Profile Evaluation

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Profile Evaluation

by mudigal » Thu May 05, 2011 12:00 am
Hi All,

I just cleared my GMAT yesterday and got 640 (50 in Quant and 27 in Verbal), though I was expecting around 700 (34-35 in Verbal) :(. I need help in deciding if this score is sufficient or is it really necessary to take the GMAT again.

School: Graduated Engineering, Information Science and Engineering, in 2003 in India.
Work Experience:
1. Talisma Corp - 2003-2006 (3 years) : An Indian CRM start-up, worked as a Software Development Engineer
2. Intuit Inc - 2006 till date (5 years) : Designation : Senior Software Engineer and Innovation Catalyst -

Emerging markets research on small businesses
Me along with 2 of my colleagues at Intuit started studying the Indian market to analyse on what Intuit Product to launch here. After 3 month of market research and experiments with Point-Of-Sale, we actually customized the existing QuickBooks POS and even deployed it at few customers' place in 2007. Then in 2011 for 3 months talked to 300+ small business owners and have proposed a new product for them which handles complexities with money in money out.


Emerging markets research in the bottom of the pyramid

we analyzed the opportunity for other Intuit Products, we pushed ourselves to "put more money in farmers' pocket". I involved myself in understanding the ecosystem of the farmers and their pain points...After talking to 100+ farmers across India and understanding the ecosystem and their pain points, we started a new service, a simple SMS based market place, to make sure they make more money on their produce. After few iterations we nailed the pain that farmers face and now we have more than 250K farmers actively receiving our messages. I am now managing the relationship with the 3rd party advertisers and the companies who are trying to use our platform to brand their products.

Gist
Domain Expertise in ecosystem for Bottom of Pyramid in Emerging Markets!
Domain expertise in the domain of small businesses in the emerging markets : Having spoken to around 300 small businesses.
Domain expertise in the domain of consumers in the emerging markets.

I also won Scott Cook (our founderer) Innovation Award in 2009 for the same. Overall I have a great experience in what it takes to identify, build and launch a successful product for the Bottom Of Pyramid in Emerging Markets.


ExtraCurricular Activities:
1. Led more than 50+ treks. Major one 18 day long 3000Kms 10 people(2 girls) bike riding to Ladakh and achieving the highest motorable/non-motorable road in the whole world (Marsimek La - 19000 ft above sea level).  
2. Won photography competitions in Intuit and Talisma as well. My photographs of vandalism in Bangalore during Dr.Rajkumar's (a great icon) demise has been published in magazines and had spread like wildfire. Interested in Wild-Life photography and have thousands of wild life photos shot including Tigers :)

Awards and Honours:
1. Couple of Patents
2. Scott Cook Innovation Award
3. Intuit Nominated me for Ted Young Innovator Award in India

Academics:
Average 73% in Engineering
Won 4 State-level/National-level Programming contests
Placed on day one and was the highest salaried placement in college (one of the top 5 in Nation India) then.

Future Goals: Want to get into Strategy Consulting for emerging markets after my MBA
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

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by Cindy Tokumitsu » Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:03 am
Hello,

Whether the GMAT is too low depends on your target schools. For the most competitive programs, it could possibly be, considering your Indian IT background.

However, I find a lot of distinctiveness and many unusual strengths in your profile that could give you a better chance than others in your group. First, the 650 is not low enough to make adcoms worry about your abilities. Your work experience looks quite exceptional, and your commitment to photography as well as accomplishment and recognition in the field are also impressive and notable. Not least, your academic record is solid (adcoms will understand the Indian grade system). Because you stand out amidst the over-represented group I think you would have a shot at more competitive programs than others in the group with similar stats.

It is imperative that your application effectively convey your many strengths. I suggest that you apply to a good number of reasonable reach programs to maximize your chances (always a good idea when there is an idiosyncratic element in the application)as well as some on-pars. Within the reaches, also target some variation in level of competitiveness (e.g., Kellogg might be a higher reasonable reach, Cornell closer to on-par but still a reach).

Best regards,
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, www.Accepted.com