I need a little advice on applying to IE given my background. I scored a 660 on the GMAT, went to the University of Texas Business school, did a 2 year IT leadership program out of college, and have 2 additional years of solid work experience showing progression.

My question is what are my chances of getting an interview / accepted into the April 2012 or November 2012 intake at IE given my background and Spain's current economy? I am debating whether to retake the GMAT as I feel I could do better. I would have strong recommendations from my current managers and feel that my essays are above average.

Please let me know your thoughts and I appreciate any advice/feedback I can get.

Well, you are very light on work experience for IE. Most have three times more than you do. Why are you applying to IE, given the depressed Spanish economy? Do you speak Spanish?

Duncan, thank you for the reply but i think you misread my work experience. I currently have 4 years post college work experience and will have 5 years by the time I will be attending MBA. The avg work experience is for IE is around 5 yrs from what i understand.

I want to get global experience so i narrowed my school outside of the states and what attracted me to IE was the one year program length and strong focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. I do not plan on working in Spain after MBA so the current economy is not much of a factor to me - except for the fact the schools there might be a little more lenient on their acceptance criteria.

Any feedback given my background on my chances? Should I retake the GMAT?

Ah yes, I misread the IT leadership program for an academc program. Sorry.

Demand is high for Spanish schools because their main audience is Latin America, not Spain. And within Spain there's 40% youth unemployment so graduate schools are all growing, including IE with its second campus in Salamanca.

Considering the fit between you and the employers that IE serves is also going to be influenced by your Spanish-language skills, I'd say you're less interesting candidate if you don't speak Spanish and an interesting one if you do. If you think will get a better GMAT, then retake it. But don't sweat it if you're at your limit.

Also, did you see the EM Lyon MBA? Thats also very entrepreneurial. They have an amazing global entrepreneurship MSc with Babson as well.

I read your blogs and I thought I would be fair to send you an email for a specific query


QUERY : OUT OF TOP B SCHOOLS ? ARE THEY ANY WHICH GIVE SIGNIFICANT PREFERENCE TO CANDIDATES WITH GOOD QUALITY WORK EX ? Even if low GMAT score.


I am a working professional targeting for a 1 year Full time MBA program with below expectations

1. Should be in top 50 in the world
2. Should have excellent campus placement record

My profile

1. Already an MBA from a b school in India - passed out in 2004 with 9.02 / 10 cgpa
2. Have 7 years of post MBA experience with leading Corporate
3. Age 32
4. Not very good academic background in school and under grad

My selling point in my applicantion with be my work Ex ? So I need advice on choosing which b schools to apply.

You might find this useful: http://gmat.learnhub.com/questions/7387-average-GMAT-score

Thanks for the Feedback Duncan but still that was a list of avg Gmat scores.

My query is little different and not related to Average Gmat scores.

Are there any specific B schools they give additional weight-age / special preference to candidates with good amount of Work Exp.?

Schools that trade off GMAT against work experience will tend to have lower average GMATs and higher work experience. Those average GMATs are, in my opinion, a big part of the equation. Generally, of course, you'll find schools in Europe have higher work experience and lower GMATs than those in the USA.

Hi
was searching about reviews on Em Lyon n stumbled upon this thread. I have got an admission confirmation from Em Lyon for the International MBA program. Just a little confused about the reviews. I have 4 yrs of retail experience in middle management from India. Have heard that its more of a regional college n has less international presence & recognition. Nt sure how much of this is true though.
Also if anybody knows about their placements etc. Any kind of info/feedback/review is sincerely appreciated.

Thanx a bunch!

No, I would not call EM Lyon a regional school. It recruits nationally at the undergraduate level, and most of its MBA students and faculty are international. The MBA there is very well established and, as EM Lyon has increasingly focussed on entrepreneurship, the MBA has followed - for example it withdrew from a double MBA program in finance with Cranfield.

Looking at the FT 100 (http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/em-lyon/european-business-school-rankings-2010#european-business-school-rankings-2010) it seems the MBA has generally been effected by the recession but has held onto its place in the top ten European business schools and top 30 MBA programmes.

@cheers,

EMLYON has won recognition for its focus on entreneurship and if learning entrepreneur qualities is your cup of tea, then you may not want to miss the oportunity.

I am starting my process and EMLYON is a favoured school since my goal is to get the background and grounding to be an entrepreneur.

did they award you any scholarship or waiver? if you don't have a problem, please inform me about your progress and their process.