European Schools

[Guest]

I am thinking about applying to the January 2012 intake at INSEAD, I'm also considering ESADE and IESE but would prefer INSEAD. I plan on retaking the GMAT but I'd like to know how my odds stand right now without a retake:

660 GMAT (47 Q, 33 V, 6.0 AWA)
GPA = 3.0 from top 20
Trilingual
Career goal: Right now thinking about consulting after MBA, think its a great way to experience a multitude of biz dilemmas and can hone on management and problem solving skills, also INSEAD seems to be a big feeder to the big consulting companies
Work exp: By Jan 2012 it would be 4.5 years as Financial analyst at Fortune 100 Insurance company, should have about 2 more promotions in the interim (for a total of 3)

I have soild ECs, thinking about building an alternate transcript, but I'm not sure the European schools consider this as much, do you know?

I know I'm a little vague but if you could offer any sort of insight as to my chances I would really appreciate it, thanks

[MBAApply]

If you're shooting for INSEAD, re-take the GMAT. Get as close to a 700 as possible - from your scores, it seems like the only way for that to happen is to really focus on the verbal section - hire a tutor, enroll in a prep course, and do whatever it takes. The GMAT isn't the be all end all, but if you're on the low side it can be a significant handicap. Especially for the Euro schools - as far as I know, they do put a higher premium on the GMAT given their applicant pool (they tend to have a far greater international pool, and it's simply harder to compare academic scores/GPAs across different countries).

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com