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

Hi
Can you please evaluate my profile and give me some suggestions?
I plan to apply for September 2017 session.

Nationality- Indian
Age- 26
Gender- Male
GMAT- 680(Q49, V33)
- 710(Q50, V34)
Graduation- Mechanical Engineer with 2.76/4 GPA (76%, both % & CGPA are mentioned in my degree)

Work Experience- 4 years, will be 5.5 by the time of enrollment
Owner of Polymer India- We deal with various types of industrial packaging products(like Pail Containers, Hdpe bottles, Pet bottles, Hdpe Drums) & Recycling plastic raw material(HDPE, LDPE, PP). Our suppliers are companies who deal with pesticides and chemicals, so quality has been one of our trademark from the very first day.
P.S- This is not a family business. It's an enterprise started solely by me after my graduation.

Key Responsibilities-

Maintaining relationships with suppliers as well as distributors.

Held numerous training seminars to teach as well as learn from the staff of manufacturing unit as well as office staff- These seminars not only increased the knowledge of everyone but increased productivity and led to better team work and understanding in everyone.

Ensuring product specifications and quality remain up to date.

Devising new promotional activities and schemes for marketing the products.

Ensuring all the billing and paperwork is done in a systematic way.

Achievements-

Increasing the product portfolio from five products in 2012 to more than fifty products today.

Improved designs and high quality increased the turnover by more than 200% in three years(In the first year, i designed a mold of pail container which not only reduced the weight of the container by more than a 100grams but also maintained the same strength- a design which is followed by all our competitors today)

Reducing the manufacturing costs by more than 50% in the span of two years.

The growth of the team from five members in 2012 to more than thirty members today.

Other Activities-

Presently learning French- course A1
Worked on a project titled "Benchmarking Automobile Industry" for Mahle Filters India for 4 months
Stood first in Junkyard competiton organised by our University
Stood first in Treasure hunt competition organised in the university.
Organised a 10 day industria trip in collaboration with Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto for the entire batch during my graduation.
Assisted with the placement cell during my graduation.
Vice Captain of cricket team in the university
Captain of cricket team, house captain & co-founder of sports & research club in the school.
Won 1st prize in the debate competition organised in the university where students from 8 different universities took part.

Active member of Keyan- an NGO which provides shelter and food to underprivileged and blind children since the last 4 years. Primary responsibility includes teaching the kids, development of their character. By Feb this month, we had more than 500 kids living under our roof.

I'm also a member (Vice President of one) of 6 different clubs in my city, where-in i organise events on a monthly basis.

My short term goal is to work as a product manager in one of the big Tech firms. I've overseen Operations & supply chain, Marketing, HR, Finance roles during my last four years. However my target is to do MBA in operations management.

My target Schools in order of preference-

1) Stanford
2) Hass
3) MIT
4) UCLA
5) Ross
6) Kellogg
7) Mccombs
8) Duke
9) Tepper
10) Foster

As you can see, i've tried to narrow down the schools which offers the best opportunities in Tech.
Kindly tell me what are my chances at the mentioned schools.


Thank You
Ashutosh Aggarwal

1. Country of birth and citizenship : India
2. Undergraduate GPA : 3.8 (Graduated with distinction from Visvesvaraya Technological University, India with a BS in Computer Science) -- (2008-2012)
3. Graduate School GPA : 3.52 (University of San Francisco, California) (2012-2014)
4. GMAT : Scheduled for July
5. Work Experience : Summer Intern and Fall Co-op at a healthcare start-up in San Francisco (May2014-Dec2014), Full-time cloud computing operations engineer at Amazon Web Services in Seattle, Washington (Jan2015-Present), 1 promotion within 13 months of being on the job. I was hired for a team that is currently in the process of building revolutionary cloud solutions for enterprise customers, we operate like a start-up within a large corporation. I have contributed to more than core engineering, I've taken on numerous responsibilities generally taken on by Senior Product Managers, I designed an introductory program for new engineers to ramp up with the team and our operational environment, program management experience as scrum master and migration strategies. Core engineering contributions include leading a team of 3 engineers on a few projects to performs tasks involving cloud infrastructure architecture and implementation for customers bringing in over $700,000 in annual revenue.
6. Extra-curriculars : Helped in organizing a save tiger campaign in India. Class representative in my senior year of college, vice-captain of a soccer team in a local league, chief member of the committee that organized multiple inter-collegiate festivals during my undergrad, currently an active volunteer at a non-profit that raises funds via events such as "Seattle's most talented" to invest in social entrepreneurs in African countries, and I've had the opportunity to be an integral member at many of these fund-raisers. I've also been a mentor to underprivileged high school students at Seattle's chapter of Minds Matter. Working with driven high school students is extremely inspiring.

