GMAT Score - 660 (Q48 V34) + 10 Years IT experience

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I took the GMAT on 12th December 2011 and scored 660 (Q48 V34) & AWA-4.
Those were days when the GMAT did not have a IR section.

I understand that the score is valid for 5 years, based on which it would expire in 10 months from now.
Would it be advisable to apply with a score from 2011? Would no IR be a drawback too?

I have 10+ years of IT Experience in India including considerable International Experience in the USA and Sweden. I have been involved with the management phase of my career only recently leading 15+ Member teams, possessing strong Insurance domain background and a certified Project Management Professional if that matters.

Is it true that I am running out of time considering my age and experience for a 2 Year Fulltime MBA?
I am open to doing an executive MBA as well.
Would love to hear some suggestions on which schools to target, as I am primarily inclined towards the US but I would be happy with a good school in Europe as well.

Would getting a 700+ score help me applying to which range of schools with the same profile?
Expecting some expert guidance.

Thanks
Arun

PS : I am prepping from the GMAT again and strongly believe that I can do better than 660 that i managed a few years back.(Prepared for a month utmost and did not take more than 1 mock test that time - BIG MISTAKE I believe)

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by mbaMissionKate » Tue Feb 09, 2016 7:39 am
Hi Arun,

With 10+ years experience you are definitely a much better fit for Executive MBA programs. I strongly recommend that you pursue that route. Unless you are considering a significant career change post-MBA, in which case that can be hard to do through an EMBA. If that is the case, then perhaps consider one-year MBA programs, programs in Europe where the age tends to skew higher, or full-time programs geared towards older students like the Sloan Fellows program at MIT or LBS. Here is a good list of EMBA programs to start off your search: https://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolra ... nking-2014

The other good news is that EMBA programs weight the GMAT much less than full-time programs do. They typically put more emphasis on your work experience, leadership accomplishments, and professional recommendations. In fact, at Kellogg, EMBA applicants do not even need to submit a GMAT score! So depending on the schools you end up targeting, you may not need to retake. If you want to target one of the top programs (like MIT or Wharton), having a higher GMAT score could help your chances.

Good luck, and please reach out if we can help with anything else!

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by Personal MBA Coach » Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:52 am
akjgmat wrote:I took the GMAT on 12th December 2011 and scored 660 (Q48 V34) & AWA-4.
Those were days when the GMAT did not have a IR section.

I understand that the score is valid for 5 years, based on which it would expire in 10 months from now.
Would it be advisable to apply with a score from 2011? Would no IR be a drawback too?

I have 10+ years of IT Experience in India including considerable International Experience in the USA and Sweden. I have been involved with the management phase of my career only recently leading 15+ Member teams, possessing strong Insurance domain background and a certified Project Management Professional if that matters.

Is it true that I am running out of time considering my age and experience for a 2 Year Fulltime MBA?
I am open to doing an executive MBA as well.
Would love to hear some suggestions on which schools to target, as I am primarily inclined towards the US but I would be happy with a good school in Europe as well.

Would getting a 700+ score help me applying to which range of schools with the same profile?
Expecting some expert guidance.

Thanks
Arun

PS : I am prepping from the GMAT again and strongly believe that I can do better than 660 that i managed a few years back.(Prepared for a month utmost and did not take more than 1 mock test that time - BIG MISTAKE I believe)
As Kate mentioned, EMBA programs are a good idea for you, although this would depend on how much leadership experience you have and what your current role is. What company do you work at and how has your career progression been? The years of experience is only one factor.

Where did you do to undergraduate and what was your GPA? In addition to Kellogg, MIT Sloan, UCLA Anderson, and Chicago Booth all take applicants without the GMAT, so it is something to consider. That said, if you can cross 700, it will help your application even at these schools.

Once you provide more info I would be happy to help you narrow down a list of schools. Send me a note if you wish to discuss how I can help you further with your applications. Good luck!

Best,
Scott

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by akjgmat » Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:08 am
Thank you Kate & Scott for your valuable feedback and views.

I should have added this info(more detailed info about my profile) to the first post, but nevertheless, here we go.

My education:
X Standard - 86%
High School - 95.5%
I passed out from one of the top 8 universities in India with a CGPA of 7.3/10 - (Topper securing around 8.6)

My work experience:
I work for an American based MNC in India(not the typical Indian IT MNC) and all my experience have accumulated over time being here. I have not had a change of jobs from the day I joined as a freshman from college.
I have led small teams of 3-4 people since 2 years from the start of my career growing into more managerial prominence in the last couple of years handling teams of around 20 people.
I have had 4 promotions during this time gradually moving up the ladder from being an intern to being a project leader. During this time, I have played varying roles such as a Subject matter expert in the US in my formative years and working as an IT consultant imparting technical to one of the top insurance firms in Sweden, having a hand in proposing business improvement suggestions which resulted in savings in excess of 5 Million Swedish crowns.

I had not foreseen a good reason to change jobs until now, where I strongly started to believe that I was stagnating and would continue to stagnate in middle-layer management. I ultimately realized that change of jobs did not guarantee career progression, but an exposure to learning how top-level management functions which I feel would be only possible through an MBA.I am inclined to doing a general MBA to understand the overall picture.

I would like to do IT consulting post my MBA to start with since I have had a fruitful stint albeit brief in the Nordic, but I would also be open to other industries(overall business strategy consulting) if a change of scenario would be possible.

I have sound knowledge in the insurance domain backing it up with multiple INS certifications in addition to being a certified Project management Professional.

