Profile Evaluation

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Profile Evaluation

by giggle1050 » Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:55 pm
Hello there

Could you evaluate my profile:

Indian/Female/32 years

Bachelors of Arts (Maths): First Division (3.5 GPA)/ Top 5 schools in India
Masters in Marketing Communications: GPA 2.9/ Highest rated communications school in India

Work Exp: Have been working in market research for 8 years. I have worked with both public and private sector clients. I can boast of working with some big clients like USAID/Levers/Nestle. I have led teams and made presentations at large forums. I have worked on a lot of international studies. I have worked for six years in the US and now I am working with a leading MR company in the US.

Awards: 3 professional awards in my belt

Extra Curriculars: Strong but not exceptional.
- Indian classical dancer
- District leader of women's division of a religious and social organisation promoting peace in 200 countries
- Painter
- Reiki healer


Sore Point: My low GMAT score of 650 (Q 45, V 33). I have taken GMAT twice and I am circling in the same range. My previous score was 620.


The schools that I am targeting are Kellogg (dream school), LBS, Cornell, Haas and Yale. Do you think I stand a chance? Or will I be rejected outright because I am an Indian. Do you think adcom will be aware of the Indian schools I have been to will be able to assess my academic capabilities from that? I can retake GMAT but with R2 deadlines approaching I was thinking of foscussing on my b school essays.

Can I counter my low verbal scores somehow? Any suggestions on doing that? I have strong English, but CR and RC in limited amount of time is something I have not been able to crack.

Your help is much appreciated.

Thanks!
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by Cindy Tokumitsu » Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:10 am
Hello,

I’d say it’s a “borderline case.” If you were an Indian IT professional, the GMAT score would probably doom you at those schools. However, your marketing orientation is unusual for an Indian applicant, and also is not as widely represented as other functions overall. So that is a differentiating factor, which you should highlight in your essays. Plus, your other areas appear strong. So I would say that the schools you mention (to varying degrees, based on their competitiveness) would be “reasonable reach” schools, assuming stellar applications, though approaching the outer edge of “reasonable” in some cases.

I do believe the adcoms are familiar with the relative competitiveness and rigor of the top Indian undergraduate programs. If you’re not sure you can raise the GMAT, then you definitely should focus on other efforts. It’s not a score that will cause the adcom to worry whether you can handle the academic rigor. To counter the low verbal, you can (a) highlight your strong communication skills in your essays by selecting some anecdotes that show this ability; (b) if possible have your recommenders discuss your strong verbal skills.

Overall suggestions: highlight marketing experience; secondarily highlight strong and interesting extracurriculars; make sure your verbal strengths are addressed.

Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com