Profile Evaluation, help in short listing schools

[nams_vida]

Hello there,

I am a B.Tech in electronics, Gold medal. 76.5%
I have a work ex of almost 6 years in Semiconductor Industry in Verification, India.
GMAT score : 710
AWA : 4.5

I want your suggestion on which colleges should I apply to in the top 25.
Would a low GMAT score affect my schols?
I would have to take a loan for the MBA,so schols are pretty important for me.

Thanks in advance

[essaysnark]

Hi nams_vida - nice job on the GMAT! The AWA score is a little low, hopefully your verbal on the GMAT turned out well. With that score and the amount of work experience you have, you are qualified to try for most any good school. The trick will be in presenting strong stories of leadership and achievement, and in having clear goals that the adcom can evaluate. What are your professional interests and why do you want an MBA? An answer to that question will help us suggest some schools.

Without knowing any of that, we can suggest schools like Duke, Cornell, McDonough... a large number of Top 30 schools could be open to you. The basic "stats" of your profile are fine and it will come down to the stories that you can use in the essays in order to show the adcom that you are a leader.

Let us know what you want to do with the MBA and we'll try to offer more guidance if we can.

Best,
EssaySnark

[nams_vida]

Hello essaysnark,

Thanks for the prompt reply.
GMAT breakup is quant : 49,verbal : 37

I want to focus on the business development, strategy side of business.
Start off with consulting in these domains, and then later would want to use the knowledge in other sectors as well (eg if i join a business startup some day). I dont want to go into IT consulting though.


I love reading n photography and had been very active in literary events in school/college.

[FutureWorks]

Hi,


Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. So gmat wise you appear to be in a safe position. However GMAT alone won't determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics will also help you in determining your candidature and your work experience plays a vital role as well. In general most of the Indian applicants are from engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. So you would need to differentiate yourself from others. Start thinking what makes you unique and what's that 'hook' that will be key to your application.
Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc.
So work on all the aspects- academics (which look safe), work experience and beyond - make sure you showcase them well

[essaysnark]

Hello essaysnark,

Thanks for the prompt reply.
GMAT breakup is quant : 49,verbal : 37

I want to focus on the business development, strategy side of business.
Start off with consulting in these domains, and then later would want to use the knowledge in other sectors as well (eg if i join a business startup some day). I dont want to go into IT consulting though.


I love reading n photography and had been very active in literary events in school/college.

Hi again nams_vida--

Thanks for the additional details. Your profile is appropriate for most any top school and so now it will come down to the goals. It sounds like you're still working through your goals, which is fine, but you'll need to have them well mapped out in order to convince the adcom why you need the MBA as the next step. We're not too familiar with "business development consulting" -- certainly strategy consulting is standard but in our experience, bizdev is typically an internal position. In general, the path you've cited is very common - go into consulting after you graduate, then transition into industry thereafter. So that can work, however you will need more specifics in order to show the adcom literally what your plans are.

In terms of which schools, any "general management" MBA would be appropriate for these goals. This includes the top schools like HBS and Wharton and Kellogg, and also schools further down the rankings like Haas and UCLA. Of course, you'll be competing with a lot of other candidates "like you" and so the content of your essays and the stories you present must show how you're ahead of your peers in terms of contributions and impact. You can include some lower-ranked schools in the mix too (such as the ones we named earlier) in order to have a balanced strategy. All the schools send a lot of graduates into consulting each year. The more you narrow down your interests, the easier it will be to select schools that specialize in those areas, and also the easier it will be for the adcoms to understand what you're setting out to do and to believe in the plan you've defined for yourself.

So basically, with the basic "stats" that you now have with GMAT etc., you are qualified to apply, and it'll be up to you to turn that into a green light!!

Hope this helps, let us know if you have other questions we can address for you!
EssaySnark