Hi - Thanks for asking for an evaluation. I'm just going to dice in and say that NO you should not apply to Darden R3. Please don't take this the wrong way, but typically to be a string R3 candidate at US-based programs you need to "don a cape under your clothing" so to speak. What I mean that is that you truly must be in a special league. After R2, the process becomes even more competitive. Unless you have several truly remarkable/unique qualities in your career/goal narrative/extracurriculars/life experiences, you simply won't get the attention of the admissions committees. You could be a strong R1 or R2 applicant, but not R3. Do you follow what I am saying?
Now, it is a slightly different story with the European programs. First, aside from INSEAD the programs you are considering are less competitive. INSEAD clearly says on its website that applicants are not at a disadvantage by applying in its later rounds, So I do think you could apply in a late round to those programs.
I am guessing that all our your academics and career to date have been in India? Your overall GPA is strong (79%). But your GMAR score could present some trouble. I am unable to discern based on ehat you have shared whether your career has required more hard (quant) or sfot skills from you. 44 is not a high quant score. It's not low, but it's not high. Your verbal score s quite low. Again, I'd like to know more about yor career to assess if there is room to help you capture your experiences in your resume so we can mitigate concerns the adcoms may have about your appetite to handle quant and communicate effectively.
You mention a wow factor - that you have a diverse background. Please don't be discouraged by what I am about to say - I just prefer to be direct with people. I don't see the wow factor based on what you have sent me. That doesn't mean you aren't a strong applicant. It doesn't mean you don't have a wow factor. But you haven't captured it in the content you have sent to me. Your background doesn't jump off the page as diverse. It looks as though you have certainly been successful, and that is wonderful. But you have been in India your entire life and in the retail/ecommerce sector. So we would want to work with you help you mine and build that wow factor into your profile.
I'd like to know more about what you did in college outside the classroom and what you have done since college in an extracurricular manner. Right now, it appears you may be light along this metric. Schools care more about how ell balanced you were in college than how well balanced you are now as a professional, because they believe the way you conducted yourself in undergrad is indicative of how you will conduct yourself in b-school. So again, I need to understand more about your involvements - what your contributions, impact and levels of dedications to your involvements were/are before i can weigh in on this metric.
Now, your career goals....here I am at a loss. Your goals have no specificity. I can't offer you much sage fuidance here because I am unsure what you want to do. To get into top business schools you need to present the adcom with e clear narrative that has a short-mid-and long-term perspective. You need to convince them that they should have confidence in your ability to manifest your aspirations with the aid of b-school and all it offers propelling you. Right now, you aren't giving me (or the adcom) enough content to assess you. OR to assess if the schools you have selected are the right schools for you. I need to talk with you and ask you quite a few questions in order to better understand what you want to do. I realize that you want b-school to open doors. It will. But you can't say you want to go to b-school to open doors to other careers, without specifying what you want that path/new career/new direction to be. Please note that more than 50% of folks we partner with don't know when they begin their work with us what they want to do post b-school, so it is ok that you can't articulate yourself regarding that right now. But if you partner with us, we will work with you to help you craft a strong narrative.
Ok, this is just a start...I am sure that if we talk I could offer you other advice. You may also lead me to see your wow factor which would be terrific! In any event, I hope you find this helpful. If you would like to schedule a skype call, please contact me directly at Square One. Thanks again for reaching out!
Kathryn Lucas, Founder
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