Hello to All!
I plan to apply to a few of the top business schools in Europe for Fall 2013 entrance. My first choice would be HEC Paris, followed by Insead, Bocconi, Cambridge, Oxford. I would appreciate your advice and guidance on the strength of my candidacy to these schools.
My profile:
I am a 28 year old American female with 6 years of international work experience, between the US, Europe and India. I graduated from the University of Florida in 2006 with a degree in finance (3.94 GPA).
My first job out of college was with General Electric Capital in NYC as part of GE's prestigious two year financial management training program (FMP). After completing the FMP program at GE I moved to Lehman Brothers in 2008 (great year to go to Lehman ;) to work as an investment banking recruiter.
In 2009 I moved to bella Roma, Italia and began working for a small management consulting firm. I spent 2 years in Rome and then moved with the firm to Brussels, Belgium until I finished the job at the end of 2011.
I am currently working for a business intelligence KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) firm based in Mumbai, India. I am leading the firm's business development team, focusing on strategy in the US and Europe.
Languages: I speak Italian fluently and a beginner level of French & Gujarati (an Indian language)
Extracurricular: I hold a TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and have tutored English language students in the US & in Italy. I have been a dancer my whole life and am starting volunteer work with a famous Bollywood choreographer to teach dance classes to underprivileged kids in Bombay. I am a marathon runner, an avid photographer and traveler (I've visited 21 countries in Europe and am now exploring India!)
Recommendations: My supervisor, who is the CEO of my current firm, is an HEC Alumnus, so I should be able to get a rec from him for HEC (my top choice school)
GMAT: last but unfortunately not least, the GMAT. G-Day came and went this week (on May 8th) and I scored a 650 (Q42, V37). I was disappointed with my score as I was hoping to be in the 680-690 range. I had stronger scores on a few of the practice exams.
Anyhow my big question now is if I need to retake the GMAT in order to be competitive for the top European b-schools? Most of the schools median scores are between 690-710. So my score is at the lowest end of the spectrum. But I am hoping other parts of my profile may overshadow the low GMAT score?
I'd appreciate guidance on how important it really is for me to retake the test to try to bump up to 690 range, or if I am ok with the 650?
Many thanks for your time and advice!
Best, Freya