Extra-curricular activities:
I had represented school playing cricket for a while, but don't have any certifications to back them up.
During my work, I have represented my organization in Table-tennis(Ping-pong) winning several trophies within the organization and competing state-wide.
I was involved with a Non-Govt Organization (read "Vaazhai") between 2008-2012 teaching under-privileged students in one of the least educated districts in the state.

Now, onto the hypothetical part: :)
Assuming I manage to crack the GMAT with a 720+ (I strongly believe I can), what would be the ideal schools to target in the US and Europe.
If I had to apply with a 660(the older score from 2011), would I have a disadvantage of it being almost 5 years old and get rejected or looked down due to the score's age?

I would love to hear back from you guys, and thanks a lot again for spending time on giving your views.
You guys rock!

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by Personal MBA Coach » Thu Feb 11, 2016 12:36 pm
Sloan Fellows would be a stretch based on what I see, but you should target these programs:

Sloan Fellows
Cambridge Judge
Oxford Said
INSEAD
Kellogg 1 year MBA (also as a stretch)
Michigan Ross
IE

What is your strategy to get to 720? Let me know if you want further support throughout the process and good luck!

Best,
Scott

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by mbaMissionKate » Thu Feb 11, 2016 1:38 pm
Hi again!
Scott has given you a good school list to start with, and I agree about Sloan Fellows -- it is an awesome program but it is also very competitive. Only addition I would make is to consider Cornell's one-year program too, they even have a tech-focused one-year option.

I think and hope you can crack a 700+ on the GMAT - good luck!! To answer your question, I don't think the timing of your prior test will put you at a disadvantage (as long as it is still valid when you apply), but a higher score would allow you to apply to higher ranked schools. I think with a 660, some of the schools like INSEAD, Kellogg, etc. are going to be a real stretch.

Keep us posted if we can help with anything else!
Kate

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by akjgmat » Mon Feb 15, 2016 6:03 am
Thanks a lot again.

The list looks interesting.
Sloan Fellows (stretch)
Cambridge Judge
Oxford Said
INSEAD
Kellogg 1 year MBA (also as a stretch)
Michigan Ross
IE
Cornell too.

Just out of curiosity, I am wondering if IMD would also be a stretch with an improved score.
Is it because IMD has been losing popularity lately? Or may be I am totally misinformed!
And would you suggest me to include Fuqua to consider as well?

I will bump this thread once I am done with my GMAT, and hopefully with a considerably improved score, early MAY 2016.

PS : Scott, my GMAT prep strategy is nothing but the usual guidelines to track periodically, improve section-wise, learn through error-logs and take a few mocks to check progress. I am backing my ability to score higher this time around since my last prep involved minimal strategy(zilch to say the least! - no mocks, no progress-check, no error log tracking etc which I am trying to iron out) and was totally based on my understanding of concepts!

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by Michael@VeritasPrep » Mon Feb 15, 2016 10:09 pm
I think you are a really good fit for an executive mba program. Think about who your classmates will be. In the full time program, you'll be with folks who have 2-6 years of work experience. While in the full time mba program, it will be people with 10 plus years of experience. I think you'll want to create a network of the latter to help you in your career.
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by mbaMissionKate » Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:54 am
Looks like a good list. Depending on how the GMAT goes, I might put INSEAD near a stretch too. They just really care a lot about GMAT in my experience. IMD is still quite competitive from what I understand, though I think their average GMAT is lower than INSEAD's. Yes, definitely check out Fuqua. In fact their Cross Continent MBA program might be of interest too. They also have an Executive option.
akjgmat wrote:Thanks a lot again.

The list looks interesting.
Sloan Fellows (stretch)
Cambridge Judge
Oxford Said
INSEAD
Kellogg 1 year MBA (also as a stretch)
Michigan Ross
IE
Cornell too.

Just out of curiosity, I am wondering if IMD would also be a stretch with an improved score.
Is it because IMD has been losing popularity lately? Or may be I am totally misinformed!
And would you suggest me to include Fuqua to consider as well?

I will bump this thread once I am done with my GMAT, and hopefully with a considerably improved score, early MAY 2016.

PS : Scott, my GMAT prep strategy is nothing but the usual guidelines to track periodically, improve section-wise, learn through error-logs and take a few mocks to check progress. I am backing my ability to score higher this time around since my last prep involved minimal strategy(zilch to say the least! - no mocks, no progress-check, no error log tracking etc which I am trying to iron out) and was totally based on my understanding of concepts!

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by Personal MBA Coach » Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:21 am
akjgmat wrote:Thanks a lot again.

The list looks interesting.
Sloan Fellows (stretch)
Cambridge Judge
Oxford Said
INSEAD
Kellogg 1 year MBA (also as a stretch)
Michigan Ross
IE
Cornell too.

Just out of curiosity, I am wondering if IMD would also be a stretch with an improved score.
Is it because IMD has been losing popularity lately? Or may be I am totally misinformed!
And would you suggest me to include Fuqua to consider as well?

I will bump this thread once I am done with my GMAT, and hopefully with a considerably improved score, early MAY 2016.

PS : Scott, my GMAT prep strategy is nothing but the usual guidelines to track periodically, improve section-wise, learn through error-logs and take a few mocks to check progress. I am backing my ability to score higher this time around since my last prep involved minimal strategy(zilch to say the least! - no mocks, no progress-check, no error log tracking etc which I am trying to iron out) and was totally based on my understanding of concepts!
Good luck studying! IMD would be a bit of a stretch and Fuqua would be a nice school to target. Keep us posted once you hit your target GMAT score!

Best,
Scott