Research MBA Programs

Hey guys

I am an Indian girl with a bachelor's in biotech from a top 5 university in India and a master's in microbio from a mid range university here in the US. I have about 2 yrs of work experience working for big biotech names. But due to visa reasons I havenot been working for about 2 years now. I worked in IT for a few months, now I have been volunteering for a non profit educational institution. You can clearly tell I am not a typical MBA candidate. But I got into biotech for the business side of it. I wanted my work experience before I got into an MBA but unfortunately it's only a 2 year experience and R&d that too.

I studied hard for 5 months and took my gmat yday. Got a 580 - 41Q 30V. It was a bizarre experience. All my practice tests were on the 620 -660 range. Even MGMAT. I was hoping for at least a 640. The weird thing is I didnt feel like I didnt know any question on quant. I knew how to solve all of them starting from Q1. I think that means, I must have made some careless mistake early on,which took me on a downward spiral, right?
Verbal was the weirdest. Questions were hard. Harder than any practice test I ve seen. 4 comprehension passages all long difficult ones. I thought I was doing well may be. But The score was shocking.

I am retaking on OCT 21st. Dilemma is if I should start doing app work and continue taking practice tests or if I should apply for round two and not rush my app work now.
I attended veritas classes, I used their material for studying. I completed OG 13 and OG 13 review on quants. I partially completed verbal on OG 13 and OG 13 review. I took veritas practice tests, one gmac and a few MGMAT practice tests - about 7 tests altogether.

Any suggestions on prep/test taking/applying/ general cheering up would be helpful. Thank u

Hi,

Since you have done much groundwork and preparation in terms of GMAT, for applications you need to start from scratch and it requires enough time and brainstorming to build strong application essays. So my suggestion for you is to start working simultaneously on applications along with regular GMAT preparation. Which B-schools you are targeting? If you need help in shortlisting B-schools then try B-School Seletor Tool by clicking here https://goo.gl/ocaeu6

Regards,
Manish
www.genedmba.com

divdharsh wrote:Hey guys

I am an Indian girl with a bachelor's in biotech from a top 5 university in India and a master's in microbio from a mid range university here in the US. I have about 2 yrs of work experience working for big biotech names. But due to visa reasons I havenot been working for about 2 years now. I worked in IT for a few months, now I have been volunteering for a non profit educational institution. You can clearly tell I am not a typical MBA candidate. But I got into biotech for the business side of it. I wanted my work experience before I got into an MBA but unfortunately it's only a 2 year experience and R&d that too.

I studied hard for 5 months and took my gmat yday. Got a 580 - 41Q 30V. It was a bizarre experience. All my practice tests were on the 620 -660 range. Even MGMAT. I was hoping for at least a 640. The weird thing is I didnt feel like I didnt know any question on quant. I knew how to solve all of them starting from Q1. I think that means, I must have made some careless mistake early on,which took me on a downward spiral, right?
Verbal was the weirdest. Questions were hard. Harder than any practice test I ve seen. 4 comprehension passages all long difficult ones. I thought I was doing well may be. But The score was shocking.

I am retaking on OCT 21st. Dilemma is if I should start doing app work and continue taking practice tests or if I should apply for round two and not rush my app work now.
I attended veritas classes, I used their material for studying. I completed OG 13 and OG 13 review on quants. I partially completed verbal on OG 13 and OG 13 review. I took veritas practice tests, one gmac and a few MGMAT practice tests - about 7 tests altogether.

Any suggestions on prep/test taking/applying/ general cheering up would be helpful. Thank u

hi brian,
sorry about the multiple posts. I don't see the option to delete posts. How do I fix this?

reg
Divya

Hello

It is a good thing that you have relevant volunteer work to show for in the 2 years that you have not been working. Admission committees will appreciate this. Your work experience in research will not hurt your case. However, two years of full time work experience may not be enough for some business schools. Then again, this depends on the quality of your work at both places. Were you part of any major research project in the biotech company? Did you lead a team? Did you optimize the production of any bio-similar, vaccine, etc?

Your undergraduate and graduate GPA is also important, more important than the university you attended. How was your performance in both the universities? If I am correct, you are looking for an MBA with a concentration in healthcare. University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina offer some of the best MBA programs for a specialization in healthcare. Your non IT background and education in biotech will act in your favour while applying for an MBA in healthcare. But you will need a GMAT score of 690-700 to make it to these schools.

I would advise you to get a few more years of work experience before applying. For improving your GMAT score you might want to get some personalized help. I suggest you attend classroom sessions of other GMAT test preps available if one didn't work out for you. Spend more time solving problems. Give practice tests only when you covered a significant amount of syllabus. Give GMAT only after you score around 700 on practice tests.

You can probably go through this article on how to cover a gap in your resume. https://www.interviewbay.com/blog/does-a ... ss-schools

All the best

www.interviewbay.com

Application Reviews and Mock Interviews by Alumni of your Target B-School

So I did retake my GMAt last month and I got a 610. I got a whopping 85 percentile on verbal and bombed badly on quants. I hope that the fact tht I have an engineering degree and a master's in science and work experience in research would help the committee believe in my quant skills despite my score. I am still going to go ahead with my applications because I have already spent 2 yrs waiting for something to come up. But I dont want to waste anymore time. And no I am not going to retake GMAT now because I do not have time,( first round deadlines are gone and 2nd round deadline are here) nor do I believe that one parameter could carry so much weightage. It's still costs lot of time and money to take the test.
I have decided to apply to Santa CLara Univ, UC Irvine, USC, UC davis, UT austin and BU. UC irvine also has a MS in Biotech Management degree which I am also researching about. BU has an excellent healthcare/biotech focus program. I am also looking at taking up business math or business basics courses on coursera to get a head start and to make up for my poor quant scores. Hope it makes some difference. This s where I stand currently. will keep u all posted abt applications. Thank u for the support

Hi,

Good improvement in scoring! and decision to go ahead with application preparation makes sense at this moment. The shortlisted schools look within your reach if you come up with strong essays and application. Ideally you should target 5-6 schools to increase your chances. All the best with your applications let us know if you need any help in essays, happy to assist...

divdharsh wrote:So I did retake my GMAt last month and I got a 610. I got a whopping 85 percentile on verbal and bombed badly on quants. I hope that the fact tht I have an engineering degree and a master's in science and work experience in research would help the committee believe in my quant skills despite my score. I am still going to go ahead with my applications because I have already spent 2 yrs waiting for something to come up. But I dont want to waste anymore time. And no I am not going to retake GMAT now because I do not have time,( first round deadlines are gone and 2nd round deadline are here) nor do I believe that one parameter could carry so much weightage. It's still costs lot of time and money to take the test.
I have decided to apply to Santa CLara Univ, UC Irvine, USC, UC davis, UT austin and BU. UC irvine also has a MS in Biotech Management degree which I am also researching about. BU has an excellent healthcare/biotech focus program. I am also looking at taking up business math or business basics courses on coursera to get a head start and to make up for my poor quant scores. Hope it makes some difference. This s where I stand currently. will keep u all posted abt applications. Thank u for the support