Dear All,

Just need some guidance as I am quite confused and worried. Here is brief about my profile:

Age-32

GMAT- 650

Education- Master in Engineering from one of best college in India, 3.68/4 GPA, CFA charter holder, throughout excellent academic and scholarship. Gold medalist at undergrad level and even in school time.

Experience- Around 8 years in the investment domain, last 3 years in the renewable energy(solar), water, waste, sector. Now working with Chairman of the largest solar developer in India. So can say social development, impact on the society, etc.

Extra-curricular- Have worked with couple of NGOs, social and rural development, etc. Volunteer in college also and now as well.

Career focus- Entrepreneurship, have run a educational venture before

I want to get into one of the top 15 colleges, ideally like Stanford, HBS, Wharton, Kellog, MIT, Booth as I have strong focus to start my own venture post MBA and second at this stage probably MBA from Tier-2 college won't help much in my career.

Please suggest what are my chances at this GMAT score and profile.

It's difficult to assess chances - especially on the basis of few data points. Your essays / Resume etc. would play a more critical role.

Top tier/15 schools will be a stretch for you given your GMAT score and age. They tend to prefer sharper, smarter , younger candidates (just my opinion - feel free to research for yourself)

Think about MBA as an opportunity to fill a skill gap that you currently have which is stopping you for going for your dream job.

Thanks Ayon for your response and I totally agree with your point. Just putting below more details about my profile and if you can give some feedback now. Also I know that typically 27-28 yrs is preferable age for MBA at these college but can I justify that why I am doing MBA now and not did before (like I mentioned that want to start my own venture, have tried before, feel that I lacks few skills set to become an entrepreneur and want to fill those gap). Kindly suggest. Does age play a very critical role? I mean how much impact it makes.

See my case below:

Age-32, from India

GMAT- 650 (Q49/V30, 6 IR)

Education- Master in Engineering from one of the top 5 college in India, 3.68/4 GPA. Gold medalist at undergrads level in Engg, CFA charter holder. Throughout excellent academic.
Received Philips fellowship during Master degree and scholarship even during undergrads.

Experience- Total around 8 years (5 years in the investment domain, 2 years in the technology domain). Since last 3 years working in the infrastructure sector (renewable energy(solar), water, waste). Presently working as EA to Chairman of the largest solar developer in India. So I can easily demonstrate focus on social development, impact on the society, etc. Have received couple of awards/recognition during my career.

Extra-curricular- Have worked with couple of NGOs for social and rural infrastructure development, micro-entrepreneurship, etc. Other volunteering work during college time (teaching assistant to undergrads), now with CFA society India. Advise young entrepreneurs for their start-ups, previously had advised many people for their investment in the stock market.

Career focus post MBA- Entrepreneurship, have run a educational venture (training institute) before for about 2 years (2009-11), tried a healthcare tech venture recently but didn't work out. Would like to start my own venture post MBA with focus on social impact (could be into any domain- education,healthcare, energy, etc.). I can give a strong focus on social impact and my current work could be handy.

Please suggest now.

Thanks

Hi Naveen,

Here are my 2 cents and lots of spit balling of thoughts crossing my mind.

I think you are looking at the MBA admission process as a "check in the box" like "I have NGO exp - check", I have a strong academic record "check", I have a 650 GMAT score that's the average of xxx B school "check"

My suggestion is that you see the MBA (and by extension the MBA Admission process) by a different lens - Skill.

Try the following
Step 1) Decide you post MBA goal. and when I say goal - be as specific as possible. (My goal was to get into Deloitte in DC in as Strategy & Operations Consultant.) I understand that you want to start something of your own post MBA. But it's good to deal and talk with specifics. Again you need not tell me that - but yourself be aware of it.

Step 2) Once you have decided your career goal, see what skills are required for it?

Step 3) Introspect: do you have some of the skills required for your post MBA job/role? Which skills do you lack? How will MBA help you develop your missing skills?
Thinking this way would help you not only in admissions but also during recruitment (should your mind change later)

Now once you have done the skill gap analysis, you can identify and short list your target B schools. Write strong essays. Your life experience including your work experience and your NGO stuff will come into play as you write admission essays.

You have a MS in Engineering, and a CFA and xyz work experience and abc NGO experience. How can that help you in your post MBA career goal? E.g. you can say that you have knowledge of both Fin + Eng so you understand the working of a tech company (just spit balling here)

The idea is to write solid essays, make awesome resume. Bring life to your application to stand out. Check Box approach may not cut it.

Regarding the Age factor. - It really depends. Majority of students who target top 15 eye Consulting / Finance roles. In general they are 1) Savvy 2) Solve Case studies (think logically on fly) 3) Assume stuff to solve cases (something as an ex- engineer I had a hard time doing) 4) have done stuff in past to show that they are awesome.

Let me ask you this - why do you think an MBA from Tier-2 US B schools won't help you achieve your target? Specially when you want to open your own stuff?with a 650 GMAT score unless you have a Mallala sob story or an Olympic medal, (or your dad is an industrialist who can donate tons of money) it's difficult to crack Top 15 (but don't let my views stop you from applying) provided India is over represented during admissions. Every third Indian has a 700+ score, does NGO and what not, and want to get into the "best ranked" school

Hope it helps.

Thanks Ayon for your response, wonderful feedback.

I agree with that I need to make a beautiful and crystal clear story around my academic and experience to impress the committee and it should make sense. I have thoughts in mind but obviously when I will write down, things will be more clear.

When I provided my background, it was not for check box but I just tried to cover major points of my academics, experience and other stuff.

I have already mentioned my career goals post MBA but bit difficult to be more specific about what kind of venture I would like to start. Probably can't say anything at this moment, what kind of opportunities at that point of time. Yes I can build a story around my fin+tech exp plus my NGO work.

