Slightly worried after an informal assessment from a Bschool

[marketinggeek]

Dear Stacy/Amy,

After a recent informal assessment from a Bschool am slighlty worried! They got back to me saying that my score is not well balaced and they would not even consider my application.

My profile: Market Reserach Analyst

-->650-GMAT (49 math, 26 english), 6 AWA, 106 TOEFL.

-->I am an engineer(B.E) by qualification from India with overall 4 years(by august 2009) of work experience.

-->1.5 years of IT work experience in Wipro tech, Over 1 year of experience as Team Leader, Research in AC Nielsen handling 4 people in my team, and now working as a Research Analyst, Consulting in Taylor Nelsen Sofres, India a Market Research firm.

-->My academics have been good throughout and have been a topper.
Involved with the Indian Space research organisation (ISRO) during school as well as college and have conducted a research on remote sensing technology in India. I have presented a paper on the same topic at national and college level competetions and won prizes too.

-->Have been the president of a group and organised events in my college.

--> Volunteered in many social causes at my work places.

--> I am the founder of a company that is working towards promoting Indian Heritage by going green and am involved in various other activities related to the same cause. We are 7 people working on this. My friend and myself manage this with the help of 5 other technical members. We are almost done with our first project.

--> My goal is to establish a marketing consulting group in India that caters to a very niche sector (currently doing a research in the same field inorder to assess the market potential). My experiences from my schooling and my work place have influenced me to take up this sector as a specialisation. Hence planning to take up startegic marketing/brand management in combination with a few other courses.

Now, please help me understand where do i stand in terms of converting all these things to an admit?

I have taken GMAT twice thinking that 650 wasnt enough. But unfortunately this time my GMAT exam got rescheduled because of power failure in the test center and then my performance got affected because of the lack of leaves and hectic work schedules. I ended up scoring even lower.

I had considered a few colleges in the UK. But recently after interacting with one of my former colleagues who is from the U.S. I am considering my options in US B schools, specially for marketing.

Also, if you can help me with the names of a few colleges it will help me a great deal!

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Marketing geek

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear Marketing Geek,

It is very tough to gain admission as in international student to schools in the US and EU. Schools generally receive a large number of applications from India and try to keep the number of Indian students to a certain level so there is a broad cross section of georgraphies in the class. Thus you have to be a compelling applicant and not give them a reason to reject you. Based on your post, I would say your GMAT score is a concern. Additionally, your profile is similar to many other applicants from India except your GMAT score is quite a bit lower.

That is not to say you won't get into business schools somewhere or that it will be a bad school. I think you just need to really think about what schools are a good match for you and whose class profiles indicate you will be a more competitive applicant. I encourage you to visit our sticky on school selection for tips and details on how to find schools.

Good luck,
Lisa

[marketinggeek]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks very much for your advice!

I will look into the the topic you have mentioned!

I am not really sure if even I am one among the typical Indian applicants because I have above 2.5 years of Marketing related work experience along with 1.5 years of IT.

In any case am sure your tips on schools selection would help me to target the right schools.


Thanks again!
Marketinggeek