Your Chances Of Getting A Top MBA

Geeky GuyMr. Alternative Energy

 

  • 630 GMAT (Q39,V37)
  • “Wanted to retake but as luck would have it, I met with an accident that badly injured my leg.”
  • Undergraduate degree in engineering
  • Work experience includes five years with Accenture as a utilities consultant, working with clients across the world including Singapore on power and reliant energy
  • Extracurricular involvement as winner of the Economist Pictures of Tomorrow challenge; was invited to Haas business school as a speaker and to New York for a conference after creating a model to improve Mumbai’s transport system; reached semi-finals of Nat Geo international quiz show; worked with Greenpeace India to stop coal mining; taught child abuse victims computer skills
  • Short-term goal: To enter into alternative energy consulting
  • Long-term goal: To implement smart grid solutions in India by 2030 by working with an Indian utility company.
  • Rejected by Emory without an interview
  • 26-year-old male in India

Odds of Success (with 680 GMAT):

Emory: 50%

Cornell: 40%

Minnesota: 50%

Texas A&M: 40%

Rice: 50%

Sandy’s Analysis: Jeepers, you got a lot to like and a lot we don’t know. Like where you went to college and what your GPA was.

My tough love would be to wait until next year, given that you are only 26, and retake the GMAT or GRE.  I am sorry to hear about your leg injury and I hope that gets better.

For a guy working in India, working for Accenture in SAP support is a typical gig, and one many U.S. schools respect, although it is not a gold level job. In terms of selectivity, it’s more like Silver/Bronze. Your plans to be an energy consultant are barking up the correct tree–and smart grids is a good way to spin it.  Make is sound like you know about that, know companies who do it, and sound like you are aware of a lot of jobs in those fields, which may be true.

As to your extras, you say, “won Economist Pictures of Tomorrow challenge and was invited to Haas business school as a speaker.”  You also  “spoke at a New York conference about improving Mumbai’s transport system via alternative energy and transport (such as water). Reached Semi-Finals of Nat Geo international quiz show (was telecast on TV) and Worked with Greenpeace India to stop coal mining.”

All that sounds impressive, even if I don’t fully understand each item.

If you have a solid GPA from someplace and retake the GMAT and get a score in the 680 range (with a Quant score near 80%), the schools you applied to last time–Emory, Cornell, Carlson, Tepper, Mays and Rice –should be in range.

Did you see this post from a kid last week? He had a low GPA (3.0), a 690 GMAT, and worked for a firm which was about as selective as your firm. He got into Cornell, Tepper and Georgetown–and it sounds like his extras were less impressive than yours, by far. So retake the GMAT, apply next year, get your leg injury cured as much as possible, and good luck.

Here is his  full post, how do you stake up to this?

Undergrad from non-HPY Ivy in Economics and History

3.0 GPA (weak point)

690 GMAT (97%V/55% Q split, another weak point)

4 years full-time as internal strategy/bus dev at vault top 25 consulting firm

Reccs from direct manager (head of dept, former big 4 partner) and COO (work a lot with high-level profs in my role)

Schools:

Darden- Rejected

Fuqua- Rejected

Ross- Waitlist

Johnson- Admit 

Tepper- Admit

Gtown- Admit

If you can match those numbers on the GMAT and have a 3.something GPA, you could be in the running for those same schools.

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