MBA 2020

Hi ROHITRAM,

Thank you for your post. Please note that any previous replies within this topic did not come from a representative of Avanti Prep.

That aside, I like some of the diversity of your experiences within your industry (sales, admin, finance, etc.), but I unfortunately view the schools you've listed as very difficult. Given that you are applying from the most crowded and competitive demographic, you should ideally target a GMAT score that is 30 to 40 points above the average for the programs to which you're applying. When your scores are lower than the applicants against whom you'll be competing, there will be an even greater onus on your work experience, leadership, and even international experience (particularly for HEC Paris and ESADE Spain).

Yes, Indian applicants sometimes get into these programs with GMAT scores that are not 30 or 40 points above average; coming from the public sector rather than prestige, front-office business jobs; or without international experience (after all, gaining such experience is sometimes beyond our control, whether related to family or job circumstances). In fact, I frequently work with applicants from India to "overcome" / "proactively address" these very factors. Still, when "playing from behind" in all three of these categories, things get difficult, especially at schools of this caliber.

Taken together, this array of factors makes this array of schools very difficult, so I would encourage you to meaningfully widen your approach in the rankings. Maybe one or two of these schools could theoretically remain part of your overall application strategy, but they will be the reaches, and in that case they should represent perhaps one or two of several schools. Please also be sure to develop the specificity of your goals, why MBA/now, why XYZ schools, etc. You can read more about how to approach those factors in this blog post: https://www.avantiprep.com/blog/the-mos ... on-process. I wish you the best of luck!

Kind Regards,
Greg