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Dear Sirs,

Here is my Background :

Male , Indian , IT Engineer : 4 years with Accenture, 1 in London.

Pros in App :
Good career progress , back to back promotions, client awards , domestic awards , excellent extra-curriculars during under-graduation college (sports, led a college association). Working on High-Tech and rare business technology. Part-time GMAT tutor. Achievable post-mba goals.

Cons :

Bad Bad GPA. ALA 60% in Mumbai. Overrepresented pool. Not looking at any school beyond top 40. An academic gap between my High-school and undergrad college.


My question is, at this stage should I retake my GMAT. Will a 740 or a 750 add to my profile things that a 710/720 doesnt. My target schools are ISB, Stern and Duke. Thank you for your help.

Hi,

Candidates aren't satisfied until they achieve 800...!!! You have a decent GMAT with good work experience including international exposure. Whatever you've done in your acads and undergrads is a past, which cannot be changed. What you can do right now is apply in your target b-schools and focus on application essays & interviews which play pivotal role in b-school admission. You may guage your chances in b-schools by clicking https://goo.gl/lhc05

Let me know in case you require any further assistance. You may PM your details for free profile evaluation and selection of b-schools.

Regards
Erina

SirBean wrote:Dear Sirs,

Here is my Background :

Male , Indian , IT Engineer : 4 years with Accenture, 1 in London.

Pros in App :
Good career progress , back to back promotions, client awards , domestic awards , excellent extra-curriculars during under-graduation college (sports, led a college association). Working on High-Tech and rare business technology. Part-time GMAT tutor. Achievable post-mba goals.

Cons :

Bad Bad GPA. ALA 60% in Mumbai. Overrepresented pool. Not looking at any school beyond top 40. An academic gap between my High-school and undergrad college.


My question is, at this stage should I retake my GMAT. Will a 740 or a 750 add to my profile things that a 710/720 doesnt. My target schools are ISB, Stern and Duke. Thank you for your help.

SirBean wrote:Dear Sirs,

Here is my Background :

Male , Indian , IT Engineer : 4 years with Accenture, 1 in London.

Pros in App :
Good career progress , back to back promotions, client awards , domestic awards , excellent extra-curriculars during under-graduation college (sports, led a college association). Working on High-Tech and rare business technology. Part-time GMAT tutor. Achievable post-mba goals.

Cons :

Bad Bad GPA. ALA 60% in Mumbai. Overrepresented pool. Not looking at any school beyond top 40. An academic gap between my High-school and undergrad college.


My question is, at this stage should I retake my GMAT. Will a 740 or a 750 add to my profile things that a 710/720 doesnt. My target schools are ISB, Stern and Duke. Thank you for your help.

Don't retake it. In fact, it can be a negative because adcoms may feel that you don't understand what b-school is about (and that b-school admissions isn't a math competition). Your GMAT is good enough.

To be blunt, you're an Indian IT guy. They're not looking for Indian IT guys with monster GMATs. They're looking for folks (Indian IT or not) who have leadership potential, which has nothing to do with being good at taking tests. Your success in the admissions process comes down to your ability to convince the adcom that you have the social skills and broad perspective that will allow you to thrive in a highly collaborative environment of b-school students from around the world.

If you graduated from University of Mumbai the quality of the undergraduate institution will compensate to a degree for the grades. But a higher GMAT score will help your MBA admissions chances.

For an Indian applicant to top 15 U.S. schools, I believe that a 740 is significantly better than a 710. The degree to which this improves your chances is less important at schools outside the top 15. One admissions director of a top 10 MBA school told me that the Indian average is around a 740. So, if you were continually scoring a 740-750 in your mock exams and were able to score a 740-750 in a real exam the 30-40 point increase would represent a significant percentage jump from below the Indian average to at or a little above the Indian average. Also, ISB has an average GMAT of 711 so you would be moving this part of your application from the average to significantly above average.

You mention you are targeting Stern and Duke which are Top 15 U.S. schools. Try to apply to NYU Stern first round and Duke Early Action to increase your chances. Since we are still in June you should have time to retake the exam and hit the first round. This does not discount the fact that within your applications you should emphasize your international exposure, business aspects of your job, areas you have demonstrated leadership and initiative in your job, etc.

Best of luck,

Thanks !!! That helps a lot.

I am glad. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Good luck,

I don't want to clog the blog with repeated advice. So don't worry about your gmat, but do be realistic about schools. Apply to schools below Stern and Duke in the rankings as well as I don't view you as a high probability candidate there, particularly given your IT profile. Look at schools that are friendly to your profile like McCombs, Tepper...

Alex