GMAT 660. 4 Yrs work experience

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GMAT 660. 4 Yrs work experience

by pranav » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:36 am
I would greatly appreciate it if you could comment on my profile. I would like to apply to MBA programs for the class of 2012

Personal profile: Indian Male. 26 years
GMAT: 660 (47V, 34Q, 5 AWA)
Academics:
-> Bachelor of Commerce (Major: Accountancy) 69% average. (3 year Course).
-> CFA (Indian CFA offered by ICFAI - Correspondence Course) : 58%

Total Work Experience: 4.5 years at application

May 2005 - Sept 2008 (3.5 years) - Adani Enterprises Ltd. (An Indian Diversified company with revenues of over USD 2 Billion)
Worked in the Corporate Treasury Dept.
-> Hedge foreign exchange risk of import/export transactions and interest rate risk of loans.
-> Trade in forex markets

Oct 2008 - Current (1 year) - ICICI Bank Ltd. (India's second largest Bank)
I am in Forex Derivative Sales (Front Office) of the bank's Treasury Dept.
I advice clients (10-12 corporates) to hedge their foreign exchange and interest rate risks through derivatives.

Extra-curricular / Outside work activities

1. For 3 years, associated with an NGO (Non government organization) involved in various projects related to energy conservation and solid waste management targeting schools/colleges/housing societies. Not involved anymore because I changed my job and have relocated to a different city.
2. Taught International Trade and Finance at private tutoring class which coached students for the Indian CFA.
3. President of the Ahmedabad CFA Alumni for a year. (Ahmedabad - The city where i lived while working in Adani Enterprise Ltd)
4. Since last 6 months, teach basis coversational english to teenagers of a slum to increase their employment opportunities.

Career Goals
I intend to work in the developed financial markets for 5-7 years. I will use this experience to start my own firm in India which would provide financial consulting in the field of international trade transactions / foreign exchange risk management.

My questions are:
1. Overrepresented pool:
I know that Indian IT Male is the overreprented pool. But is the Indian Finance Male aslo an overrepresented pool?

2. What are my chances at these schools:

Carnegie Mellon (Tepper Business School)
Cornell (S.C. Johnson School)
Virginia (Darden Business School)
Texas - Austin (McCombs School of Business)
Rice University - (Jones Graduate School)
Rochester (Simon School of Business)
Nanyang Business School

3. Taking GMAT again:
I am very much interested in NYU (stern Business School) and Duke (Fuqua School of Business). I am aware that my GMAT score is below the average score for both the schools.
Till date, I have taken GMAT thrice. My score are
1st Attempt: Mar 2008 - 660 (Q45 V35)
2nd Attempt: May 2008 - 640 (Q44 V34)
3rd Attempt: August 2009 - 660 (Q47 V 34)
My problem areas ar RC and SC. If i improve my problem areas and am able to secure a 700 score, will my previous attempts be seen as a negative (Considering it would be my fourth attempt)

4. Leadership roles:
In both jobs, i have a profile of sales and trading and have individual targets. Hence I have never managed / led a team. Would this be taken as a negative

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by Monica Okrah » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:48 pm
Thank you for your question.

I believe that you have a very well rounded profile with the finance experience, extra-curricular activities, and CFA. And yes, the Indian male technologist pool is overrepresentend, but the Finance pool isn't.

I do think the GMAT score is a bit low. It you earn a higher score on the 4th attempt, I don't think that would be viewed negatively. However, additional attempts might raise a red flag. Hopefully you can get tutoring or take a course to focus on RC and SC.

Overall, I do think you are competitive at your target schools. So good luck with the GMAT!
Monica Okrah, Senior Consultant
MBA Mission
646-485-8844

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by pranav » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:51 am
Dear Monica,
Thank you for your encouraging words.

My strategy would be to focus on making a strong application and improve my weak points on GMAT.
I will retake the GMAT only if in the subsequent mock tests, i am able to break the 700 barrier consistently.