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

Hi Aringo!
Could you please review my profile, rate my chances for the schools that I'm applying to, and recommend some U.S. schools that I have a chance at? Your advice is greatly appreciated!


1. Basic Profile: Asian Canadian, female, 26 (by time of application)

2. GMAT: 710 (Q 51: 97 percentile, V 35: 76 percentile, IR 7, AWA 6)

3. Undergrad: UC Berkeley, BA in Economics, 3.2 / 4.0

4. WE: 2 Years and 6 Months as of now, 3 by the time I matriculate

- Big 4 Internal Audit Consulting + External Audit
Worked on many projects on SOX control testings and internal audit evaluations,
working extensively in team environment, and with people from other global offices.
Lots of client interaction and relations management.
Then I wanted to try external audit before I gained too much experience,
so I applied for an internal transfer and performed external audit for around 1 year.

- Local Internal Audit Consulting (About to start)
Senior Consultant position.
It's small consulting firm composed of small number of internal audit experts.
Reason for moving: better W&L balance / salary increase / better projects

5. Other Qualifications: Licensed CPA (Washington), CISA.

6. Extra curricular:
Nothing really special; I draw a lot by myself, but I don't think it counts too much I also play a lot of games but I don't think I should mention that on my application..

7. Plan to apply to 5 schools.
1. Rotman - Toronto
2. Ivey - Western Ontario
3. Safety school in Canada; haven't decided which one.
4. U.S. school
5. U.S. school


I don't mind too much if the U.S. schools are a stretch, if my profile is competitive for Rotman and Ivey.

P.S. I hope to switch career to finance; if that fails, I hope to use the finance knowledge learned in MBA to find positions in internal audit in the banking & finance sector.

You have a very interesting profile, and the fact that you are from Azerbaijan is definitely a plus, even though Azeri MBA applicants are not unheard of. There is a chance your profile is strong enough to compensate for the GMAT score that would normally be too low for the schools you have mentioned if your applications are outstanding too. So making sure that is indeed the case it vital for you. I cannot emphasize enough how important strong essays will be for you!

Other things that could be of interest on top of everything you mentioned are international experience of any kind, extracurricular activities, especially if in a leadership role, so is there anything along those lines that you could add or work on adding?
You should also make your post MBA goal a bit more concrete and think carefully about how you describe it. In my opinion it is not quite up to par at the moment.

But you are definitely an accomplished and unusual applicant so you have a lot of things going for you if you can make sure the applications are really good. ARINGO offers a range of services that could be of interest for you, so if you are considering professional help, feel free to request a free consultation on our website.

Good luck!
_________________

That is a really difficult question and one is generally hard for an admissions consultant to give advice on as so many factors from geography to personal interests and preferences regarding school culture etc. play a part on top of all the statistics. So instead of just giving you names of schools, I would recommend that you start by taking a look at the schools specializing in finance and their rankings here: https://aringo.com/mba-specialization-rankings/

You should also take the average GMAT scores for each school that interests you into account by checking them in a list like: https://poetsandquants.com/2015/04/03/hi ... s-schools/ as that will make it easier for you to narrow down your options.

I would say that your profile is reasonably competitive for both Rotman and Ivey though, with good applications. Your biggest disadvantages are the lack of extracurricular activities and lack of leadership roles, so anything you can do to change that by the time you apply will increase your chances of admission.
_________________

Hello Sir,

Please evaluate my profile and suggest points of improvement and my chances at the below listed schools

Name : Mihir Patel
Age : 28
Nationality : Indian
GMAT : 720 (Q49 V39 IR 6 AWA 5)
UGrad : BE in Instrumentation and Control with 71% (First Class with Distinction)
Work Ex : 6 Years (break up as below)

