Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi!

I am Vandana,24 years old, from India.
GMAT : 710
GPA : 3.7
Education:
10th : 90.6%
13% : 83%
Undergrad : Bachelors in Technology, Computer Science Engineering.
Working since past 2 years at Bank of America Continuum Pvt. Ltd., as a Senior Technical Associate.
I have several certifications in finance related topics and have an award too for an outstanding performance.

I am halfway through Competent Communicator manual of Toastmasters International and have won few speech contests. I would be done with this manual by September end.

Volunteer Experience:
I am an active member of the volunteering arm of Bank of America, called Team Aspire in which we adopt schools for underprivileged adults and teach them ourselves. I also taught in a community school in Assam during last summer, for 15 days. Back in college, I co-founded Teach for Vellore, which works on similar grounds as Teach for America or Teach for India.

I want to pursue MBA (yet to decide between Finance and General Management) in 2017 and wish to know my chances. Wharton, Harvard and Stern Business School are my dream colleges. Apart from these, I have the below listed colleges in mind:
NUS Singapore
HEC Paris
Cornell
INSEAD
Columbia, NY
Booth
Haas
Rotterdam
Ross

Can you please help me here and help me list which all colleges I do have chance. Also, how I can make my application stand out.
Also, could you help me with my application process.
Could you also share some email id or some contact to get in touch with you.

Regards
Vandana

vandanaj wrote:Hi!

I am Vandana,24 years old, from India.
GMAT : 710
GPA : 3.7
Education:
10th : 90.6%
13% : 83%
Undergrad : Bachelors in Technology, Computer Science Engineering.
Working since past 2 years at Bank of America Continuum Pvt. Ltd., as a Senior Technical Associate.
I have several certifications in finance related topics and have an award too for an outstanding performance.

I am halfway through Competent Communicator manual of Toastmasters International and have won few speech contests. I would be done with this manual by September end.

Volunteer Experience:
I am an active member of the volunteering arm of Bank of America, called Team Aspire in which we adopt schools for underprivileged adults and teach them ourselves. I also taught in a community school in Assam during last summer, for 15 days. Back in college, I co-founded Teach for Vellore, which works on similar grounds as Teach for America or Teach for India.

I want to pursue MBA (yet to decide between Finance and General Management) in 2017 and wish to know my chances. Wharton, Harvard and Stern Business School are my dream colleges. Apart from these, I have the below listed colleges in mind:
NUS Singapore
HEC Paris
Cornell
INSEAD
Columbia, NY
Booth
Haas
Rotterdam
Ross

Can you please help me here and help me list which all colleges I do have chance. Also, how I can make my application stand out.
Also, could you help me with my application process.
Could you also share some email id or some contact to get in touch with you.

Regards
Vandana

Hi Vandana

Your community experience, GPA, and leadership potential are excellent. The GMAT score is quite decent as well. However, you are a tech applicant, and are at the lower side of the work experience spectrum. Among the schools you have listed, you would have some chance at NUS, HEC, and Rotterdam, but the rest will be challenging at this point.

Your application can stand out based on some of the excellent volunteer work you have done, but that is only a starting point. The core professional experience is not very differentiated, especially when it comes to applications to top schools, and your GMAT, although otherwise good, may not be as high relative to the category you are applying from (tech applicants). At this point, would suggest that you look into getting a bit more experience (including international experience if possible), and try and increase the score further by 20-30 points if possible, to be more competitive at the top schools.

Just curious though: why is ISB not on your list?

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more questions as needed.

Somehow I find ISB expensive for an Indian MBA.
I have few more questions:

Whats your view on colleges in UK, ITALY OR SPAIN (LBS, OXFORD,CAMBRIDGE, BOCCONI, ESADE,IESE)
Do you think I might have a shot there?

Also, say I dont apply this year.. what all according to you should be there in my profile by next year? As in, should I retake GMAT or Should i try getting a promotion or should I apply for jobs outside india to show international experience you know.. or just go backpacking around?

I know I have low work experience but I am really keen to move forward coz I am stagnant in my job and want something challenging.

The number you shared, can i get in touch on that?

Regards
Vandana