Stanford
Wharton

Good Chance:
- Columbia (Early Decision)
- NY Stern (R1)
- Cornell (R1)
UCLA (R1/R2)
- Duke Fuqua (Early Decision)
- Michigan Ross (R2)
- CMU Tepper (R1)
- Yale SOM (R1/R2)

Not at all easy, but can be given a shot
- Chicago Booth (R2)
- UC Berkeley (R2)
- Kellogg (R1)

Additional school: Tuck ED instead of Berkeley, Darden R1 instead of Yale

For additional insight into your chances, please try our free admissions calculator (https://aringo.com/mba-admission-chances-calculator/) and feel free to contact our international CEO, Chaya (chayap@aringo.com) for guidance as to how to improve your chances of admission into those schools that are a bit of a reach.

Best of luck,
Zooey
Aringo
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Hi Aringo, thank you for your reply. It is a bit surprising to me that you have marked booth and Kellogg as difficult but have marked Columbia under "good chance". I believed that Booth and Columbia would be difficult to good chance while Kellogg to be a good chance.

I will take a look at the admission calculator and a beheld my free evaluation the coming week.

Thanks
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Hi Alan,
The quantitative-heavy schools (Wharton/Booth) will care more.
You can certainly retake… You can also try to show throughout your application evidence of quantitative prowess, whether through ways in which you use it at work, courses taken or your recommendations. You can also sign up for a course to take this year that will improve your abilities in this area, and let them know that you will be doing so.

Good luck!
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Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out. You have an excellent profile and great things going for you.
Good solid GMAT.
Great leadership and entrepreneurial experience.
Very diverse.
Extra curriculars a bit weak; but doesn’t bother me as much as with others, because of the start up.
Goals are relevant to past history, which is great.
I think you have a strong chance at the schools you're targeting.
Good luck!
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Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Could you possibly fill in a few blanks for me before I provide an evaluation?
Are you male or female? Do you have any leadership/management experience? What are your goals?
Extra curriculars are weak, if this is all there is.
GMAT is average for your demographic.
Startup experience works for you - You definitely need to leverage that.
I would look at top 30 schools; top 20 might be a long shot.

Best of luck!
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Hi,

Thanks for reaching out! Of the schools you mentioned, you probably have the best shot at Rotterdam (Netherlands), Mannheim (Germany), NUS and NTU.
Your GMAT is alright, but not striking and you don't seem to have leadership experience. Your lack in extracurricular experience might hurt you, as this is another area in which Indian candidates usually shine and try to distinguish themselves. As an Indian engineer, you are in one of the most overrepresented pools so it is important to stand out.
INSEAD and HEC are probably a bit out of reach. It is probably smart to avoid the US Schools.

Best of luck!
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Hi Aringo,

Dont get me wrong, but it seems as if you underestimate (or demotivate) candidates' profiles.

Hello Aringo
It'll be a real help to get your perspective on my profile so far...
I'm planning to apply in round 2 as that'll give me more room to develop my profile.
-25-year-old male
- Grew up in India
- GPA : 3.7 or 70%(top 15 %)
- GMAT : 650 (Q49, V28, IR 5 , AWA: 4) gave in 2012, recently I appeared again for GMAT but scored only 640(Q50, V25, IR 7)
- Undergraduate degree in Engineering(Polymer Science & Chemical Technology) from "Delhi University" (Delhi College of Engineering)
- 2.5 years(till date) of Business Development Profiles (first Business Development Executive ) in educational consulting firm (Gateway Abroad Ltd.) and than promoted to Biz Dev Manager & Center Manager in a local 25 year old Educational group, mentoring and training students for various competitive examinations(catering 7000 students annually ). I've started a new training Institute as well under the educational group I've mentioned earlier for training law and management Aspirants.
- Active volunteering in an NGO since past 2 years (impacting 7000 households and 36000 residents)
- Ran a chapter of SIFE (now ENACTUS) successfully mentoring National award winning team in college
- Technical skills involving R programming, Statistical Inferences, Corel Draw, etc

Which colleges should I apply for in US, Canada and Europe where I stand a fighting chance ?

