Ask ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting

Hi Gil, can you please review my profile?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/profile-eval ... l#p2013642

Thank you very much for your valuable inputs. I am not sure if I will be able to improve the score 20+ points.
I think I will work with professional consultant for essays.
Thanks again for reply!

Hi!! Can you please evaluate my profile?

Indian Male
Class 10 : 95.6%
Class 12 : 95.2%
UnderGrad(2015) : 8.25/10
GMAT : 660(Q-43;V-38)
Planning to apply for 2019 intake.

Work Experience:
1. 24 months - a leading IT service provider; currently part of a 3 member team.
2. A couple of months in a state owned enterprise.

Have organized a number of events in college; involved in the complete build-up of events right from brainstorming names for the event to distribution of awards. Also have designed posters, banners and certificates as part of the events.
Community service : Few and far between; but planning on improving on this in the days to come.

I am planning on making a switch to a marketing career, specifically in the consumer goods sector and I feel that an MBA would help my cause. I plan on taking up the GMAT one more time. What are my chances of being admitted into some of the top(top 20 -30) programs.
Also would it be beneficial if I get some part time(say internship) experience in the marketing domain before I start my MBA? Or would an internship after a few years of full-time work be considered a negative?

Hi Gil,

Thanks for your advise in advance!!
Requesting your initial assessment on my profile:
Male
GMAT: 720 (Q50/V36)
Working experience: 4 years in Oil and Gas-Energy (2012-2016) and 2 years in Consulting (2016-2018) - 6 months in Saudi Arabia.
Undergrad major: B.Tech.-Mechanical Engg.- IIT Roorkee
GPA: 3.5
Extra curriculars: National level Athlete, State Captain- Cricket, State Team member- Softball, Org. Committee Core Member- UG. Tech and Cult. Fest .

I am still exploring options regarding which B-schools to apply to.

Hi Team,

Wanted to get some perspective on a dilemma I am facing.
I am looking to apply to INSEAD, IE and Kellogg (1-yr) in R1 for the September 2019 intake. My post MBA goal is to start my own venture.
My work experience so far has been entirely in consulting (3 yrs in a big 4+ 2 yrs in a boutique). I am considering a job offer I have from a startup. The reason I interviewed was that I feel that a first hand experience in the startup space would help when I startup on my own, which I guess can help explain the reason for the change.

Other considerations: The new role will be of a Project Manager I will have more responsibility and leadership opportunities. However, it will probably be a bit difficult to get recommendations from my supervisor and I would therefore have to rely on recommendations from past employers.

Now my question is will a job switch just 4-5 months before submitting my application be looked at negatively by any of the AdComs? Or will it suffice if I explain that the reason for the switch was that I wanted to get some exposure to the functioning of startups before venturing out on my own?

Thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to read this Aringo! I'd really appreciate your feedback on my profile.

Personal

Male
25 years old
American with Pakistani heritage

Stats

GMAT: 710, Q47/V40/IR8/AWA6 (only attempt)
Undergrad: Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration/ Majored in Finance with Cum Laude distinction.
3.44 GPA, decent Midwest public university. GPA suffered in freshman year with science heavy classes; I was originally premed and hated it. Switched to Finance and did much better while actually enjoying learning, so upward trajectory. My general education requirements were completed at a community college with a 4.0 GPA and are not factored into the above average. Also, I worked full time while completing my last two years of university.


Extracurricular

Not too much in college; I participated in a few events for local non-profit organizations, but most of my time was spent working. Post graduation, I have been actively volunteering regularly through my current job at a nonprofit mutual health care company; we have a huge presence in the community. Also, I have been volunteering and have organized charitable events through my place of worship for about a year (fundraising dinners, supplies collection etc), and also provide tutoring. Finally, I teach jiu jitsu to kids aged 6-14 and run the kids’ program at my gym.

