GMAT 640, 3 years of experience, what are my options?

[SalikA639]

Hello,
My name is Salik, I am from Pakistan, I wanted to know what are my options for b school applications. My profile summary is as follows:

GMAT:
I gave my GMAT today and scored 640 [Q=42(47 p),V=35(76),IR= 6(69p) ]. I want to apply to schools in round 2 this year, so in worst case I wont be able to retake my gmat. I have taken it thrice 640,590,640 gave my first attempt in march 2016.

Education:
I did my BS of computer science from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi (Oldest and one of the top business schools in Pakistan). I graduated with a gold medal and a CGPA of 3.42.

Experience:
I work in IT department of Dawlance Group of companies. It is a market leader in home appliance industry in Pakistan since 1985. Recently, Arcelik has acquired the Dawlance to enter south Asian market. I have had 3 years of experience, got promotions every year and am currently the youngest Deputy Manager in the company's history. My latest responsibilities include managing IT team and initiatives in 2 of our manufacturing facilities in Pakistan.
I have lead various cross functional teams and have completed projects requiring systems overhauls, change management, employee motivation analysis and operations automation.

Social work:
I have been an active social contributor, recently, I built a team in my city to run a plantation campaign in Karachi. Moreover, I did a social internship back in university. Where I lack is that I do not have a documentation proof of that.

Ambition:
My aim is to list myself in the list of world billionaires before turning 40. Also, build a start up around renewable energy for Earth and beyond.


I would really appreciate if you could tell me what are my options? I realize that top 10 may be too ambitious. but can you give me 1 from top 10 (I had Johnson in mind, even with slim chances), may be 2 from top 10-20 (said? tepper?) and may be few lower ranked school where I may actually stand a good chance?


Thanks!

[mbaMissionKate]

Hi Salik,
Thanks for reaching out.
So your GPA is strong overall. Your GMAT is on the lower end though, so that will be a concern. In particular your Quant is quite low. Did you take quant classes in college (e.g., Calculus, Stats, Accounting, etc.)? Can you demonstrate (via your resume and recommendations) Quant skills on the job? Those will be important to help mitigate your Quant score.

3 years experience is a good point to get your MBA, and that's great you've had multiple promotions plus team management experience. Since you are coming from a technical field, make sure you show well-rounded / soft skills too, as the "people" side of business is just as important to schools.

As far as social work, I'm not sure what exactly your role was as "contributor" -- were you leading a project or initiative or contributing money? If the former, that's great but if the latter, then that could be a weak area.

Your ambition, is well, ambitious! You definitely want to have more specific goals (immediately post MBA and long term) that tie to your past. How does renewable energy fit with your past experience? Being an entrepreneur is risky so how are you prepared to make that switch? What evidence do you have that it's a good fit? You'll need to answer things like that.

I think top 10 in the US is too ambitious, especially given where your GMAT is at. I would focus outside the top 15, probably 20 to be safe. There, you'll find that your GMAT is more within range. Also are you only considering US schools? There could be some good options in Europe, Asia, or even Canada.

Hope this helps, and good luck!
Kate

Hello,
My name is Salik, I am from Pakistan, I wanted to know what are my options for b school applications. My profile summary is as follows:

GMAT:
I gave my GMAT today and scored 640 [Q=42(47 p),V=35(76),IR= 6(69p) ]. I want to apply to schools in round 2 this year, so in worst case I wont be able to retake my gmat. I have taken it thrice 640,590,640 gave my first attempt in march 2016.

Education:
I did my BS of computer science from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi (Oldest and one of the top business schools in Pakistan). I graduated with a gold medal and a CGPA of 3.42.

Experience:
I work in IT department of Dawlance Group of companies. It is a market leader in home appliance industry in Pakistan since 1985. Recently, Arcelik has acquired the Dawlance to enter south Asian market. I have had 3 years of experience, got promotions every year and am currently the youngest Deputy Manager in the company's history. My latest responsibilities include managing IT team and initiatives in 2 of our manufacturing facilities in Pakistan.
I have lead various cross functional teams and have completed projects requiring systems overhauls, change management, employee motivation analysis and operations automation.

Social work:
I have been an active social contributor, recently, I built a team in my city to run a plantation campaign in Karachi. Moreover, I did a social internship back in university. Where I lack is that I do not have a documentation proof of that.

Ambition:
My aim is to list myself in the list of world billionaires before turning 40. Also, build a start up around renewable energy for Earth and beyond.


I would really appreciate if you could tell me what are my options? I realize that top 10 may be too ambitious. but can you give me 1 from top 10 (I had Johnson in mind, even with slim chances), may be 2 from top 10-20 (said? tepper?) and may be few lower ranked school where I may actually stand a good chance?


Thanks!

[SalikA639]

Thank you very much Kate for your response, quite a few constructive feedback that will help me make my application better. Could you further have a look at my response in response to your queries below?

