Hey guys,
Took GMAT today and scored 560, screwed up the verbal section.
Please advise, which all colleges I can get into? Have 2.5 years experience in merchant navy, sailing on Oil tankers at management rank.
Thnx

These are a few schools which will take applicants with 560 GMATs:
University of Cape Town GSB
Ipade
University of Strathclyde Business School
Incae Business School
University College Dublin: Smurfit
Bradford School of Management
TiasNimbas Business School
Politecnico di Milano School of Management
IAE Business School
Durham Business School
University of Florida: Hough

How did you come up with this list?

I'm an MBA admissions consultant, so I have some data about GMAT scores at almost all of the notable schools.

Hey Duncan, thnx for valuable info. My academics is great through out GPA 3.4+. Graduated in Nautical Science. Since my profile is a bit different, I want to pursue MBA in Oil & gas / Shipping business or shipping. Guide accordingly which colleges would suit me?

I don't tend to recommend specialised MBAs, but you can read a good exchange on there here: http://www.find-mba.com/board/4863 I think there's only one full-time MBA in energy, at Aberdeen Business School, and as the course director explains it's really focussed narrowly on upstream oil and gas.

When you look at the top MBAs, you will see that none of them are specialised, although some will allow concentrations or electives. When you look at MBAs in the maritime industry, for example, the schools you see the most don't run shipping MBAs:
# Fundação Getulio Vargas
# United States Merchant Marine Academy
# Copenhagen Business School
# Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
# University of Mumbai
# INSEAD
# IMD (International Institute for Management Development)
# Handelshøjskolen i København
# University of Phoenix
# Handelshøyskolen BI

I would focus on getting into the best MBA you can, and then get projects and an internship in your target industry.

I have a similar score - 560, but a bigger negative aspect is that I have attempted GMAT for 4 times. I constantly score 680+ on mock cats (Manhattan/GMATPrep) but mess it on the main exam.
I have 6 years of full work-ex with start ups, co-founded a social sector dot com company last year and also provide consulting to start ups. Want to pursue specialization in Entrepreneurship/Consulting. Future goal is to provide business development/strategy consulting to startups/NGOs and small/medium businesses.
What could be the possible b-school options?

Yash, how about the schools I listed above on October 3rd?

Assuming that you want to return to India after the MBA, I'd rank them like this:

# University of Strathclyde
# University of Bradford
# University of Durham
# University of Florida
# University College Dublin
# University of Cape Town
# TiasNimbas Business School
# Politecnico di Milano
# El Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa (IPADE)
# Incae
# IAE

Thank you, Duncan.
My post MBA short term goal is to work for a management consulting company which works with small/medium business. It will help me address the issues which I face in my current assignments - help me improve my knowledge and at the same time will give me a more practical-holistic view of the entrepreneurial-consulting business.
Also, working for 2-4 years (post mba) will help me repay the study loan.
Do the above mentioned MBA programs help student obtaining post mba job in the Europe (in Entrep-Consulting)? Which are the possible hurdles, if any?
How relevant are the b-schools from Northern Europe (Denmark/Netherlands)?

Yash, I wrote a long reply to this, but took too long and the browser lost it so, in a nutshell.
- I don't think there are many management consulting companies that serve SMEs in the English-speaking world with the sort of profitability that would allow them to hire MBAs. Try and find some.
- I think a realistic target for you would be work in some other brand of management consultancy. To do that, you'd need the language of the country you're working in. I guess you don't speak Danish or Dutch.
- That leaves you with the UK, Ireland, South Africa.... and many countries in Asia. Work permits for the USA are hard to find.
- I suggest you look at Strathclyde, Manchester, UCD, Cape Town and schools in India and the rest of Asia.

Thank you, Duncan. This information is very helpful.

Yash,

I am a current student at UCT MBA in South Africa. I can confirm that the school does accept lower GMAT scores (they state a minimum of 550 although I know of admits as low as 480). They also do place students in top management consultancies, however, such placements would almost exclusively be limited to the South African offices and McK/Bain/BCG will generally expect a GMAT of 650-700+ regardless of the school you attend.

Specifically for consultancy-type companies that service SME's, have a look at Edge Growth, they are an enterprise development firm managing a PE fund both investing in as well as providing consulting services to South African SMME's. (www.edgegrowth.co.za)

sorry www.edgegrowth.com

Hi greg
what are the chances of getting placed in India after an MBA degree from UCT.i have a gmat score of 630 and 4.8 years of experience in IT ( 2 years in Johannesburg )

Not too sure... In general you likely better off attending a US/UK/Indian school for Indian placements as I wouldn't think UCT would have a very strong brand outside of South Africa. I do know that some students have successfully been placed with Infosys in India and there is an exchange with ISB but does not seem common for students...

I wouldn't think UCT would have a very strong brand outside of South Africa.

Another possible option would be to be recruited into the local office of global firm and then moving internally into the Indian (or other) offfice after 1-2 years. We have had our career fair and McKinsey/Bain/BCG/Accenture/Dalberg all highlighted this as a possibility.

Ralph- you seem to have a strong interest in SA programmes, have you attended one?

Hi Yash,

I am from Ghana. I got a 560 on the GMAT. 48 Percentile for both the quant and verbal sections.

What schools in the States and Europe will I stand a great chance of getting into. Pls list them in order of the league of the school,as in reputation worldwide and probably in Africa if you have that info.

I know you listed some schools already but I guess my case is a bit different from others. I am from Ghana. I have over 4 years work experience with one of the big 4 accounting firms and a few months now in one of the big telecom companies in Ghana.

Please advise. I need to apply soon so I can catch the second round and go sch Aug/Sept 2013.

Scroll up to see the answers to the same question. Also, try the fourth tier schools AT http://www.find-mba.com/board/27082

What schools in the States and Europe will I stand a great chance of getting into.