What schools do you think would make sense for me? I'm looking for a collaborative environment and would love to learn from people with extremely diverse backgrounds and perspectives. I want to pursue my MBA in general management and strategy, and my post MBA goal is to return to the technology world as a product manager and eventually transition into a venture capital firm because I believe my personality is one that helps enable individuals in realizing their goal.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for the evaluation.

Cheers,
Raj

Hi

Thanks for your reply.
The company doesn't have a website. We don't really need one as all our interactions are 1 on 1.
I was 6th in my class. I know 2.76 sounds on the low side but my university had a strange way of awarding CGPA. The topper in my class had 3.4 with 88% and i had 76%.

Yes, running the company is a full time job. But i try and find time for other activities as well. I'm living in the capital of India, so to be social is as necessary as to be successful. The french course i'm doing is an online course, so it gives me a great flexibility. Being associated with Keyan is something very personal to me and i try to help as much as i can. The benchmarking project was something i did back in my graduation days. And yes, being a member of 6 clubs and VP of one is stressful but i'm surrounded with some very good friends and colleagues, so that helps.

I also wanted your advice on my chances in MSCM program by Ross. The first 2 deadlines are gone and the 3rd deadline is in August. Is it worth applying in the last round, especially me being an international student?

Thank You

Regards
Ashutosh Aggarwal

Hi,
I have an experience of 4+ years in Indian IT industry

Roles and Responsibilities:-
->Responsible for gathering requirements & explaining it to my peers.
->Lead the development of many module.
->Leading a team of 2
->Have been awarded twice in my tenure.

Academics:-
77.6%-10th,
70%-12th,
67%-B.TECH(Electronics)from UPTU

Extra curricular:-
In college days I have helped in organizing Blood Donation and Education camps for poor.
In 2014, took part in campaigning for a leading political party.

Planning to appear for GMAT in January 2017.

Please suggest If joining an NGO and taking certification exams related to my domain and skills will be an added advantage?

Please evaluate my profile and suggest what should I do to stand out of the crowd, as many Indian Students have same profile.

Hi,

I am aiming for IIM A,B,C 1yr executive mba program beginning 2017.

My gmat - 640 (Q49) is too low (got 720,720 in gmatprep). Do I stand a chance with this score?

profile :
Topper in Class X, XII and BTech (all semesters) (CGPA 9.5/10)
MTech from IIT (CGPA 9.5/10)
PMP certified project management professional.
8+ years work experience in auto industry. working as team lead.
recommendations from two VPs from previous company


Please advise.

Hello Sir,
My name is Jai Singh, from India. Please guide as to what should be my next step.
GMAT 1st attempt yesterday : Score 730 (QA 50, VA 39, IR 8)
Undergrad % : 62% Bachelor of Engineering. I don't have a very good percentage, but from one of the top 10 colleges in India.
Work experience : 4yrs by fall 2017 (1yr corporate, 2 yrs in a couple of self started startups)

Sir I was expecting a score of more than 750, never scored less than 740 in the mocks, kaplan+manhattan+gmatprep.
I kind of messed up the verbal section as couldn't attempt all, was able to do only 35 questions, randomly marked the next 4 and couldn't even mark the last 2.
My target schools are the ivys, now i am really confused between whether to apply with these scores or to give another attempt.
If i do decide on giving other attempt, should i cancel my 730 score and then give the other attempt or should i keep these scores and just give 1 more?
If i do cancel my scores and give another attempt and for some reason i end up scoring less than 730, am i allowed to cancel that new low score and reinstate my previous better score? And in either case which is a preferable gmat score report, 2 attempts - 1st with 730 and 2nd with lets say 750 or just 1 attempt with 750 score.
Is 730 a sufficient score to get into ivys?

Please advise as soon as possible.
Thank You

Sincerely
Jai

Hello Aringo,

I am planning to apply for programs this Fall. I apologize if this seems long, but please bear with me.

About me:
Asian-American Male, U.S. citizen, 29 years old

Education:
B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at a school currently ranked between #20-25, graduated 2009. 3.2 GPA (I had some terrible grades in my 2nd semester, which I attribute to working the night-shift at my on-campus job that semester)

I’ve also obtained a Project Management Professional (PMP) credential

GMAT:
710 (Q: 48, V: 38, IR: 5, AWA: 6)

Target Schools:
Kellogg, Fuqua, UCLA, Darden, Michigan, Georgetown

MBA Goal:
I would like to work in a general management or business strategy role. My target industries are transportation (airlines, railroads, etc.) or consumer products

Work:
6.5 years in litigation support consulting for a Big 4 firm. Started at the Entry-Level Associate level and promoted up to Manager level. However, I have been unemployed since March. We had a major error occur on my watch that almost lost us a major client. I took full responsibility for the error, and was terminated as a result

I’ve tried to reflect on what went wrong. My lesson learned was I tried to do too much and had perceived asking for help as a sign of weakness. It was a matter of time before I would slip-up, and unfortunately it was a bad enough slip-up to ruin my career at that firm.

