Profile Evaluation

Question

Hi,

I would like a profile evaluation and a list of schools I should consider applying to in Round 1 for 2016 fall admission.

GMAT - 720, Q-51, V-35, IR-8, AWA-5.5

I have attached my resume here.

Target Schools : Top 20.

I am also considering retaking the GMAT. Is that a good strategy or should I work on other things to increase my credibility? For e.g: Join a family business to scale up or increase the revenue.

Thanks in advance.

Admissionado · Answer

Hello Anant,
Thanks for dropping by!

First of all, with a 720 no need to take that GMAT again! You are as good as golden there.

Now, for schools and where you can apply. I'm afraid that Top 10 schools alone would be overly ambitious for you. As an Male/Indian/IT guy, you come from the single largest and toughest applicant pool there is. Alone not coming from an IIT/NIT would make this very hard, but with a 6.9 these schools will likely be out of range unless you have some secret Ace in the hole that I haven't seen on the resume (like you are heavily involved in politics or your family is, or you are a pro sports player or royalty, etc.).

My suggest to you would be to look in the 10-25 range for schools that fit your desires and goals. You can and should still apply to 1-2 Top 10 schools that you love best as your stretch schools, but you should expand your strategy.

I know at first this may seem like not what you want to hear, but actually the Top 30 schools are all awesome, can all lead you to your goals.

I hope this helps, and if you have any follow-up questions, please let me know.
Best,
JF

anant07 · Answer

Thank you for the advice Jon. Another follow-up question to that. Will a 740+ better my chances at these schools?
I'd like to keep my target to top 20 schools itself. My strategy is to apply to as many schools in the top 20 as I can in the 1st round. This is more of a personal choice. I am happy with a reach into 11-20 as well. It's less likely that I will apply to schools below 20(Or I might do that if I dont get into a single school in Round-1).

Admissionado · Answer

In my opinion, it's not necessarily worth the effort. I know there is this tendency because of the Indian system and how everything is test-based to believe that if you have 20-30 points more you will for sure get in, but in the MBA the Adcoms look at everything holistically. I think you can for sure stick to Top 20 schools, and say if you apply to 5-6 schools in R1, with 1-2 from the Top 10 and 3-4 from the next 10, you should have a good shot if your essays and recommendations are good.

Best,

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