Why I want top 15 or may be top 20 school is because I believe in top B school- you can get more smart people, can work together to start a venture (as many of them turn into entrepreneurs), better guidance and support, better resources, networking and learning opportunity and then obviously better brand and then tomorrow if plan doesn't work out, you will always have better growth opportunities in your career. This is my personal opinion, I might be truly wrong. But I have worked with many MBAs from these top colleges and have realised how they were better than others in terms of their approach.

Well would you suggest me to retake GMAT, get 700+ score and then apply in round 2 (in case these colleges take significant student from round 2 also).

@Navneet,

the easiest advice anyone can give you is of-course retake the GMAT and go for 700+. But I personally wouldn't tell you to do so - simply because I don't know that you (or anyone else) can be considered a strong candidate for a top 15 school even with a 720 GMAT score (because I haven't applied to top 15 schools). All I know is that one of my friend applied with a 740 GMAT score and not even Emory interviewed him.

On the other hand I have a friend who graduated from Tuck. She had a 770 GMAT and had worked for few years in London before coming to US.

What I would advice you is to not put your eggs in one basket. Apply to some safe schools as well - who would provide just as good an education.
So while there is no harm in applying to H/W/S/Booth/Tuck. Maybe consider applying to 1-2 the likes of Babson (known#1 for Entrepreneurship), Penn State, Purdue etc.

Yes, you're almost certainly going to need a higher GMAT score if you're targeting top 20 schools. Work on your verbal to get it closer to where your quant score is, because b-schools like to see a good balance between the two sections.

Thanks Ayon and MBA Hipster.

After all feedback, finally I am planning to retake GMAT by first week of September to get close to 730-740 score and then apply for B schools only in round 2.

With that kind of GMAT score, will I make a strong case for all these b schools keeping in mind that I am applying in round 2 now.

Hi Navneet,

It is indeed a good choice to go for your MBA from one of the top 15 schools in US. Your age is not a factor for them if you can prove that you are a perfect fit in.
Your credentials are good and you do have good chance.

Now there are lot of Indian students applying for the Top B schools. So there is tough competition. But even in this I see a ray of hope for you. Let me tell you in a bit of detail.
First of all you need to understand which is the right B-School for and what is their teaching methodology?

Going through your details I can figure out that you want to go back to your business thing after completing your MBA. So look out for some school which has entrepreneurship as a major specialisation or has a history of successful entrepreneurs as that will also help you in easily convincing the Admissions officer why you deserve a seat out there and it shall also suit your profile more. There is no point applying for XYZ school if it does not focus on entrepreneurship specially. For example, suppose you get into Wharton B-School where Finance oriented people prefer to study, it will be a sheer waste of time and money because that school may not offer what you are exactly looking for. So even though you got a top B-school - demand and Supply mismatch.

Teaching methodology - Check out the Case Study : Lectures : Project work ratio in your target B-Schools.

Harvard follows 80 : 05 : 15.

Which means whatever you will be taught, it will be taught in this ratio? Are you comfortable with this?

Secondly once you have figured out which schools you need to apply, check out their essay topics and start working on them. I believe that you can write pretty well (going through the language that you used in the forum). However, even great players need coaches as you will need even more as you are going for a top school. Each essay is different and you need some expert to help you in that.

Make sue that your essay is extremely good as your essay itself will give the first impression of your caliber.

Then get yourself constructive LORs and that should not be problem considering the fact that you are working. However, get it from those persons who have worked with you closely as they know you better and can help you.

NOTE – Do not write the LOR yourself at any cost. It is going to be a disaster as we can never evaluate ourselves perfectly.

Build up a strong resume of one page only. Mention your key strengths and expertise. Your strengths and experience should match with what your target B-School is looking for. So if you are a very good kabaddi player and have won gold medals at state level, it might not be of use because American colleges do not have kabaddi as of now.

However, if you are a very good runner there is a very great chance that you may get in the top colleges as they are looking for people who can represent them in the inter university athletic meets.

Your academic and work credentials might match with some one of equal caliber but your essay, LOR and resume are the things that will matter the most and increase your chances.

Your venture failure story would be a good addition to your essay (if the topic is related) and in your interview as you can show that you have struggled in life.

Last but not the least do not miss the deadlines and try to brainstorm on one single question

‘What unique thing can I bring on the table of my target school?’

In other words, what would they miss out if they do not take you. Present this thing properly in your application form and Admission Officers. You shall get what you want.

In case you might like to check out some cool things come see me at collmissionstats dot com and leave me a message.

Hope this helps.

All the best for your second GMAT.

Thanks collmission, really a great piece of advice and encouragement.

I totally agree with you about the college selection. Why I believe that Wharton could be useful for me is because I have finance exp and CFA degree, so probably can make a strong case for them. Plus they also have focus on entrepreneurship (ranked in top 10 even for entrepreneurship). So probably, not a bad option either. Obviously will do more grilling.

On the essay side, what I was thinking is to prepare a draft, fine tune it and get it reviewed by couple of my close friends (both those who like me and know my strength and can give more suggestions and also those who will criticise it totally and thus will give inputs to improve it). What is your view about this strategy?

I already have one page CV in the same format like those of B schools. I have used template of an ex-HBS guy. I have put all my strength, achievements and work done in it, including lot of data points. Will improve it more.

I would like to build a story around my childhood, struggled I faced in my life and how I reached at where I am today and where I want to go post MBA. I will try to justify why MBA will be helpful for me to reach at my aim (on starting my business, focus and how I am moving in the same direction so far). Does that make sense?

Btw I am applying in round 2 now after GMAT retake (not in round 1 at all). Will it have any negative impact?

Would you mind reviewing my resume? Kindly revert.

Thanks