L&T CHIYODA Pvt. Ltd. (a division of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Pvt. Ltd)
Sr. Engineer, Jan-2014 – Mar-2015
Executive Engineer, Sep-2010 – Dec-2013
With L&T being India's largest Engineering and Construction Company, L&T-Chiyoda (a JV between L&T and Chiyoda Corp, Japan) is L&T’s main center for engineering.
Report to AGM of the Department and responsible for engineering & design for Oil and Gas Projects.
- Selected as Management Trainee (MT) from the pool of 1000+ Graduate Campus recruits who joined L&T in 2010)
(MT Scheme of L&T is aimed at identifying potential managers / leaders evaluated on the basis of several key parameters such as Leadership qualities, Vision, Interpersonal communication and Creativity through a series of aptitude tests and interviews conducted by Company level VPs).
- Reduced man hour consumption on preparation of deliverables by 20% by developing standardized templates and implementing effective automation using excel VB Macros

DODSAL ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Pte. Ltd. (Dubai, UAE)
Executive Engineer, Mar-2015 – Present
Dodsal Group is a leading EPC player in the Energy, Industrial and Infrastructure sectors with a strong track record of executed project in 22 countries the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and South-East Asia.
Report to Project Lead and responsible for engineering & design of Control Systems and interfacing with other department
- Led a team of two colleagues through all phase (conceptual design, procurement, detail design & Factory acceptance test) of a Safety System costing around $ 3Mn (approx. 0.5% of Project Cost).

Education
L D ENGINEERING COLLEGE, Gujarat, India
BE, Instrumentation and Control, 2010. Result: 71.02% First Class with Distinction.
- As a Department Placement Coordinator helped fellow students & juniors in improving their aptitude & communication skills by conducting mock placements & communication workshops.
- Member of Technical Festival Campaigning & Fund raising Team

Extra – Curricular
- Started & managed the first in-house e-magazine for I&C Dept. at L&T Chiyoda with a team of six fellow colleague
- Taught basic math to students of economically underprivileged group as a part of Teach India campaign by The Times of India during 2008-2009


Post MBA goals : Consulting in Energy (both renewable and Non-renewable) and Infra sector
Interested in : Business Analytics, General Management and Leadership
Target Schools :
1. Darden
2. Ross
3. Tepper
4. Tuck
5. Mendoza
6. Yale
Request to indicate chances for each school in terms of achievable, ambitious and safety option.

Thank you so much for reading and evaluating my profile.
Warm Regards
Mihir Patel
_________________

Hi,

And thanks for reaching out! That is quite a varied list you have there, so would recommend that you think long and hard about what specific aspects of each school or program appeals to you in order to narrow the list down a bit, and because you will want to address that in your essays as well.

That said, out of the schools you have listed Yale, Tuck, Ross and Darden will be the most challenging ones for you. I don’t think any of the others are a huge stretch for you, but of course you come from a very competitive pool of applicants, so it is really hard to say for sure. If you are not completely happy with the remaining schools (which again, in my opinion are possible but not safety) you may want to expand your search to include some other schools as well.
_________________

Hi Gil Levi

Can you please evaluate my profile. I am very interested in doing MS, or MBA, in finance from some good asian university. Also, can you please suggest me some schools?

My GMAT score is 640 (Q50, V26, IR6). I have also taken GMAT last year. My score was: 620 (Q49, V26, IR:5). I am in no mood in taking another GMAT :p . Got some other engagements as well.


Work Experience:
----------------

Regular Check Up Polyclinic (2013-Present)
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Description: I started a polyclinic, currently 3 clinics. We provide passive health-care services, such as dental, ayurved, and cardio.
Designation: Proprietor, Founder
Role: Founder , Entrepreneur- administrative and management , Marketing

NJ Solar Infra (P) Ltd. (2014-Present)
------------------------------------------------------
Description: We consult our clients on solar project.
Our consultancy services include: developing of financial models-using excel, calculating depreciation and carrying out techno-economic viability
Working with another solar consultants to raise funds for small rooftop projects based on net metering
Designation: Director, Co-Founder
Role: Co-Founder, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Marketing: B2B & B2C

BU Group (Jun-Aug, 2012)
------------------------------------------------------
Description: Focus on NDT testing
Designation: Intern
Role: Assisted company CEO (IITR Alumni)
Assisted the marketing team to carry out seminars in different companies and colleges for business development

WILLmed, Columbus, USA (May-Jul, 2010)
------------------------------------------------------
Description: tech startup, focusing on non invasive glucose-meter
Designation: Intern
Role: Conducted competitive analysis with application of strategic and management tools
Analyzed medical data using MATLAB
*On tourist visa
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Education:
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Graduation College: Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Ropar
Major: Electrical Engineering
GPA: 7.55
Year: 2009-13

