Ask Stacy Blackman

Dear Stacy,

Kindly evaluate my profile. I am a 29 year old MBA prospective student from Pakistan.


GPA/Percentage: I have done my bachelors in Computer Sciences from NED, a local University that is among the top 3 Engineering universities in my country. My final accumulative percentage was 83%. When I will apply for transcripts, the percentage will be converted into equivalent GPA. I, however, cannot tell you the equivalent GPA right now. I was among the top 15 in my class.

Career :- I have been working with Standard Chartered, which is a British bank, for more than 6 1/2 years. Standard Chartered has a decent network of more than 140 branches in Pakistan. I started my career as a sales executive in branch banking in February 2005. I have steadily progressed and was promoted four times during these 6 1/2 years. From 2008 to 2010, I was the floor manager for one of our flagship branches in Pakistan. I managed a sales/service team of more than 12 people and a portfolio of more than 100 million dollars. At the start of this year, I was promoted as a branch manager. Later in June, I was hand picked for a sales transformation project. The scope of the project is to standardise the way sales is done in consumer banking. In my current role as a coach, I am responsible for implementing the new sales model, bringing about a behavioural and cultural change in the whole of consumer banking. I am part of team of 7 people. I will be able to get stellar recommendations.

Personal life: My father was in army and we moved a lot till I was 18. I have lived in all four provinces of Pakistan and speak atleast 2 provincial languages besides the national language.

GMAT: -I have taken the GMAT test 3 times. Break-up of score is given below

GMAT 1

March 2010 : 650 (Q 43, V 37)

I was blown away by the difficulty of the Quantitative section. The testing laminated sheet also put me off. In short, I was not prepared.

GMAT 2

Dec 2010: 600 (Q 47, V 27)

This time I was more prepared. However during the verbal section of the test, I had a migraine attack. I just randomly selected most of the verbal answers and my score dropped as a result.

GMAT 3

Feb 2011: 640 (Q 42, V 37)

I couldn't keep up with the timing in the quantitative section and ended up missing 2 questions.


I am again preparing for GMAT after taking a few months break. The reason is that I believe I can score much better that what I have been able to achieve so far. In my practice tests, I usually score from 680 to 740. I think I should be able to get somewhere close to 700 this time. I have assessed that I am not able to perform on the test day. I am well aware that a highest score of 650 doesn't leave me in a good position to aim for a top MBA program.

Please evaluate my profile on my current scores. Please advise me on whether

1) Giving the test a fourth time would reflect negatively on my application? Would a score close to 700 or more help in the fourth attempt?

2) Would my applicant age of 30 next August/September be a turn-off for US MBA schools?

I am considering the following schools

1) IMD (Europe)
2) LBS (Europe)
3) INSEAD (Europe)

4) Duke ( USA)
5) Michigan Ross (USA)
6) Cornell (USA)
7) Virginia Darden (USA)

8) Harvard/Wharton/Kellog (USA)- If I am able to get a 700 plus score in my fourth attempt

9) Rotman (Canada)

10) Australian school of business (Australia)

Rotman and ASB , although good schools in their own sense, would be my back up.

Thank you for reading my long post.