Ask MBA Crystal Ball

High GMAT score doesn’t guarantee admission & scholarship says 760 scorer

The benefits of a high GMAT score are plenty - differentiation, demonstration of academic capability, value for some recruiters and more.

These are often mistaken to mean that a high score guarantees admission. It is important to remember that GMAT is but one of the tens of factors that schools consider while making admission decisions.

In this blog, we present the story of a candidate who learnt this the hard way in his first attempt at applications.

Thereafter, partnering with us, he was able to not only leverage the score but also use his articleship experience (Indian context for chartered accountants) to eventually snatch admits from UCLA and Ross.

Want to know more?

Read here

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MIT Supply Chain Management (SCM) Master’s Program Review: How I got in with scholarship

Most MBA programs offer specialization or electives in Operations/SCM and there are jobs in the domain available after graduation.

However, some professionals want a more focused approach and want to go deeper into the domain.

The MIT SCMr program is arguably the only program of its kind, that takes experienced candidates (most master's programs are otherwise targeted towards those with 0-2 years of experience).

We take an in-depth look into the program and also present the application journey of Nilay who successfully made it.

Want to know more?

Read here


Check out one of the latest MBA Crystal Ball Reviews on LinkedIn

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Latest MBA Crystal Ball reviews on Quora, LinkedIn

Here are two recent reviews of MBA Crystal Ball shared by MBA admission consulting clients on social media.

One is about a tech wizkid from Kolkata who was introduced to the exciting world of computers when he was very small. He did a lot of good work in the IT industry, but that experience turned out to be a challenge when he was planning his b-school admissions process. Why? Because there were thousands of male IT engineers just like him who were also applying. Fortunately, he managed to carve out a strategy that got him an admit and a huge financial aid from INSEAD. Check out his MBA Crystal Ball review (Quora).

The next one is about an applicant who struggled with the GMAT. After 4 attempts, he was done with tests. He hired a well-known admission consultant and put in 8 MBA applications. Guess how many admits he got - zero. Not even a single interview call. Something was just not right. So re-jigged his approach...and that worked! He got 3 admits from the same schools where he had been dinged earlier. He reviews MBA Crystal Ball on LinkedIn.

This are just two of the many stories you'll find on the web. And we have several more coming up soon on the MCB blog as well. Stay tuned!

MBA after IIT isn’t easy! Story of IITian who got merit scholarship after multiple rejections

IITian with a 750+ score and a top MBA admissions consulting team - winning combination?

The answer sadly was a no and the team was us.

However, despite the rejections, Vivek didn't lose hope, continued improving his profile (something he had worked with us earlier too) and returned to us.

This time, with a dramatically different result - he got into Duke Fuqua and from there, went on to BCG.

Want to know why he decided to stick with us?

Read here


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Here’s what this Apple engineer did to get into Berkeley Haas and INSEAD with a GMAT score of 720

Savita had done her master's from UMich and then lived the dream of working with teach bigges - Qualcomm followed by Apple.

However, she wanted more and that prompted her to go down the MBA route.

Though she could only muster a 720, she decided against a retake and instead, focus on her applications. 

Working with the MBA Crystal Ball team, she was able to get admits from Berkeley Haas and INSEAD. 

Currently at INSEAD, she recounts her story. 

Read here

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MBA Couple Application: We got into ISB and rejected the admit because…

Anuj and Ekta wanted to emark on their MBA journey together. But their first effort didn't yield the desired outcome, especially for Anuj.

Not giving up hope, they persevered. Anuj worked with us and despite a relatively modest GMAT score, eventually they both got admits from the same college (Georgetown). To top it all, both of them got very attractive scholarships too. 

Whether you are a couple or an individual, the story is sure to inspire. 

Read about it here

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­Many MBA aspirants assume their work is done after getting an admit, and they can sit back and relax till their classes officially start. They don't realize that it can be a uphill battle especially in the first few weeks.

The pace and amount of academic work can be tough to handle for those who aren't from business undergrad backgrounds. To avoid ending up in this situation, it can help to take up some pre MBA courses that can give you a quick overview of the essential concepts covered in all good business schools.

Check out these Bizcool Mini MBA reviews to see if it might be a good option to consider before you start your MBA journey. It's an online business management course created by MBA Crystal Ball.

We'd love to hear some feedback on what we can do to improve it.