IIM Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hello ranjani.kumari,

Apologies for the delayed response but we hope this finds you in time still.

Your GMAT is on the lower side considering you wish to apply to the top IIM's. You should work towards taking it closer to the 700 work; the higher the better. Further, focus on showcasing strong career progression as well as meaningful achievements through your professional career in order to build a set of meaningful essays.

Your post does not contain details pertaining to your career goals. Establishing strong sync between what you have done so far and where you see yourself heading will be key!

All the best!

Hi Ranjani,

First and foremost, kudos on embarking on this path. Currently, as I see it - while your Quant score is right up there, you need to push your verbal score a little bit.

Once you reach a range of 690+ in GMAT, you will be eligible for interview calls from all three programs across IIMs A, B & C. Historically, IIM B has not always been welcoming towards candidates in the 12+ experience range. However, your profile is a great fit for both IIMs A and C.

Your academic background, especially hailing from a NIT, makes you strong candidate for such programs. in the past few years, the market has also been highly accepting of public sector professionals, mostly owing to their domain expertise. Thus, in the past couple of years, we have seen some excellent profiles from PSUs and PSBs and many others in our cohort at IIM Calcutta and among our peers at IIM Ahmedabad. It was incredible the way they were able to map their transferrable skills and achieve their aspired roles.

If you have any queries, please feel free to reach out to me via DM or you may write to me at srijitanx2023@email.iimcal.ac.in. I'll be happy to discuss more. Cheers!

Best regards,
Srijita Neogy
MBAEx Class of 2023, IIM Calcutta

Hi,

I recently gave GMAT and scored 710(Q48 V40), but my IR score was very low(IR 2). Will it impact my IIMA/B/C application?

Also, regarding my profile;

Experience: 5yrs in Process Engineering.
Industry: Automotive Parts Manufacturing (Fortune 500 Japanese Company)
Undergrad Degree: B.Tech in Automotive Design Engineering
UG GPA: 2.74/4.
International Experience: 1 week in China and 1 week in Vietnam on Business trip for new product development.

Hi Priyansh22796,

Thanks for writing in.

The ideal approach here would be to retake your GMAT not only for the IR but also for the overall score (especially considering your low GPA); a 710 is the average for the schools you are targetting; hence, a higher score will actually help offset the low GPA, as well.

You will never find a definitive answer with regard to IR; often Indian schools do not look at the IR component; however, in choosing between you and another student (with the same GMAT score and an equally competitive profile), it could become a factor.

All the best!

Nymeria26 hope you are doing great

Each round is equally competitive, and B-school admissions committees go to great lengths to assemble diverse cohorts representing a variety of industries. For this reason, applying in the early rounds is often considered more advantageous. If you want to apply in the 2nd round, you should ace the GMAT and submit an impressive application with a solid performance in the interview.

I have helped numerous applicants successfully get into IIM A and am here to offer professional advice and support for your application and interview process. Contact me if you need any assistance.

Best wishes

Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, ex MBA admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

Priyansh22796

IR score does not matter particularly for Indian B Schools. However, if your GMAT Q is not your strong point, and your IR is low, your adcom evaluator will correlate both to understand your acumen.
You should not however worry as your score is well balanced even though your Q is below the 75th percentile. Just give your best shot on the applications and the interviews.

Feel free to reach out for guidance on application strategy and interviews

Best wishes

Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, ex admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

Hello Priyansh22796

The IR score will not impact your application or chances.

But what will impact your chances is what work you do on-

a) Presenting your Work Ex in your essays- career progression, achievements, impact on the business of your company
b) Bringing out Diversity via life experiences or extracurricular activities- something that proves that you will be able to add value to the experience of your batch mates inside and outside the classroom
c) Telling a Career goals narrative that is clear, organic and makes it must for you to attend IIM A/B/C

Best
Varun
+918452954888 (WApp for a quick response)
MBAkarma.com

Hello Nymeria26

While Round 1 might increase the probability marginally for over represented profiles, what impacts your chances more is the work you do on-

a) Presenting your Work Ex in your essays- career progression, achievements, impact on the business of your company
b) Bringing out Diversity via life experiences or extracurricular activities- something that proves that you will be able to add value to the experience of your batch mates inside and outside the classroom
c) Telling a Career goals narrative that is clear, organic and makes it must for you to attend IIM A/B/C

Since the above information is missing, I hope you are focusing on the right things.

