Hello Nad_y,

Thank you for sharing your profile. I am an ISB alum, CO14, and have been helping aspirants like you in their application journey ever since. Below is what I have gathered from your profile and if you should give the GMAT again:

Let’s start with your academics. Your academics is average but the fact that you entered into a non-traditional field post doing a B Tech can be spun off as a strength / diverse experiences. While the marketing courses you took definitely don’t add to your academic background, but they definitely can be used to show the trigger for your future career choices.

When it comes to your work experience, your varied work experience might come across as you not being so clear on your goals or what you want to do in the future. Clarity of goals is a very important prerequisite before applying to any institution. Be prepared with logical reasoning behind why you switched from one path to another in such short spans of time. Also, in this span of time, you will be expected to have taken on at least some leadership positions. Be sure to emphasize on them. Please be specific in mentioning becoming a Project Manager or Senior Data Analyst fascinates you and what skillsets you have already built in your career due to which you feel that the career you have chosen is a natural extension for you.
Your involvement in sports and being a part of state football is impressive; be sure to talk about that as it gives your personality a bit of an edge.

If you have the slightest of confidence that you can bump your GMAT score even by 20 points, I would definitely urge you to retake the exam since as far as MBA admissions are concerned, the more the GMAT score you have, the better are your chances especially since you come from an overrepresented Indian Male Software Engineering background. Apart from that, you will also need a stellar resume and essays to have a realistic shot at these schools. Below are responses to your specific questions:

• Which other schools should I target?
CA: You can target schools in Canada such as Mccgill and Queens. In EU, ESADE, Rotterdam, UCD Smurfit.

• Any thoughts on whether my target schools are reasonable based on my profile?
CA: Some of them are a stretch but if you can stitch all your diverse experiences into a consistent and progressive story, you stand a good chance of getting recognized.

• Is my profile good enough to get decent scholarships in the school I am targeting?
CA: Scholarships are primarily driven by your GMAT score. So chances of scholarships are low, and even if you get them, you should realistically not expect anything more than 20% of total tuition fees.

• What more I can do to strengthen my profile so that my chances of making to these and other prestigious schools increase? (I'm planning to do Google's Data Science Certification because I want to be a Project Manager or a Senior Data Analyst, and work with a lot of Data)
CA: I am sure you are aware that online MOOCs have become very prominent among a lot of Indian applicants especially with the advent of edu tech firms such as Unacademy, Udemy etc. So instead of taking up random courses, its better you work on your leadership skills – either at work or outside – pick up any voluntary / community-driven engagement and aim to create some impact there.


Wish you all the best and reach out to us in case you need personalized guidance! We have helped over 1000+ applicants as you get into the B-School of their choice.

Thanks and Regards,
Arijit Biswas
Founder, CrackAdmission
M| +91-9701215544
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