Work Experience

1 year as an economic technician with the state government; first job out of college. Performed economic analysis on employment trends and wage figures in coordination with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2 years as a financial analyst at big 3 auto company: forecast and analyze tooling, material, and labor costs across several high profile vehicle programs; worked on several high impact cost saving projects, as well as managed our tooling audit team that recovered over $5M of overspend during my tenure (sounds like a lot but our program budgets were colossal).

2 years (by R1 application deadline) as a senior financial analyst at large non profit mutual health care company: more corporate finance work; responsible for my entire department’s month end financial reporting and account reconciliations. Have implemented several process improvements and automated data entry processes. Managed three projects that have had high visibility and impact throughout the company; currently managing fourth and largest project to consolidate our two invoicing systems. Also sit on board of our protected health information committee which is responsible for upholding HIPAA regulations and client confidentiality throughout the company; received two promotions.

I was double promoted in high school which is how I'll be able to have 5 years of experience by R1.

Goal of MBA
Move out of corporate finance and into management consulting, with a concentration in health care. Prefer to stay in the Midwest and would love to land at a firm like Deloitte/EY.

Target Schools
My absolute dream school is Ross. I’ve done a lot of research on them and am planning on attending their local events, as well as their VIP campus visit program. They have excellent placement in both consulting and tech, and their MAP program fits my hands on learning style perfectly. Aside from Ross, I’m also interested in Fuqua as they are similarly strong in these areas.

My reach schools are Kellogg and Booth, but I know I’ll need to get my GMAT up for those. I'm planning on applying R1 for 2019 intake.

Again, I really appreciate your help! Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Looking to target Rutgers(either FT if my stats put me in range for a scholarship or PT) for their concentration in pharmaceutical management and analytics courses.

1. GMAT 640 (Q36 V41; Essay: 5.5; IR6) - debating retaking to raise quant score I have only taken it once.

2. UG GPA 3.04 (California State University, Fullerton: Double major B.S. Cellular & Developmental Biology (3.41 Major GPA) / B.A. Marketing). Something to note as well this is only my undergraduate GPA, I was in a community college prior to transferring - 2.66 for an overall 2.89 if I include my community college GPA. Reason for low UG GPA - I worked throughout college and was working through both majors at the same time as well as all summers.

3. Biotech/Pharma/Tech WE: 44mo-56mo (18 month progressed from coordinator to marketing strategist in a top 3 hereditary diagnostics firm and then 14 month in commercial analytics/sales operations as an analyst in pharma, 12 month sales operations manager in tech and may have 12mo of data warehousing/commercial operations consulting in pharma by the time I apply in the next year/1.5 years)

4. Hispanic Male: Will be 29/30 when applying

5. Not many extracurricular in terms of clubs: license private pilot & been focusing on my personal technical skills in SQL/Python/Data warehousing.

Goal of MBA - Expand my current knowledge of pharma management and data analytics as well as jump into a commercial leadership development program in top 20 pharma company.

Can you PM me regarding Aringos services? I have submitted a form through your website would like to learn more. I am definitely aiming for full time. Reason I am only targeting 1-2 programs is my fiancee is pursuing a PhD so we are relocating within the next year (which will be for at last 5-6yrs) so I am only targeting schools that are within a region that have a high prevalence of commercial pharma jobs (hence socal, Boston/Cambridge, Chicago).


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Hi Gil. I would need your advice. Here is my profile:

Age: 29
Gender: Male
Nationality: Indian

Education:
Be marine engineering,graduated in dec 2011
GPA: 6.4 on a 10 point scale [As 4 point Grading is not standardized in my country]

GMAT: 700 Q49, V35

Work Experience: 7 yrs in shipping (Currently working for British petroleum as 3rd engineer on their oil and chemical ships)

MBA goals- I want to make a career in consulting(priority) or to work for tech giants(apple,microsft,google etc).
My goal is to apply for the fall of 2019.
Pls suggest suitable MBA programs in which I would stand a realistic chance.(Assuming I manage to put a strong application and LOR)

Many thanks.

Thanks again!

