Brief Profile:
Goals:
My short-term career goal is to get into consulting and through that experience pivot into Corporate Strategy and Strategic Planning or General Management in the long term.

Education:
Materials Engineering from a top 10 institute in India (Non-IIT). CGPA: 8 out 10. Significant Leadership Experience within the college setting (headed the department symposium, the dept association as well as the tech fest in various capacities)

Work Exp:
1 yr as a business Analyst at Novartis
4 yrs operating family business (the manufacturing side of things)- producing plastic articles through Injection Moulding Process.
Didn't get any chance to display leadership and was mostly involved in managing things.

Problems:
Lacking in Voluntary experiences as well as hobbies(non-recreational). I work 6 days a week so is there a possibility of addressing this through the optional essay? or do i get some voluntary experience under my belt (before round 2 starts)?

Expectations:
As an international student as well as the demography I represent there are certain challenges. Practical considerations would mean that I'd have to find a job from a company willing to sponsor me for my stay. Adding to this is the difficulty faced by international applicants in securing an internship from a non T25 MBA program (US News) therefore, I have restricted myself to this category. My dream to safe category would constitute 13-25 ranked programs. Certain Colleges i have in mind (based on career placement reports, various rankings, career services etc) are as follows:
Dream:
Fuqua
Johnson
Darden
Tepper
Anderson

Competitive:
Mccombs
Marshall
Kenan Flager
Foster

Safe:
Goizueta
McDonough
Owen
Kelley
Scheller
Simon??
I'd probably cut this list to 7 with 3 dream 2 competitive and 2 safe schools. Please let me know if this is ambitious and if i have to reevaluate some aspect. Thanks. Carcass rx10

Hey,

Experience and the score you have is great. Also, you have done your research and I liked the list of schools. I'd suggest not limiting yourself to 7 schools only. Add 2-3 more. This may sound absurd but you can't rely upon these 7 as there is no surety . That being said, always do enough research and submit the application with full background work, but not in a half-hearted manner.


You definitely do not need to highlight this by yourself. Optional essays are generally used for backlogs or some gaps in resumes. It's also not that you volunteer for 2 months and have to add in your resume. It's fine. Make sure that you have 1-2 stories apart from the work that you can share as everyone will have work stories. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

All the best for your applications. Let us know if you need any more guidance.

Regards,
R

Thanks for the prompt response rx10. Given your experience in applying to these universities using GRE did you feel any less competitive given the plethora GMAT applicants? Also can you talk a bit more about UNC as an institution for consulting prospects, its culture etc. I've recently heard that alumni were in uproar about the increased class size and the watering down of quality just to generate more revenue. How much of this is true?

You're right that there are a plethora of applicants applying with the GMAT. But it doesn't mean that GRE candidates are neglected. You're good to go on that front.

At UNC, the culture is great and as far as recruitment is concerned, for consulting - what I've understood is that you need to put in enough hard work to convert. The current class is ~245 and about the quality, see there are enough people here that I see have a great experience. Last year was a concern as covid also played a part but if you put in enough hard work, you will likely get a decent job from anywhere. I hope you understand my point.

-R

Thank you for this. It's just something i've come across in reddit forums. Guess there is little truth to that. I will definitely look more closely into UNC and revert back if i have a query.

Have you checked the What are my chances tool on GMAT Club?
https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-are-my- ... 09854.html

Not this specific one bb. Thanks for pointing it out. I have used many other online profile evaluators before shortlisting these universities and some of these evaluators have been recommended by the school itself (Foster). I'll link them below for future aspirants.
Any other inputs which you'd like to give? Also, after digging deep I could recollect certain sports competitions which I took part in albeit briefly (Goalkeeper-Novartis Corporate Soccer Team, Intra department Competitions at my university: soccer, chess & e-sports??(Aoe + FIFA)).

Resources:
Profile Evaluation:
https://app.admit.me/before-you-start (suggested on the website of many b-schools such as Emory etc)
https://www.mim-essay.com/profile-evalu ... ction_id=0

Customized B-School selection:(decreasing order of utility)
https://foster.uw.edu/business-school-rankings/
https://www.mbaadmissionsadvisors.com/m ... algorithm/
https://www.mim-essay.com/university-explore?menu
https://leverageedu.com/course-finder/
https://find-mba.com/search
https://versus.com/en/business-faculty

Articles, Books & other sources:
Books:
mbaMission functional guides and B-School guides(free)
GMAT club 20-21 MBA application guide
mba.com career planning guide
mba.com full time MBA application guide
Beyond the MBA hype by Sameer Kamat
Designing your life by Bill Burnett
Strength Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
https://www.16personalities.com (premium profile book on your personality type)
MBA Coffee chats (post admit read?)

Links:
https://www.bloomberg.com/business-scho ... recruiter/
Google search Wharton suggested essay formats (can be used across b-schools)
Common LOR Template by GMAC: https://www.gmac.com/reach-and-recruit- ... dation-lor
Search threads | Fishbowl (fishbowlapp.com)
https://alis.alberta.ca/tools-and-resou ... orksheets/
Crafting Your Life: The First 10 Years Post MBA (LIFE) - Course Catalog - Harvard Business School (hbs.edu)

Articles:
https://mbacoffeechats.com/#resources (brilliant articles)
HBR 10 essential reads on managing yourself (especially the one by Clayton Christensen)
A field guide to the different types of consulting firms (rocketblocks.me)
What does the career path of a management consultant look like? (rocketblocks.me)

I've used the tool bb and it says that I have an above average chance with Mccombs and Tepper. How much weight does this carry based on your experience with candidates who've used this before? Also any specific GMATClub resources I should look into?

The tool is still in beta version. However, according to several discussions I have followed is pretty close to the expectations or reality.

You could also ask for an opinion by the experts https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... 4/?fl=menu