Mr. Professional MMA

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission! Wow, professional MMA fighter? I love reading amazing facts like that in these profiles! Also great to see that you’ve had good progression in the automotive industry and have shown leadership through Toastmasters.

As you likely have heard, admission to top MBA programs in the U.S. is especially fierce for Indian applicants. To even be in contention for these programs, you’ll want to get a minimum of 730 on the GMAT, even higher if you can manage since your GPA isn’t especially high. Georgetown and NU Singapore are the least competitive schools of those you have listed, and even those get a LOT of Indian applicants, so you’ll want to stand out. Aside from nailing GMAT, you’ll want to fully communicate your professional and personal achievements on your resume and application, get outstanding recommendations, explain your motivations behind your short and long-term career goals, and make a good case for how each program is right for you based on its culture and resources within and outside the classroom. Hope this helps a bit – best of luck!

Hello Mr. Professional MMA Fighter, it’s Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. You certainly have an interesting background and extracurriculars! I love that you started a Toastmasters in college, what was the impetus and what role did you play in its formation? Are you still involved with the organization? And MMA, are you still a professional on the side or did you do that full time? That’s an area I’d be interested in hearing more about, I can imagine you have some good stories.
As far an an MBA is concerned, as an Indian engineer, you are coming from a really competitive demographic but your extracurricular activities will help set you apart. You stats are a bit light for Ross and most of the schools you are considering. Do you think that 640 is the top score you can achieve on the GMAT? Did you study a lot or is there room from some improvement? Your GPA is low but there is nothing you can do about that now, if you can raise your GMAT, perhaps thru some targeted self studying and/or tutoring, your chances would improve. Why strategy consulting now? Are you doing any strategy work in the auto industry (Tata?) Your post MBA goal is not unusual or unreasonable, but you will need to build a good story as to why you want to make that transition and what skills you will need from an MBA to realize that goal. Good luck!