Please help me evaluate my profile.

[anishjobalia]

Hello Experts,

Could you help me out as to which universities are targetable with the above scores.

Following are the salient features of my profile:

* Undergrad from India -> Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunication.(64.5% Aggregate)

* Work Exp - Jun 2007 to present at Tech Mahindra Limited

* GMAT score -> 620 (Q - 43 V - 31)

[Graham]

Dear Anishjobalia,

Thanks for your post!

You haven't offered much information about the sort of programs you are targeting (US-based, Indian, one year vs. two, etc), but I will do my best to give you some feedback based around the information you have provided:

1) Undergraduate.
You studied engineering as an undergarduate in India. As you are well aware this places you in a rather over-subscribed portion of the applicant pool. Your performance of 64.5% is respectable (non-Indian adcoms know that grading is tough in India), but the degree to which a 64.5% keeps you in the running may hinge on where you went to school. For example, if you attended one of the IITs, these marks (although not stellar) may be sufficient for top MBA programs. Of course if you attended a lesser known, less competitive program, your 64.5% may not be viewed in as positive a light.

2) GMAT.
Your GMAT result of 620 will not be competitive at 'Global Top-30' type schools (e.g. the top 20 in the US plus the best programs from Europe and Asia). Most of the programs in this group have average GMAT scores in the 670-715 range. Of course, if you are looking at second-tier offerings in any market, crossing the 600 barrier may be sufficient.

Keep in mind that your GMAT score works in tandem with your grades - such that if you had a 750 result, the admissions reader may look more favorably on your ugrad performance. As it now stands, the ugrad marks are dragged down by the lower GMAT result.

One final GMAT-related item to consider is that your verbal score of 31 places you around the 60th percentile. This could suggest a liability on the communications skills side of things (not uncommon in applicants with a technical ugrad background). In addition, your math result of 43 is not at the 80th percentile that the top schools (Harvard, Wharton, INSEAD, LBS) typically like to see.

3. Work Experience.
You have offered very little information about your employment history, but it sounds like you are doing IT services and telecom solutions. It also seems as though you haven't been with the firm terribly long (1.5 yrs), so I'd be curious to know if your post has evolved over time to be more managerial and less technical, etc.

Final Thoughts
It's unclear from your email what sort of MBA programs you would hope to attend, but I can say that your present stats/profile does not suggest that you are going to be competitive at 'top-tier' options. The good news, however, is that you have a lot of control over this issue. In other words, you could decide to work for another year (or two) with Tech Mahindra, build your leadership skills, further develop XCs (not sure what you've got here thus far) and work very hard to retake the GMAT and improve your score. Taking these steps may open some more doors for you.

Best of luck,

Graham