Extracurriculars:
For the first few years after college, I was a regular volunteer at a soup kitchen and the Ronald McDonald House. I also led a couple community service projects at my firm, one to a hospital to read to children and another to clean up a local park. But after my first promotion, my job changed to 100% travel and with me working 60-80 hours/week, my extracurricular activity has been non-existent.


I am now trying to pursue an interest in producing documentaries. I’ve started my own production company and already have begun shooting for my first film, which I hope to have completed and released in the Fall. I’m not certain about monetization potential, but I do plan to try to get some value from advertising.

I’ve also sought to find a new job, but it has been hard to find a position at the same level and with the same responsibilities as I had before. I’m considering whether to focus on strengthening my extracurricular activities and on my documentary production for the next several months, or should I swallow my pride and take a lower-level position just to be employed? Or maybe even try a different line of work altogether? I am somewhat seriously considering a car salesman job, if anything to help strengthen my sales and marketing skills.

I appreciate any advice or feedback. Thanks!

Hello, I would love your feedback on my application. I'm thinking of applying in 2018 or 2019 for MBA, then 2019 or 2020 for MPP/MPA.

1) Demographic: 22, Male, Nepal

2) Educational Background: BA (Hons) International Business Management, Top 15 British University,
GPA - 3.5 to 3.6 ~ U.S equivalent (No ranking available due to Uni. policy)
GRE - 326 (QR 164(88th%), VR 162 (90th%), AW 5.5 (98th%))

3) Work experience: 1 year Editor-in-Chief of a magazine responsible for over 50+ (mostly international) staff. Current.
4 month Consultant for a South East Asian government. Current. Led a team of 4 professionals.
1.5 years experience in local retail company. Previous. Led a team of 7.
1 month Internship at a top-3 bank in Nepal. Previous.
Founder of a social venture that works in over 7 countries. Still in initial stage though.

4) Extracurricular Activities: Extensive volunteering/leadership history over 6 years: earthquake relief efforts, environmental and climate change, habitat welfare and children rights.
Competitive mountain biker and Asian instruments player.
Fluent in 5, intermediate in 4 other languages. Traveled, lived or studied in 20+ countries.
Published a paper in an international journal. Writing a book currently.

5) Long term goals: Strategic Consulting/ Social entrepreneurship in developing countries preferably in South Asia, South East Asia or Pacific Islands.

6) Target Schools:
MBA: HBS, INSEAD, Saïd
MPP/MPA: HKS, Columbia SIPA, LSE, Oxford BSG

7) Assume that my LoR is expected to be really strong. and my unique personal story and journey will help make my app essays very, very competitive.

Obviously, everything is very briefly described here, including leadership roles and impact of work. My concerns are whether I should apply earlier than I intend to and if there is a possibility for any substantial scholarship. I am most troubled by my lack of extracurricular IN university (although I think my extracurricular outside of uni. offsets this).

hi, thank you for your feedback

i have decided to retake the test

now,

will the iims consider the new score or old one or average ?

Hi,

I am trying to evaluate what would be the score I need to achieve and the type of profile I will need to build to pursue an MBA with GMAT. I am yet to give my GMAT, and thinking of taking it in early 2017.

1. Demographic Information:
Age: 27 (July 1989)
Gender: Female
Nationality: Indian

2. Educational Background:
Undergrad Major: Civil Engineering
Undergrad College: NIT Surat (Ranked among top 15 engineering institutes in India)
GPA: 6.7/10 (I know its low)

3. Work Experience:
Worked as an Assistant Professor for 1 year in an engineering institute teaching college students.
At present, I have completed 4 years working for the Government of Gujarat(State), in Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board at the post of Assistant Engineer. My department is very strict on hierarchy and almost everyone is stuck in a rut with promotions being awarded on seniority and not work-quality. My current work profile includes cross-checking projects and their implementation, developing action plans for my district regarding water supply, and rural public dealing.

4. Extracurricular:
Won College Level Dance competitions.

Hobbies: Dancing, Soap-making, Reading, Writing short-stories.

5. MBA Goals: I want to work for the consumer industry. I know this is completely opposite to what I am doing right now, but I really have this goal in mind and this is why I want to pursue an MBA.

Please guide me as what colleges, GMAT Score I should be looking at.

Thank You.