mbaapp11 wrote:
Hi,
I'm a US B-School aspirant. I'm aiming for top 7 schools. I had applied to Booth this year and was extended an interview invite. But didn't make the cut.
Here is my profile:
Indian Female, 7.9/10 GPA (class rank 9/72 from top ten Engineering College in India), 2.5 yrs consulting experience, 730 GMAT(Q51, V38, 4.5), really solid work performance and good recos.
Whats the best way to build a solid profile. Should I shift to banking and work there for 2 yrs and then apply. Or should stick with my current job. I already have a promotion at my current job and I don't foresee any more promotion in next 1.5 yrs.
I'm thinking of retaking GMAT to improve my score and compensate for low GPA. Should I go ahead with it.
Thanks a ton..
The best way to build a solid profile is to pursue the things you want to do in life. Your GMAT/GPA is not keeping you out of any school at all. Retaking it would be a waste of time. Here is what I will tell you. If you ask anyone who has applied 95% of them will say that they have solid work experience, good essays, and good recos and it's often not true. Okay, let me rephrase that, it's true but it's not presented well in the application.
Go over your application again and maybe have a friend who's either been admitted to school, is currently in school, or a recent alum look over your resume, essays, and if you have them your LORs. You may find a weakness in your overall app that you didn't see before. Maybe your resume doesn't pop the way it could. Company name, job title, and promotions are great. But if you can't impress an adcom with what you accomplished at that awesome company after that early promotion then it falls flat. With the resume sometimes it's just a matter of using the right action verbs to convey the impact of your accomplishments at work. As for your LORs, even though I doubt your recommenders wrote you negative letters are you sure that their recommendations were thorough? How much did you coach them through the process? Maybe their recs were filled with nice adjectives but very light on the specifics. This squanders a piece of the app that can really support all of the great things you've tried to convey about yourself. Last, are your essays (especially the career goals essay) tight? Does it convey what you want to do (not just a job title and company, but what exactly you want to get out of your career), how you've already prepared to do it, and how an MBA from that school will fill in any gaps you have? Do your essays answer the questions asked?
If you go through a thorough review of your application and there really are no holes than I would chalk it up to bad luck. If you got an interview you are obviously admissible. You just don't know what the applicant pool will look like from year to year. A candidate that got in this year maybe would've gone to the ding pile the next and vice versa. Another 1 year of work experience may not hurt either. Try to also round out your profile outside of work. There's not one specific thing that adcoms love. They simply want to see people who dive into their interests and who demonstrate leadership. Good luck next year and I hope this helps.