Hey guys,

I'm a 27 year old from Serbia, interested in doing an MBA or MiM but unsure whether I have a good enough profile for respectable schools.

My work experience is currently 5 years, mostly production finance but not managerial roles. I have reasonable expectation to be promoted to a better position within 1-2 years.

I have a 3 year bachelor from an applied sciences school here, and I have completed an additional year to get a regular 4 year academic bachelor in economics (nationally accredited uni, but not very well known). My GPA is 8.00/10. I had to compromise with grades since I had to work through part of my studies.

My plan is to try to improve my profile and apply for MBA programs in the next 3-5 years. Country I aim at is Germany, since I already speak the language. Not on a professional level, but I have started learning again. I would like to work in finance or consulting.

It would be quite helpful for me if I knew whether I stand a chance at a decent program with a profile like this. I would also appreciate any advice on how and if I could improve my chances.

At that stage in your career - especially if you're planning for the next 3-5 years - an MBA would probably be more suitable for you.

Broadly speaking, if you speak German, and especially if you work on the language before you start your MBA, get your language proficiency up to a professional level, Germany, or even Switzerland, could be good choices.

Beyond the language, you can use the next couple years to work on your GMAT - a higher score would be ideal to offset your GPA. It's not a terrible GPA but lower than many other applicants to MBA programs.

In general you should aim for the FT ranked schools - Mannheim, WHU, maybe ESMT. IMD as well, if Switzerland is interesting to you. Your school choice would also depend on what industry you were looking to work in - Frankfurt School might also be worth considering, for example, if you wanted to work in Finance.

Thank you for a thorough reply.

My main concern was that low GPA from an unknown uni from Eastern Europe would disqualify me completely from better ranked schools.

I wasn't sure if good GMAT would make enough difference.

You can always ask the schools, they should be frank with you.

In general hipster is right, a high GMAT score would help with a low GPA. The 'name' of your undergrad school shouldn't be much of a factor (although if it's a highly competitive school, where grades tend to run low, this could work in your favor.)

It's time to see where I stand with GMAT I suppose. Might need to dust off some math textbooks.

Thanks for the reply.