XII: 79.6% (2008-09)
X: 86.4% (2006-07)
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Academic Achievements:
----------------------

2016 Course: EDP on solar energy, under Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Certificate of Completion
2011 IIT Sem: 4 EE204: Signals and Systems Course rank # 1, Grade A
2010 IIT Sem: 2 MA102: Mathematics: Calculus 3D, Matrices, Space top 10 students among 800, Grade: A+
2010 IIT Sem: 2 Environmental Studies top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 PH101: Physics top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 MA101 Mathematics: Calculus 2D, Matrices top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 IIT Sem: 1 EC101A: C++ programming top 20% among 800, Grade: A
2009 Engineering Entrance Exam Results:
Category- GENERAL
IIT JEE: top 1% among 400,000 applicants
AIEEE: top 0.5% among 1,000,000 applicants
UPTU: top 0.1% among 250,000 applicants
2008 Senior Secondary Class Rank-1, IX
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Projects:
---------
Year Place Topic
2012-13 IIT To develop different market models for trading RECs in India
2012 IIT Valuation of Options, using Black Schole Method
2011 IIT Analysis on Modeling and Simulink of DC Motor and its Driving System Used for Wheeled Mobile Robot, using MATLAB
2011 IIT Valuation of Ford Share Price using Kalman Filter
2011 IIT Developed shoes that charge mobile phone using piezeo-elctric material, awarded: 2nd among 12 teams, certificate of honor & Trophy
2010 IIT Developed mobile appication: encrypting messages
2010 IIT Developed Solar Mailbox
2008 Class XII Recycling of Aluminium slab
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Social Services:
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Participation in Anti Child Labor Rally and Global Warming
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Extra Curricular Activities / Skills / Achievements
---------------------------------------------------
Tennis
2011: IIT Kanpur- Sports fest - Certificate of Participation
2010: Inter IIT meet - Certificate of Participation
2004: Saifco Tennis Tournament - Certificate of Participation

Collage Magazine, IIT
Member, Editorial Team - Magazine Copy

Drama
2004 School Drama - Delhi Public School - Certificate of Participation

Debate/GD/ Speeches
2007-09 - Reference Letter

Vocab Competition
Mother Dairy Spell Vocab Challenger, Reached round-2 - Certificate of Participation

Science Competition
Young Scientist Talent Search Exam, under category-A - Certificate of Participation

Art Competition
1998 Class-2 - Certificate of Participation
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Post MBA/MS plans:
---------------------------
short term: work in private equity
long term: start my private equity funds in India, focusing mostly on small companies that are still working on old management techniques.

Hi, and thanks for reaching out!

First of all, keep in mind that you are limiting yourself a bit by choosing only Asian schools. There are some excellent business schools that might fit you in the US and Europe as well. Second of all, I know you said you are not interested in retaking the GMAT but is there are any chance you could boost your community serving extra curriculars a bit before application? As it is now, only what you wrote under “Social Services” are activities helping others so that would round out your profile nicely. Just a suggestion...

As for schools, it is really hard for us to recommend schools as candidates need to figure out so many things in order to figure out what works best for them, from geography to expenses and more, but I will say that being an Indian candidate with a GMAT score of 640 will probably put you out of the running for the top Asian business schools (such as INSEAD Singapore, the Universities of Hong Kong and Singapore etc.) so you will need to look at schools outside of the top in your case.

This list with GMAT scores is not really up to date as it is from 2015 but could give you an indication of what schools to look at: https://www.topmba.com/mba-rankings/regi ... sc+search=

All that said, you have enough good things in your profile that an excellent application could increase your chances of admission so having a professional work with you on the application might be a good idea.

Hope that helps and good luck!
_________________

Hi Aringo,

Can you please review my profile?

Nationality : Indian
Grad School: NIT Rourkela, 7.9/10
GMAT: 710 (Q50,V34,IR6)
Work-ex: 5 years (till now)

I am working as an Assistant Manager(Process) for a top-automobile OEM based out of India.

