Profile Evaluation - Indian Engineer Male

Hi Observer0911,

Thank you for your post, and congratulations on the great GMAT! Here are my responses to your questions:

1. ACADEMICS

Your GMAT score is very strong and already helps to uplift your academic standing. Moreover, for international applicants, the GMAT carries even more weight relative to GPA than it does for domestic applicants (so long as your GPA or class positioning wasn't bad), in large part because international GPAs do not get tabulated within schools' published class-average GPAs. You have a strong profile overall; given the schools to which you're applying, it would be lovely to have come from a first-tier college, worked at MBB instead of the Big 4, and (to a slightly lesser extent) had a higher GPA. (More on schools below.) But everyone has strengths and areas they wish they could improve in their profile. Given that Round 1 deadlines are only a few weeks away, it's a matter now of telling your unique story, unpacking the value of your experiences (through which your intellectual horsepower will shine through), articulating your goals, why you need an MBA to achieve them, how you'd uniquely contribute to a program (in ways that others with similar profiles can't for example), etc. Your recommenders will play a very important role in this as well. As you consider these things, remember that you do not want to brag. Your acumen and unique skills and experiences will shine through if your stories and essays are well told. Be humble. Think of others. Don't tell them "how smart you are!"

2. LEADERSHIP

I would focus less on whether you officially had "direct reports" and more on unpacking the value of your experiences, including leadership experiences. I imagine that you have spearheaded projects or been the go-to-person for various initiatives, and by way of doing so, you effectively "led" people and "led" ideas into execution. And within that, I'm sure there were even more interesting, MBA-relevant leadership themes, such as international or cross-functional partnership, relationship- and team-building, uniting teammates behind a common purpose, managing upward, influencing (sometimes without formal authority), and so forth. In short, leadership is not a matter of how many people "fall under you" in an org chart; it's about all of these themes and more. (Same goes for your experiences outside of work.) Where exactly these themes lie in your professional and extracurricular experiences would require introspection and conversation. I'd be happy to chat about it by way of a Free Consultation: https://www.avantiprep.com/free-consultation.html

3. REAPPLICANT

In a similar spirit as the previous comment, I would worry less about the fact that you are a re-applicant. From an admissions perspective, the bearing is neutral. I would focus more on (a) how you are going to articulate the specific, concrete, tangible improvements to your candidacy that you've made since you last applied, and (b) at a more strategic level, in what ways your applications weren't so strong the last time around, and how they can therefore improve. As a re-applicant, you are usually going to be required to accomplish the first of these by way of a re-applicant essay (250 to 500 words depending on the school) in which they explicitly ask you how you've improved your candidacy. I encourage applicants (and very often work with them) to crystallize a series of improvement categories and then articulate not only the specifics of the improvement, but also the self-awareness and connections to your goals and why you're now better prepared to achieve them and contribute more meaningfully to the program. I would be happy to brainstorm this with you as well. (Your recommendations should be fresh and enhanced as well; they can usually come from the same people -- schools' LOR instructions for re-applicants vary, so look closely -- though you likely have a new voice now via the nonprofit. And even if a recommender is the same, his/her recommendation should definitely not be a repeat of last time!)

4. SCHOOLS

4. As noted above, you have a strong profile and are in the unique territory where, despite coming from the most crowded and competitive demographic in the world, you can justifiably apply to schools like the ones you've listed. At the same, it is still very important to understand the broader admissions landscape when doing so (and to potentially adjust your school strategy accordingly). According to some studies, Indian applicants with a 770 GMAT score still have only a 6% acceptance rate to Wharton. That figure is going to be even lower for Indian male engineers and for schools like Stanford, HBS, and MIT Sloan, which have considerably lower acceptance rates than Wharton. Moreover, these super-elite schools draw more heavily from the MBBs than the Big 4 (especially when you're coming from an overrepresented group) and more heavily from first-tier undergraduate programs. (Your more recent and seemingly blue-chip global nonprofit experience helps here, as you are no longer "just" a Big 4 applicant; if that were the case, these programs would be even more difficult.) With all of that in mind, I think it would behoove you to consider including at least some schools from the next tier (T8-16). INSEAD is the most achievable of the group you've listed. The rest of the schools range from super-hard to hard -- not unachievable, just very difficult as the data referenced above suggests. You can certainly include some or all of these programs, but I'd probably diversify a bit too.

5. THE BEST WAY TO IMPROVE NOW IS TO FOCUS ON YOUR APPLICATIONS

With the first of these deadlines only a few weeks ago, there isn't much else you can "add" to or "change" about your profile. There is ***a ton*** you can do, however, to maximize the value and articulation of your story through your applications, essays, resume, and recommendations. That is where you should invest yourself completely now. You can read more about certain key considerations related to career goal specificity, why MBA (what knowledge, skills, and experience are missing en route to these goals?), why each school, school specificity and contributions, passion / purpose / interests / motivations, recommendations, and the like through this blog post: https://www.avantiprep.com/blog/the-mos ... on-process

HAPPY TO CHAT

I know that's a lot to digest, and there's even more we could discuss by way of a Free Consultation. I would be more than happy to chat and build on the specifics of what's addressed above, so please feel free to email me at greg@avantiprep.com or sign up for a Free Consultation via this link: https://www.avantiprep.com/free-consultation.html

Best Regards,
Greg