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hello
can someone tel me how helpful is it to have a sales or marketing background from India
im a production engineer from India wanting to pursue a career i neither sales or marketing
since most students applying from india are a part of the IT pool, does having a different background help?
wil it help me contribute more to an MBA class?
would the MBA adcom think so too?
and would anybody happen to know how much are indian sales or marketing applicants represented in B schools?
thank you

sam11owen,

Yes, having a different (non-technology) background will help you to some extent, and you should emphasize it in your application. I have no hard numbers but would assume from personal experience that the percentage of Indian applicants at top schools coming from sales backgrounds is under 10%. Your background would definitely enable you to contribute different insights to class.

Note, however, that because you will still be applying as a Indian male, you will not truly be a "diversity applicant." That is, all else being equal, a woman from Burundi, Uruguay, or Takijistan (to name 3 countries that send few applications to top schools) with a pure IT background would have a significant diversity advantage over you.

Hope this helps,

yes that does help a lot and make things clear
thanks for your inputs