Profile evaluation - INSEAD(Jan 11), US Schools(Fall 012)

[mbaconqueror]

Guys,

I'm planning to apply this fall would love to know if the schools I'm targeting are within range with respect to my credentials.

GMAT:

I went from a 660(Q-49,V-31),5.5 AWA to a 690(Q49,V-35),5.0 AWA to a 710(Q-49,V-37),5.0 AWA
The percentile split is 87/80 which sort of puts me around the median for my target schools. I did break the 700 barrier but it took me 3 attempts to get there and the 710 is not off the charts either, so I'm a little worried if I need to improve further considering my target schools or whether I'm better served concentrating on the other stuff. Also considering that I pretty much guessed my last 3 Verbal questions owing to lack of time I thought I finished 10-20 short.

Experience: I'm an electrical engineer from an accredited university in India with a fairly diverse background. Spent close to 3 years in IT consulting developing insurance and banking software across 2 Fortune 500 firms in India. Started as a programmer and rose to lead a team--> Got a full ride to grad school in the US in Information systems from one of the better schools offering the program(focusing on data analytics) gaining insights into data driven decision making in organizations, and have worked for the last 2 years as a quantitative analytics professional for a renowned healthcare consulting firm in the USA identifying patterns and trends supporting strategic planning, new product development and qualitative research.

Will have a total of 6 years of experience by the end of this year.

Academics:

Undergrad GPA : 73% from an Indian university where the topper scores usually in the 80s. Not sure how I'm going to convert that to the 4.0 scale.
Grad GPA:3.9 with a University Scholarship and graduate assistantship


Extracurriculars & Community Involvement -
Executed 4 month consulting project along with others in my firm helping craft the marketing and communication strategy for public schools in the area, around the Science and Math theme
Organized charity tennis tournament 2 years running arranging logistics, raising funds and donations from local businesses.
Varsity chess and table tennis, Compete in USATT affiliated tournaments
National level quiz champion and various other tournament wins in undergrad, Academic quiz team member in grad school

Want to switch careers to management consulting.Seeking an MBA to supplement my diverse experiences with strong general management skills that enable me achieve this goal. I'm pretty confident I can establish why an MBA is a logical next step.Also planning to visit a few schools in the spring to get some street credit especially the ones on the east coast.

Target schools: INSEAD(Jan 011 start), Round 1 Fall 012 start-Chicago,Kellogg,Stern,MIT,Tuck,Columbia although INSEAD would be my 1st choice.

Thanks everyone for the time!

[Jessica@VeritasPrep]

Dear MBAConqueror -

I think that you ahve a decent shot at the schools you listed. There is nothing specific in your profile (at, least that I can see from your summary) which would keep you out of a top school, it is now just a matter of getting in. Your scores, grades and experience are all where they should be, what will make the difference is how you portray your exerience (and future goals) in your essays. With a candidate such as yourself, the recommendations will also be key. An oustanding recommendation can really push an "average" (albeit average for a top school!) candidate into the "accepted" category.

Keep in mind that it doesn't matter that you only got a 710 on your last try. You only need to submit one score to most schools. And, often you can combine the highest sections (verbal/quant) from different tests which can push the score even higher.

If you are concerned about your scores/grades, one suggestion would be to sign up for a statistics or finance course to take this summer (or both). Having recent business related courses with a 4.0 average can be helpful.

Best of luck to you! Let me know if you have additional questions. And, as a consultant, it is very refreshing to see someone thinking about round 1 in February instead of in September!

Jessica

[mbaconqueror]

Thanks Jessica, Much appreciated - Atleast I can be absolutely sure that there's not a lot of incremental value to be gained from a retake, especially if other parts of the application are sound.

As for business courses, My IS grad program was situated at the intersection of business technology and there were some good 101 courses in the mix including accounting and marketing.Statistics is something I'm involved in my day to day job as a data analyst so again not so concerned about that

I'm seeking recommendations from a supervisor in my current analytics role and the IT major in India that I have worked for in the past in an attempt to show how my job functions and analytical thinking have progressed across time.

Working on my INSEAD application right now and will get started on Fall 012 pretty soon. Was initially thinking of turning a few in for Round 3 this year but felt I'd only hurt myself that way.Better turning a good application earlier in the process than later.