Calculating Your Odds of Admission

Mr. Oil & Gas

• 760 GMAT
• 7.1 GPA on a 10.0 scale
• Undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology
• Work experience includes three years at Indian’s largest natural gas transmission and processing company with a revenue of $7.37 billion as a factory manager and then a team leader in gas distribution. “(In charge (Part of the team), Gas T&D, North India – Gas sale worth 120 million USD per month). Zero cross country experience.”
• Extracurricular involvement as an advisor to a startup in education consulting; also associated with social service institutions since childhood and have worked for an NGO that helps under-privileged children
• Played Cricket at university
• Goal: Oil & Gas Consulting/General Management
• 25-year-old Indian male

Odds of Success:

Northwestern: 40% to 50%

Dartmouth: 40% to 50%

Berkeley: 30% to 50%

Yale: 40% to 50%

Duke: 40% to 50%

Sandy’s Analysis: Your story  is totally in-line with Kellogg, Tuck, Haas, Yale, and Duke–and a bit off for Harvard, Stanford and Wharton due to what looks like OK but not super GPA and some issues around your job and your company.  A big issue here is what schools think of your company. You say, “three years (at the time of applying) at country’s largest Natural Gas transmission and processing company with a revenue of 7.37 billion USD.”

Is that a brand name globally, or a well-known national firm? Sounds like the latter, but the key question is does that company often send kids to US business schools, (for future profile writers, that is something I would include in the profile, since I have now mentioned it about 4,568 times, and it is often a vital piece of information).  I am not totally sure exactly what you do, or what you mean by  “(In charge (Part of the team), Gas T&D, North India – Gas sale worth 120 million USD per month). Zero cross country experience. ”

But moving right along, sounds like you have some responsibility for regional sales of gas, transmission and distribution. Hey, that is about what most guys who work for gas companies do, but it is not as gripping as working on an oil rig for a month straight for Chevron, which is the more typical H/S/W oil and gas profile, along with client services.

Extras beyond that are unclear as well, but they sound OK.  So we got a ‘so-so’ to ‘maybe’ good job, 7.1 at IIT (which I don’ t think is super-duper but someone correct me if I am wrong, and YET ANOTHER NOTE TO PROFILE WRITERS, INCLUDE SOME SENSE OF WHAT GPA IS ON 4 SCALE OR WHERE YOU STOOD IN CLASS IN PROFILES.

Plus a 760 GMAT. All in all, OK, and with proper presentation you should have a solid chance at those schools, with the usual, goals, how career fits with goals, how you fit with the school. Make it real clear in your application the size, range, and selectivity of your company. Most schools are used to seeing IIT applicants who work for Shell, BP, Schlumb, and they penalize you unfairly for working at a national not an international company, despite your company being No. 1 in some ways in India in gas.