Another weak profile evaluation

[resolehtmai]

I appreciate the insight you have been giving to the mba aspirants.
Along that line kindly help me regarding my concerns which have been bothering ever since I started researching about the application processes.
As stated in the subject, I have a very weak profile and am kinda demoralized right now seeing the threads with some amazing profiles. Still I want to know whether anything can be improved in the application so that I can hope to get in the best possible school.

Age : 28

Location : India

Acads: Average. Between 70% to 75% across high school and graduation

Graduation & College: B.E. from A below average Indian university

Work Ex (total 5.5 years):
2.5 years in a multinational IT company as software engineer.
2 yrs in another IT comp as senior software engineer.

Community Service: nothing on a large scale.
-sponsoring a child's school education every year
-worked regularly in the social service activities organised by the company.

Extra curricular activities : winner and runner up positions in a couple of national level competitions like paper presentation, business plan etc.

global exposure: None. Just that for 1 year i was in a project and had daily on call/conference meetings directly with the american clients to discuss their issues etc.

GMAT score : Last year i got 650. But this aug-sept will be attempting again for 700+

Target schools :
Michigan
ISB
INSEAD
Texas-Austin McCombs School of business

My concerns
1) Please comment on the profile.
2) I dont even know what schools should I aim for as per my profile. Please help regarding this.
3) let alone HBS, LBS stanford etc.Should I just drop the hope for schools like tuck, duke fuqua, INSEAD, Stern,cornell etc. even if get a gmat score like 720-750?
4) How tough is it for an indian guy to get a job post MBA?

[mbaMissionJenK]

Hi there,

Glad you have found our feedback helpful. Thank you for sharing your profile as well.

I would try not to get too discouraged yet about your profile. It is true that it is average in some areas, and in many ways a common b-school applicant profile, and a 650 GMAT is below average at many of the top programs you mentioned. BUT I encourage you to also remember that an "average" is just that-- successfully admitted applicants are admitted to these schools with stats below the average too. The biggest "open" factor, besides re-taking the GMAT, is your application essays-- if you think about it, the essays are the one area on the application where you create something from scratch to represent who you are as a person and applicant. The essays are your chance to explain what is unique about you, what you will bring to the class, how the MBA will help you accomplish your goals, and why that school's program is a great match for you.

The GMAT will have a big effect on how tough it is to get into different tiers of schools and potentially what range of schools you should apply to. So I do encourage you to schedule your re-take asap and commit to a solid preparation plan, including several full length practice exams that you then study afterwards (learning from what you got right and wrong, how you could have done questions differently, etc), to get you ready to make that increase on test day. If you can schedule it sooner than Aug/Sept you may have more time to plan your school strategy and aim for earlier deadlines. Come check in with us when you get your score for more feedback, and in the meantime do some more school research so you come up with a list of schools that YOU are most interested in, based not only on reputation/ranking, but also on location/region, class size and profile, curriculum, etc. (Btw we have a free downloadable e-book about choosing schools at: https://info.mbamission.com/Selecting-Yo ... ram-E-Book.)

And no, the schools you mentioned (Tuck, Duke, INSEAD, Stern, Cornell) do not necessarily have to be ruled out even if you get a 720+ GMAT score; overall in that situation much of the decision would then be based on your essays and how compelling your story is of how your past experiences led to the decision to go to business school and how the MBA will lead to your future goals.

As for after b-school, in terms of jobs there are so many factors to consider, including your pre-MBA experience, industry, region, etc, and in most cases hiring decisions are not affected by nationality or race (as long as you have a VISA or ability to work in a given country). So it really depends on what your goals are and whether your past experiences combined with the MBA lend themselves to being a strong candidate for a given job.

Wishing you all the best!

[resolehtmai]

Jennifer,
I am encouraged after reading your reply. Thanks for responding with such level of details. I was so devastated while writing the post, but the points that you stated have helped me raise my energy level.
Here's what I have planned to do next based on your guidance:

Regarding retaking gmat: Unfortunately i cannot give it sooner than aug/sept. I want to give it as much time as possible for the round 1. considering that most schools have deadlines in oct 1st week, I plan to give gmat in aug last week or sept 1st week.

Regarding application : since i will be left with just 1 month of application preparation after gmat, i will start drafting the essays from july so that i have something to work with during the rush hour.

Regarding jobs: i have thrown this out of my mind as it seems far fetched as of now.i need to get an admit first for that.

Based on the above plan, I would be glad if you could answer my following query:

Since its better to contact you after I get a gmat score, how long will it take to coordinate sessions with mbamission experts in the month of september and get done with my application refining etc. (lets say from scratch)?

P.S. : I had already got your Selecting target MBA program guide a couple of weeks back

[mbaMissionJenK]

Glad to be of assistance.

Good to hear of your more optimistic outlook and your updated plan. With your GMAT in Aug/Sept yes it is very important that you begin working on your plans for your essays asap, even now you can begin brainstorming ideas (about your relevant experiences, accomplishments, goals, why you need an MBA, what you bring to the program, etc).

Let me clarify and state that if you are planning to use our admissions consulting services, I recommend signing up as soon as you can (no need to wait). Your dedicated consultant can work with you through the summer on brainstorming for essays and coming up with some early drafts, as well as help you work on your list of schools to apply to (with potentially some adjustments to school list once you find out your GMAT score if needed). Your consultant can also help you brainstorm about what makes you unique and stories, anecdotes and personal traits that help you stand out from others in your applicant group/pool. If you have not yet done so, we do offer a free initial 30 minute consultation that is a good starting point, that you can do any time, see https://www.mbamission.com/consult.php.

My comment on checking back when you have your score was more in the instance of your requesting a quick answer via these message boards re: advice on your school list. But with a consultant, you'll be able to work through all aspects of application planning and essay reviews and feedback over the coming months which can be extremely effective in crafting your essays to best showcase who you are, and you can also work on your school list. You'll be able to get feedback on how you come across on your application; whether you've included the info you desired and key points about what you'll bring to the class in your essays; what your profile will sound like to admissions reps; whether your story makes sense in terms of your past experiences leading to the MBA, leading to your short and long term goals, etc. Most of our clients do a complete consulting package which means they can receive unlimited help for a given school's application (instead of being limited to a certain number of hours for example).

Please let me know what other questions you have, and I look forward to hearing how the coming months go no matter what.

[resolehtmai]

Jennifer,
I am aware of the 30 min free consultation offered. That, I will definitely make use of before GMAT. But at this stage buying the complete consultation package will be a bit impulsive, coz I dont even know what score improvement I am hoping to get and what are my target schools. The a la carte service is the economical one for me, but that also after I get some hold of my preparationa wrt GMAT.
Will get back to you again in case of questions.
Thanks again for your precious time.

[mbaMissionJenK]

That sounds good, please get in touch with me or mbaMission generally with any questions you have about our services. I encourage you not to wait too long to begin getting some consulting help with essay planning so that you have time to re-work several drafts and really put some time and effort into creating the best application possible, no matter what schools end up in your final list.

Wishing you all the best,
Jen