Hi

At this stage in my life i am at cross roads and looking for advise from experts


Am 39 year old techie who started working in IT industry right after campus placement . However , since last 9 have been doing product development ,handling duties ranging from leading global design to leading deployment teams of our softwares across industries and countries . To be be frank , i have been pretty satisfied with work thus far as things are way challenging when you work on products that is sold/implemented globally as opposed to working for one client at a time (as is the case in an IT service industry typically).

The urge for an MBA came when i started to further myself in product management space and realized that whatever i have learnt or I am learning is through informal knowledge ,own experience and inputs/feedback from peers and is not structured . Hence in short term goal is to learn management in formal/structured way so that i can be successful product manager . Long term goal is to launch our own products successfully (own venture) - though we have technical expertise/excellence at hand but from go to market strategy, sales, long term success perspective it seems an uphill task without intensive immersive MBA education .


I am looking for colleges in Canada and clueless as to which one is within the reach . Just gave GMAT few days ago - Total score 710 ( Q-49 , V-37)
a) Being 39 years of age is virtually closed all my chance of full time MBA ? ( I dont want to go for EMBA)
b) Will improving GMAT score above 710 help address the -ves of age factor ?

Please advise

Regards

Currently looking at different schools to apply to and trying to figure out how competitive my stats and profile are for the schools I'm interested in. I've got a slightly unique background / accomplishments, but I'm not sure how these play into the eyes of an admissions committee. Also, I'm quite interested in finding a good culture fit, seeing as this is what I'll be doing for 2 years or so. Planning to apply Round 1 this fall 2018, matriculating fall 2019. Any and all advice or opinions are welcome as I am still just attempting to figure out what schools I should focus my efforts on. Thanks in advance for your time and opinions!

Backgound

Sex: Male (26)

Race/Nationality: Hispanic / USA

GMAT: 710 (45Q/42V), IR 8, AWA 6.0

Undergraduate: GPA - 3.8, Double majored in Business Economics and Management (Average State School)

Graduate School: Masters degree in environmental economics and rural development, Graduated with "Honors", Earned a "Distinction" for my master's thesis (think Oxford, LSE, Cambridge)

Athletics: The reason I went to the average state school was because I was an ESPN All-American at my sport and the school had a great athletic program. I got a full-ride athletic scholarship and was the captain of my Division-1 team. Ranked an ESPN top-10 recruit coming out of high school, but blew out my ankles / achilles / back freshman and sophomore year, and had to re-evaluate my life plan afterwards. This is the area of my background where I have no idea how much value admissions committees will place on my application.

Extra-curriculars: I have volunteered at an urban farm non-profit for awhile. The organization is built to teach low-income children from my city about the importance of farming, responsibility, and hard work. I help build chicken coops / greenhouses / community gardens / etc. there when needed, and am now a field trip leader for groups of children who come and visit the farm. I also volunteer at an urban garden center where I help out with distributing plant seeds and transplants for low-income families to grow food for the season.

Work Experience

Current: Active US government security clearance working for a financial regulator in the agriculture industry. I travel around the US visiting and examining agricultural banks to ensure compliance with federal regulations, and provide consultative-like advice on financial issues that are affecting the bank at that time. I've gotten two promotions within three years of working there, and now am in charge of my own bank that has assets over $500MM. I examine all levels of a bank including: governance, capital levels, asset quality, earnings, liquidity, interest rate sensitivity, internal controls, policies and procedures, etc. We work in a project type management structure, so sometimes I am managing between 10-15 people, and other times I am managing no one. Strong performance appraisals throughout my time at the organization. Will have just over 4 years of WE at this position before matriculation.

Past: Before I was at my current job, I interned in the mayor's office of my city (fairly large capital city) doing sustainability work, and I also had an internship the summer between undergrad and grad school where I worked in Central America for a large multinational agricultural company in the corporate social responsibility department.

MBA Info

Goal of MBA: My favorite part of my job is the project management style consultative work we do for the banks we regulate. I'd like to leverage my financial and project management work experience to transition to consulting. Preferably, I'd like to work for a consulting company with a strong agriculture related client base. Also, I'm interested in sustainability and corporate responsibility, so that is something I'm interested in from an MBA program and hopefully a future job.

