Hi,
I am at the very beginning the journey (doing initial research of mode of prep/material/schools; wandering the forums; pondering the meaning of life etc etc). Seeking this evaluation is my first concrete step really.
So would really appreciate some pointers and advice. I have a broad list of schools I would like to target. It will be a big help if you could offer some clarity on what range of Gmat score will I need for these, given my background.
Basics:29 year old male from India
Planning to appear for
Gmat around July’18Targeting a
1 year MBA program commencing in 2019Academics:92.5% in Tenth Grade (CBSE)
90.0% in Twelfth Grade (CBSE)
First Division in B Com (Honors) from Sri Venkateswara College (University of Delhi)
Qualified as a Chartered Accountant in November 2012 (multiple attempts)
Work experience:5 years of experience post qualifying chartered accountancy:
2 years as a Senior analyst with the M&A Investment Banking team at KPMG (Front end) – Worked on several pitches and some live deals; drafted pitchbooks and IMs; built financial models; undertook company/industry research
3 years as an associate investment manager with a prominent Real Estate Fund in India (AUM $11 bn+) – Worked end-to-end on 11 deals; analysis and execution; monitoring of assigned portfolio of investments; regularly interfacing with investee management/ consultants/ lawyers/ bankers
I have received
good ratings in appraisals throughout and was
promoted this year.
Given nature of roles, both positions were with small teams, and thus I do not have any direct leadership experience however I have worked with other functional teams in a supervisory capacity and mentored interns/ trainees.
Prior to all this, I went through the 3.5 years of mandatory training as part of the CA coursework, and worked with the treasury team of a large Indian financing corporation for 9 months before appearing for the CA Final exams. I figure this will not be considered by the schools in their evaluation.
Extra-curricular:Competed at CBSE national level in swimming and water polo. Served as the captain for the aquatics team in senior year of school and throughout college.
Held student council positions in school – prefect, house captain
Also pursued several other hobbies activities – guitarist for school band and orchestra, competed in kickboxing competitions, taught myself basic Japanese.. but I doubt these will carry any weight. All these things were put on hold once focus shifted to CA, IB etc
Swimming is the key extra-curricular activity with several medals to back it up.
I do not have any social impact activities to showcase. Though I have been keen to contribute towards education as a social cause, and would be keen to work towards it in case I leave my current position to prepare for the Gmat.
Widely travelled, but no international work experience to speak of.
I am very committed to pursuing MBA and plan to leave my current job in order to devote a few months to full time prep/ take a sabbatical from the 65hr+ work weeks.
I have performed well in verbal and above par in quant throughout my academic past. I expect quant to be the more challenging aspect once I get down to preparing.
Target schools:Not planning to apply to US based schools. Would love to study in Singapore (love the country in general

).
Broad list of target schools for
1 year programs: (ranked for preference)
Aspirational1. INSEAD (Singapore)
2. London Business School
3. CEIBS
Realistic (IMO)4. HKUST
5. Nanyang (Singapore)
6. NUS (Singapore)
7. Indian School of Business (Hyderabad, India)
8. IIM Ahmadabad (India) – 1 year program
9. IIM Banglore (India) – 1 year program
Would appreciate your advice on the range of scores I would need to target/ other supplements needed in my profile for the above programs.
Apologies for the length of this thing.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Best Regards,
D