Ask ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting

Hello Expert,

GMAT - 710( QA 49 VA 36 IR - 7/8 AWA 6/6 )

Ethnicity- Indian
Male , 25 years old
Btech (Mechanical) - 2013 - 69% [ Under grad]
12th - 2009 -87%
10th (ICSE) - 2007 - 75%

Work Experience - 43 months as on Date will reach 48 months by August ( At the time of applying will have around 49-50 months work experience)

I am currently working as a business development executive at a startup and have worked with a government agency to design some training programs for their employees to effectively use social media for better E-Governance and have worked on building an android application along with successful launching of a online platform designed for certain companies. ( working for about 2 years here).Working alongside here , My father owns an advertising agency in which i play a role too because it is a family business and i need to look after when he is away and have helped create logos for the Government of Telangana. I am from Hyderabad , India and Telangana is the State. So i do not know how to leverage this work because in my own personal opinion I think it is great to have worked on a few government projects and design logos for it. The logo is evident on their websites and posters and all over the city . So i think i can give me some edge but any opinion regarding this will be considered. Prior to this i worked with Google for a year via a third party. I worked there as a business analyst.

EC

Sports - Swimming, basket ball , kabbadi , table tennis and badminton , Boxing .
Won the 1st Place in basketball at College (team event) .
Participated in multiple university and state level competitions . (table tennis)
Participated in a national level debate and Adjourned best speaker in a debate at a college level event.
Winner of an Extempore at a national level technical fest
Participated in multiple public speaking events and debates
The president of a Student Body in college for 2 years until the end of graduation undertaking lot of responsibilities and conducting multiple events
Organiser of the Sports Fest for 3 years along with a team under me and successfully organised multiple events. Along with Organizing as a sports player had to participate thus managing both organizing and playing.

I was the anchor for the Annual Day for 2 years and conducted the event in a splendid fashion
Class representative and event organiser for the college Fest for 4 years
Musical instruments learned - Keyboard , Guitar
Performed in the annual day and formed an own band during the college days and participated in college events.
learnt Classical singing for over 11 years and still learning
An active member of NSS during college and couple with the other activities i had , went on to form events to distribute food , books , clothes to the needy and have taught maths and physics to the needy .
Associated with an NGO as well , hope this help in application process


Academic Projects and Achievements

Always in the reckoning of the class - top 5%
95th percentile in CAT ( Management Exam in India) a neccesity to get in the reputed IIM’s ( Indian Institute of Management) and 90th percentile in XAT ( Management Exam for XLRI - Xavier School of Management)
Multiple projects in Robotics and designed various prototypes using basic principles of robotics and have done an internship in a PSU regarding steam engines

Final project in College related to Robotics – 6 degree Stewart Gough Platform
I have been to multiple industries such as steel pant , iron ore plant and a couple of thermodynamic industries to see the functioning of machines and an automobile industry as well to see the understanding of manufacture of components.
Softwares learned - CAD/CAM , Catia , Solid Works , Pro-E , Ansys (taught during academic rigour ) along with the normal C , C++ , Blue Java , MS office etc.




Q) Do you have a specific Company to work for? - I do not have a specific company to work for. My areas of interest are marketing and consulting . Of course every aspirant desires to be in the best of the best companies. Rather than working for a company would love to have company of my own down the line

Q) what do i want from my MBA? - I want my MBA to provide the knowledge n specific skills to run a business. It comes with experience i am sure but an MBA adds value and can make one think better in terms of the business. I would like to start a company of my own. My father has his own business and i want to diversify its services . A marketing related MBA would help me to make my company more reachable to cater to the needs of clients. At this stage my answer isn't clear and might be vague but i still haven't put a thought to it . Mostly like i wish MBA helps me better to run a business

Q) Mba full time/part time - I would want to do an MBA full time (2/1 year is fine) . I turned 25 last week so at the moment thinking i could use 2 years for an MBA unless a one year MBA suits me more. I am willing to relocate and looking for schools in India , US , UK , Singapore

Areas of Interest - Marketing / Consulting
Dream School – Kellog (Marketing)

What schools would you suggest to apply to based on this Profile assuming i still score a 710 in my retake . Targeting R1 this year , want to join a school in 2018

Other schools on my mind - Yale , Oxford , NUS , NTU , ISB . Also do i stand a chance at Harvard/ Stanford / Haas ( the elite ) if not what can i do to solidify my application for applying to these schools. I would like to apply to 6 schools One in India (ISB) , 3 In the United States , 1 in UK , 1 in Singapore , i haven't given much of a thought but any advice here would help

Target Score for Retake - 740 (QA 50 VA 40) , owing to my poor academics , i thought of giving the exam another shot and I represent a demography of very high scores

Regards,
HK


P.S - sorry for keeping it long , i might have missed out anything , feel free to ask something if it is missing

Thanks for reaching out!

