Ask Stacy Blackman

Hi Stacy,

I need help to appraise my profile.Here's a quick glace at it:

Work Experience: 36 months (total duration till date)

Industry-wise:

[1] 22 months (IT Services), Promoted twice during this period - from IT Security Engineer to IT Security Consultant followed by Sr. Executive (IT Security).Worked with prestigious international clients like McAfee (Anti-virus Company), Microsoft, EM2,IBM and Ranbaxy (Pharmaceutical giant).

[2] 8 months (Social sector Start-up), Worked as Manager (Strategy and Media).

[3] 6 months,till date (Government of India) - Working as Prime Minister's Fellow (Rural Development ) under the Ministry of Rural Development. I am among the 156 Fellows (top 2% applicants) chosen by the Government from a competitive pool of 9000 applicants from all across India.

Education:

[1] Under graduation: B.E (Computer Science & Engineering from one of India's top 15 Universities, 1st Class, 66% aggregate).

[2] Post graduation: Post-graduate Fellowship in Liberal Arts & Sciences (University of Pennsylvania and IFRE) known as the Young India Fellowship (YIF). I was selected as one of the 58 Fellows from across India (among top 4% applicants) to pursue a one-year fully sponsored (scholarship of $20,000),residential, multi-disciplinary Fellowship in Liberal arts & Sciences.
Overall GPA: 3.1

[3] On successful completion of Prime Ministers' Fellowship (`2 year) I will earn a Master's in Development Practice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) , Mumbai.

A tentative list of B-schools that I am aiming at: Stanford GSB, HBS, Yale-SOM, Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, TUCK & MIT-Sloan). I welcome a list of schools from your end that I must include/drop.

*I have scheduled my GMAT in April 2013.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hear from you soon!

P.s: In case my Resume and Personal Statement are required (with more information on my extra curricular, leadership roles pursued, recommendations etc.), please let me know.

Hi Stacey,

Thanks a lot for your response. I wrote my first GMATPrep (Mock) yesterday only and tried to match the real GMAT conditions as much as possible. I started with AWA and IR followed by first 8 mins. break. Then I completed the Quant and Verbal section with another 8-min break in-between.

The outcome wasn't great at all.

Total Score: 530
Raw Scores: Quant 42, Verbal 21

The biggest challenge I faced during exam was regarding my time management. I was not able to complete any of IR, Quant and Verbal sections in time.

My attempts: IR (7 with 3 incorrect), Quant (31 with 14 incorrect), Verbal (32 with 14 incorrect).

My score clearly reflected the heavy penalty I paid on account of my slow speed. The analysis
of my test performance so far has revealed following information:

[1] 8 out of 14 incorrect responses in Quant were in a row (Q 24 to Q 31) !! This has definitely lowered my raw scores by ~6-7 points atleast or even more.

[2] My incorrect responses in Verbal very fairly spread out.

I would like to discuss about my analysis further and need your help to choke out a study plan that I must follow over the next few months before I write my actual GMAT.

Looking forward to hear from you!

Best,
Vikram