GMAT 650 Profile evaluation for Indian IT Male

Question

Hi,
 
 I am planning to apply for ISB,NUS and NTU. For ISB, I applied in Round 2 this year but lost hope on getting an interview call. I am planning to apply for NTU as well as to NUS now. My long term goal is to work in India to support SMEs by supporting them in technology space. In the short term, I would like to learn about Product Management, understand the market especially Asia Pacific and Organization behavior.

Could someone help me in evaluating my profile and my chances for NTU and NUS

GMAT - 650
AWA - 5
Graduation - Engineering - 75%
Ethnicity - Indian Male
Organziation - Oracle India with 3.5 years experience in Product development
 Infosys with 1.5 years experience in publishing domain supporting and developing the technology space of Infosys client. Received client applause for automating a high effort low cost budget. Thus ensuring the project to be in profits and this project provided the path for Infosys to bag few other projects.

Extra Curriculars - Helped my friend in making my friend's gym to reach break even by ensuring resource optimization, customer retention and Brand marketing.
 Short Film Director - Won two awards at Infosys 
 Physical Instructor coach at my friend's gym
 Interested in integrating technology and fitness. Also interested in novel writing and improving myself in understanding script and novel based writing.

I am planning for NTU and NUS but not sure if I can get through with this profile to NUS.

Kindly advice me on how to go forward

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Kamesh

GeneralEducation · Answer

Hi Kamesh,

You have a decent profile. Your work experience, extracurricular are really impressive but your GMAT Score is on average side. I would strongly suggest you to retake your GMAT. An improved GMAT Score will make your profile strong and also improve your chances of getting admit in NUS and NTU.

You may also take professional consultants help for your essays, to make your story standout from other applicants. You may also gauge your chances of getting admission to top business school this year by trying this amazing tool https://bit.ly/1Iu9fP4. For free profile evaluation, feel free to send your resume at [email protected]

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

A few points for you to consider Kamesh,

You have not mentioned the name of your undergrad college - that would have helped assess the quality of your pedigree better. Where were you placed on a relative scale in your class? The GMAT is an obvious hurdle as pointed out already. Assuming you are targeting the March deadlines, a retake will definitely do a lot of good to the overall profile. You can check read  here  for more on NUS and related discussion. 
  The quality of your experience at Oracle seems good; though it is not clear if there is any logical relationship between the stint in Oracle and Infosys? You have not mentioned your post-MBA goals. Those are also critical to assess the feasibility of your profile.  
  Your ECs are pretty interesting and can make for some interesting essays. But do bear in mind that those alone will not take you the distance. The core aspects of the profile need to be sorted out first

In summary, with a better GMAT, you should have a realistic shot so go for it.

Cheers,

kamesh231 · Answer

Thanks for the inputs here MG4MBACrystalBall. I have completed my graduation from JNTU Hyderabad (Not a reputed one like IIT or NITs) and I moved to Oracle from Infosys for exposure on Product development and understand the IT Product market. In this three years at Oracle, substantially I gained a better knowledge on how product dev works. As mentioned in my earlier post, I would like to be inclined to technology sector, even after completion of my MBA.

By moving to a product management role, In short term stint, I would like to learn and adapt the nitty gritty in New Product development, Market Understanding and brand management.

In long term perspective, I would like to use my experience in working on technology space to build products for SMEs in emerging markets to serve the bottom of the pyramid in enterprise market. I consider my frugal attitude as my strength to get this happen in the near future.

Last, Yes I feel my GMAT is pretty low and after facing a ding at ISB, I could see the near reality and where I stand now. I am waiting for an application feedback from ISB and would like to shape up my profile to apply to NUS, NTU and ISB. For which I chalked out the things I need to work on 
1. GMAT retake
2. Apart from my work, I am working on starting a startup on Gift recommendation engine. (Putting my efforts to complete it in the next 3 months)
3. Working with my friend in creating a car pooling app, to help reduce carbon foot print in Indian cities.

Regards,
Kamesh

kamesh231 · Answer

Also, what should be the average GMAT score which we need to achieve to target for NUS or NTU for an Indian IT Male.

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Kamesh,

I don't think you need to wait for feedback from ISB to re-take the GMAT. You should do that right away and start the preparation. In general, the Indian average can be anywhere from 20-30 points higher than the school's GMAT average. With an IT/Technology background, the competition intensifies. So nothing new, but higher the better really.

Your plan does look good and logical so go for it!

Cheers,

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