How does my Profile Compare?

Question

Hi all,

Please provide me some feedback about my profile and whether I have any chance of getting into any of the schools I have listed

Age - 26
Gender - Male
Nationality - Indian

Education
Schooling from India - Always in the top bracket during school
Engineering from a UK Univeristy - 2:1 Degree (68.5%) - 3.7 GPA approx (is my calculation of GPA correct?)
GMAT - 700 (48Q,38V) - Given it thirce, and 700 each time!! - I know I can do better.

Work Experience
1 year of Internship at a small audio engineering firm
5 years experience in IT department of an investment bank in UK
I wouldn't say I have had any particular stellar achievements (no saving the company 500k...) during this period, but have been quite solid and have been appreciated by my colleagues. I also lead a team of 4, and at the same time I am also involved in another project where I am responsible for a service and have a small team of 3 working for me. 
Not sure if this helps, but - throughout my work experience as a team leader, the people in my team have been considerably older than me - all in their late 30s to early 40s - with a lot of experience in their fields and in my company.

Extra-Cirricular Activities
At uni - Secretary of the International Indian society - Had a major role there. Holding events, creating revenue and working (and initiating the relationship) with Pakistani society for peace and cricket (Yes - the sport where you have to wear well ironed trousers ;p )
Again, at uni - Co-ordinator of the Ballroom Dance Club - and performed in various dance shows.
Again, at uni - Treasurer of the hindu society (1 year) and the treasurer of the International Students Society (1 year)

Since completing education - 
- Involved in a company sponsored educational program where we help young children from impoverished background develop their mathematics skills
- Head of the golf society in my company
- The unofficial department social secretary - Organising Christmas parties and all kinds of social events and parties for my department.

Goals
- banking - hedge funds or venture capital - USA or south-east asia
- Medium to long term - Sports Entrepreneur and administrator in India

MBA Schools

Ideal
- Kelloggs
- Columbia
- Booth 
- Insead
- LBS

Safe choices
- Oxford
- Cambridge
- UCLA

Regional preference
- Ideally USA or Singapore. But, if no other option is available, I am willing to consider the UK. I have done my schooling in India, undergrad from UK, so to complete my experience the next move is to the US.

Any response will be much appreciated.

bakfed · Answer

I think you have a good list of school there. Don't worry about retaking your GMAT. A 720 and a 700 won't really make that much of a difference (unless you can break 740, I just wouldn't spend the time [and money] on it).

It's fairly obvious to me that you have your reasonings of choosing your schools and I think that if you execute a great application, with stellar letters and essays, and blow them away during interviews, you should be able to garner at least one acceptance. Keep in mind though that your list consists of all top schools around the world, and that there's really no guarantee anymore. If you truly want to look at safeties (as I don't think UCLA could be counted as your safety), you should look into the top 15-25 range.

Pet peeve of mine: Kellogg has no "s" at the end

Also, you may want to keep in mind that your goal of VC/HF is very ambitious and that most people won't be able to make it to the buy-side directly. Think about joining the sell-side first, then jump ship to the buy-side when time's right. Of course, if you have a chance to get into the buy-side directly and that it's your goal, go for it!

FutureWorks · Answer

Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. However GMAT alone won’t determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics will also help you in determining your candidature and your work experience plays a vital role as well.
 
Generally most of the Indian applicants are from engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc.

So if you can show that in 5 years you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for you could put in a strong set of essays. So Start thinking what makes you unique and what’s that ‘hook’ that will be key to your application

Hence the quality of your work, your academics and activities beyond academics will play an important role in determining your candidature.

whiplash2411 · Answer

I'm not sure what the grading system at the UK University was, but usually US universities have a grade point on a scale of 4. So if you're score was a 68.5% and we literally translate that to a 4.0 scale, then your GPA should be a 2.74, not 3.7. It might be worth it to look into this and find out for sure. GPA matters less and less the more work experience you have, but since it might be less than a 3.0, you'll probably have to bring your GMAT up to prove that you're academically competitive. Just my two cents.

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