Nipson
Hi guys,
I'm also preparing my application for the SIM 2017: hopefully I'll take the gmat before March 10th, so that I'll be able to submit everything before the final round. Would you mind sharing your personal background and work experience? I heard several people saying that St. Gallen usually prioritize such experiences!
Hi Nipson !
The University of St. Gallen has different admissions conditions and processes for each of their masters. If you're interested in the SIM, then you must already know that they rank the candidates by giving them points for the different parts of their application. Here are the four parts and their respective weight (you can find the grading system for the GPA and GMAT explained in a file available on their site) :
GPA : 20 pts
GMAT score : 20 pts
CV : 20 pts
Essay : 10 pts
Video ITW : 30 pts
As you can see, only the CV really allows you to briefly present your personal background and work experience (I personnaly used the "social and other skills" part of the CV to develop in more details how each item of my personal background, work experience and extra-curricular activities helped me grow and what competencies/lessons I learned from them). Moreover, you might get one or at most two questions during the interview which could enable you to quickly mention those, but even that is quite limited, as 1 to 2 minutes questions don't give you much time to elaborate.
All in all, even if they are important, I think you don't need to have a lot of work experience or other personal background to get admitted, as it doesn't seem to me to be the major focus of the application process. Just make the most of what you have by emphasing what they taught you and you should be fine. On the other hand, a weak academic record paired with a GMAT below 700 might make it more difficult to get in in my view.
Finally to answer your question, here is my profile :
22 y.o, with three nationalities (French, Swiss and Tunisian), currently finishing a Bachelor in Business Administration and Finance in a well - but not top - ranked business school in France. I moved from France to Switzerland and back several times during my life, so I have quite a "bi-national" profile.
GPA : 5.4/6 (from 5.4 to 5.7, depending on how they made their calculations)
GMAT : 750
1 semester exchange in Cass Business School, in London.
2 internships : - 2 months in an event management company in Paris
- 6 months in a luxury retail start up in another french city
A few extracurricular activities (dance, lyrical singing), and one voluntary project for a NGO. Nothing remarkable otherwise, I didn't win any medal or other competitions during my hobbies.
Languages : French, English and a bit of German (B1/B2 level).
I hope this helps you ! If you, or anyone reading, are in the middle of your preparation for the application and reading this was a pain, please don't let it bum you out !
I too, before passing the GMAT (and even afterwards !), thought I had zero chance of being admitted. No fancy internship, no top-ranked school, no major achievement in whatever hobbies I had... So I just worked hard to get the best GMAT I could, and tried to present the little value my profile had in the best light possible.
So give it your all !
Good luck for your GMAT and application,
and don't hesitate to ask if you have other questions
I am a final year student pursuing B.Pharm from one of the top colleges in India. I don't have enough internships and extracurricular awards. Being a fresher I plan to take GMAT by 30th March 2019. Do I have a chance to get selected in ST.GALLENS if I get 740+ in gmat without any good personal background and if not hw can I build it up?