First of all, your profile is well rounded and interesting but unfortunately you come from an over represented group, so a 740 would really go a long way for the schools you have mentioned. If they are realistic or not also depends on your application, I am not completely convinced that they are all possible for you, I am thinking that the very top US schools (lets say top 10) could still be out of reach for your unfortunately, but anything below that should be possible with a good application and a 740. (If we are talking non-US schools even the top ones should be possible, however)

Now, should you application be AMAZING and something really unique, maybe you have a chance even in the top 10, but I do see that as a stretch at this point.

Hope that helps!

Hello ,
Thank you for the much needed response , fortunately or unfortunately being a student from India is why i have chosen to retake the gmat , also i am looking at just one of the top 10 programs in the US with a 20-35% chance of getting in , would love to build a profile specific towards such a school , but it that doesn't happen , the way my profile is targeted for a top school will automatically help me with other schools . Will get back once my gmat is done. Thanks

Regards,
HK

Hi Aringo !

Thanks for this opportunity. I am going to apply on this December/January next year for my several dream schools.

Below is my profile :

1. Indonesian, 30 years old
2. Undergraduate degree : Food Technology from non-top Indonesian university with GPA 3.65.
3. Work experience : 8 years in the Indonesia's largest food processing company (appr. 5 billion in revenue).
4. Work experience include middle management position (manager) across the country.
5. No international working experience, though will be heading to UK to attend Pre-MBA program (and to increase my English fluency)
6. Haven't taken GMAT already, planning to do it on this July. Going to take extra miles to achieve minimum 715 score.
7. Extracurricular activities : (only mention three among many)
- Executive Council of Student - as a President (it happened 10 years ago, I think it is not necessary to mention for now).
- Head of Mentoring Program in community service - a scholarship plus mentoring program that helps children maximize their potential.
- Founder of youth community.
On the bottom line, I can bundle up my extracurricular activities and my passion with several key terms : helping young people to reach their dreams and expanding their educational opportunity.

Short term goal : change sector to non-profit or social impact startup
Long term goal : establish social entrepreneur movement that emphasizes in helping kids reach their dreams.

My target school and program : Full Time MBA with great social impact initiatives, including : Yale SOM; Berkeley Haas; Michigan Ross; Fuqua and Oxford.

Look forward to your feedback about my profile, will appreciate that so much!

Hi and thanks for reaching out!

I would say your profile has a lot of potential (as an Indonesian candidate, working for a large Indonesian company you stand out from the crowd for sure), but I am missing a lot of information here in order to give you a fair and full assessment, your final GMAT score of course being one of the more important parts of the puzzle. But I would also need to know a bit more about your career progression, promotions, more details about what exactly you do etc.

And needless to say, as you are targeting some of the top schools out there, you would need some “secret sauce” in terms of a very interesting essays, unusual stories, experiences etc. in order to have a fighting chance. Based on what you’ve written so far, it is really hard for me to judge if you have anything like that to add to your essays.

So basically I need more detail from you. Now, if you feel uncomfortable sharing too many details here on a public forum, please feel free to contact us using the ARINGO form on our website for a free consultation instead: https://aringo.com/mba-process-registration/

Hi Aringo,

I am an Indian with my B.E. Electrical Engg graduation from NTU Singapore (CGPA 4.11/5).

I am currently working in Corporate and Investment banking in Singapore and wish to remain in finance after my MBA, preferably in a role in the investment management industry. I am targeting for my MBA in the Sept 2018 session. My GMAT Score is 710 (Q:48, V:38). I would have 5 years work ex by July 2018.

I need your help to narrow down a list of schools in which I stand a realistic chance in the U.S.

Many thanks in advance !

Hi and thanks for reaching out!

I am missing a lot of detail and information here so it is hard for me to give you a really good assessment, but generally I would say that your profile is good, but it might not be special and unique and competitive enough for an Indian applicant for the top 10 schools. So assuming that you can bring out really great essays and demonstrate fit (which can be a huge challenge in itself) I would say you are looking at the top 20 to top 30 range for now.

