GMAT: 780 (Q51, V45), Zero work experience

Warm regards to all. Till date, this website has proven to be immensely resourceful and its members, equally helpful. I post this with hopes of clearing my head and relieving myself from the nerves I have been suffering from lately.

I am Siddharth, a final-year Mechanical Engineering student from Mumbai, India. I am essentially a fresher and as such can only apply for programmes that do not require work-experience or have deferred MBAs.

My current dream school courses:

- HBS 2+2
- Yale Silver Scholars
- Duke Fuqua's MMS
- LBS MiM
- ISB YLP

Reasons for posting this:

- The need to know what schools are (almost) DEFINITELY within my reach, i.e. good schools that I can use as fall-back options in case I get dinged by my dream schools (There is just so much research here that I feel completely lost)
- To get help with addressing/compensating for/justifying the weaknesses in my profile

GMAT Results:

Score: 780 (Q51, V45)
AWA: 6
IR: 8

Academic Record:

10th Grade: 87.14%
12th Grade: 83.17% (Drop accounted for by a single-minded focus on Engineering-oriented subjects)
CET (Entrance Exam for engineering): 191/200 (State Merit Rank in twenties)
Undergraduate CPI (not graduated yet): 9+/10

Academic Achievements:

- 100/100 in Physics – extremely rare (12th grade HSC)
- 100/100 in Mathematics and 49/50 in Physics (CET)
- Percentage score for Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics in 12th grade= 95.67%
- Highest score in Mechanics in the entire college in the first year (Very reputed Engineering college)

Co-curricular activities:

- Participation in Debate Competitions, Quizzes and Creative Writing Competitions
- Was the Magazine Secretary of the college and successfully published a well-received magazine
- Helped a friend with Décor work in her college’s fest, essentially coordinating a large team (no certificate; can I use this?)

Extra-curricular activities:

- Presiding over self-initiated ‘Speakers’ Club’ in college
- Initiated the ‘Quench a Thirst’ campaign – distribution of free earthen pots for thirsty birds in the sweltering Indian summer heat
- Writing poetry and essays
- Playing strategy, resource-management and time-management games like Civilization IV, Roller Coaster Tycoon series and Age of Mythology series

Hobbies and Interests:

- Reading online articles on Philosophy, Psychology, Cultural Anthropology, Ancient History, Astronomy
- Reading fiction
- Reading webcomics
- Recreational mathematics and logical puzzles
- Digital Media (Photoshop, Coreldraw etc.)
- Art

Examples of Leadership & Initiative-taking

- Guided a team of ten with a co-Magazine Secretary over six months; handled the complete designing of the magazine while the other M.S. dealt with Marketing. Introduced many changes in the long-existing format and content of the magazine – well-received.

- Initiated a ‘Speakers’ Club’ in college in my second year, inspired by a similar club in an adjoining club. Initial efforts included creating an awareness and establishing a reputation. I preside over the club meetings and empathize with the members and provide them with relevant feedback for their soft-skill development. (Running since 3 years)

- Came up with the ‘Quench a Thirst’ initiative. It involved coordinating with a animal welfare institute for free distribution of earthen pots (reservoirs of water for birds) to students in my college just before the Indian summer months of May and June (Got a lukewarm response, though).

- In a similar vein, helped my friend, who is a Rotaract Club member, to organize a larger project that covered an entire neighbourhood; she, alone with other volunteers, distributed 100+ pots. The project was nominated for the Best Project Award on the District Level. (I have no documents to prove this, of course – a hindrance?)

- Completed a group project of ten members as the leader; the project was hailed to be the best in the class. I facilitated quality control when it came to presentation of the project, both in terms of oration of my colleagues (by helping them practice) as well as the structure of the submitted report.

Key Strengths:

- Analytical and critical way of thinking
- Constant strife to better myself via learning and adapting
- A curious and quick learner
- Assertive and persistent yet adjustable by nature
- Very particular about quality and standard of results

Weaknesses in Profile:


- Divided between working in Consulting and General Management I feel I can go either way (I know that uncertainty regarding career goals is a taboo when it comes to B-Schools, but both seem interesting to me – what recourse should I take, short of sticking with one?).
- No internships or work-experience (guided by my seniors who assured me that companies don’t really let you learn a lot; delegate you irrelevant and menial tasks that end up wasting time – it sounds like an excuse and a bad one at that, I know)
- Lack of certificates to substantiate some of my claims (as seen above)
- Insufficient formal/professional examples to back my claims regarding my key strengths



Thanks for your time and effort! Much appreciated!