Best
Varun
+918452954888 (WApp for a quick response)
MBAkarma.com

Priyansh22796 - IR score would likely not affect the outcome. Which year/ round are you planning to apply in though?

I would suggest a retake if possible, to increase the overall score. A higher (overall) score above the GMAT average of these schools can increase your odds. Keep in mind though, that the application would be evaluated holistically: CV, GMAT score, acads, work experiences, essays, post-MBA goals, "school-fit", etc.

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to reach out for a detailed chat.

Regards,
Arvind
HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer
W:https://admitstreet.com| E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com

Nymeria26 -

Applying with a stronger profile (i.e. GMAT score, CV, work-ex, essays, motivation etc.) in a later round is better than applying in an earlier round with a weaker profile. Since details on your GMAT scores (past if any) and profile aren't mentioned, it's difficult to comment further at this point.

Please check my detailed article on the pros and cons of applying in each round though:

https://admitstreet.com/blog/mba-application-round/

Feel free to reach out for a deeper chat.

Regards,
Arvind
HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer
W:https://admitstreet.com| E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com

Hi all,
I am considering to apply for IIM-C MBAEx & IIM A PGPX in Round 1.

Background- 31/M, Indian

10th : 89.68% ( MH state Board )
12th : 79.5% ( MH state Board )
Graduation : VNIT Nagpur - Mechanical - 6.31 / 10
GMAT : 700 (Q50, V33,IR 7, AWA 4.5)

WorkEx : 10Year 8Months ( till Mar'24 )

-- I am working with "Global Kitchen Appliance maker - Whirlpool of India Ltd" - 5Y 4M ( Factory 1 -42 months, Factory 2 - 22 Months )
-- I worked with "2 Wheelers Manufacturing giant - Honda 2 Wheelers" for initial 4Y 9M.
-- Work Profile : Supplier Base Quality Management, Supplier Quality Approvals, Supply Base Rationalization, Supply Chain Optimization, Supplier factory process audits, Cross functional teams close coordination, Quality Assurance, Scrap Reduction, etc.
-- Have worked in around 15 new models launches in last 10 years, Have worked with approx 300 different Suppliers with turnover ranging from a few crores to thousand crores.

Hobbies : Yoga, Cooking, Trekking, Reading, etc.
Very Actively managed Tech-fest events in college days ; Very actively participated in College social club 'Prayaas' for all 4 years.

Post MBA Goal : To work with Major Indian Manufacturing players & Contribute to India's Global Manufacturing Hub journey.

Hi thorats96

Impressive profile overall, albeit with a low GPA, but your quant score does make a strong case for your academic potential. I am optimistic about that.

I too come from the manufacturing domain in automotive auxiliary, and therefore, I feel I am in a good position to provide meaningful suggestions. The good news is that you do not belong to the typical overrepresented segment at the top B Schools, but you must select your stories very carefully to demonstrate progression in your long career and your transition from an engineer/individual contributor to a project leader during the course of 10 years. Showcase your strong leadership skills through stories where you helped resolve conflicts, expedited projects, were trusted with bigger responsibilities over and over again, motivated team members or staff on the shop floor to get the prototypes going on time, influenced senior management with your insights to take a certain stand on decisions, and saved money for the company.

I can already see great potential for going deeper into the themes of supplier quality management and scrap reduction (which is the current trending theme regarding driving sustainability).

I like your post-MBA goals. MBA essays are all about passion; they are about how ready you are to change some problem in the world or to seize an opportunity that will change the world. To answer this question well, your passion has to reflect through your goals narrative.


