GMAT 670 (Q43, V38) - Indian Applicant - Analytics Background

Question

Hi All,

Greetings!

I am an Indian National (Male) pursued my B.Tech in Electronics and Communication from VIT Vellore from 2012-2016. I have around 4 years of total work experience in the 'Analytics' domain. I am currently working at Guardian Life Insurance Company of America in the capacity of an Analyst, and prior to this, I was working at Accenture Solutions Pvt. Ltd. I do have two career gaps: 1. I graduated from my college in July 2016, however, due to organizational restructuring, my Date of Joining Accenture got delayed to February 2020; 2. I left my job at Accenture in October 2019 owing to some family medical health reasons and got my current job in May 2020. I have a GMAT score of 670(Q43, V38) and I wish to apply to business schools in the USA or Canada in R2. Post my MBA I wish to venture into Consulting or Product Management domain. PFB a small glimpse on my extra-curricular as well:

• Co-founder - ENACTUS, V.I.T (Aug 2013 - May 2015)
 Implemented project “Trofi”, a vocational training and self-employment initiative for 100+ underprivileged women
 Received appreciation from CEO’s of KPMG and Biocon for a first-ever business plan; youngest team to reach Top 8 in "ENACTUS Nationals" and Best South Team (2014).
 Won Walmart Women Empowerment Grant and KPMG Special Ethics Grant for lucid business management (Sep 2014)
• Core organizer - ‘VIT MUN (Model United Nations) Conference’, attended by 425 delegates. (2015)
• Core Team Member - HELPHEN India, an NGO registered in New Delhi: Organized free local medical camps and cleanliness drives. (Aug 2014 – Mar 2015) 
• Prime Organizer - Riviera (Cultural Fest): Implemented Swachh Bharat Marathon that saw a footfall of 2000+ participants. (2015)
• Board Member, VIT Chapter, CSI: Organized National Robotics Conference with 36 participants colleges across India. (Sep 2012)
• State Level Cricketer: Represented a team in Delhi District Cricket Association League in 2010 -11 and 2016 -17 seasons. 
• Sketching: Represented school at inter and intra school level competitions; core member of TFAC (The Fine Arts Club) of VIT.
• Proficient in Basic French, learned the same in an elective course as part of my curriculum in VIT.
• Pursued 3-month month (February 2020 – June 2020) Online Business Analytics Certification Program from UpGrad; attained GPA of 3.98/4.0 and consistently scored >90th percentile on all projects for data management, statistics, and analytics courses.

I kindly request the forum to go through the above-mentioned and suggest some schools wherein I can apply for I may be a good fit. My target schools are USA Top 30 and Canada Top 5.

Thanks in advance!

MiMEssay · Answer

Hey  anshul4 ,

You seem ambitious about pursuing a career in management, which can be seen from your extracurriculars, certifications, and courses you have taken up during your undergrad. If you properly portray your passion for management in your application, schools will be interested in this.

Coming to your academics, you haven’t given me any information about your GPA that plays an important role in your chance of acceptance into the top schools in the US and canada, and therefore I would like to tell you that you need to have at least a 3.0 or above (equivalent 4 point GPA) for the same.

As for your GMAT score, an overall score of 670 would allow you to target most Canadian schools but it will be difficult to target the top US business schools. That said, if you are open to boosting your score further, I would recommend that you retake the GMAT to improve your score by 40-50 points and aim for a minimum overall score of 710 and above to increase your chances at the Top 30 list of US schools.

One concern that I’d like to address is the multiple gaps in your professional career. You definitely need to address all the gaps and pose a right alibi for the same by portraying constructive endeavors during this time as gap years aren’t much appreciated by any B-school.

Moving on to your work experience, the presence of a big brand in your CV is an added feather to your hat as you will be competing against a pool of applicants hailing from similar backgrounds. Here, showcasing your journey and the learnings gathered through this experience would allow you to differentiate yourself and thereby gain an upper hand with equally competent profiles with extensive work experience hailing from equally good brands. Also, MBA specializations require the students to showcase leadership skills and initiative-taking capabilities, hence you ought to explain and highlight the major projects of your work and how these experiences helped you develop and further groom your skills and knowledge. Showcasing this in good light will allow you to differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition.

Coming to your extracurriculars, you have a lot of experience in leadership roles which are again great value additions. This showcases your ability to spearhead initiatives, impact others, and empathize with other people. B-schools are looking for applicants that are future leaders and such experiences and qualities most certainly vouch for your abilities and strengthen your application.

Moreover, since the top B schools are on the lookout for applicants who are on the path of constantly upskilling themselves, therefore, your certifications in Business Analytics and your courses in gaining proficiency in foreign languages will give you an upper hand in the selection process.

When applying abroad, in order to hedge your bets wisely, it is always better to target 6-7 schools. Thus, coming to the schools that you can be targeting in Canada are - Schulich, Ivy, Queens, and UBC; whereas “with an updated score” you can be targeting - Duke, USC Marshall, Fordham, Columbia, Rochester, and Ohio.

On this note, while you have a competitive profile, to increase your chances of getting admitted to these schools you would need to ensure that you have a very strong application (consisting of - Essays, LORs, and Resume) that highlights your strengths and overshadows your weaknesses in order to differentiate your profile. You need to showcase your journey, what makes you different from your peers, and how you are a great value addition to the school.

Therefore, in lieu of that, I would recommend you to check out our flagship ALL-IN-ONE service, which has helped 3500+ applicants to get into their dream schools. As you are still in the early process of your application, it would provide you with end-to-end consulting and unlimited edits on your application documents. Not only that, you’d be connected with a B-school alumnus who’d be helping you directly with your application process, right from shortlisting the right schools and crafting an impactful application to prepping your for the interview and bagging scholarships!

Link to our All-In-One Solution-

https://www.mim-essay.com/mim-all-in-one

Hope this helped!

GMAT 670 (Q43, V38) - Indian Applicant - Analytics Background

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