Schools: Harvard, Stanford (big stretches), Dartmouth (personal favorite), Booth, Northwestern, Yale, Duke, Michigan, Washington-Foster

I tried to focus on schools with a strong consulting employment record, and also like I mentioned above, culture fit. I love the outdoors (skiing, backpacking, biking) and thrive better when I am in an environment of teamwork and fun rather than ultra competitive. Lastly, I think I'd like to be in the Mid-West or West Coast of the US which explains the Mid-West focus and UW-Foster interest.

Hi Aringo Team,

I would greatly appreciate an evaluation given that I believe I have finally discovered something I would love to develop myself on (product management) given that I work closely with many engineers, but only from a compliance standpoint (so not helping with the top line, so to speak). Would you happen to help recommend schools in the Top 25 that may suit me? Also, which schools would have a higher likelihood of accepting me based on my credentials (and forecasting GMAT?). I feel that I'm pretty average given that my undergrad seems to be conflicting (not a good school, but over performed seems to average out). Also, would any seem to offer some sort of financial package at first glance?

I did take your calculator which slotted me at a 65, which makes it seem like I'm competitive at the Top 10-20 b-schools, but wanted a second look with the details below.

Thanks in advanced, and I definitely do appreciate your time! It's helpful!!

1) Undergrad College -
California State University (Ranked ~#300 US, so pretty bad) in Business Admin: Accounting.
3.9 GPA Major GPA (Top 2% Graduating Class), and received the honor of being the College of Business's Accounting honoree (basically being the MVP of Accounting for my 2014 Class). Also have my CPA. I used to be president of a Pan-Asian student org focused on professional development where I increased membership by 2x.

2) Work Experience
Advisory in a Big Four primarily dealing with their largest tech 'relationship' clients. I deal a lot with their home grown platforms from a compliance standpoint, so essentially helping companies lock down their tech stack from a financial risk perspective. Lots of collaborative work between finance, business application owners, and engineering teams. 2 Years to senior, and looking to promo to manager in Sept 2019 if I don't leave for b-school before then! High performer, developed my own training curriculum for new hires, and I also facilitate a few trainings.

3) GMAT
Have not taken, but early indication of practice exams look to slot me around 700-720. My goal is 720, but given that I'm cranking some hours + gym, it's a bit difficult to commit to a LOT of hours.

4) Extra Currs
I mentor 1-2 UC Berkeley undergrads a semester - these are students who are usually looking for help on getting into the professional services industry.

5) Nationality, Age, Gender
American Born Chinese Burmese.

6) Post MBA goals - industry, company, desired location
I'd love to work as a PM in the tech industry, preferably at a FANG-type firm before perhaps moving into more of a start-up type company. However, I am open to the consulting aspect that MBA opens up. However, I understand this may not be in the tech industry - regardless, I feel like I'm good at making connections and genuinely enjoy meeting new people and helping them solve their problems (generic BS answer, I know)

Hi Team,

Thank you in advance for your time and guidance. Kindly review my profile and share your thoughts. Please note that am yet to give my gmat (currently getting 660 - 670 in mocks, aiming for 700+)

1) Background - Indian Female (29)

Education
2) Xth - 85%
XII th - 79 %

Undergrad - cgpa 7.6 in engineering in ECE from a university ranked 21 in India

3) WE - 8 years of work ex as a business system analyst in a top IT organisation with 2 years of international experience. Have experience of variety of projects such as development, maintenance, opearatons and ITIL services.

Have seen 3 role changes so far and have been leading teams with varying strength ( started with a team of 5 and moved on to manage a team of 30 members, all geographically distributed across 2 continents and multiple states) since last 4 years ( proactively took up this responsibility at a very early stage in my career, and team strength has been growing ever since).

Have Spearheaded large projects, leading functional and non-functional teams from different vendors, to deliver optimised business solutions. Have always played a client interfacing role and have interacted with senior leadership on multiple accounts.