Personalized advice tailored to your specific situation is just a phone call or message away. Do not hesitate to reach out to us if you need help navigating your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process.

Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, ex INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

Hello, experts. Please evaluate my profile.
Age: 35
Gender: Male
GMAT: 650 (Q47, V34, IR 3 🙁)
Industry: Journalism
- Headed city desk of a national English daily
- Served as co-founder of a media-tech startup, whose unique concept made its founder win Ashoka Fellowship and TED Fellowship
- Won award for business journalism in my journalism college's alumni awards
- Won a fellowship and was shortlisted for a prestigious fellowship
- Have been doing deep-dive investigative journalism of late. One story forced a government department to quit imposing an illegal technology on people. The other, about a bank fraud, has triggered an RBI investigation into the bank and follow-up stories by other media houses. (More such fireworks will be published in the coming months.)
- Have worked in leadership capacity in two orgs. and in managerial capacity in the startup, from writing policies to establishing partnerships with other organisations to hiring and crisis management. Anchoring special projects.
- Have ghost-written a course on media literacy for college students and ghost-edited a book on financial frauds.

Extra-curricular
- Music: I had quit my full time job in 2014 to start a band with my friend. One of our songs was shortlisted for the now-reputed Radio City Freedom Awards. One track selected as Track of the Week in an international EDM star's record label. Two songs released worldwide as a demo project file with a music making software. Some top DJs in the world have played our tracks in their set.
- Not sure if school credentials matter but I've extensively taken part in and won in activities such as elocution, extempore, poetry recital, storytelling, debate etc. Have even represented my school at regional meets twice.
- Socially, I'm active in the civic affairs of my locality. I'm the one who gets work done (cleaning, repairs) by our government authorities by coordinating with the local councillor or the municipality or by filing complaints at the CM helpline.

Now, I'm aware that 650 is a poor GMAT score, more so when seen with my IR score of 3. But does my profile compensate for these shortcomings? Should I apply for round 1 of IIM A, B, C with this score or is it pointless with my GMAT score? Also, I have poor score in class 12 (59.8%) and graduation (BBA-59.9%). B grade in my PG studies in journalism. I'm not dumb, just that parents (IITian father) beat me up to force me to opt science at +2 level. I just won't study what I never wanted to study, so naturally the score tanked and so did my spirit. Aimlessly and helplessly, got into BBA college. When I finally got into journalism, years of emotional abuse got to me and I was diagnosed with clinical depression. From struggling with suicidal thoughts, I'm proud I passed with a B grade. I've helped my journalism college by publishing stories of their students, by helping them get an interview call for placement in my companies. They proudly showcase my work on their social media. I'm an asset to whichever college takes me. I want IIM A.

Pardon my oversharing. Kinda disappointed with my low verbal score. My English is good! Telling all this to impress upon you that my extra curricular is good and leadership experience is good. Should I apply with 650 or try again?

Sorry for the long read. Travelled to another city for the GMAT. Everything is closed here because of some strike. I'm hungry and thirsty in a hot and humid place. I must stop. Sorry and thank you!

Posted from my mobile device

Try in future rounds with a better GMAT. Journalism gets you diversity points. But, 35yo Male with 650 can find it tough to enter IIMA. ISB would probably take you with open arms. Also, while IIMA will allow you to apply again, the form will have an additional essay asking what's new since last application. So, better improve GMAT first and apply IIMA & ISB R2/R3 onwards.

All rounds are equal. Some schools only open 50% in R1 & 50% in R2. Better apply in R2 when you're prepared instead of ruin your chances with a hasty R1.

Better improve the GMAT and apply in R2/R3. Also short-term international experience does not count. Don't mention it, you'd look desperate.

Try hitting 730+ in GMAT based on your overall profile, if not 750+. Plenty of male IT professionals out there. R2/R3 with higher GMAT would be better than hasty R1. Everything else is fine.