Ask MBA Strategy

Hi Mbastrategy,
I have 5 years of full time work experience in sales and marketing, which includes 1.5 years of start-up experience in the social sector and healthcare sector.
I have done my bachelors in commerce from Mumbai University and my gpa isn't good at all(it's close to 50%).
I wanted to know If I stand a chance to apply the premier b schools across the world considering my low gpa.. I'm aiming for Kellog, INSEAD, IE, NUS, Nanyang and ISB.
I'll be giving the Gmat in July.
Please advise on how I can be a good candidate for the mentioned schools and what should be a desired gmat score.

Thanks!

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I am still to give GMAT,
GPA in Bachelor's is 8.2/10
12th standard-82%
Currently working as an Assistant Manager. I will be giving GMAT in August.

Was there a career advancement? For example, you started as an intern, then grew to an assistant manager.
Where are you going to be after MBA (company, industry, position etc)?

Hi Rishkum!

You certainly have a chance to get admitted, as GPA is only one component of your application package, and the rest of your profile sounds good. In your case, you should get 730-750+ for top-10 schools (i.e. Kellogg, INSEAD) and 700+ for the others.
Your start-up experience in the social and healthcare sectors is also a significant advantage and you should highlight it in your essays and, probably, get a recommendation from someone who witnessed your performance in this capacity. Besides, you should use an optional essay to explain your low GPA.
As for IE, they have an option to prepare a presentation or/and a video instead of 2 essays, so you can take this chance to stand out from other applicants and increase your chances.

Good luck!

Hi MBA Strategy


- GPA : 7.5/10
- Current position : System Engineer
- GMAT - 620
- Short term : get placed in a top mnc , Long Term : have a plan of a startup
- major achievements : Worked for an NGO for 1 year, Organised various events at college level, Achieved many prizes at inter college level as well as company level in various cultural and literary activities.
- 10thcalss - 90% , 12th class - 92.1%
- work experince: 2 years

Can just list out my chanes for applying to Richard Ivey Canada, rotman canada, HEC paris france.

Hi,
taking into consideration your GPA and GMAT, professional experience I'd advise you to apply to Rotman and Ivey MSc programs (MSc in Business Analytics). Though they do require no professional experience, you can stll try your hand

Hi Mbastrategy, Can you please evaluate my profile:

Background and nationality - Indian
Undergrad Information - B. Technology, electronics and communication, Non IIT/NIT, 69%
GMAT: 730

Work experience and leadership - More than 5 years in total.
Electrical engineer incharge in offshore industry with experience on vessels and in shipyard. During my training period, I was recommended to be promoted to an independent role before the actual time period. Was first one in my company to get promoted that soon. As an electrical engineer I was incharge of everything electrical and electronic with a small assisting team. Job included operational management, maintenance, installation and repair of electrical systems. Was a part of major offshore operations such as rig towing, platform service/support, underwater oil pipeline inspections with help of underwater robotic vehicles for different clients such as Exxon-mobil, GSPC, Reliance, ONGC etc. Was electrical supervisor/inspector for construction and commissioning of multimillion dollar platform support vessel from a Chinese shipyard to Nigeria. Passed numerous classification surveys by independent bodies such as DNV, ABS etc. Never had a single electrical downtime in my career. Have taught and supervised interns, and reported their performance.

Last year I quit to join an IT startup to get hands on business experience. Joined as an intern and got promoted to product strategy role after 3 months. Company is very fast growing and has over 15million users now. Managing product strategy now. It's been one year here

Community and others - Coordinator in a local NGO dealing in awareness campaigns and free medications in rural areas. Coordinator of college youth fest fund raising team. Won and participated in several art competitions during schools and college days. Won annual inter-school quiz competitions twice in a row.

Have completed 2 coursera courses by UPenn in Marketing and financial accounting.


International experience(if any) - Areas of work include: India(2yrs), China(6 months) and Nigeria(15months). However, for few months was in involved in projects in Singapore, Cape town as well.

Post MBA goals - Work in a consulting/ strategy (in sustainability if possible)

I relate everything thing to creativity. I am an art buff since childhood and have participated, won several art competitions during college and school days. Be it my learning process or troubleshooting methods I try to find different ways to do so. However, lack of time has slowed me down. I don't devote much time to art now. Still, last October I organised an art exhibition with a theme of Human emotions. It was covered by local media. I am not sure how relevant this hobby, still i will write it here to get some feedback.

My concern- I am not able to relate my past with present and present to future. My experience and qualification in electrical sets me up to understand major sustainable technologies, but I can't vividly think of how to lay that out on paper. energy/power--IT business role--sustainability. I don't want to risk my admission because of lack of clarity in goals, so even if you suggest me something about altering my goals a bit I'm all ears.

I am targeting top 5-15 US b-schools or Insead. Or please give your suggestions.