That said, if you do think something that could help you stand out could be added to your profile, the situation could change so in that case feel free to contact us using the ARINGO website for a full, free profile review in private.

But based on what you shared, I think top 20 to 30 will be the way to go for you.

Good luck!

Hi Aringo,

I've visited your site and found your Admission Chance calculator very helpful. Please tell me what are my chances given my background and goals.

Background

I belong to the most over represented demographic - Indian/29/M/IT.

My grades for my Indian bachelors are horrible and are my weakest point in my application. I transferred credits to a Canadian University as it was a chance at a better life in a western country and I made the best of it. I studied hard, got good grades, got a good internship and built a decent career afterwards.

Work Exp

Total 4.5 years at Matriculation + 1 year internship at a mobile phone maker


3 Years at a Global Systems Integration Company (2 promotions in 2 years) in their Business Consulting Arm:

Implemented a regulatory report for the bank's mutual fund line of business (1.1 million customers - 51 billion AUM)
Business Analysis, Data Analysis, Data Transformation, Performance Calculation, Report Composition and Delivery to the client.

Promoted to team lead incharge of post M&A IT Advisory. Perform gap analysis and design road maps of how technology platforms will be integrated after the bank has aquired smaller firms.

1.5 Years at a Software Product Company (1 promotion in 1.5 years)

Joined right out of school as a QA Analyst and was promoted to the position of a Client Analyst within a year. Worked with large banks and made sure that the product being implemented was of high quality.


1 Year co-op at a mobile device company as a Project Management Associate

Worked as a Project Coordinator/Scrum Master on internal projects

Extra - Curriculars

Volunteer within the PR team of the local chapter of United Nations Assocination. Help write press releases, coordinate invitations to reporters and bloggers. Manage twitter account during charity events.


In the past - Project Coordinator at a Cultural Organization that organized an annual cultural event. I joined in their 2nd year and helped create their brand identity including their logo and their "theme".


Co-founder and technical lead of a company that sells printed t-shirts online. As of now it operates only in India and is not wildly profitable. We do it more as a hobby and less as a business at this point. Handle online marketing include SEM, FB advertising, design and maintainance of the website, ideate new designs for the t-shirts.


Education and Coursework

Small Public University in British Columbia - Bachelors of Computer Information Systems - 3.66/4.0
Mumbai University - Bachelors of Computer Science - 78 percentile.

Certificate in Business Analysis from the University of Toronto

Currently preparing for an industry standard business analysis certificate (CBAP or CCBA)

CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management for PMI)


GMAT

GMAT - Not yet taken - Due in 2 weeks.. Latest Veritas GMAT was a 710 (Q50,V37) so I am expecting around 720-730 on the actual test. I am trying to work on verbal as there is only so much I can do in quant.


MBA Goals

Option 1. Pivot from consulting into product management at a FANG company or a fintech company.
Option 2. Go back into consulting but doing more high profile strategy work

Schools

Target: Ross, Johnson, Tepper
Reach: Stern, Haas

Hi,

Thanks for doing this.

Age: 27, applying Round 1/2 for 2018 entry. Indian Male
GMAT: 710
Undergrad: IU Kelley, Major Finance, GPA: 3.3
Grad: Vanderbilt, Master's in Finance, GPA: 3.6

Experience:
1) Worked in internal consulting for a while at a large real estate organization for about 6 months.
2) Worked in strategy with my family business for about 6 months full-time and since been involved part-time as member of the Board of Directors. Realized the business doesn't need my full time involvement. Its a infrastructure development business with about USD 15M in revenue YOY. I mostly help in financial planning, strategy and helped to acquire a smal manufacturer a year or so back for about USD 3M.
3) For the past 3 years I have mostly been working in a VC in HK which invests in digital media, marketing and advertising companies. After a while of doing this, the partners realized that in APAC there was a lack of new media understanding especially with advertisers so we started a Accelerator for local and foreign companies in order to accelerate the growth of these companies in APAC while helping the brands to innovate their marketing channels. I have mostly been involved in deal sourcing and acceleration of portfolio companies in a very hands-on way. From time to time, I go on secondments and help these companies out from strategy to pitching to operations. Currently, I am on a 6 month secondment to a company that we are helping to develop scale in SG and so I have relocated there. I am leading their supply side development efforts in SE Asia. So I have kinda gone from a pure investment role to a venture builder kinda role now. I have lead the investment for 2 companies and venture building for 2 more companies and had 3 exits.

