Ask ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting

Thanks for your feedback.

Can you also tell me which b-schools out of the ones you have mentioned are good for the consult profiles in which I have good chance of getting through on the basis of my profile ?

Also, I am working on a start-up which is not more than 1 month into the process, can I mention it in my essays ? How helpful will it be?

Thanks
Harsh

Profile: Canadian Male (Mixed heritage, White/East Indian) Not sure if being International helps.
Age: 27
Undergrad: 2nd tier local school
Major: BBA - Entrepreneurial Leadership (Basically small business management)

GPA: This is where things get complicated.

My first and second year grades are atrocious. Basically I dropped out of university. Between 2004-2006 I ran into some pretty unfortunate personal circumstances. Within the first two years of University, my grandfather and mother were diagnosed with cancer, my grandmother had a seizure and was diagnosed with Alzheumers, and my other grandfather passed away. The stress was too much, I cracked up and my academics suffered.

I basically spent the next 3 years taking care of my family (my mom got diagnosed with cancer, again). Eventually, I returned to school part time and went to work full time (see "Work Experience" below). Since I re-enrolled in school, my CGPA has gone from something abyssmal, to a Major GPA of 3.43 and a GPA of 3.46 over my last 60 credits.

GMAT: Practice scores are coming out at about 650 right now.

Work experience: Roles (from oldest to most recent)

2 Years: IT Manager/E-Commerce Strategist for a local consumer products company. Oversaw budget over about $125k not including salaries. My initiatives generated approximately an 1100% ROI in the first year.
6 Months: Co-Founder and Business Strategist of a now defunct technology start-up which focused on integrating patient health profiles and providing a scheduling service for doctors. (Canada is a lot more archaic in this regard).
1 Year 8 months: Systems & Strategy Adviser, of a digital out of home advertising service. Originally brought in as a consultant to help with the start-up my doing due diligence, and develop the overall business strategy, I was given a sweat equity stake in the company. I am in the process of exiting this company right now.
5 Months: Strategic Adviser (helping a company shift from a wholesale oriented business to a consumer oriented business)


Extra Curriculars/Awards:

-Participant in the Model United Nations (VMUN, McGill MUN, Queen's, NHSMUN)
-Volunteer Graphic Designer for QISA (Queen's Indian Students Association)
-Active athlete: Hockey, Tennis, Volleyball
-Clarica Scholars Program participant for students with innovative ideas that can be incorporated into education.



Goals:

I want to take what I do and get it to the next level. I would like to get involved providing more sophisticated services such as (on the buy side) fundraising, project management, or alternatively move over onto the sell side and get into venture capital funding in a very niche market. In order for me to do this, I need to get my MBA to improve my functional skills in certain areas, and would benefit from the cache of a stint with a well regarded vcap/consulting firm or technology firm to help me refine my skills.

I envision this career change taking one of three forms.

1) Working in a specialized field of VCAP finance which targets specifically companies which require seed stage and series A funding (aka a Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital)
2) Going into technology consulting (with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and business development)
3) Getting into project management for a large tech company with an innovative/entrepreneurial spirit.

Given my objectives I've evaluated schools based upon location, strength of tech start-up market, entrepreneurial rankings/emphasis on entrepreneurship within their MBA program, historical employment success in Tech, Finance and Consultancy Firms, lifestyle desirability, strength of alum network.

The schools I am tentatively looking at right now are:

Reach:
UNC
University of Texas
Georgetown

Target:
USC
Boston University
Rice
University of Washington
Boston College
Babson College

Fallback:
UC Irvine
SMU

Basically my concerns focus on my personal background and scattered school history. Will this kill me and put me out of touch with these schools?

Hi, Harsh
Your profile is lacking leadership and committed extracurriculars, which are the greatest weaknesses I can see.
So I would go for the less competitive schools I mentioned (not Wharton, for example). MIT is quite competitive, but likes hi-tech, so you might have a chance there with stellar essays and recommendations. The startup can be a help too. I would definitely mention it in your resume and essays.

To get more information on how you rank in competitiveness at the different schools, try using Aringo's free calculator. There's a link below my name.

Good luck!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi, wow - that's quite a story you have and I think it's amazing that you managed to overcome, bounce back and continue on with your life. I believe you will also be able to tell the story in your essays - in a way that's simple, factual and ultimately moving for the reader. I can't imagine anyone holding those grades against you, but rather will commend you for taking everything that life sent your way and managing to move on.

