Ask Admissionado

Hi,

I just took my GMAT for the first time and could manage a 700 (Q 49, V 35). Not planning to take it again. Not to mention that I am a male Indian IT professional by choice (being a Computer Science Engineer, always wanted to pursue this field). Now I am looking for a career in IT Strategic/ Corporate consulting in some of the leading consultancy firms such as Deloitte , IBM, Capgemini and Bain .

I have 8.0 years of experience with around 1 year leading a team. I am currently based in Singapore for the last 2.5 years. My work-ex is in leading organisations such as Oracle, Lehman Brothers and Nomura. I want to get my profile evaluated and schools to be suggested for applications.
I know that based upon the demographics , top 10-20 US B schools are out of the picture but neither am I aiming for them. However, I want to know if my profile is good enough to give a shot at some of the European schools such as HEC, INSEAD or Erasmus and UK schools -Cambridge, Warwick, Oxford. Can I try for other US schools as well - CMU/UCLA/Austin/Duke/Tuck?

Academics
UG (Engineering) - 79.3 % (CGPA 7.33 on a scale of 10)(Ranked 20th in a batch of 95) from BIT Mesra (Ranked among the top 10 engineering institutes in India).
12th-77 %
Top 0.1% for Mathematics in Std X. Had received Silver medal for it .
Earned state level certification by Mathematical Society for having a potential to excel in Mathematics.
Was ranked 10th in my state level engineering competitive examination.
National Talent Search Examination scholarship that was offered to only the top 500 candidates in a calendar year (1998).

International Exp
Deputed on special assignments to Tokyo, Japan on two occasions as part of business resumption in the Electronic Trading Space, for the revival of lost business to ex-Lehman clients as a fallout of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy.

Working in Singapore as AVP in one of the leading global banks. Prior, to this , I used to work for the largest Japanese firm Nomura in Mumbai and was in a mid-level lead role mentoring a team of 3 employees.

Additional information
Member of Alliance Francaise - Can speak and write French well. Have Intermediate level DELF A1/A2 certificaitons, which is offered by the French Ministry of Education and would be taking the Advanced level at the end of this year. Have continuously topped in the internal examinations of the institute.

Have been an active member of an initiative in Hyderabad,India for the opening of bridge schools for needy children and teaching. The initiative is a grand success and it runs around 80 schools currently and provides educational aid to children of poor people. Of late, it got registered as an NGO.

I had got a final admit from SP Jain School of Global Management (Dubai/Singapore) for Global MBA program 2008 in Information Technology specialization but decided to not join on account of financial constraints.

Participant of Citibank 200 years Music Video for celebrating 200 years of completion.

I am afraid I might lose out a little bit on the extra-curricular side . Though I am trained in Classical Guitar and do have a 3rd year certification, my involvement was mainly limited as a hobby and not on stage . To make matters worse , I even lost my highest level certificate in my hostel.
Not much into sports either.

Thanks

Respected Sir,

Thank you for your exhaustive evaluation. I do feel a lil more confident about my applications. I still have a couple of queries:-

I checked with some admissions consultants who advised me to retake my GMAT to better my score to around 730 to fancy my chances to the Ivy Leagues . I am not sure whether that would really help. I am already a little less than 8 years of exp(30 yr old) and going through a super busy schedule at work that would leave me hardly enough time to devote another couple of months for retaking GMAT . Is it worth retaking the test or should I devote more time in preparing a sound application wrt essays , references and my hobbies during weekends . Also, I am removing Tuck and Duke from my target list as I see their intakes mostly skewed towards North Americans and considering Kellogs and as a stretch with its more diversified intake statistics. Do you think it is a fair decision ?

Regards
notickee

Hi,

Thanks for the reply , guess its too late. Realize I have been away for quite a while and also realize I might have missed all the fun with the apps. Well, I missed all the R1 deadlines owing to family issues and could only apply to a handful of schools in R2 (& R3). Got dinged by INSEAD, was kinda expected after I re-read the horrible essays I wrote and got them reviewed by an expert. Later , I took help from 'admissionado' consulting and applied to Ross. Was of great help in contextualizing my experiences into words and I did receive Ross interview invite , Waiting for Cornell and UCLA, and that's it. Now, I am in a real fix .

1. Should I patiently wait for these 3 and hope for the best to happen?

2. Should I apply to the 3 schools that I have been contemplating for R3 (Yale/Tuck/Darden) ? Is it realistic to apply to so many schools in R3 , what if I need to apply next year, re applications won't include any path-breaking colors to my profile.

3. Should I retake the GMAT to better my score (and hence my chances)if I need to apply next year- I guess I found the answer as 'No' as it seems a well-known mythical fact that US b schools love to see astronomical gmat scores for Indian males, I wouldn't have expected the Ross invite either.

4. Should I take business courses such as CFA to complement my tech background to some extent if I need to wait for next year? But my first aim is to get into any of the schools this year itself.

Any advice is truly appreciated.

Regards
Notickee

Hi John,

Thanks for the insights. So I got dinged by Ross after interview, should be rare as most people relatively crack interviews with ease. And hence, I have no choice but to wait till next year (No interview invites from UCLA or Johnson yet ,but things look bleak with decision dates fast approaching). I will need to do a thorough ding analysis first. Ross however sent a link to some reapplication tips and one point mentioned is 'If your GMAT score is below our average, we encourage you to retake it to improve the competitiveness of your file'. Not sure if 700 (Ross's avg is 703) pulled me out of the admit list though. Hence, should I retake it ? I will have to spend enormous amount of time to make it even to 720.

Instead, I was thinking of spending a little more effort at work and earn an upwardly functional role change this mid-yr as it does demonstrate an increase in responsibilities (not exactly a promotion as hierarchical structure is quite flat at my exp level - already had 3 promotions in my last 8 yrs). Will this be considered another leadership quality?

By the way , to take my French learning to newer heights, I am thinking of enrolling in a course of French music + horse riding in an institute in the suburbs of Paris this summer. Is this something that I can highlight as another int'l experience in my extra curricular for next year? This is only a course that anyone can take after a certain level of proficiency, but I really want my learning to happen with a full cultural immersion.

Regards
Notickee

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the insights . I will enter the ding analysis phase after I am done with this year's apps. Actually I sort of know what didn't work for Ross, my interview in which I now realize had given some vague answers to demonstrate my fit for the school. Quick update - Got wait listed (without interview)at Cornell. Is there any difference between getting wait listed with or without interview .

I need to provide updates to following-

"We look forward to receiving relevant updates such as improved test scores, transcripts from additional courses, details about career developments, or an additional recommendation letter. "

I think this is probably a generic response and not a personalized one . But still, I might only be able to provide 1 more recommendation and some additional responsibilities about my work . Also, is it ok to wait for about 2 weeks to send them, it now has rolling admissions till Apr 30?

One more thing - Since I haven't been interviewed yet, should I send updates on my work responsibilities in the form of a video?

Regards
Notickee