Export Operations:
1. Worked towards increasing the loading capacity of our export containers to 10+ countries that resulted in significant cost benefits.
2. Increased the packing efficiency of our export boxes resulting in better space utilization.
3. Standardized packing materials for export to 50+ countries.
4. Few other project that resulted in significant cost benefits and in streamlining the process of packing to avoid customer complaints.

Vehicle and Engine Assembly:
1. Benchmarking of assembly activities to standardize assembly process across all the 3 manufacturing plants.
2. Increased the packing efficiency of crates used for assembly parts thereby reducing the in plant and vendor handling by a significant percentage, resulting in cost saving, lesser trips, reduced manpower.
3. Did quite a few projects to streamline the assembly process, by bringing in new technologies which were first time for my company and few were first time in india.
4. Also initiated cost reduction activity for our products which resulted in cost savings for our products.
5. Worked in cross functional teams from Japan and European countries, where I led my team to successfully launch products in their market.

Digital Manufacturing:
1. Took initiative to set up this department in my company under my current role so as to virtually validate assembly process, equipment and fixtures required for manufacturing and assembly, reducing the cycle time for validation of product and cost associated with it.
2. Virtual planning of assembly process for new models, variation and tolerance analysis, time calculaton for assembly (all done in a virtual world).

I don’t have any work-ex outside India, though I have regularly worked with teams from different countries.
There are few other important works that I have done like I was given additional responsibility during my first two years to mentor new joinees in our department.

NGO Experience:
I have worked for a NGO related to education for under-privileged families. Since 4.5 years, I have been mentoring, coaching, and at times raising funds for their education.
Extra-curriculars:
Have managed fest in college, founded quizzing club, was part of publicity team.

I am interested in Operations Management.

Target schools : MIT Sloan, Kellogs, Ross & Tepper.

Are these schools over ambitious for me ?
What other schools may I have a good chance with ? And what else would I need to convert my target schools?
Thanking you in anticipation.

Hi and thanks for reaching out!

Your profile looks good to me, but the problem with it is that nothing really stands out. Your GMAT score is okay, but not anything out of the ordinary *and even a bit low) for the schools you mentioned, and the same goes for your experience, where you have some disadvantages as well, such as not having international experience. Keeping in mind that you come from a very well represented pool of applicants as an Indian, you really need something that makes you stand out from the crowd as an applicant, and that is what I am lacking here.

So yes, in this case, without any differentiator, I would say these schools are slightly over ambitious. I would therefore say your options are as follows:
1. Start working on something to add to your profile that would make you more unique within the Indian applicant pool.
2. Work with a professional admissions consultant that may be able to help you find unique things in your background, experience or elsewhere that you can use in your essays, in order to have really impressive essays to submit at least. You can sign up for a free consultation with ARINGO on our website if you’d like.
And 3. Look at other schools, where the requirements are lower. If you’d like our help with that, we would need to know more about what you are looking for in a school, however, so if that is relevant, get back to me with some info on that.

Good luck!
_________________

Hi Gil,

I would like you to evaluate my profile and then later possibly help me create applications for Duke and/ or Stanford. I know that these colleges might be really unrealistic considering my profile, but I do want to apply to atleast 1 of the top 10 colleges and these 2 are the ones that I feel are the best fit for me!!! I have registered on your website but here are some quick details on my profile:
(I have already started applying to other colleges, I just need some help with applying to the top 10 )

My GMAT score is 710( Quant : 49 and Verbal 38) and my TOEFL score is 112( Reading : 26, Listening : 30, Speaking : 27, Writing 29)
I have a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Manipal Institute of Communication, India (GPA: 8.09/10)
Till now, I have ~41 months of experience[/b]

I am currently working with ZS Associates as a Business Operations Associate.
The following is a snippet of my work here:
September 2014 to present
1. Managed and built quarterly call planning processes for a US based pharmaceutical client and ensured successful delivery of the call plans to the sales representatives for 7 quarters since January 2015
2. Marketing Strategy: Designed and implemented a segmentation and targeting strategy for a client’s key revenue-driving drug that resulted in an increase in sales of about ~10% without any increase in effort by the sales force team
3. Process Improvement: Constructed new customer alignment and compliance processes for new drug launches; optimized existing processes that reduced deliverable turnover time by ~50% and increased profitability by ~20%
4. Sales Operating Model: Strategized and created promotional response and sales force sizing models for 2 Fortune 500 clients
5. Coaching & Mentoring: Mentored junior members in the team; imparted domain and technical knowledge by facilitating daily training sessions