I've never had a client with this particular story, but I have had clients with other difficulties and obstacles that affected them academically or professionally, who managed to get in to their target schools. You are certainly not aiming super-high, so I think you do have a chance. You need to work hard on your essays, and be sure that your recommenders speak to your strong aptitude in learning, in your 'smarts' and anything else that will counterbalance the grades. The fact that you have a history in MUN is fantastic - these are known to be smart, ambitious and interested students, so that alone is a big plus.

Regarding your career goals, you want to choose one direction that feels most feasible, in terms of taking your past experience and using it along with the MBA to achieve them. See which one helps you to best tie all the pieces, or helps you to show the most logical progression in the different steps you took.

Regarding being international - definitely helps, absolutely.

I wish you the best of success!!!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi,

I was wondering if you can evaluate my profile.
Today I gave my second attempt of GMAT exam and scored an average score of 640 (Q47, V31). In my first attempt I scored a mere 580 (Q 48, V 23). I put in lot of efforts in my second attempt but unfortunately result didn’t turned up the way I expected.

I need to get an idea where i stand and what areas I can focus to make it to the best possible school at my low scores:-(

Please let me know the list of business schools where I will stand a chance with the following profile:
Graduation: B.Tech (IT)- Class of 2008
Work Ex: Technical Lead in Cognizant Technology Pvt. Ltd , Previously in Top MNC(IT)
(Total Work Ex is 4.5 Years)
Post MBA Short term goal: Change my career path to Management and Business consulting.
Highlights in my Professional Career:

• Handling a team of 20+ resources in current project.
• Part of the Transformation Initiative program by Cognizant for a large Swiss bank. Got rewarded for my contributions in it.
• Initiated the hiring of fresher in my practice which was previously not there.
• Have been Off shore project lead for at least 4-5 projects.
• Won many awards and accolades in my current profile.
• Been to Denmark for an important client’s workshop. Youngest among all associates and represented my team over there.
• Associated with Corporate NGO and active participation in it.
• Trained the new hired associates in my organization.
• Part of the College fest committee which organized the Intra and Inter college festival .

With above points and some more to add up to the list ,What are my chances to make it to a Top 25 school?
I know that I belong to an over represented crowd of “IT Male Engineer” but I have lot many things in my professional career through which I can highlight my leadership potentials to the ad-com. What are the other things that I can highlight to make my application better?

I am desperate to make it to top 20 schools anyhow and I know GMAT score is not that good , so all I can do as if now is to make every effort to make my application more robust .As already given twice, I am little bit dicey whether to take GMAT again or not as it has been really hectic preparing for GMAT with hectic office schedules.

Hi Everyone,

I'm planning to apply to a couple of B schools this year. I'm detailing my profile below. I'd like an opinion on the school selection I've made. I'm very keen on starting my MBA. Major reason for change is change in function while maintaining the Industry.

Gender :Female
Age :27
Gmat :690
GPA :3.2 (Might vary as I was in Pune University for 3 years and in autonomous institute for last year.) Electronics Engineering
Experience :48 months in Consulting

I've contributed to CSR for 3 years. I've always been teaching since my childhood days.

I'd appreciate all the help and opinions in short-listing the schools and getting a fair idea of which schools might be good for me as I am looking forward to 12/15 months programs.

Thanks a lot...
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, firstly - do consider retaking the GMAT. You made such a leap this time, and perhaps next time will do even better. Even 20-40 points would make a big difference.

Aside from that, there are still schools that you can consider, where your GMAT might be on the low end, but not off the charts. You've only mentioned professional highlights, not extra curriculars, so I can't relate to your total profile, but you might consider:
Kenan-Flagler, McCombs, Tepper, Duke, and Olin at Washington U in St Louis.

To make yourself stand out, obviously you want to have stellar essays and super enthusiastic recommenders who will attest to your abilities, counteract the disadvantage of your GMAT, and declare their belief that you will achieve your stated goals. Highlight anything in your CV that related to your goals; as a career changer you want to emphasize the experience you've had that in some way relates. You want to convey your passion for the direction you are choosing to take. And make sure anything unusual or special in your background is show as well.

Good luck - and let us know if we can be of any more help.

Regards,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

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Hi, you've asked for comments on your school selection - but you forgot to list the schools you are considering
Write back with the list, and also tell us - your nationality, any extracurricular experience you've had, what your career goals are.

