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Hi,

Please evaluate my profile and help me out with the questions that follow.

I have taken GMAT twice and scores are as follows:
620 Q:47 V:28
660 Q:49 v:32

I have worked with TCS as an Assistant Systems Engineer for 1.5 yrs. Post that I shifted to IIT-Bombay start-up in the field of educational robotics.In my tenure of 1yr 4months I was responsible for business development of a new brand.Because of a it being small organization I had to perform various tasks myself and had to wear multiple hats.I helped generate a revenue of INR 40 lakhs during that period.

During my bachelor's degree I was active in the organization of the college festival for 3 consecutive years.Lead a team more than 100 odd volunteers in the final year as a part of the organization committee.

I want to pursue a career in Marketing and accordingly have listed the foll. B-schools:

Cornell University (Johnson)
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross)
University of California - Los Angeles (Anderson)
University of Virginia (Darden)
Indiana University - Bloomington (Kelley)
University of Southern California (Marshall)
New York University (Stern)
Columbia University - New York

Foll. are a few queries I am faced with and needed guidance:
- Should I re-take the GMAT?
- What are my chances of getting into these B-schools?
- For some of the B-schools it seems difficult to meet the 1st round deadlines.How can it affect my prospective chances?
- Any other B-schools you might suggest

Thanks,
Varun

Varun, while I applaud your ambition, you have several challenges ahead in order to get into a top ten school. Firstly, your GMAT is well below the average at those schools. The GMAT is only one portion of your application, mind you, but it is generally considered a good idea to try and beat a school's average if you want an edge, which you will need considering you also come with below average amount of work experience. The trend is for 5+ years at most schools, so they will need a very compelling reason why you were able to garner enough valuable experience in only half the time as your classmates. Remember that experience is what you will draw from as you work in class and on study teams to solve cases and add to discussions. If you are really committed to going in 2010, I would definitely recommend trying to pull together a few round one applications, picking some "safety schools" in addition to your reach targets, and consider working with a consultant to help you formulate a winning application strategy. Good luck.

Thanks Bryant.

I have re-visited the list and made a few changes as follows:

-Vanderbilt University (Owen)
-Boston University
-Rice University (Jones)
-University of Texas - Austin (McCombs)
-Emory University (Goizueta)
-Purdue University - West Lafayette (Krannert)
-University of Southern California (Marshall)
-Indiana University - Bloomington (Kelley)
-University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross)
-New York University (Stern)

Please advise if this is a good mix of B schools to apply to.

Also do you recommend taking the GMAT again?
Since GMAT is only one part of the entire application I was hoping that I would be able to get into one of the above B schools.

Since I would be an international applicant would that make a difference in the review of my application?

I definitely want to apply for Fall 2010.

Please advise.

Regards,
Varun Jain

Varun:

Yes international applicant will help you, especially since international apps are down this year over previous years. You should have a decent shot with your GMAT especially considering by the time you matriculate you will actually have 3+ years expereince. Have you considered the Business School at GA Tech? You seem like a good fit there and their average GMAT is around 680 I think, which coupled with your engineering background, would likely help you. Great, up and coming program which tied the rankings this year with Emory and has a great international reputation, which leverages off GA Tech's undergrad engineering rank. Also costs about 1/3 of Emory MBA, which they are working hard to raise. Get it while it's still affordable. Good Luck.

Thanks a lot Bryant for the guidance.I will start applying shortly.
Will post further queries, if any.

Thanks again,
Varun

Hi bryantmichaels,

I have taken the GMAT yesterday for the second time and scored 660 (q 49,v 31).Presently I am having more than 4 years of experience in software service with cognizant.Since this fall season is already gone I am thinking about applying for fall 2011 when I will have more than 5 years of experience.I have seen the possible bschools discussed in this thread.I am interested in marketting and finance.Can you let me which all are the bschools that will be good for me.