So your GPA is strong overall. Your GMAT is on the lower end though, so that will be a concern. In particular your Quant is quite low. Did you take quant classes in college (e.g., Calculus, Stats, Accounting, etc.)? Can you demonstrate (via your resume and recommendations) Quant skills on the job? Those will be important to help mitigate your Quant score.
(Yes, I have had various mathematical courses during the university, few of them of advance level including physics, numerical analysis, calculus advance etc. I may also be able to request my recommenders to emphasize on their observations on my quant skills.)

3 years experience is a good point to get your MBA, and that's great you've had multiple promotions plus team management experience. Since you are coming from a technical field, make sure you show well-rounded / soft skills too, as the "people" side of business is just as important to schools.
(I have been doing projects consistently with top executives/directors of my company, I have had projects that required me to interact with our vendors, low level employees and occasionally our consumers too. I has also awarded outstanding Mentee award under the internal program in our organization by the name of leadership without title.)

As far as social work, I'm not sure what exactly your role was as "contributor" -- were you leading a project or initiative or contributing money? If the former, that's great but if the latter, then that could be a weak area.
(it was a recently concluded plantation campaign, I played my role in gathering a team to achieve a target of 100 plants in my area. Other than that, I have been involved in evaluating start up ideas for a course in my university as an alumni evaluator at various events and classes.)

Your ambition, is well, ambitious! You definitely want to have more specific goals (immediately post MBA and long term) that tie to your past. How does renewable energy fit with your past experience? Being an entrepreneur is risky so how are you prepared to make that switch? What evidence do you have that it's a good fit? You'll need to answer things like that.
(this part I have found to be the toughest to be honest. the progression of my career so far suggests me that I should aim at the CIO position in the long term. However, I feel strongly to work towards a for profit social start up. I don't have a prior experience with entrepreneurship other than an idea that I developed and worked through with a team but we could not execute it on the ground.)

I think top 10 in the US is too ambitious, especially given where your GMAT is at. I would focus outside the top 15, probably 20 to be safe. There, you'll find that your GMAT is more within range. Also are you only considering US schools? There could be some good options in Europe, Asia, or even Canada.
(I agree, I am considering Michigan state university, its a top university for supply chain mba and has an avg gmat of 668, what do you think?)

[mbaMissionKate]

Hi again!

Thanks for the additional info...that's great you've got the quant skill backup, and people skills examples too.

I like the alumni involvement too, definitely mention that.

As far as goals, remember that you just need to get in! And then you can do whatever you like So you may want to tailor your goal statement to be a little more realistic (aiming for that CIO role eventually).

Yes, Michigan State is great for supply chain. Sounds like a good match. I think Arizona State (Carey) and Purdue are also quite strong in that, though I can't recall how their average GMAT compares.

Good luck!
Kate

Thank you very much Kate for your response, quite a few constructive feedback that will help me make my application better. Could you further have a look at my response in response to your queries below?

So your GPA is strong overall. Your GMAT is on the lower end though, so that will be a concern. In particular your Quant is quite low. Did you take quant classes in college (e.g., Calculus, Stats, Accounting, etc.)? Can you demonstrate (via your resume and recommendations) Quant skills on the job? Those will be important to help mitigate your Quant score.
(Yes, I have had various mathematical courses during the university, few of them of advance level including physics, numerical analysis, calculus advance etc. I may also be able to request my recommenders to emphasize on their observations on my quant skills.)

3 years experience is a good point to get your MBA, and that's great you've had multiple promotions plus team management experience. Since you are coming from a technical field, make sure you show well-rounded / soft skills too, as the "people" side of business is just as important to schools.
(I have been doing projects consistently with top executives/directors of my company, I have had projects that required me to interact with our vendors, low level employees and occasionally our consumers too. I has also awarded outstanding Mentee award under the internal program in our organization by the name of leadership without title.)

As far as social work, I'm not sure what exactly your role was as "contributor" -- were you leading a project or initiative or contributing money? If the former, that's great but if the latter, then that could be a weak area.
(it was a recently concluded plantation campaign, I played my role in gathering a team to achieve a target of 100 plants in my area. Other than that, I have been involved in evaluating start up ideas for a course in my university as an alumni evaluator at various events and classes.)

Your ambition, is well, ambitious! You definitely want to have more specific goals (immediately post MBA and long term) that tie to your past. How does renewable energy fit with your past experience? Being an entrepreneur is risky so how are you prepared to make that switch? What evidence do you have that it's a good fit? You'll need to answer things like that.
(this part I have found to be the toughest to be honest. the progression of my career so far suggests me that I should aim at the CIO position in the long term. However, I feel strongly to work towards a for profit social start up. I don't have a prior experience with entrepreneurship other than an idea that I developed and worked through with a team but we could not execute it on the ground.)

I think top 10 in the US is too ambitious, especially given where your GMAT is at. I would focus outside the top 15, probably 20 to be safe. There, you'll find that your GMAT is more within range. Also are you only considering US schools? There could be some good options in Europe, Asia, or even Canada.
(I agree, I am considering Michigan state university, its a top university for supply chain mba and has an avg gmat of 668, what do you think?)

[SalikA639]

Thank you Kate for your response, this will definitely help with the improvements!

[mbaMissionKate]

You're welcome and good luck!

Thank you Kate for your response, this will definitely help with the improvements!