Profile evaluation needed!

[peeyush.a]

Hi,
I am preparing for business school applications this fall and I had few questions. Below is my profile, followed by couple of questions:

Profile:

27 , Indian Male

GPA : 3.3 (BTech - Mechanical Engineering and Masters - Operations Research) from top Indian Engineering Institute
GMAT: 690 ( Q50 V31) , taken on Sept 8th 2012

Work Ex:

Domain: Sr. Analyst : Management consulting / Analytics focus on operations & technology projects , with one of the top management consulting firms. Worked on several client projects with the lead role of specific workstreams. Coached and mentored junior colleagues and have been recognized several times for strong performance.

Total Experience by July 2013 : 5 years

International experience: 3 years full time in India and 1 year so far in US.
Have done projects in 5+ countries across 4 continents.

Extracurricular :
Leadership: Headed the department festival in the college. Community: Co-founded a team of office colleagues to contribute towards education quality in govt. schools of India. Member of another NGO in US working on education sector in India

Short term/ Long terms Goals : Need to gain experience in other functions, finance, marketing by move to a strategic position in an organization. Entrepreneurship is the long term goal (likely focus would be social sector + technology )


My questions:

1. Do you think I should retake the GMAT ? Specially as my score is quite imbalanced. I am sure I can improve 30-40 point on this, but wanted to see if giving up first round deadlines for GMAT retake is worth it ?

2. I am thinking of applying to MIT, INSEAD and HBS . Could you please give me an assessment of my profile ? Also would you suggest any other Tier 1 school for my profile and career goals ?

[mili]

Hi Peeyush,

Thanks for your info. Based on your target schools, I definitely think it's worth retaking the GMAT (applying in 2nd round with a stronger profile will be a much better bet), especially given that you think you can greatly boost your score.

I will say that I think your school choices are slightly ambitious - it's not to say they're not possible, but they are certainly reach options (moreso MIT and HBS). These programs are looking for candidates with very strong academic, professional/leadership and extracurricular/community leadership experience.

Your current academic profile is average for your demographic (Indian Male Engineer), and your GMAT is especially low within your applicant pool. Your professional experience is good but it is very common in this applicant pool, and I'm not sure how you'll stand out here. I think your community leadership in the education space is very interesting and is probably your biggest differentiator, so definitely build that into your story. Perhaps you can tie your long term goals to the education space? Also, you want to make sure that your career story holds together - moving into a big company to gain strategy experience and then going into entrepreneurship can be believable if it's very clear how the short term corporate stint helps you prepare for your specific entrepreneurial vision, but if there's not a logical tie, then it won't work.

I'd suggest that HBS is a long shot given your current profile. MIT and INSEAD are reaches as well. I'd suggest adding some schools like Duke, Darden, UCLA to your list, and maybe a couple even safer schools if you're unable to raise your GMAT score.

Hope this helps put things into perspective. Good luck!

Mili