Indian, 3.5 years diverse exp., GPA 2.6, GMAT 770 (Q50,V46)

[theworldisflat]

Hey,

Here is a little more detail about my candidacy:

Male
Studied at a Top-10 engineering college in India
Got a suckey GPA (6.6/10)
GMAT 770 (99 percentile in Quants and Verbal)
Worked in Marketing in a Fortune 500 company for 2 years (with 1 promotion)
Co-founded a socio-political organisation (with good results) and worked on it for 1.5 years (1 step up in the internal hierarchy)


Can you give me some objective insights on the strength of my candidacy at Kellog, Harvard, Stanford and Fuqua? Also, if I have to apply to only 2 out of those 4 in Round-1, then which ones should they be? (strategically speaking)

Looking forward to your opinions and inputs.


Cheers,
Anish

P.S - "Wisdom of the crowds" is more than welcome too Smile

[Jon@Admissionado]

Hey Anish,
Okay, I think your goals maybe a bit high. Even with a good GPA, as a non-IIT candidate you are up against some tough competition (even with a fantastic GMAT). Unless your socio-political organization is hugely successful Harvard and Stanford are gonna be very long shots, and if your goal is to get into Bschool this year, I'd start by moderating your list.

I don't think you need to go outside the Top 20, but the Top 3 are gonna be tough nuts to crack. so I would say start with Kellogg and Fuqua, and then find two more schools in the 10-20 rankings to start of with,

Hope this helps,
Jon

[theworldisflat]

Hey Jon,

Thanks for writing in. Though I do reckon my socio-political organisation has done quite remarkably (in terms of scale and niche), I must say the feedback is timely stuff

On a related note, a couple of questions:

1) Based on the admittedly limited information I have already shared, which 3 or 4 universities in the Top-10 would you most strongly recommend I consider applying to (for strategic reasons)? I am currently thinking of applying to the 4 schools I mentioned.

2) Do you do hourly consultancies? I know Admissionado does, but do you do too? Let me know where we could have a chat about that.


Look forward to hearing.

Cheers,
Anish

[Jon@Admissionado]

Hello hello,
You are welcome good sir!

1. Well, a tough call here. Maybe HBS, Yale, Kellogg, Duke? (But I wold say also add on or two schools a bit lower ranked too)
2. Me myself? No longer, I am afraid. I am too busy answering you guys here (I'm kidding, it's actually me running the company and setting up our China operations that is the big work). But my guys are awesome! I personally hand-picked and trained them, so if you are looking for help, feel free to drop a line: https://bit.ly/814Btg

Best!
Jon