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saurabhbits
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Profile Evaluation- Indian Male, Financial Research 5 years, 700 GMAT 22 Dec 2015, 12:55
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Hi Everyone,

I just gave my GMAT today and scored 700 (IR:7. Quant 50 and Verbal 34).

Here's my background:

Electronics Engineer from BITS Pilani (Considered one of the topmost engineering colleges of India), with a CGPA of 7.31/10

~5 year work ex in sell side financial research as a senior research analyst with work across apparel, video-gaming, media, luxury and banking sectors.

1.5 years as a startup founder in healthcare tech (had 2 full-time employees, 15 clients but due to lack of funds and inability to generate funding I'd to close it in early 2015. PS I was working on it along with my Job)

I'm expected to get recommendation of a top European luxury analyst (for whom I worked for more than 6 months) and an assistant director of my company (he managed my role)

Post MBA, these are the career paths in which I would like to work post MBA (order as mentioned below):

- General management with a focus on strategy and business development in a good established company.
- Business development / strategy in a fast growth startup.
- Career in the Buy Side finance.

I'm aiming for ISB R2 deadline, NUS R1 deadline, IMD (R1) and INSEAD (R1) deadline, with the latter two schools being my dream schools.

First, I want to ask how are my chances for ISB, considering my GMAT score is a bit average compared to the Indian student scores. Second, but more important, I've heard a lot about IMD and INSEAD putting a lot of focus on international experience. While, I've always worked with US/Europe clients, I lack international living experience on my CV. Is that something which makes/breaks your application?


Kind Regards,
Saurabh
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Profile Evaluation- Indian Male, Financial Research 5 years, 700 GMAT 22 Dec 2015, 20:17
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saurabhbits
Hi Everyone,

I just gave my GMAT today and scored 700 (IR:7. Quant 50 and Verbal 34).

Here's my background:

Electronics Engineer from BITS Pilani (Considered one of the topmost engineering colleges of India), with a CGPA of 7.31/10

~5 year work ex in sell side financial research as a senior research analyst with work across apparel, video-gaming, media, luxury and banking sectors.

1.5 years as a startup founder in healthcare tech (had 2 full-time employees, 15 clients but due to lack of funds and inability to generate funding I'd to close it in early 2015. PS I was working on it along with my Job)

I'm expected to get recommendation of a top European luxury analyst (for whom I worked for more than 6 months) and an assistant director of my company (he managed my role)

Post MBA, these are the career paths in which I would like to work post MBA (order as mentioned below):

- General management with a focus on strategy and business development in a good established company.
- Business development / strategy in a fast growth startup.
- Career in the Buy Side finance.

I'm aiming for ISB R2 deadline, NUS R1 deadline, IMD (R1) and INSEAD (R1) deadline, with the latter two schools being my dream schools.

First, I want to ask how are my chances for ISB, considering my GMAT score is a bit average compared to the Indian student scores. Second, but more important, I've heard a lot about IMD and INSEAD putting a lot of focus on international experience. While, I've always worked with US/Europe clients, I lack international living experience on my CV. Is that something which makes/breaks your application?


Kind Regards,
Saurabh
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Hi Saurabh,

Its hard to predict what your career goal should be :
1. it depends upon your interest
2. You may need to tailor it to the school where you are applying, depending upon what kind of jobs they get on campus. For instance ISB does not have a stronghold in finance. So you will need to thoroughly research your options at ISB about a career in financial services.

IMD/INSEAD/NUS prefer applicants with international work experience or work exposure, even if you have not travelled. In your essays, use work stories that show : 1. your leadership, 2. your international clients' exposure. Getting a recommendation from the European analyst will help for sure.

I don't consider your GMAT score to be problem at ISB, but the rest of your application should be very well presented.