I have a career gap of ~8 months between my previous and current jobs due to personal reasons. I have an essay ready for that; I can share that with you once we connect

Previous Work experience:
C2L Biz Solutions – IT Services
(IT startup providing end-to-end IT solutions to insurance companies)

Software Engineer May 2013 – October 2013
1. Sales Technology: Designed and developed interactive insurance forms on tablet devices for the sales team of a Hong Kong based insurance company that helped the firm realize a profit of 15%

Toshiba Software India – Software Development
Trainee Engineer August 2012 – May 2013
1. Product Development: Fixed, tested and logged bugs in the SONY BRAVIA digital television audio firmware engine per client requests
2. Process Automation: Reduced yearly manual workload of the team by 10% by automating Dolby Digital Certification test processes using PEARL script
3. Delivered the 100% error free ‘Golden Master’ version of the BRAVIA Engine audio firmware

Extra Curriculars and Part time Jobs:
CACTUS Communications – Communication Services

Freelance Editor July 2014 – April 2015
1. Delivered edits for scientific manuscripts, ranging from 1000 to ~15000 words, for authors and researchers from non native English speaking nations
2. Managed and edited high priority manuscripts requiring quick turnaround times on a weekly basis

Distinctions
1. Won “Emerging Leader” award at ZS Associates
2. Won 2nd place in the 3 day “Bootcamp” case study competition organized by ZS Associates for new employees in the operations track
3. Volunteer for "Door Step School", an NGO dedicated toward educting underprivileged children in India
3. Regularly donate money for books to charities such as "Global Giving, UK"
4. Editorial Board Member, Institutions of Engineers – Manipal Chapter, Manipal, Dec. 2008 – July 2012
o Reviewed and edited articles for the club’s newsletters
o Organized and facilitated the club’s marketing activities
o Received appreciation for effectively organizing a large scale inter college model rocket building workshop; Served as a primary liaison between the company “AT Solutions” and the club
o Received appreciation for organizing an intra college event focusing on the development of a prototype home security system at the National level technical fest of Manipal Institute of Technology
o Organized various donation drives for underprivileged citizens in Manipal
5. Received “Honor Society Awards” each year during the last 4 years (2002 to 2005) of schooling for exemplary academic performance

Interests
1. I love to play finger style guitar
2. Photography
3. Technology and Gadgets


Thank you for your help!!!
Anirban

Your profile is definitely interesting and has a lot of positives so if you were not Indian it would be much more clear-cut. However, as the Indian applicant pool is so strong, I will say this is a bit of a borderline case, especially when it comes to Stanford (would rate your chances as slightly better for Duke), so essentially it will come down to the essays you apply with. It looks like you have a lot of things to cover in them, so I think you are doing the right thing by considering getting professional help with them. Should you not do that, I see this going either way. As I said, a bit of a borderline case, but that is not necessarily a bad thing as some fine tuning on the application could be all you need.

The best of luck to you!
_________________

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I would definitely like some help with the applications. I have already registered on your website

Hi,

Request you to kindly review my profile and help me with your inputs.

Nationality : Indian
Gender: female

Total Experience: 7 years
Working as Consultant in a leading IT MNC.

Graduation: B.tech in Electronics & communication engineering
CGPA : 6.5/10
XII : 86.6%
X : 91.2%

GMAT : attempt 1: 610
Attempt 2: 650

Work experience :
______________
Started as software developer with another leading IT MNC. Got two promotions and currently working as consultant with another IT company.

Worked from offshore team for Clients in Finance & banking, telecom & retail domains from US, Canada & Singapore so far.

Zero onsite experience.

Target school : ISB Hyderabad.

Post MBA plans:
____________
Work as a business analyst in finance & banking domain.

