hassanT wrote:
Pakistani, male, 25 years.
GMAT - 600 (Q44, V28, IR 7)
Olevel - 7A*1A
Alevel - 4A*
Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering - 3.50 CGPA - National University of Sciences and Technology. Graduated top 15% of the batch. This is the top ranked engineering school in Pakistan.
Active participation in student clubs and organizations, leading a couple of them and holding major positions in arranging key events.
Work Exp - 03 years (as of August 2020) in product management across 2 organizations and several product portfolios.
1st being Dawlance, a local leader in the consumer electronics industry. I was actively involved in several innovative products' launches and the introduction of an entire portfolio altogether. Collaborated with teams in Turkey, China and Pakistan.
The 2nd, and current, organization is samsung electronics. Currently working as a product manager for LED TVs for the country, having previously been the product manager of refrigerator and washing machine. Not a promotion per say, and more of a role change, but could be taken as one if one considers the appointment at the core division.
Social work:
Worked for StreetStore - a charity organization. Assisted them in fundraising and sat up a street store event where clothes were distributed among underprivileged families.
Worked as a writer for Humans of Pakistan for over an year - helping portray a positive image of the society.
Currently a Green Card holder for WWF - a donation membership that works towards improving atmosphere and the needy people associated with it. I'm part of the Air project, where projects are carried out to improve air quality.
Reasons for MBA - At my current career stage, and the path I've chosen, a management degree (read MBA) makes a lot of sense for further growth and career development, and learning - given that I come from a technical background. An MBA would add on to my current experience and better equip me to take on senior positions in strategy/consulting/management.
Post-MBA goals - Move into management consulting. Also open to staying in project management.
I understand that the GMAT score is extremely low, and to be honest I'd given up on applying for this year's admissions. But I used the profile evaluation tool here and it actually showed I had above average chances for Said (and Rotman, among others). I also found out that Said has been accepting as low as 580 and 510 in the previous years. Hence the silly evaluation post with this GMAT.
Appreciate your feedback on the profile and suggestions towards next steps.
Also, what would be alternate decent schools (UK/Canada)?
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Hey
hassanT,
You have a pretty great profile,
Academically, you have a good GPA that showcases your academic prowess, which coupled with the brand of your undergraduate college could pose as brownie points for your application.
While your grades and brand do play an important part, you would need to highlight your extracurricular activities and other endeavours because AdComs are looking for applicants with holistically developed profiles. Thus, it is essential to shed some light on the endeavors you’ve taken up at any clubs, associations, sports, fest, or events you managed or participated in during your undergrad. On this note, your achievements and leadership role in student clubs and organizations showcase your ability to take on initiatives and create impacts. Additionally, your volunteering role showcases your strong interest in benefiting the society, while your fundraising experience showcases your ability to spearhead initiatives in an effective manner. Since B-schools are looking for applicants that are future leaders, such experiences and qualities strengthen your application.
As far as your work experience goes, an MBA is a manager's degree and requires significant work experience of 4-5 years. Thus, to compensate for you falling short on work experience, you ought to explain and highlight the major projects of your work and how these experiences helped to develop and further groom your skills and knowledge. Highlight why you chose these firms, how you have gone beyond the role, any initiatives you took and any kind of impact created to establish a connection with your goals and portray the knowledge gained from these experiences. Properly highlighting this would allow you to stand par with candidates having more extensive work experience hailing from big 4 brands. That said, connecting your work experience and your decision to pursue a masters is very important.
Coming to your GMAT, while your score is slightly low, I would recommend that you retake the test to get a score of 650+, as this would widen your school option as well. Talking about the examples of low GMAT admits you have stated, they would have compensated for this with an extremely strong profile consisting of stellar grades, extensive work experience from the big 4 brands and lots of quantitative achievements. While you have a good profile, given your low work experience, I’d suggest a higher GMAT score to compensate for the same.
If retaking the exam is not an option, you could still target the MBA program at the non-GMAT schools in USA and Canada like:
Waterloo
UCL
Durham
Macquarie
All said and done, while you have a good profile, there will be thousands of applicants out there with similarly great profiles, which is why your application would play a huge role in enhancing your chances of getting accepted into your target schools. You would need to highlight your profile USP’s and how you can be a great addition to the school whilst posing the right examples to legitimize your claim. Additionally, you need to ensure that your LORs and Resume, equally depict the strengths of your profile since your application( SOP, ESSAY, LOR & RESUME ) will hold a 30% value in the selection procedure.
Further, if you need a more in-depth profile evaluation for a thorough understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, ways to build your profile further and a more comprehensive and personalized list of target schools you can you can follow the link below to Book a Free Consulting call to connect with one of our founders to gain in-depth knowledge of the application process and chalk out a winning strategy.
https://www.mim-essay.com/book-an-appointment-form/Hope this helped!