Hi, following would be schools where you should have a chance; I recommend you also go for a few stretch schools; with a stellar application you may surprise yourself. Also, if there’s a chance to work again at the GMAT and improve your score, I highly recommend doing so. More and more, GMAT scores seem to be weighing more heavily in the application process.

In Canada, you can try Schulich and Rotman; Europe – IE, IESE, IMD, Queens University; in the US: Emory, Kelley, Carroll.

Good luck!


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Hi Aringo, I would really appreciate if you could provide a profile evaluation for me!

Demographics:
Female, Asian (US Citizen), 26

Goal: sports business management – operations / strategy / analytics for a sports team or league

Education:
BSE Industrial Engineering, Top 25 undergrad (3.3 GPA, higher for major GPA)
MSE Industrial Engineering, Top 5 program (3.6 GPA)

GMAT: 710 (Q: 47, V: 41, AWA: 5.5, IR: 8)

Experience:
3.5 years at a boutique management consulting firm, specializing in turnarounds, M&A, and strategy & operations
• Promoted to senior analyst after 2 years
• Examples of projects: synergy capture for acquisition of a competing company; business process redesign and creation of process documents to implement a planning tool; 13 week cash flow; capacity analysis; make vs. buy analysis
• Also several good internships through college (Fortune 500 companies)

Extracurriculars:
Probably weakest area – no time with consulting! Joined a local organization focused on volunteer activities that can be done in a day. Lots of travel, especially in the last 3 years. Pro bono hockey analytics tracking. In college – teaching assistant for a year; part time jobs throughout undergrad.

Current Target Schools:
• Haas (R1)
• Wharton (R1)
• Kellogg (R2 – probably top choice)
• Columbia
• Duke?
• Sloan?? Yale SOM?

Questions:
1) What are my chances at each of the schools I’ve listed?
2) What other schools should I think about applying to based on my goal?
3) What school(s) should I apply to as a backup?
4) What can I do in the next 3 months to improve my profile?

Thanks so much!

Hi, in answer to your questions: I don’t have enough information to give you a chances evaluation – though you can use our online chances evaluation tool to get a better sense. Your academic history is strong, and the fact that you have business experience works for you. Weaknesses I see in your application include lack of managerial experience, and other than the pro-bono hockey analytics, there doesn’t seem to be any connection between your history and your goals, so you will need to make a strong case there. You should definitely go for backup schools; Tepper, Johnson, Carroll and McCombs are good options. In terms of improving your profile – one thing to consider is retaking the GMAT to see if you can score higher; average scores of those accepted across the board seem to be rising, so this can give you additional leverage. If you can gain any responsibilities at work that involve leadership, that would also help.

Good luck!


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edit

Hi,

Can you give me advice about MSBA (Master of Science in Business Analytics) programs?

Hi,

Can you please evaluate my profile and give some valuable suggestions

GMAT score - 690 (Q-49,V-35)
Nationality : Indian
Gender : Male

Academic Profile :

10th standard : 93.5%
12th standard : 91.1%
Graduation(Electronics and communication) - CGPA of 8.98

I have been working for a reputed IT organization for the past 2.5 years.I specialize in build management.

Where do I stand according to you in terms of securing admission in the top B schools?

Hi, you have a very interesting profile; I like especially the strong extracurricular activities and the managerial experience – as well as the series of promotions in your current work place. Well done! Your GMAT is on the low side; GMAT scores are becoming increasingly important; if you think you can retake and break 700 I strongly advise you give it a try.

I’m a bit perplexed at your goals; you state you want to become the CEO of the biggest bank in Indonesia after you gain your MBA in 3 years? And THEN as a long term goal you want to found your own BANK and make it the biggest in Indonesia?

That seems to me rather farfetched, or else I don’t understand how it works in Indonesia. Wouldn’t the CEO position be something you might aspire to become in 15-20 years minimum, thus making it your long term goal? And is founding a bank something one can do without being heir to one of the country’s biggest family fortunes? If you have that in your corner, you would certainly want to explain in your application.

About the schools you’ve listed, they are a nice mixture of competitive to stretch. Other schools to consider would be those in Finance – Chicago, Wharton, Haas, Ross, MIT, and of course London Business School if you are open to studying in the UK.

Good luck!!

Joy

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