Name: Gursimran Singh
GMAT Score: 740
First Attempt: Yes
B-school Name: Tepper School of Business, United States of America
Meet Gursimran Singh, a passionate individual who was very clear about his GMAT and MBA plans. With three years of work experience from Cognizant, he realized it was the right time for him to pursue an MBA.
Right from his college days, Gursimran was researching everything about MBA, entrance exams, and business schools. However, when he applied for CAT on two separate occasions, he was unsuccessful. After that, he appeared for interviews at Narseemonjee and IIT Ghaziabad and could not clear them.
Hitting a plateau, however, did not deter him. He took his father’s advice and focused his entire energy on cracking the GMAT. In his quest to find the right GMAT coaching institute, he checked for various trial courses and finally realized that CrackVerbal is the perfect place for him!
“I joined the CrackVerbal’s course for GMAT in February 2018.”
Prior to taking this course, Gursimran would study for one to two days; however, his study plan was not very structured. On taking the GMAT course at CrackVerbal, he mentioned that the course was very flexible, which allowed him to accordingly schedule his other tasks for the day. After completing the course, Gursimran allotted himself a time till November 17th, and during this period, he focused entirely on his preparation by studying 5-6 hours every day.
“Your environment should be right.”
Gursimran believes that everyone requires the right environment to study. With that, they can devote much more of their time and energy to preparing well rather than preparing sparingly. He further mentioned that if aspirants find themselves weak in any topic, they should allot a specific time to work continuously. That way, they can prepare themselves better. Lastly, he also thanked the error logs provided by CrackVerbal, which enabled him to prepare much better.
“I was jittery in my stomach on the test day until I scored a 740!”
Recalling the day he appeared for the GMAT exam, Gursimran remembers that he was quite jittery. However, upon finishing his exam and receiving a score of 740 on his GMAT exam, he felt disappointed because he had hoped for a higher score.
“Later, I realized that my percentile was good, and then I started feeling quite excited!”
Then started his journey for his MBA application process; here, Gursimran focused on improving his profile and made sure he got the best help in his essays. Therefore, he opted for Crackverbal’s application process.
“My mentor changed my perspective on my application.”
Speaking about the mentor’s importance, Gursimran mentioned that his CrackVerbal mentor was highly experienced and helped him change his perspective about his application. He also helped Gursimran focus on the minute details that will help him craft his MBA essays better.
Finally, he spoke about how his mentor believed a lot in him and his stories and how that helped Gursimran feel more confident in sharing his stories in an organized manner.
“One of the things I was clear about was that I wanted to study abroad.”
Gursimran was clear about studying abroad. However, he was late in applying for R1.
He wanted to pursue his MBA in the UK, but given the Brexit situation, he did not want to risk his education, and thus, he focused entirely on the top B-schools in the USA and Canada.
Upon much deliberation, he zeroed in on Tepper Business School and Rotman and applied in R2 at both the business schools.
Speaking about his experience with Tepper, he mentioned they were quick to respond, and although he had sent his application on the last day, he received an interview invite the next day itself. Whereas he received his Rotman results after two months. Unfortunately, he did not make the cut.
“My Tepper interview went amazing!”
Gursimran mentioned that he had one interviewer from the Ad Com, who made him feel very confident. At first, the interviewer questioned his profile, and later, the questions focused on multicultural aspects.
The interviewer informed him to answer his questions in the STAR method. The interviewer also asked him questions like, “What are your post-MBA goals?”, “What is your backup MBA goal?” and “Why Tepper?”. Gursimran mentioned that the final question checked whether he had researched on Tepper and the B-school’s environment.
“I spoke to a lot of alumni and current students on Linkedin, and it was constructive.”
Upon appearing for the interviews on 3rd February, he finally received his results on 5th March.
“There was a lot of interaction with Tepper.”
Tepper conducted many webinars with him, and the South Asian Business Association (SABA) also contacted him. Many Indian Tepper students reached out to him, evaluated his profile, and enhanced it with different webinar discussions.
At the same time, Gursimran also focussed on upskilling himself by attending accounting activities via zoom.
“Aspirants need to apply in early rounds.”
Sharing his insight, he advised aspirants first to figure out their GMAT exam and then pay attention to their mentors’ advice during the application process. He also mentioned that one of the best ways to figure out the stories for MBA essays is to write them down in their entirety. He continued to focus on how details are essential in crafting a story that connects with the admissions team.
Finally, he also mentioned that it is crucial to talk to current and past B-school students to understand the environment and culture. It will help the aspirants in their interview process and help them gain clarity to answer and be the right fit for the Business School.
We hope Gursimran Singh’s story inspires you to persevere and never stop because of your path’s obstacles. If you would like to hear him narrate his story, you can check out our interview with him here:
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