Without knowing your career goals it's tough to suggest safety schools.&nbsp;<div>Looking at your list, you have Top schools across countries. This is a pretty wide net.</div><div><br></div><div>Safety schools based on rankings could be the next tier of schools for the countries you listed</div><div>Manchester, Warwick, Cass for UK.&nbsp;</div><div>SMU for Singapore.</div><div>Boston University for Boston,MA</div><div>ESSEC, EDHEC for France</div>

This candidate's profile is very common. They are not a safe admit at most of those schools.&nbsp;

Indeed, unless there is something else notable about them I don't think they would get to interview at most of their target schools.&nbsp;

[quote]Indeed, unless there is something else notable about them I don't think they would get to interview at most of their target schools.&nbsp; [/quote]<div><br></div><div>Duncan, out of curiosity, if they are able to raise their GMAT to the 740 range, would that change things for them? At their 5 target schools, that is.</div>

I don't think so. Maybe at NUS? I don't think any of these schools are so short of people with good GMAT scores that they would bring in candidates who may not have much to add. There are only so many Indian IT people with functional management expertise that you can fit into a cohort.&nbsp;

Thank you so much for your valuable input&nbsp;:blush:

The average GMAT score of Indian candidates admitted at HEC Paris is 720 but some students might have unbalanced scores unlike you. You can send your resume to the HEC admissions team and they will provide feedback but it might be a little generic.<div><br></div><div>My two cents: Even if your work experience is very common, it would help if you can show career progression over time in the form of promotions, additional responsibilities, etc. But it may not be sufficient to make a difference on its own.</div>

GMAT is a key criterion, but a higher GMAT doesn't overcome the absence of other criteria.&nbsp;

As per the point above, it’s difficult to give specific advice without knowing your career goals. However, I would challenge why you need an MBA as a software developer at this stage of your career. You might be better off doing something like a shorter Product Management course where you can gain knowledge about business topics like marketing as well and in the meantime broaden your functional practical experience.&nbsp;<br><br>In my capacity as a functional tech director and coach/career counsellor to people in tech roles,&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I always recommend people to work on their soft skills first.</span>&nbsp;There is a stereotype that tech people have relatively poor social skills at work and whilst that is a bit unfair, it is undeniable that there is a lack of soft skills in that population.<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">The tech sector and business are changing rapidly and the skills that are in short supply are things like influencing, leadership, creativity, emotional intelligence etc plus ‘business intimacy.’</span></div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">An MBA isn’t going to give you all of that that compared to learning/ practicing these skills at work. All other things being equal, I’d personally prefer to recruit someone with some experience of management and evidence of soft skills over an MBA in their mid 20s.</span></div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); caret-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"></div>