Extra curricular Activities :
____________________
1. Active member of college magazine. Leading the Arts Committee.
2. Active participation in cultural activities and arts competitions in schools and colleges.

No NGO or CSR experience.

Kindly let me know where are the areas of improvement in my profile which I can work on in next two months so that I can apply for round 2 this year.

What are my chances of being selected with this profile ?

Thanks for the help!!

-Neha

Foreign Policy to MBA - Dual-Degree?

Hi Aringo! Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

African-American Male
GRE 1: 149Q/163V
GRE 2: 155Q/161V
School: Big 10 School in the Midwest- Think Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin-Madison, etc.
Major: International Relations with a focus on Asia

GPA: 3.2 GPA - really messed up my first two years as I had no idea what I was doing, came from a super **** school and area (high violence/terrible academics), and had serious health issues, but I pulled up my GPA from 2.0 and Academic Probation to 3.2 by doing really well in my final years. I was able to ace all of my econ classes (7) save one where I got a B. I think I only took one math class, Calc, during college. I failed it the first time but retook it and passed with a B the second time.

Work experience:

• 4-5 Years Out of School (2012 Grad)
• Top Foreign Policy Think Tank (e.g. Brookings, Council on Foreign Relations, CSIS, American Enterprise Institute, etc.) the last 4 years working on a variety of foreign and some domestic policy issues (nothing social though) with policymakers across the spectrum
• Promoted 3 times in less than 4 Years
• I've also worked on diversity programs in international relations a lot over the last four years
• Half Year Internship at U.S. Embassy in Asia working on Trade Promotion
• Half Year Internship working in Parliament of Western European Country on Economic Issues
• Half Year Internship working on Health Market Public-Private Sector Programming
• Study Abroad: Japan for a Year (I speak Japanese pretty well)/UK for Half a Year (studying economics)

Extra curriculars:
I volunteered in college a bit with low-income students, minorities entering college that needed extra help, etc. but haven't done anything significant since graduating

Goal of MBA:
I would like to use the business skills and knowledge gained from an MBA (as well as OCR opportunities) to enter the rotational program at a multinational conglomerate such as Johnson & Johnson, GE, or P&G. I would work at the company for a few years then go into international trade policy on the Hill, within the current administration, or at a nonprofit. The ultimate goal is to work on these issues at a high level within my home state in the MidWest and Washington, DC, helping to combat some of the effects that have occurred with the hollowing out of the Rust Belt.

I want to also apply to policy schools to learn more regarding the policy side of these aspects as I feel they go hand-in-hand in so many ways. There are also many great joint/dual degree programs out there.

Target schools:
MBA - ???
Policy - Harvard Kennedy/Tufts Fletcher/Georgetown SFS

I'm a little lost here. I want to aim high but I know my GRE and GPA are nonstarters at most top schools. I know however that I can get into a top policy school as many of my colleagues with similar stats have gotten into the aforementioned schools.

Something such as Stanford's US MBA Fellowship is EXACTLY what I want to do, it hits every single point of my background/career goals, but I know that I have a snowball's chance in Hell of ever getting in.

I studied so long (~100+ hours) to raise my quant score for the GRE, but I'm afraid that what I never learned as a youngin (there was a lot of material on the test that I had never seen in my life) has forever inhibited my ability to get a higher score. I never studied for the verbal (was actually scoring higher during practice tests).
Where should I aim? What should I do?

I was thinking that if I could get into a top policy school, such as Kennedy, that I might be able to use that to leverage my way into a top MBA and dual-degree. Is that realistic?

Dear Gil,

Please help in evaluating my profile...

Nationality : Indian / Gender : Male / Age : 24

GMAT 1 : 580 Q:45 V:25
GMAT 2 : 690 Q:50 V:34

Academics :
10th : 85%
12th : 97.2%
Engineering : 3.57 / 4 ( Indian GPA 9/10 - Top 10% in the department) - Anna University (Top University after IIT in Chennai), Chennai

Work Experience :

Working as Deputy Manager, Business Intelligence unit, ICICI Bank
2.7 years at Business Intelligence unit, ICICI bank. (got 2 appraisals)
Promoted in 1.7 years (Company's policy is 3 years per promotion)

1. Was awarded BIU Star Award for exceptional contribution in NPA Provisioning analytics and Regulator's data quality project
2. Winner of CUG contest of Conversational Banking and Smartkeys in ICICI Bank.
3. Was awarded Man of the Match in Inter Bank Cricket match against HDFC.

