Profile Evaluation - Indian GMAT 670

[vinodsundaram]

Hi,

I would like to get to get my profile evaluated to understand my realistic chances of fall 2014 admit. I'll be applying in Round 2 in the next few days.
GMAT 1 - 2011 - 650
GMAT 2 - 2011 - 630
GMAT 3 - 2013 - 670 (Q49 V32 IR 7 AWA 5.5)

25 year old Indian male, 5 years work experience.

Work Experience - Verizon (5 years)
Responsibility: Work as an analyst in Data Science/Analytics roles in solving business problems for Verizon.
-Lead a 4 member team to build models on Product pricing and strategies to improve sales effectiveness.
-Structured and simplified many Key performance indicators for the daily monitoring of business for the CIO.
-Co-Edited and written newsletters for Executives providing actionable insights on the buying patterns and sales behaviours.
-Mentored junior employees with workshops on Data Science, B2B transactions, data Visualization and statistics.

Prior to Analyst role (on promotion), I was working as Software Engineer in creating scalable mobile and desktop tools, work flow managers to handle tickets. I've worked with teams across the globe in streamlining processes and building products. I've got multiple awards and publications for my exemplary work and performance.

Voluntary Experience
Apart from professional work, I also serve as Head of Operations (Voluntary) for 3 years with Non-profit organization working in the field of education with the underprivileged children. In my capacity,
-Led a team of 150 volunteers across 7 centres in the country. During my tenure, we've expanded the organization with more volunteers and more centres across the country.
-Build the organization by creating new processes for volunteer recruitment, training and resource management.
-Worked as campaign manager and raised funds (INR 2Million) through many public campaigns.
-I was awarded the 'Change-maker' award for my contributions.

Undergraduate Education
Bachelors of Technology, Instrumentation Control Engineering from a top 10 University in India
GPA 7.96/10 - First class
-Designed and developed a device for monitoring the quality of water in swimming pools. Published papers and presented the products in many national conferences.
-Vice Chairman, Student Council at the university - worked closely with the students and faculty members on student welfare issues. I was also part of the organizing teams for many cultural and technical fairs and events.
-Completed two summer internships in telecom and petrochemical companies respectively.

Extra Curricular Activities:
-Black belt in Taekwondo and a national referee.
-University level Hockey player. Won numerous medals in different sports tourneys.
-Marathon runner - have run for a cause to spread awareness for many organizations.
-Written and played the lead role in short films

Given my product development and analytics/consulting background, I'm currently looking for MBA with marketing and strategy majors. An MBA will help me understand different facets of business and help solve business problems. Post MBA, I would like to apply to the role of a Consultant in Tech/Consulting companies. As a data scientist, I can become well equipped with different business nuances to deliver products and services for my customers. Considering my lower gmat score, MBB companies are a stretch and would like to target companies that suit my need and interest.

Currently, I'm planning to apply for Mccombs, Fisher , Tippie, Marshall, illinois urbana champaign. My targets of Fuqua Duke and UNC KF are out of scope and hence have opted for next best choices.

Thanks for the long read, I would certainly like to hear about your feedback and suggestions on my choice of colleges.

[mbaMissionJenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for posting. As you said you are basically applying for R2 schools right now, I'm assuming you'd already completed your apps and are well on your way or have already submitted. Overall, I think your school list you've specified seems appropriate and you should have fairly good chances at those programs, with strong essays/application/interviews. Honestly I wouldn't have ruled out Duke and UNC so easily, especially UNC, but again at this point in time that may be besides the point. Certainly your chances will be better at the programs mentioned, and there is a competitive pool of Indian IT/engineering applicants at strong US programs. What does help you stand out at least to a certain degree is where your analysis branched into market analysis, buying patterns, etc; definitely adds another dimension to your experiences beyond just your initial software engineering experience. Additionally your experience volunteering as head of operations for the nonprofit, and all of the leadership and management aspects of that role, demonstrates that you have a lot of long term leadership potential and that you have been successful in making an impact on the world in your own way. Finally you have the activities and involvements in sports, and the fact that you've written and acted in your own films is an interesting experience too.

Generally the biggest weakness is likely the GMAT, but it's not so far below the averages that you would be ruled out from consideration per se; a lot would be influenced by the caliber of your essays and how you express what you'll bring to the program and why you want the MBA, how your overall story makes sense, past, present, and future.

Keep us posted on questions and what the outcomes are, and good luck!

[InterviewBay2]

You have average GPA which could be covered with an above average GMAT score but with your score it would not be possible. Moving on, you have a decent work experience in terms of number of years. Also you have been pretty active with extracurricular activities as well. Looking at your goal after MBA and your scores, your target schools are reasonable. I would suggest you to give another shot to GMAT and get a good score. This way you would be able to target top 10 B-schools and might as well get some more opportunities to show your leadership ability. But if you plan to get selected on R2, you need to work on your application to prove that you are much more capable than what your scores say. You could fine the following article helpful in this regard:
https://www.interviewbay.com/blog/6-comp ... pplication
Good Luck!

[mbaMissionJenK]

(please note that InterviewBay2 is not affiliated with mbaMission. Thank you! )