Regards,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

Free, detailed MBA chances calculator
Admission tips and scholarship info per school
Plan your application content (free online tool)
Get an initial assessment

Hi Joy,

I'm planning to apply in a couple of B schools this year. I'm detailing my profile below. I'd like an opinion on the school selection I've made. I'm very keen to start my MBA asap. Major reason for change is change in function while maintaining the Industry.

Gender :Female
Age :27
Gmat :690
GPA :3.2 (Might vary as I was in Pune University for 3 years and in autonomous institute for last year.) Electronics Engineering
Experience :48 months in Consulting
Nationality : Indian
Extra Curricular : Involved in Corporate Social Responsibility group for 3 years, Teaching young kids. I'm a kathak dancer which is a traditional dance form of India. I've tried a very small food outlet as a start up when I was starting my corporate career. I'm a new blogger and an avid reader. I've won a couple of contests at Toast Master's. Throughout my college life I've organized a host of events. I was also General Secretary for Girl's committee in the final year of engineering. I've travelled to a couple of countries and that's why I look forward to a degree away from home.

My bad, I was planning to attach a file here. I'm putting up a list below.

My list of colleges:-
Dream :
Stanford University (California)
London Business School
IMD

Adding to the list :
Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus
St Gallen University Business School
Macquarie Graduate School of Management (New South Wales)
Sauder School of Business
HEC Montréal (Quebec )
Nanyang Business School
National University of Singapore
Indian School of Business
ESADE Business School
Imperial College Business School

Hoping to hear an opinion soon.

Thanks a lot...
Cheers!!!!!!!!!

Hi Joy,

Thanks for your suggestion. I will definitely look to retake GMAT.
One more help that I would like to seek.
I am quite dependent on scholarship to continue my education further. What are the chances of scholarship as I would be applying in R2 of the applications.

How does a better GMAT score impacts the scholarship chances?
Given my GMAT score what are the chance for scholarship ,taking an assumption that I write my essays well.

Hi, I can comment on the first three schools - less on the others, most of which I have not worked with (except for Rotterdam and HEC).
Stanford's a dream for everyone. Your GMAT is a bit low, which means you need to really distinguish yourself in other ways. It's not clear to me from what you wrote what your actual career goals are; if they are exciting and groundbreaking and have the potential to significantly impact the world - and sound feasible at the same time - that may make Stanford notice you. And of course essays and recommendations must be superb. LBS and IMD are more in reach. For LBS, your GMAT is near the average. There you will want to really emphasize what contribution you intend to make on campus. For IMD you want to really stress your international orientation and how your career has progressed. For all of them you want to highlight your leadership experience in whatever you've done, and show self awareness. Again, make sure you can be specific about your career goals - short, mid and long-term, and how they relate to your past experiences, as well as specifically why you are looking for an MBA in order to achieve them.

Good luck,

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

Free, detailed MBA chances calculator
Admission tips and scholarship info per school
Plan your application content (free online tool)
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I don't personally remember anyone with a 640 GMAT getting a scholarship at a top 20 school.
A lower ranked school might give you one.
the scholarship is offered if a school thinks that a more highly ranked school will admit you, and wants to secure your attendance.
But a relatively low GMAT will not make them think that.
What you CAN do is apply to a few higher ranked schools, and if you are accepted, you might be able to leverage that acceptance into a scholarship at a lower-ranked school. As well, if you are accepted to two same-tiered schools, you might be able to write to one and say that you have been accepted to the other, and would the first school be willing to give you a scholarship so you can say yes.

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

Free, detailed MBA chances calculator
Admission tips and scholarship info per school
Plan your application content (free online tool)
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Hi Joy,

Thanks a lot for the evaluation, I really appreciate this. Could you possibly help me know a little more about HEC Montreal and RSM with respect to my profile. Shall they be a relevant good fit for my profile.

Thanks!!!

edit

Let us know what all schools you aim to apply at? I am in same boat as you...
You can olwayz make it with good essays and recommendations but that solely depends on school you are targeting to.

Thanks...

If the school you are interested in accepts an updated GMAT past the deadline, I would go ahead and apply. You will want to tell them in the optional essay or additional information section that you are planning to retake the GMAT on such and such a date, and will update them immediately with your (hopefully higher) new score.

As the rounds progress, there are fewer and fewer spots to fill - better you get in there while you can. Also, having applied, you will truly be free to focus on improving your GMAT score with no distractions.

Good luck!

Joy
Senior Application Consultant
Aringo.com

Free, detailed MBA chances calculator
Admission tips and scholarship info per school
Plan your application content (free online tool)
Get an initial assessment