Projects :
1) Risk Based Supervision - Regulators data quality project. As a Project Lead for a team of analysts for the bank wide data quality project for all the core systems of the bank. One of the most critical and significant project as it deals with Regulatory reporting.
2) NPA Provisioning analytics - At turbulent times of the bank, contributed significant savings in the retail portfolio of the bank.
3) Analytics for Overseas branches of ICICI Bank - New York, Shangai, Dubai, Singapore, Sri Lanka
4) Risk Analytics - Segmentation of the loan Portfolio and calculating the PD and LGD for IFRS and Basel reporting.
5) Debt Service Management Group - Collection Analytics ( many left... just for giving an idea... limiting to this)

Educational Achievements :

1) eMDP - Management Development program from XLRI Jamshedpur on Corporate Finance (Leading B-School in India)
2) Specialization in Data Analytics - Jigsaw Academy ( #1 analytics training academy in india)
3) 3 - 4 courses in EDx and Coursera Online MOOCs from IIM-Bangalore etc.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

1) Co-Founder of a Start-up in College - Viggyan - A technical education company
An initiative by a group of students at MIT.
Was an active member of this network during my UG. Helped in promoting tech education to students through customizable curriculum.
Marketed activities, solicited business, promoted the brand and implemented a revenue sharing model at schools
in the remote villages in Tamil Nadu

2) Junior Coach of younger kids - Mumbai
Posted in Mumbai for Job. As Cricket was my passion didn't want to discontinue it completely.
So started playing for the Corporate team.
Aside started as an Assistant Coach for Cricket Academy in Mumbai.

3) Completed Level-1 Sailing - Aqua Sailing authority of India
4) Represented Tamil Nadu State Cricket Team in under 16 category
5) Captain of Thiruvallur district Cricket association in the under 16,19,22 categories
6) Winner of Inter district cricket tournament under my captaincy in under 19
7) Winner of Management Guru, nation level technical symposium by Anna University
8) Winner of Yuvashri KalaBharathi for outstanding achievements in Sports and Academics without compromising on either.
9) Organizer of Triathlon for differnt age group kids in the Society in Mumbai.

Hobbies :

Regular Marathoner, Dance, Sailing

Goals :

Want to stay in the field of Finance and since analytics is one area which I like,
would like to leverage analytics in the field of finance. In short Finance will be a major and Analytics as an elective.
Would like to head a business Intelligence Unit of a Financial Organization in short term.
Though Booth is a out of reach, Heard Booth is a good college for Finance and Analytics both. And Booth also has Analytics club which caught my attention.

Target Schools :

1) University of Maryland, Smith
2) Simon buisness school
3) Tepper
4) Johnson
5) Booth

Request you to evaluate my profile. And gauge my chances in the colleges above.
Please suggest what are the other colleges that I can target for finance and Analytics.
Would love your feedback on the profile and areas that I can improve to have higher chances of admission.

Thanks
Karthik

Hello Gil,

Please help me in evaluating my profile.

I am from Mumbai, India. I am 29 years old and looking to apply for MBA in Round 2 of b-schools. My preference is US b-schools followed by Canada. However, I am willing to look at other countries too as well as India. Below are my academic and work ex details:

GMAT Score: 610 (q43, v31) (Retaking on 14th Nov. However, I am prepared to go ahead with 610 even if my score doesn’t improve)

Bachelor’s Degree %: Third Year - 67.42., Second Year - 65.66, First Year - 57. I did my Bachelor's in Management Studies (BMS) from University of Mumbai. It's a 3 years degree and hence I have 15 years of education.

12th % (Science): 53.67

10th %: 82.13

Work Experience (in months): 67 months till now. Most of the work experience has been in real estate in sales & leasing of commercial office spaces. I have worked with some of the top real estate developers in Mumbai.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samdighe


Career Goals

Short Term Goals - Post MBA, I would like to get a job in the Marketing field preferably in a brand management role. I would definitely like to work in the same country where I get my MBA from at least for 5 years so that I get international experience as well as recover my cost.

