Request for a profile evaluation - GMAT 730

[garv0608]

Hey Everyone,

It would be really great if you guys could comment on my chances of getting into a top notch US B-school (HBS/MIT/Yale/Duke/Wharton/Kellogg/Tuck/Darden/Cornell/NYU)
Here's what my profile looks like:-

Undergrad - Computer Science & Engineering: From a not well known University in India (GPA 3.4 - Top 15%)
Grad - MS-Management of Information Systems, SUNY (GPA 4.0 - Top of the batch)
GMAT - 730
Work Ex- 5 yrs at time of enrolment (Was in India for three years and in the US for the remainder)
Job - Tech Advisory Consulting (Worked for Accenture, PwC) - Offered Governance, Risk and Compliance tech consulting to clients in Life Sciences, Telecom, Financial Services, Broadcasting industries.
Current Title- Senior Consultant
Certifications - Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Lean-Six Sigma Green Belt, Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
Decent Co-Curricular and Volunteering experience.

Post MBA Goals- Make a career switch into Management/Strategy Consulting

[99Colleges: MBA Admission]

My answer is not what you may be expecting. Here it goes:

As far as your academic stats are concerned, you would be fine at top schools. But that's just the beginning. After all, top schools receive disproportionately large volume of high academic stats. To give an example, at Wharton three-quarters of candidates are admissible based on academic factors alone, but the matriculating class represents only around 10% of the total applicant pool. Academic stats are more like hygiene factors: once you've them, other things (essay, recommendations, and so on) assume a bigger role.

A lot of what goes into these other things come from your work experience, which is much more than number of years and roles you've been through. What matters more are signs of leadership (not necessarily formal), curiosity, impact, problem-solving, and the like.

If your work experience has those elements, you've a realistic shot at some of the schools in your target list.

[uniq01]

I think your Master's degree and GPA help offset the UG college you refer to as unknown, and certainly your overall consistent GPAs and GMAT score arguably demonstrates your ability to handle the academics of a rigorous MBA program. Considering you are currently in a consulting role, albeit a technical one for a big consulting firm, you should probably have a more compelling reason for the reason for the pursuit of an MBA. A reason such as the one provided (switching to management consulting) may not be that strong considering you're in a good position to make that transition where you are even without an MBA.

Best of luck.

[Michelle@ARINGO]

As already stated, academically you are fine although not unique as many Indian applicants, who you will be pooled together with as an Indian, will have the same or similar stats. Therefore, it is essential that you think of things that set you apart for your application. Without knowing more about your career and extracurricular activities it is hard for me to say what those factors may be, however.

If you are interested in having someone at ARINGO take a look at those parts of your profile you are welcome to fill out our free profile evaluation form on our website and/or our chances calculator with as many details about the above as possible. See the calculator here: https://aringo.com/mba-admission-chances-calculator/ and the profile evaluation form can be found at the top right corner.

But the most important thing to understand is that your academic stats will not be what will get you into these schools, it will be all the rest, so that is of course what you should be focusing on, in order to tell a cohesive and attractive story in your application.

Good luck!

[garv0608]

Thanks everyone for their valuable feedback.
It's good to know that am good on the academic side of the application at least.

As for the other vital information such as professional achievements, career progression, co-curricular activities, compelling story- I wouldn't like to lay them out here on a forum.

I'll surely be reaching out to you guys early next year (as I'll be applying in Sept-Oct 2017) once the applications for Fall-2018 are open. In the meanwhile, I do have a couple of questions, and it would be great if you can throw some light on it.

1) I didn't see anyone mention anything about the prospects for MIT (MIT and HBS are on top of my priority list). Can someone please enlighten me about the qualities these two schools love.

2) Do business schools take into consideration professional certifications (such as PMP, Lean-Six Sigma Green Belt, CISA) while evaluating profile?

Thanks in advance for the reply.
Be well and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.