Profile Evaluation

[subodhgoyal]

Appreciate if my profile is evaluated. Though I agree that there are many factors associated with admission process. I am looking at 2 questions:
1. Is my profile competitive for the following B schools.
LBS
INSEAD
kellogs

HBS and Stanford - The avg GMAT score as I saw in various forums is ~720
2. Especially with this GMAT score how reliable is my chance for a call in different colleges

GMAT score -690 (Q 49 and V34)
work ex 3 years
International assignments - India, Netherlands
GPA 3.3/4.0


Thanks in advance
cheers,
Subodh

[mbamission]

Hello,

I don’t think that I have enough information to provide an evaluation. What do you do professionally? How well have you done in that role? What activities, if any, are you involved in outside of work? Where did you go to school? What did you study? I’d be in a better position to provide an evaluation with more detail. Thanks,

Sincerely,

Akiba Smith-Francis

MBA Mission
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[subodhgoyal]

I don’t think that I have enough information to provide an evaluation. What do you do professionally? How well have you done in that role? What activities, if any, are you involved in outside of work? Where did you go to school? What did you study? I’d be in a better position to provide an evaluation with more detail.

Akiba,
(GMAT score -690 (Q 49 and V34)
work ex 3 years
International assignments - India, Netherlands
GPA 3.3/4.0)

Some more information that may help:
demographic data (age- 26, sex- M, nationality- Indian)
school- I graduated from IIT(reputed Engineering Institute in India)
Profesionnal experience- I am working in oil& Gas business as an engineer. My responsibilities include technical as well as managerial work. I have been top quartile performer in all the three years

Another specific query that comes to my mind is :Though the average GMAT score seems to be within range (as per various lists floating in net) however the person who may have been admitted at a GMAT score (of say 690 earlier) may have high work experience. My work ex is 3 years as of now.

Considering these aspects, appreciate your suggestion.
regards,
Subodh

[mbamission]

Thank you for the additional information. Your GMAT score is below the average for your target schools and most likely below the scores of those applicants from a similar demographic. Can you do better on the test? Your verbal score is very low which will be a red flag for the admissions committee.

Also, you didn't mention any community involvement so that is a weakness in your profile. Given that you are from an overpreresented demographc (male, Indian, engineer), finding ways to distinguish your professional, community, personal or international experience could be helpful. Based on the information provided, I don't think you would be competitive at the schools you listed above. However, with a higher GMAT score, more international exposure and a year or two of additional work experience, you can possibly be competitive at INSEAD and LBS.

Best of luck with the application process!
Monica Okrah
mbaMission

I don’t think that I have enough information to provide an evaluation. What do you do professionally? How well have you done in that role? What activities, if any, are you involved in outside of work? Where did you go to school? What did you study? I’d be in a better position to provide an evaluation with more detail.

Akiba,
(GMAT score -690 (Q 49 and V34)
work ex 3 years
International assignments - India, Netherlands
GPA 3.3/4.0)

Some more information that may help:
demographic data (age- 26, sex- M, nationality- Indian)
school- I graduated from IIT(reputed Engineering Institute in India)
Profesionnal experience- I am working in oil& Gas business as an engineer. My responsibilities include technical as well as managerial work. I have been top quartile performer in all the three years

Another specific query that comes to my mind is :Though the average GMAT score seems to be within range (as per various lists floating in net) however the person who may have been admitted at a GMAT score (of say 690 earlier) may have high work experience. My work ex is 3 years as of now.

Considering these aspects, appreciate your suggestion.
regards,
Subodh

[subodhgoyal]

Thanks for the information!
I am considering now to take GMAT again.
On the same note, can you suggest what are the fall outs of the option that:
I apply to the relevant B Schools, and in case I am not selected I retake GMAT and apply next year again. (yeah that would mean one more year) but apart from that--
Is re-applying to a Bschool counted a negative trait. especially for my targets(LBS, INSEAD Kellogg)

regards,
Subo

[mbamission]

Thanks for the information!
I am considering now to take GMAT again.
On the same note, can you suggest what are the fall outs of the option that:
I apply to the relevant B Schools, and in case I am not selected I retake GMAT and apply next year again. (yeah that would mean one more year) but apart from that--
Is re-applying to a Bschool counted a negative trait. especially for my targets(LBS, INSEAD Kellogg)

regards,
Subo

Glad that I could help! Reapplying isn't a problem....however, you would need to be able to show significant progress to prove that you have strengthened your candidacy. We have a very thorough blog post on this very topic which I am including below:

Admissions Myths Destroyed: Reapplicants Should Not Reapply
November 30th, 2009

mbaMission hosts a weekly blog series, "Admissions Myths Destroyed," for our friends at Beat the GMAT. Check out the BTG site for fresh material and ours for "reprints." The following piece was penned by mbaMission Founder, Jeremy Shinewald:

You applied once and did not get in. It took a lot of effort and caused a lot of heartache. Now what do you do? You can’t really apply again to those schools, can you? What is the point? They already rejected you once, so they will next time, right? WRONG.

MBA admissions committees are governed by self-interest. Simply put, the schools want the best candidates out there. If you are among the best candidates, why would any Admissions Director think, "Well, this is an outstanding candidate who can add something special to our school and has unique potential going forward, but he applied last year so we’ll just forget about him." Indeed, the reapplication process is not a practical joke or a disingenuous olive branch to those permanently on the outside. If the schools were not willing to let in a reapplicant, they would not waste their time and resources reviewing the applications.

While many fret about being reapplicants, some admissions officers actually see a reapplication as a positive - a new opportunity. Michigan-Ross’s Director of Admissions, Soojin Kwon Koh told mbaMission,

They are certainly not "˜damaged goods.’ We have had many successful reapplicants join our program after they’ve spent a year strengthening their candidacies.

J.J. Cutler, Director of Admissions at UPenn-Wharton, echoed this sentiment,

We find that students who have applied to Wharton before are absolutely not at a disadvantage. In fact, we recognize that the application process is an extensive one that involves self-examination and a large time commitment....Reapplying can give an applicant a chance to benefit from all the self-reflection and goal setting [he or she] went through during [his or her] first application cycle.

Meanwhile, the Yale SOM’s Admissions Director, Bruce DelMonico, noted,

I can certainly bust that myth....Our admit rate for reapplicants is actually the same as it is for first-time applicants. It’s important, though, for reapplicants to explain to us how their candidacy has improved from the previous time they applied. Reapplicants need to make sure they enhance their application, rather than just resubmitting the same application.

So, in short, reapplicants, you have no reason to believe that you only have one chance. Like any competitive MBA applicant, continue to strive and achieve; if it does not work out this time, it just might happen next time.