Now, I am aware that getting into brand management roles is difficult for international students. Hence, I would like to get into a school which has a strong General management as well as a strong Marketing course so that I can explore other options during my MBA. I would also like to be in a location where there are multiple opportunities across industries (not necessarily a big city though).

Long Term Goals - I would like to continue growing in the marketing vertical of a prestigious global brand. Mostly, would like to come back to India after a few years, so the b-school brand should have a good reputation in India also.

Why an MBA and why now?

1) The primary reason for doing an MBA would be to switch from Sales to Marketing.
2) To get international exposure
3) Grow exponentially in terms of scope of career opportunities as well as my pay scale.

If I switch my job now, I know I will get a pay scale hike but the role will remain more or less the same. Also, all my life, I have been in Mumbai. I feel my learning and experiences have been completely one dimensional.

I would like to be in a country where the work visa policies are generous and the quality of life is good.

Extra-Curricular & Achievements:
1) One of the core team members of the college festival and was later on appointed as the chairman of the festival.
2) Participated in the inter-school badminton tournament.
3) Participated in various social service programs during school
4) Learning Latin dance
5) Volunteered at an event at ADAPT (The Spastic Society of India) and a rally organized by India Against Corruption
6) Scored highest marks in college in one of the subjects in the 4th semester.
7) Received a scholarship from a fortune 500 company for meritorious performance in 10th.

My questions are:
1) Which schools can I target? Please suggest a few as per my preferences mentioned above. I would prefer schools which don’t have a really large schools size and has case study based pedagogy (Please keep in mind that I have 15 years of total education as opposed to 16 years)
2) What would be the maximum number of schools that I can apply to in R2 (considering most R2 deadlines are around 1st or the 2nd week of Jan) without affecting the quality of my application? I aim to apply to at least 4 to 5 schools.
3) Is there any possibility to get scholarship?

Thank you.

Regards,
Sameer Dighe
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There are some weaknesses in your profile but I don’t think you can do much about them in 2 months alone. For example, your extra curricular activities could be improved of course but it will look too obvious that you are doing this for application purposes if you start now. Therefore, what I can recommend that you focus on, due to the time constraints, is to consider a retake of the GMAT, as the average at your target school is 700 so you are below that. You may also want to consider other schools. It is very common for applicants to do that so even if you only mentioned one school I would urge you to look at others too.

And last but not least: work a lot on your application and essay, as it really can make a difference. Consider getting professional help with the essay if needed.

If you decide not to apply now, there are some other improvements that I can suggest, these are short term suggestions only.
Good luck!
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Very interesting question and profile but I have a lot of follow up questions so would suggest you send in your details using our site https://aringo.com/ (it’s free and non-binding) so we can contact you for a chat (if you don’t mind of course). Your story and profile is very unique so you would need a unique strategy as well and I don’t want to suggest something without having all the facts.

So if you’d like, you could fill in our contact form here https://aringo.com/mba-process-registration/ and copy/paste what you wrote here so we know it’s you. You won’t be committing to anything by doing that, it’s simply a way for us to get in touch with you in a less public way. Thanks for understanding!
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You have a lot of impressive achievements in your list (and for Indians anything non-IT is great!), which is a good thing but for some of the schools the GMAT score is a bit low (keep in mind that Indian applicants are often expected to exceed the average scores) and at the end of the day it comes down to how you present all this in your essays. So focusing on possibly getting a higher GMAT score and bringing out top notch essays is what I would recommend that you focus on at the moment.

It’s also great that you have such concrete reasons and a passion for Booth, so given all that I would recommend that you apply to Booth (if you manage to get your genuine interest for them across in your essays it will help), but not only to Booth, as it will be a long shot. Therefore, I would say that your list is pretty good lengthwise. However, Booth, Tepper and Johnson will be the hardest schools out of the list to get admitted to for you. If you want to add more schools to your list consider schools in the 20 to 40 range.

Good luck!
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Aringo, thank you for your time! I've sent my information your way and I look forward to talking in the near future!