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curiousfox
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Joined: 08 Jul 2026
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Profile Review 11 Jul 2026, 06:58
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I'm 25F and aiming for Co'29. Currently started prepping for GMAT.

Scores look like: 10th - 9.6 CGPA 12th - 92% Graduation - 8.56/10. Had a year back due to covid emergency.
Work ex - approx 2.5 years

Had always worked in early stage startups in marketing but the stints have been short due to layoffs. Mostly under a year.

I took a break in december and joined a company in March but had a layoff again in just 2.5 months. So if I remove this short exp from CV, it shows a total gap of 6+ months.

Apart from that for non academics
  1. Have been freelancing since college days, worked with 40+ clients
  2. Had created a course of mine enrolling 30 students and 2 lacs in revenue
  3. Tried building my marketing agency but failed.
  4. Travel and trekking buff and trying to get certifications around adventure sports like surfing and paragliding.
  5. LinkedIn Top voice 2024
  6. Worked with 25+ founders on their personal brand
  7. Was a state level athlete in school.

My aim with MBA is to build a pedigree for myself and move into a stronger role in marketing domain

Questions - What do I do in the mean time to build a strong profile?
Is career gap and year back at college going to be a problem?
I've started preparing very recently - Should I even target for Co'28?
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kingbucky
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Profile Review 11 Jul 2026, 23:09
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Given that you recently started GMAT prep and currently have a bit of a shaky employment stretch, rushing to apply in the next few months is risky. Taking the extra year to lock down a stable job, score exceptionally well on the GMAT, and build a cohesive narrative tying your startup hustle to your future corporate marketing goals will make you a significantly stronger candidate. Use this time to build that continuous work experience! Keep us updated of your progress ! All the best !!
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dotsoftme
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Profile Review 11 Jul 2026, 23:28
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Great Profile... practice quality of questions and score more than 645
curiousfox
I'm 25F and aiming for Co'29. Currently started prepping for GMAT.

Scores look like: 10th - 9.6 CGPA 12th - 92% Graduation - 8.56/10. Had a year back due to covid emergency.
Work ex - approx 2.5 years

Had always worked in early stage startups in marketing but the stints have been short due to layoffs. Mostly under a year.

I took a break in december and joined a company in March but had a layoff again in just 2.5 months. So if I remove this short exp from CV, it shows a total gap of 6+ months.

Apart from that for non academics
  1. Have been freelancing since college days, worked with 40+ clients
  2. Had created a course of mine enrolling 30 students and 2 lacs in revenue
  3. Tried building my marketing agency but failed.
  4. Travel and trekking buff and trying to get certifications around adventure sports like surfing and paragliding.
  5. LinkedIn Top voice 2024
  6. Worked with 25+ founders on their personal brand
  7. Was a state level athlete in school.

My aim with MBA is to build a pedigree for myself and move into a stronger role in marketing domain

Questions - What do I do in the mean time to build a strong profile?
Is career gap and year back at college going to be a problem?
I've started preparing very recently - Should I even target for Co'28?
Show more
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MBAGuide
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Schools: Insead Sept'18 (A$$) ISB '19 (A)
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Profile Review 13 Jul 2026, 03:06
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curiousfox

You need to understand which segment of your profile could carry the weight of your application(atleast more than the other segments). In your case, that would be your 2.5 years of marketing experience in early-stage startups, and you have told us nothing about that, so there really isn't much I can guide you with. You should focus on what you learned during those 2.5 years, how you progressed, and what impact you had on your employers' outcomes. I am also wondering what is common among the kinds of startups you have joined, given the high incidence of layoffs. The adcoms would be concerned.
There are lots of dots to connect, and even then, the story may fall short at this stage. I strongly suggest you try to move into a more stable pre-MBA function or a profile adjacent to marketing, for example, sales or business dev, so that you build quality experience and gain first-hand understanding of the market forces in whichever field you work. Then show some success around your work and leverage that to pitch your candidacy to a good MBA program and target quality marketing roles in the future.
Feel free to speak personally should you want a discussion on your odds with more specific inputs.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]­



curiousfox
I'm 25F and aiming for Co'29. Currently started prepping for GMAT.

Scores look like: 10th - 9.6 CGPA 12th - 92% Graduation - 8.56/10. Had a year back due to covid emergency.
Work ex - approx 2.5 years

Had always worked in early stage startups in marketing but the stints have been short due to layoffs. Mostly under a year.

I took a break in december and joined a company in March but had a layoff again in just 2.5 months. So if I remove this short exp from CV, it shows a total gap of 6+ months.

Apart from that for non academics
  1. Have been freelancing since college days, worked with 40+ clients
  2. Had created a course of mine enrolling 30 students and 2 lacs in revenue
  3. Tried building my marketing agency but failed.
  4. Travel and trekking buff and trying to get certifications around adventure sports like surfing and paragliding.
  5. LinkedIn Top voice 2024
  6. Worked with 25+ founders on their personal brand
  7. Was a state level athlete in school.

My aim with MBA is to build a pedigree for myself and move into a stronger role in marketing domain

Questions - What do I do in the mean time to build a strong profile?
Is career gap and year back at college going to be a problem?
I've started preparing very recently - Should I even target for Co'28?
Show more
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GyanOne
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Profile Review 20 Jul 2026, 21:43
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The real question underneath your three questions is this: does a fragmented-looking resume signal something broken, or can it be reframed into a story that adcoms actually find compelling? The answer depends entirely on how you build the thread between now and application time.

•⁠ ⁠The layoffs are not the problem; the absence of a connective narrative is. Three short stints in early-stage startups, 40+ freelance clients, a course, a failed agency attempt, and work on founder personal brands all point to the same thing: you have been building marketing judgment in the hardest possible environment. That is a story, not a liability, but only if your essays name it explicitly.

•⁠ ⁠The year back due to a covid emergency is context adcoms have seen many times for this cohort, and a single honest sentence handles it. What matters far more is what your graduation GPA reflects about your academic ceiling, and an 8.56 is clean enough that the question shifts entirely to your GMAT score.

•⁠ ⁠For Co'28 specifically, the math is tight. You would be applying with under three years of work experience by most counts, which is below the median at programs like ISB, where four to five years is closer to the norm. A Co'29 target actually works in your favor here; one more year of intentional work lets you hold a role long enough to show upward movement.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed. Contact us directly - submit a query here.

curiousfox
I'm 25F and aiming for Co'29. Currently started prepping for GMAT.

Scores look like: 10th - 9.6 CGPA 12th - 92% Graduation - 8.56/10. Had a year back due to covid emergency.
Work ex - approx 2.5 years

Had always worked in early stage startups in marketing but the stints have been short due to layoffs. Mostly under a year.

I took a break in december and joined a company in March but had a layoff again in just 2.5 months. So if I remove this short exp from CV, it shows a total gap of 6+ months.

Apart from that for non academics
  1. Have been freelancing since college days, worked with 40+ clients
  2. Had created a course of mine enrolling 30 students and 2 lacs in revenue
  3. Tried building my marketing agency but failed.
  4. Travel and trekking buff and trying to get certifications around adventure sports like surfing and paragliding.
  5. LinkedIn Top voice 2024
  6. Worked with 25+ founders on their personal brand
  7. Was a state level athlete in school.

My aim with MBA is to build a pedigree for myself and move into a stronger role in marketing domain

Questions - What do I do in the mean time to build a strong profile?
Is career gap and year back at college going to be a problem?
I've started preparing very recently - Should I even target for Co'28?
Show more
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