Shweta Arora (Mentor) · 2026-04-01 · 1 helpful
Firstly, you have the perfect profile to get into the top B-schools, but since you are an engineer, I would recommend to target higher because there's a lot of competition. My suggestion would be to target somewhere around 99.75+. At many of the B-schools, you'll get a call at a lower percentile as well, but try aiming higher. Also, the gap years won't be a problem given that your reason is genuine. A lot of students in my batch at IIM Ahmedabad were also UPSC aspirants with even 5 years of gap, but since the competition is very high, ensure that the rest of your profile is good, like have some internships or projects or courses in your portfolio. And also work on your communication skills and presentation skills so that the interviewers get no reason to not select you.