Looking at a mix of schools. Not sure a 2 yr US MBA is worth the time or money currently.
US Schools: Kellogg (1yr), Cornell (1 yr)
EU Schools: LBS, Cambridge, IESE
Asian Schools: INSEAD, HKUST
Top choices being: LBS & Kellogg but would be happy with Cambridge & INSEAD

Post-MBA career: Want to do corporate strategy at a large MNC and move into their venture building in a few years and finally start my own fund 10 years or so down the line. While I also want to help my family business in expanding outside my home state in India in other territories through strategic partnerships.

Looking forward to your thoughts on this. Thanks again!

Hi, thanks for reaching out and sorry for the late reply. It really would be much easier to give you a proper evaluation if you already had a GMAT score, of course, so feel free to get back to us once you have it. But if you do manage to get a score along the lines you mentioned, you should be in pretty good shape. The thing I am missing however, is the reasoning for choosing those schools in the list. So would love some more insight on that as well, if possible. It can affect your chances of admission as well, as I am sure you know.

But all in all, your profile has some unique parts for an Indian applicant, so that is your big advantage. The extra curriculars and your Canadian experience in particular is worth highlighting and with good essays I think that should be enough to overcome less than perfect grades.

Great profile, all in all, and not very typical for Indian applicants, so that is great! You are going for some of the toughest schools out there, though, so I am not sure that GMAT score is ideal for those schools, as an Indian. So I would recommend considering a retake, if possible. (Wouldn't say it's a must, though, but well worth considering)

You should also put a lot of effort into your essays, as those will help you stand out from other Indians. So if you are at all unsure about if you can do a sufficient job on those yourself, consider getting professional help with them.

Considering your post-MBA goal I would say a 2 year program is probably a better fit for you than a 1 year program so if I were you I would make those programs my main priority, despite your hesitation.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for the reply Aringo.

Yea the exam is approaching soon and I hope to get the score I want.

I chose Tepper because I met them at one of the QS MBA tours and they liked my profile. I spoke to an alumni who's from Toronto who had great things to say about their school and their technology alumni.

Ross sent 50 people to Amazon last year and that is a company I really want to work at and considering I co-own an ecommerce website I might have advantage there.

Cornell - the VP of my company who likes me did a Queens-Cornell exec MBA program and suggested that I apply to Queens and Cornell for their FT MBAs separately. He said he can put in a word for me personally to their admissions committee. I don't know how much that will help me but thought I could apply to an Ivy League. Cornell also has a great technology alumni.

Stern - NYC has a lot of fintech startups and they have a great product management track.

Haas - I needed a 5th school to submit my scores too but I might make the 5th school Foster (UW). Haas seems too reach for me and I need a safety school.

Hi,
Izul here from Malaysia. Would appreciate an assessment on my profile for a chance to get admitted into a top 10 business school. I personally am looking at Wharton, Booth, Berkeley and MIT. I know it is quite a stretch for my GMAT score, it would be useful if there are suggestions for other schools that fit my persona and aspiration and whether I should retake my GMAT to push towards 720+ given limited time.

This would be quite long. Thanks in advance.

Name: Izulman Telimik, CFA
Age: 29
University: The University of Sydney
Degree: Bc of Commerce ( Accounting & Finance), Distinction average - 76.4% (Top 10%)
Accomplishment: Ranked #1 in Management Accounting; Ranked #2 in Auditing & Assurance

GMAT 1: 570 (Q44, V25)
GMAT 2: 700 (Q47, V40)

Personal profile:
14 siblings with one deaf brother, from underprivileged family, gained full government scholarship to study overseas. My corporate life has brought me to places within South East Asia (SEA) including a small village at the foothill of Mount Kinabalu, rural Vietnam at Mekong delta and also Battambang Cambodia where pipe water remains a luxury. Aspire to advance SEA and emerging markets through digital innovation.

Work Experience
Total of 6 years working experience

Axiata Group Berhad
. One of Asia's largest telecommunication
companies, regional footprint across 10
countries, approx. 320 mil customers and
250, 000 employees.

. 3 promotions within 5 years
Youngest recipient of Axiata Champion
Award at age 26, top 50 of the 250,000
Axiata Group employees.

. Spearheaded stake acquisition in a
remittance Co, 3 years later managed the
RM1 bil IPO process with expected IRR
return of over 165%

. JVCo execution (with SK Telecom) of
Malaysia's latest e-mall, 11street.my
including one year secondment, within one
year became no.2 in the market

. Set foundation for digital payment business
leading to the setup of Boost, Malaysia's
new digital micro payment wallet for
everyday lifestyle purchase

. Liaison officer for Axiata Digital Funds
(ADIF), established synergy roadmap and
execution plans with 10 local startups
under Axiata Digital Funds

. Dynamic analyses on the RM25 bil
industry, built model and led merger
scenario and evaluation on convergence
for OpCo in Malaysia given saturated
industry and flat growth for long term
action plans

Co-curricular involvement
. Mentor for CFA candidates under Peneraju
Education programme, a government
initiative to increase CFA charter holders in
the country

. Mentor for Axiata Young CEO
Development programme, a nationwide
CSR to groom young professionals (<25)
to be the future leaders of the country

Other Achievements:
. CFA charter, straight pass, full scholarship
from Peneraju Edu foundation - first to
have earned charter in the scholarship
programme

. Axiata War Game 2014, Best Analyst Team

. The Graduan Apprentice 2013, grand
winner for digital media

. Malaysia government overseas full
scholarship award 2006

. Tengku Idris Shah Royal Award 2005, best
high school certificate student (state
level), SPM - 12As

Thanks again in advance, any feedback is really appreciated.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi and thanks for reaching out!
Your profile has a lot of interesting bits in it, so you definitely have a lot of material to work with. A better GMAT score would help for sure, but I would not say it is a must. We at ARINGO specialize in helping those with lower GMAT scores (yes, your score would count as a low one just due to the schools you’ve chosen) so should you decide to work with us on your application for example, I am sure we could find some ways around that.

Alternatively, try to look at some other schools where the average GMAT score is lower than in the schools you’ve mentioned, that could be a possible solution in your case as well.

Hi ARINGO....

I want to apply to MBA in 2018 and would highly appreciate review of my profile.

My Profile

Nationality: Indian
Age: 35 years
Gender: Male
GMAT score: 670 (Q50 V30), IR 6.0, AWA 6.0

Work experience: 12+ years
Industry: Automotive, FMCG, Oil & Gas
Function: Supply Chain, Projects, Sales/ Key Account management

I have 12+ years of experience, with a high growth profile over the last 8 years. Awarded best employee twice. Won the CEO commendation award once. I head the National Sales currently for one of my company business units in India. I have done my Post Graduate program in Management in India from SP Jain Institute in 2008. So I have a sort of mini MBA experience already in my kitty. However, am looking at pursuing another MBA, this time from US.

Education:
Post Graduate Program in Management: CGPA of 3.2
Bachelors in Engineering with CGPA of 4.0


Extracurricular activities:
- Captain of college cricket team
- Won first prize in International B plan competition and almost kicked off own business before dropping out the idea.

-Short-term career goal: Move to other country and get a position in Supply Chain/ Projects/
- Long term goal - To mostly kick off my own business in US with Indian traded goods

Target schools: Top schools in US

Am primarily confused whether to apply for two years program or a one year one. I see one year programs being intermittent and not full time. My worry about one year program is also more around the career placement services at top B schools. Can you advice me on this, as well if I should go for a full time one year program? If yes, what are the B schools that I stand a chance in these two programs.


Thank you in advance!

Hi and thanks for reaching out and sorry for the late reply!

Now, you really are better suited for an EMBA program than a regular MBA program, which is a good thing, as EMBA programs are generally easier to get admitted to than the regular MBA programs. You are likely not the ideal applicant for the top schools in the US for the regular MBA programs but you might have a shot at some of them if you opt for the EMBA variety.

So while I do understand your hesitation regarding the part time programs I do feel that they are the only realistic option for you.

You can find some rankings and some more information about EMBA programs here:
https://aringo.com/emba-programs/

I would also like to point out that if you are looking at the top programs, your GMAT score is likely not going to be good enough for them, so you would need to consider a retake of the GMAT as well.

Good luck and let us know if you have any further questions about this!

Hi ,
I have a low GMAT score of 640 ( tried multiple times but unable to improve) .I want to apply to one year MBA programs but am not sure what options do I have with this score.
I have around 7 years of experience in IT. 4.3 years with an Indian MNC . Currently working in Abu Dhabi,UAE as a Project Coordinator for the implementation of a school management software in an international school.
I am looking for an MBA to accelerate my career in IT consulting and to follow a career path of a Business Analyst.I am searching for programs in India or abroad.
Please let me know if I have some options with this score and how should I proceed from here.