Have conducted various automation drives in the organisation, spanning across multiple technologies such as analytics, and domains such as cards and healthcare. This has helped to establish new systems, and achieve dollar saves/ get more work from the clients.

Have been integral in generating revenue and growing the business, winning work at a time when business was slow. Have been part of proposals as well. Manage quality and finance related systems for my teams.

4) extra curricular

In school, have participated and won a lot of olympiads, art and dance completions. Also, was the class monitor.
During college, was involved in organising our 1st college fest. Being part of the management committee for the fest, was responsible for team and prop management. Also, managed a few events. Have represented my college in other fest as well.
At work, I Have conducted various account level and team level activities such as games, parties. Have conceptualised a play and written it’s script. Our team came 4th.

I have founded a group wherein I teach excel automation skills to those required.

I contribute to the knowledge repository of the organisation , by writing various knowledge documents( functional and non- functional ). I manage access and compliance related activities for my account.

5) community service

Active blood donor and I contribute/volunteer in such community activities ( planting trees, school bag drives, etc) held within my organisation. Have taught a woman in my neighbourhood. Actively participate in animal welfare activities. Created a small crowd fund to help a family in distress.

Awards: have won multiple awards in school and at work.

Post Mba goals - strategy consulting/product management/brand management

Question - i am targeting European schools such as HEC, Iese, ucd smurfit, etc. Please let me know if my target is achievable with my profile, even if I score less than 700 in gmat. Also, please suggest any other schools that I can include in my scope and will be reachable per my profile.


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-

Hello,

I would appreciate it if you could evaluate my profile and provide feedback. Thank you!

Currently, 26yr old Asian American Male. 27 at Matriculation.

College- 2 yrs at community college (3.8 GPA), then 2 years at UC Riverside (3.15 GPA). Combined GPA ~3.5. GPA fell at UCR due to familial obligations of taking care of a sick relative. Will use optional essay to discuss this.

GMAT: GMAT Prep Test Score of 740 (49Q 41V) Let's assume I will score between 720-740 on the real test.

Work Exp
1.5 yrs- Wealth Advisor at Guardian Life. My team and I specialized in working with business clients on insurance and investment programs, corporate tax planning, and business succession planning. I took this role out of college to really strengthen my soft skills (boardroom presentations, relationship building, communication, etc..). I am a huge believer in working on my professional skills and at the time, my soft skills were lacking in my opinion.

What will be ~3.5 yrs (at matriculation) as a analyst in Product Management at a Top 15 P&C Insurance Company (~$4B in revenue). I love the work I do. This role marries two interests of mine- data analytics and leading cross functional executive level projects within the company. I have plenty of quantitatively-backed examples of the impact I have had. The P&C insurance industry is going through a transformation and it will be heavily disrupted within the next 10-15 years by autonomous vehicles. I aspire to be a leader of a top 5 insurer in the long run and guide the industry through the changing landscape.

Extracurriculars: Vice Chair of a Young Entrepreneurs non-profit organization for 4 years. I was brought in to grow the membership base, and I was able to grow it from ~300 to now over 2,400 members. We provide entrepreneur education and community to grow and collaborate. I also started a volunteer program within this organization and we have volunteered over 3,000 hours at local food banks, beach clean ups, Easter egg hunts, soup kitchens, local libraries, etc..

Organized a basketball team through work. We play in a local men's league. I will somehow incorporate the importance sports (and basketball, specifically) has had in my personal and professional development over the past 18 years.

United Way Rep for 2017. Organized fundraisers and food drives at work. Launched our first Annual Silent Auction which raised more money than any other event.

Short-Term Goal: Join MBA Leadership Development Program at Liberty Mutual Insurance

Target Schools: Columbia, Yale, Kellogg, Ross, Fuqua, Darden, Cornell, NYU, UCLA. I will shorten this list but those are the schools I have an interest in.

I know I posted once before, but I didn't have a GMAT score at the time. Just took the exam today so wanted to see realistically where I could end up.

