Hi Stacy,
My name is Anand and I am 37 years old. I am a police officer from India. I passed out with a mechanical engineering degree in 1993. Upon passing out I joined a firm and sold tractors for about a year. The job was pretty decent but I mostly hated it, and therefore quit.
My cumulative GPA for my engineering course was 3.1- not great by any stretch of imagination, but competitive considering that my school awarded grades on an absolute basis. Let me explain - if you got an 80+ on an exam you made A; likewise if you scored between 60 and 80 you made B. So technically if the paper was easy, the whole class could get straight A’s, and if the paper was tough, the whole class could get C’s. Although I would not like to use this excuse to project that I was unfairly graded at under graduate education, I would like to point out that I was definitely in the top 20 percentile of my class. My College, Birla Institute of Technology is frequently ranked in the top ten engineering colleges in India. In 1992 while I was in the sixth semester, I was also chosen to present a paper, which I had co-authored with a Professor, in an international conference in Adelaide, Australia. The paper discussed the hazards of underground mining to the miners.
After my tractor selling job I decided to resign and prepare for the Civil Services. The Civil Services examination is fairly rigorous and successful candidates are appointed to services like the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Foreign Service among other services. Each year more than two hundred thousand candidates apply and eventually about six to seven hundred candidates are selected. A candidate is tested in two undergraduate level subjects and general awareness. I wrote the exam in 1995 and did not make it to the Interview. I wrote it again in 1996 and qualified with an All India Rank of 58. Since 1997 I have been working as a Police officer. I have done fairly well. I have been the Commanding officer of a battalion, and police chief of three districts in my state, including the capital of the state – an assignment which is considered fairly prestigious. My achievements have been recognized and I have been awarded a medal and a commendation. I have worked with communities for about eleven years now, and have engaged meaningfully with them at the level of Community Policing Schemes. I have considerable experience in disaster management, (my state is in the Himalayas and particularly prone to natural disasters such as land-slides, avalanches etc.) and also in Drug Law enforcement.
My GMAT score is 700 (Q48,V38) and I am very keen to do an MBA from a top college, because an MBA degree will help me to advance my career immensely.
What do you think of my chances at the top B schools, considering that my job experience as a leader is fairly good, but my GMAT and GPA are barely in the zone? Do you think I should take the GMAT again or just concentrate on my applications?
My name is Anand and I am 37 years old. I am a police officer from India. I passed out with a mechanical engineering degree in 1993. Upon passing out I joined a firm and sold tractors for about a year. The job was pretty decent but I mostly hated it, and therefore quit.
My cumulative GPA for my engineering course was 3.1- not great by any stretch of imagination, but competitive considering that my school awarded grades on an absolute basis. Let me explain - if you got an 80+ on an exam you made A; likewise if you scored between 60 and 80 you made B. So technically if the paper was easy, the whole class could get straight A’s, and if the paper was tough, the whole class could get C’s. Although I would not like to use this excuse to project that I was unfairly graded at under graduate education, I would like to point out that I was definitely in the top 20 percentile of my class. My College, Birla Institute of Technology is frequently ranked in the top ten engineering colleges in India. In 1992 while I was in the sixth semester, I was also chosen to present a paper, which I had co-authored with a Professor, in an international conference in Adelaide, Australia. The paper discussed the hazards of underground mining to the miners.
After my tractor selling job I decided to resign and prepare for the Civil Services. The Civil Services examination is fairly rigorous and successful candidates are appointed to services like the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Foreign Service among other services. Each year more than two hundred thousand candidates apply and eventually about six to seven hundred candidates are selected. A candidate is tested in two undergraduate level subjects and general awareness. I wrote the exam in 1995 and did not make it to the Interview. I wrote it again in 1996 and qualified with an All India Rank of 58. Since 1997 I have been working as a Police officer. I have done fairly well. I have been the Commanding officer of a battalion, and police chief of three districts in my state, including the capital of the state – an assignment which is considered fairly prestigious. My achievements have been recognized and I have been awarded a medal and a commendation. I have worked with communities for about eleven years now, and have engaged meaningfully with them at the level of Community Policing Schemes. I have considerable experience in disaster management, (my state is in the Himalayas and particularly prone to natural disasters such as land-slides, avalanches etc.) and also in Drug Law enforcement.
My GMAT score is 700 (Q48,V38) and I am very keen to do an MBA from a top college, because an MBA degree will help me to advance my career immensely.
What do you think of my chances at the top B schools, considering that my job experience as a leader is fairly good, but my GMAT and GPA are barely in the zone? Do you think I should take the GMAT again or just concentrate on my applications?
