Score needed in GMAT FE and improvement in profile

Question

Hi All, 
Keeping it brief.
1. I want to know the safe score to get admitted to ISB for 2025-2026.
2. And also what should I do to improve my profile.
3. 80% of 655-705 and 20% of 705-805 level questions from GMATClub enough for scoring 730+ in FE considering I have solved the OGs or what else resources/level of questions I should target

10th(2015) - 86%
12th(2017) - 77%
Engineering(2021) - 76% (From Dy Patil's RAIT, Nerul, Navi Mumbai)
Cleared CFA L1(2022)

Total experience as of today is 2 yrs 9 months.
Working as a Data Engineer in Barclays (Completed 2 years here)
Started my career with LTIMindtree.

Your genuine suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Posted from my mobile device

rn1112 · Answer

A 730+ score will be a safe bet.

Best of Luck.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider taking an Official Mock to get a sense where you currently stand (and how you perform on each section). Regarding resources, checking some of the posted debriefs by people who've scored well/improved their scores could also be helpful. You could see what they did/used during their prep journeys.

Kratiks10 · Answer

Hi  deepakjha08 ,

Considering the new Gmat Focus Exam, a score of 685 and above should be a safe score considering previous admission stats for ISB. The 685 Gmat focus score is equivalent to 730-740 GMAT Classic score.

As you would already know that Gmat score is only one of the criteria for admission into ISB (or any other MBA college as well), I would recommend you to visit the school specific page for more info.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/isb-204/

IVYCRACKERS.COM · Answer

Hi Deepak! OG must have given you good exposure to quant. If you are at a stage where you are building/strengthening concepts, then Manhattan Prep is good for verbal and OG is sufficient for quant. Your acads are decent and you will need to score really well on GMAT i.e. 700+ on FE (considering you are from the overrepresented pool of IT applicants). Your essays will have to be extrmely crisp and should focus more on "data" than on "engineer". This is one of things that can give you an edge (considering there is a boom both in data analytics and data science). The same will have to be articulated well in your interview. At an overall level you can add some volunteering experience or extra-curriculars (but it will have to be very strategic). Or once we understand your profile in detail and bring out unique pointers, maybe you won't have to do anything extra. We have a few ISB admissions interview panelist with us as "Mentors" and if you are interested then we can connect you with them over a FREE 30 mins call . These 30 mins will be used to discuss overall GMAT strategy and a detailed analysis of your profile (highlighting the areas you need to work on to make your profile stellar). Feel free to reach us via email (hello@ivycrackers.com). You can also check out the profiles of our ISB mentors here https://ivycrackers.com/our-mentors/

MBAGuide · Answer

@deepakjha08 There is no safe score for ISB, just as there is no cookie-cutter approach to crafting applications that lead to successful outcomes. How much you should score to convert an ISB admit will depend on how you fare in the other sections such as your professional experience, academics, and communication skills/interview. Now, looking at your credentials, I can suggest that you will need more experience to justify an admit to ISB unless you have attained some unusual feats in your data engineering career spanning 2 years at Barclays. If you think a solid GMAT alone can give you the required push, target at least a 700 on the GMAT. The higher, the better.

Because all B-school admissions follow some sort of bell curve, applicants with less experience have lower odds of converting an admit.  Also, because they may have a dearth of impactful professional stories to back up their claims. Feel free to have an honest discussion with me regarding your profile. It would take a deeper discussion regarding the quality of your work at Barclays to advise you better regarding your preparation for ISB. If I were an evaluator, I would think that you need to develop your profile further.

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Score needed in GMAT FE and improvement in profile

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