Work experience: Big Four Advisory primarily dealing with largest tech 'relationship' clients (FANGU). I work on their home grown platforms from a compliance/data integrity standpoint, so essentially helping them lock down their tech stack from a financial risk perspective (e.g SOX compliance but more in-depth). Lots of collaborative work between finance, business application owners, and engineering teams. 2 Years to senior, and looking to promo to manager in Sept 2019 if I don't leave for b-school before then! High performer, developed my own training curriculum for 25+ new hires and facilitated a few trainings.

Extra curriculars: I mentor 1-2 UC Berkeley undergrads/ semester, basically helping them get into the professional services industry. All but 1 are employed at graduation. During college, I helped manage the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program which delivered 1,000+ tax returns to lower income families and students.

Undergrad school/major: California State University (Ranked ~#300 US, so pretty bad) in Business Admin: Accounting. 3.9 Overall GPA and Major GPA (Top 2% Graduating Class), and received the honor of being the College of Business's Accounting honoree (I'm basically Accounting Department's 2014 MVP). Also have my CPA. President of a organization to help students with soft skills/professionalism, primarily focused on professional services industries (e.g Big Four). Also held part-time jobs during this time teaching kids Math and English.

Other education/coursework: CPA licensed

Race/nationality: Asian, but born in America. Mainly Chinese, some South East Asian in me.

Sex: Yes. I mean Male

Stats

GMAT Score (include breakdown!): 710 (Q47, V41) IR 8. Planning to retake one more time sometime mid-July as my 'last effort' to increasing this.

Undergrad GPA: 3.90 Overall and Major

I should have a good letter of rec, though not from an MBA alum. This person is a Senior Manager who's a key player in the Tech industry at the Big Four.

MBA Info

Goal of MBA: I work a lot with engineers when it comes to compliance work. Being able to collaborate with world-class engineers has really opened my eyes on how structured and precise their work can be, and how creative their solutions are when it comes to something rigid like compliance. That said, I want to be able to continue this trend, but more towards a front-facing product that affects the top-line. Ultimately, I want to transition myself from being labeled a 'Compliance' person to a Product Manager that can actually work with these engineers to build something meaningful, whether that's the new Amazon product, Microsoft software, etc, and not just compliance. Alternatively, because I'm a a key 'face' in maintaining client relationships, I feel that going into Management Consulting would be a good transition to take my experience to the next level, though I would prefer my work to be in the tech industry.

Target schools:

Reach: Wharton, Booth, MIT, Columbia, Haas

Target: UCLA, Stern, Fuqua

That being said, am I just a dreamer at this point for my reach schools? If I can get into a Reach school without scholarship, I'll definitely take it, but I'm quite poor, so I would love for a school to offer even just the slightest scholarship. I understand I'll need AT LEAST a 720 or 730, but wanted to see if a 710 with my background will help at all (with admins or $$).

I would greatly appreciate any insight or your personal experiences when it comes to admissions - thank you!

Hi,

I am 32 yr old Indian Female.

I have done Bachelors in Dental surgery (64%) and a Master's in Dental Surgery (55%) from top Government institutes of India.

I have worked 1 yr as an assistant dentist with a well known dental clinic after Bachelor's and 4 yrs work ex after Master's.

I had the opportunity of running my own dental clinic successfully in Mumbai for 2yrs.

After which I have lived for 6 months in Muscat, clearing the dental licensure exam and bagging a job, (could not work as we moved back to India). Have traveled internationally to 4 countries backpacking trips.

Currently I work as an on call consultant (specialist) in clinics across the city for special dental cases. Simultaneously I am also running my own private clinic.

Extracurricular activity: Organized and presided over several dental camps (mobile van, corporate and society). head of the literary committee in my undergrad days. I have worked closely with the first aid and relief team for 26/11 victims. I am involved in the adoption and growth of stray dogs locally.

Planning to write Gmat next month and apply for July 2019. What is the score I should aim for? Which schools do I stand a good chance at (as I am older than an avg student). I am aiming for INSEAD.
Pls evaluate my profile based on the above information.