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bsandhyav · Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:13 pm

Hi

Request you to please go through my profile & suggest the schools that suit my profile the most.

My Profile:

23 year old women MBA aspirant from India applying for FALL 2010

Academic Background:

GMAT-
1. Scores not Reportable--Oct08
2. 520 (Q41 V18)AWA:5--Dec08
3. 710 (Q49 V38) AWA:4.5--Sep09

Educational Qualification-BE (Electronics & Telecom),Mumbai University

GPA-3.25

Extra CurricularActivities-
As the Joint Cultural secretary of Student Council in college i was in charge of organising several techno-cultural events and raising funds for the needy. Was one of the contributors to making the college festival a part of the college tradition fighting all odds.
In addition to this one prizes in inter-college dance competitions & been an active sports person at college & school level.

Professional Background:
Work Experience- Currently 2 yrs, Will have 2yrs 10months(i.e almost 3yrs) by the time i join school in Aug 2010.

Quality of experience:
Joined a mid sized IT firm as a programmer trainee. Conscious Switch of career path from software development to Project Management. Worked as the Project Management Officer for a project which was in deep trouble at the time i joined. On successful completion i was promoted to the Project Management Office of an entire delivery unit consisting of 80 such projects within 4 months. Currently working in the Project Management Office for the North American Accounts and majorly responsible for ensuring process compliance & adherence and financial data analysis. (Though i work for a mid sized IT Firm (MNC), my job profile is more to do with general management and nothing to do with software development. Will i be considered a part of the dreaded Indian IT applicant pool?)

Extra Curriculars-
Active part of the CSR mwith a special focus towards children. Mentoring kids from the slums as a part of a mentorship program. Spend festivals like christmas & diwali performing special programs for street children and taken them for picnics. Part of tree plantation drives, clean up drives, environ mental awareness drives,etc.

MBA Aspirations:
Interested in doing an MBA in General Management from a university with good placements. An MBA would help me grow in my current role & give me the authority to take up larger responsibilities.

Could you please give me a lead to colleges i should consider applying to in the U.S. It would be of great help if u cld categorise them as safe, reach & ambitious.

Thanks a lot for the help in advance.

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Jessica Shklar · Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:08 pm

Hi, and thank you for your inquiry. You have a solid profile overall - good grades and scores, work experience that shows increasing responsibility, leadership and quantifiable results, and a history of extracurricular activities. I'm not sure your community activities show that much initiative or leadership, so in your essays you may want to focus more on personal lessons and experiences. In terms of your "dreaded" pool...there is a risk of course that you will be put in that category, but being a female helps, and also you can try to mitigate the risk by focusing your essays on the leadership and management aspects, not on the IT side.

There are so many factors that go into selecting a school that I can't possibly select which ones are right for you. For example, what setting do you want - urban (more expensive, but more access to recruiters) vs. more remote (more intense community and social life on campus)? Do you want a flexible curriculum from day one, or a school that requires an initial core? Those are just two of many questions to answer. With your background though, I think a top 20 school is reasonable for you, possibly even higher. If you want to reply with specific schools you are interested in, I can offer a more specific assessment.

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