This is a very special story of an Applicant who cracked a top TIER Program(Rank 1 school in Canada- Richard Ivey) with a GMAT 620 and established a new ground for us. You should all know that we also learn from you, and you give us opportunities to break newer and newer barriers. S.Bhatt made the unusual happen for us.
When an Indian Male IT applicant starts thinking about applying to a top school, the level of competition in this saturated applicant pool would suggest they should have a high GMAT score. In fact, we suggest having a GMAT score about 10 or more points higher than your target school’s average GMAT score to truly have a competitive edge in applications.
He wasn’t keen on applying to all top schools, however, the presence of Richard Ivey in his list was quite concerning. He mentioned that with a GMAT of 620, he had a major gap year in undergraduate as well, and that doubled up the concerns for us. What we did not know was that he was a ROCKSTAR, and was keen on doing whatever we would ask him to. YES! He did everything exactly he was asked to and went full throttle in all his exercises.
While we were initially hesitant to apply to the top schools and knew that he will get rejected because of his GMAT Score, and the Undergrad performance, his readiness to slave during the applications convinced us otherwise.
Before anything else, we needed to start the pre-MBA networking process with Him. He was very diligent in his networking strategy. In 2 months, everyone in his target schools knew that he will be applying and what his aspirations were. In his networking strategy, he was consistently attending all the roadshows, completing the "WHY THIS SCHOOL?" assignments with integrity, and building connections that would eventually help him bridge the gap between a GMAT 620 and a Top Tier Global Program.
When an applicant has major red flags in their application, the essays become crucial to the school. through the essay, you can show them exactly how perfect a fit you will be to their MBA program. We needed to change the tone of His essays from a plea of acceptance to an offer of a mutually beneficial partnership.
When an applicant chooses to forgo pre-MBA networking, their research only creates something I call a ‘brochure response’. It is a response which you will be able to find in a school’s brochure if you read it thoroughly. Admissions committees don’t want to hear that.
He reached out to current students and alumni from Richard Ivey, we came up with a plan of attack for his networking sessions. The first step was to watch the Networking Video on Interviewninjas. This is a mandatory step before we start our mock networking exercise so that every applicant has a starting point and isn’t jumping in blindly.
We then curated a list of networking questions along with H. These questions were school-based and would give Him some insider information. A few questions could be:
He was pursuing Richard Ivey with all his might. His low GMAT score had made him savage in his networking pursuits. If Richard Ivey was having a meet in his city, He would be there.
To every applicant out there with a low GMAT score, take this page out of S. Bhatt’s book. To compete with applicants who have a score of 740, 120 pointsabovehis score, he never let a networking opportunity go.
He had created such a good rapport with his networks at Richard Ivey that they even looked through and provided effective feedback for his resume. By the end of his networking stretch, He knew exactly why he wanted to go to Richard Ivey and could probably hold an hour-long conversation over it.
We still ended up working on it and refining his answers during his mock interview sessions. By the end, we were confident that his interviews would be a breeze, and they were.
With a significant gap year in his undergrad, a GMAT score of 620 (much lower than Richard Ivey’s average GMAT score of 670), and coming from a saturated applicant pool of Indian Male IT candidates, one would think S. Bhatt had no chance of getting into Richard Ivey. However, his diligence and effort to crack his dream school completely changed the ending of his MBA application story.
Here’s what S. Bhatt had to say:
Having scored a 620 on the GMAT I had lost hope of getting into a top B school. I spoke to at least 3 different admission consultants before narrowing down on Jatin. The 3 reasons for choosing PythaGURUS were: