Profile Evaluation (ISB and INSEAD)

[MT]

Dear Consultants,

Please help me with my profile evaluation; I am aiming for INSEAD and ISB Hyderabad to do one year MBA.
I will try to give my best while writing an essay or presenting my profile, but I would like to know if my profile is
competitive enough. Also shall I retake GMAT to better my chances, I think I can only stretch my score to 730.

GMAT: - I scored 710 (Q-50, V-35) IR-6 and AWA-5

AGE: - 27

EDUCATION: - Master’s Civil Engineering (Virginia Tech-USA); Bachelors from a well-known University in India.

GPA: - 3.67 (Master’s); 77.7% (Bachelor’s)

Work Ex:-

I am a Civil Engineer, with 3 years of full time experience with a US based MNC; I have worked on some good
projects in India, and currently leading a team of 3. My projects include 5 among top 20 tallest building in India,
including the 5th tallest building in India.

High Points (In my View):-

During Master’s, I worked on two projects as a lead research assistant worth $200K.

Apart from Full time Exp, I worked as research assistant for 2 year during my Master's, during this time I got a 40% scholarship.

I Published two research journal articles in leading International journal, one of them as the First Author.

Developed an application used by Florida State Government (USA).

On weekends, I work on my family-business, just started a joint venture with 3 other partners to develop a small colony in a mid-populated town in India.

Please advise me about my chances, I would eagerly wait for your reply.

Thank you,

MT

[MT]

Please, If some one can reply I would really appreciate it.

Thank you,

MT

[mili]

Hi MT,

Sorry for the late response - thanks for your patience. Let's breakdown your profile:

Academics - undergrad and grad scores are strong. GMAT overall is strong, quant is strong, but verbal seems very low. What was the percentile breakdown for quant and verbal? You might want to retake and aim for a more balanced score, but they weight the quant section more, so you may not need to. Overall, pretty strong in this category with the exception of the verbal score.

Work experience: your professional experience sounds interesting. Although you are an Indian Male engineer, you are not in the IT sector and I think that's a big advantage that will help you stand out from other applicants in this pool. Sounds like you have strong project and team leadership experience, which is great.

Extracurriculars: family business sounds like it could be interesting, but sounds like you just started in this endeavor, so you might not have much to say about it just yet. Would be good to have other extracurriculars as well - e.g., sports, music, hiking...whatever you are passionate about. Ideally, you serve in a leadership capacity in these activities.

Community: I don't see any community volunteering/activities in your profile. This will be a negative -- if you are applying this fall, I recommend you get involved in a meaningful way with a nonprofit/NGO starting now.

I think INSEAD may be a slight stretch, but I still encourage you to apply. European programs tend to wait extracurriculars/community experience slightly less than American schools. But I think it would help to boost your score to a 730 and get more involved if possible. ISB is a possibility for sure!

Good luck,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com
 
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
 
Download [url=http:// http://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide/]mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide[/url]
 
Visit the mbaMission Blog
 
Follow mbaMission on Twitter

[MT]

[*]Dear Mili,
Thanks for your reply,I was waiting for a balanced review.
76% is my percentile in verbal, I have same feeling as you have for INSEAD. Do you think this score is good enough for ISB in case I do not want to re take GMAT. I need to make a good shot and if it make much difference i would retake exam, as the last thing I want is to become a reapplicant.
I would try and get involved in some community work.

Thanks and Regards
MT

[mili]

Given how high typical ISB candidates score on the GMAT, it probably would help to boost the GMAT score if possible.

Best of luck,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com
 
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
 
Download [url=http:// http://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide/]mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide[/url]
 
Visit the mbaMission Blog
 
Follow mbaMission on Twitter