Indian, 3.5 years diverse exp., GPA 2.6, GMAT 770 (Q50,V46)

Launched June 18, 2009
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Hey,

Here is a little more detail about my candidacy:

Male
Studied at a Top-10 engineering college in India
Got a suckey GPA (6.6/10)
GMAT 770 (99 percentile in Quants and Verbal)
Worked in Marketing in a Fortune 500 company for 2 years (with 1 promotion)
Co-founded a socio-political organisation (with good results) and worked on it for 1.5 years (1 step up in the internal hierarchy)


Can you give me some objective insights on the strength of my candidacy at Kellog, Harvard, Stanford and Fuqua? Also, if I have to apply to only 2 out of those 4 in Round-1, then which ones should they be? (strategically speaking)

Looking forward to your opinions and inputs.


Cheers,
Anish

P.S - "Wisdom of the crowds" is more than welcome too Smile

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by mbaMissionJenK » Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:45 am
Hi Anish,

Thanks for posting. CONGRATS on that GMAT, that really helps... that said, in a way you 'need' that given your GPA. :( At least the GMAT is more recent though, so you may want to work to share why you feel THAT is a better indicator of how you'll handle the academics of b-school vs the GPA, especially if there are any reasons for the lower GPA.

You mentioned 2 years in marketing but 3.5 years of experience in your subject line-- not sure I am following; is the socio-political org something you did separately full time? Was it non-profit or profit; did it pay, just trying to understand, could be interesting and on the other hand could raise some questions.

Probably tough to fully assess without more insight into your past experiences but of course HBS and Stanford will be reaches (as they are for most to a certain degree) so keep that in mind. And of those 2, Stanford's class is generally half the size or less than that of HBS so that much more selective. For any of the programs you'll still need to really showcase more about you, what your strengths and accomplishments have been.... how you've demonstrated leadership & teamwork... where you've gone 'above and beyond' or made an impact.... what your passions are... and WHY you want the MBA and what you'll do with it... etc. Sometimes your entire 'story' and how you compare to other applicants and make a good case for why this is right for you... is what makes the difference.

Good luck and if you'd like to discuss more, we do have a free 30 min consultation available at https://mbamission.com/consult/, and/or feel free to share more.
Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
[email protected]

Register for a Free Consult from mbaMission: https://www.mbamission.com/consult.php

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 344
Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:55 pm
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by mbaMissionJenK » Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:50 am
Hi Anish,

Thanks for posting. CONGRATS on that GMAT, that really helps... that said, in a way you 'need' that given your GPA. :( At least the GMAT is more recent though, so you may want to work to share why you feel THAT is a better indicator of how you'll handle the academics of b-school vs the GPA, especially if there are any reasons for the lower GPA.

You mentioned 2 years in marketing but 3.5 years of experience in your subject line-- not sure I am following; is the socio-political org something you did separately full time? Was it non-profit or profit; did it pay, just trying to understand, could be interesting and on the other hand could raise some questions.

Probably tough to fully assess without more insight into your past experiences but of course HBS and Stanford will be reaches (as they are for most to a certain degree) so keep that in mind. And of those 2, Stanford's class is generally half the size or less than that of HBS so that much more selective. For any of the programs you'll still need to really showcase more about you, what your strengths and accomplishments have been.... how you've demonstrated leadership & teamwork... where you've gone 'above and beyond' or made an impact.... what your passions are... and WHY you want the MBA and what you'll do with it... etc. Sometimes your entire 'story' and how you compare to other applicants and make a good case for why this is right for you... is what makes the difference.

Good luck and if you'd like to discuss more, we do have a free 30 min consultation available at https://mbamission.com/consult/, and/or feel free to share more.
Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
[email protected]

Register for a Free Consult from mbaMission: https://www.mbamission.com/consult.php

Visit the mbaMission Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbaMission

Like mbaMission on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mbaMission

Read the Free mbaMission School-Specific Insider's Guides: www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders