Profile Eval - Indian/F/28/GMAT 680 Please help

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Hi

I am Indian/Female/28Yr/GMAT 680.

Work Exp: ~5Years as a Software Developer with an IT-Software company that stands among World's top 7 in Software/Programming domain as per Forbes2013 ranking.
-Designed and Developed multiple features of a world leading Web conferencing Software in a Major product release.
-Part of Innovation & Ideation group which proposed a new Product Idea to senior management and got it Productized.
-Contributed to Learning & Development activities by holding internal workshops and writing Developer connection articles.
-Won 2 prizes in Business Unit level competitions

Qualifications:
1.Under Grad - Dual Degree (Economics + Information Systems), BITS,Pilani - CGPA -9.34/10.0
2.Part Time MS Software Systems, BITS Pilani - CGPA-7.5/10.0

Extracurricular Activities / Interests:
1.Professionally Trained in Indian Classical Dance and Vocal Music. Performed at society/school/state-level shows.
2.Organized moral building activities at Team and Business Unit level.
3.Part of food and cloth donation drives organized at Company.
4.Part of regional assoc at college - organized and performed at cultural fests
5.Hobbyist Photographer.

IMP: I have been on a career break from past 1 year due to a difficult pregnancy and child birth. Did not do anything significant during this time other than learning how to take good baby photographs.

Questions:
1.Will my career break impact of chances of getting into top MBA programs?
2.Which schools can I target? My choice of region: (A) US (B) Asia-Pacific (C) Europe. I am constrained by budget and will not be able to spend more than 55-58K USD.
3.I have an ungrad major in Economics with 10/10 CGPA in core courses, but haven't worked in that domain. Can it still be of any help in the application?

Thanks for your time!

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:04 am
Your profile is a bit unusual in that you have an extremely high GPA from a Tier 1 school BITS Pilani, yet a below average GMAT score.

Your career break will not adversely impact you if positioned correctly. Admissions committees of the top MBA schools are predisposed to be sensitive to situations like yours. Top MBA schools are actively trying to recruit qualified female candidates.

Your undergrad Econ degree might help if related to your goals.

The bigger issue is your GMAT score. I would suggest for you to retake the exam.
Does the 55K-58K include loans? If so, you are most likely looking for schools with non-U.S. co-signer loans eliminating a school like Columbia. If you are looking for scholarships then the lower ranked schools would offer these types of scholarships. But it would be hard for anybody to start advising you of safety, target and reach schools without knowing your goals.

Best of luck,
Michael Cohan
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by apphelp » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:52 am
zozoo wrote:Hi

I am Indian/Female/28Yr/GMAT 680.

Work Exp: ~5Years as a Software Developer with an IT-Software company that stands among World's top 7 in Software/Programming domain as per Forbes2013 ranking.
-Designed and Developed multiple features of a world leading Web conferencing Software in a Major product release.
-Part of Innovation & Ideation group which proposed a new Product Idea to senior management and got it Productized.
-Contributed to Learning & Development activities by holding internal workshops and writing Developer connection articles.
-Won 2 prizes in Business Unit level competitions

Qualifications:
1.Under Grad - Dual Degree (Economics + Information Systems), BITS,Pilani - CGPA -9.34/10.0
2.Part Time MS Software Systems, BITS Pilani - CGPA-7.5/10.0

Extracurricular Activities / Interests:
1.Professionally Trained in Indian Classical Dance and Vocal Music. Performed at society/school/state-level shows.
2.Organized moral building activities at Team and Business Unit level.
3.Part of food and cloth donation drives organized at Company.
4.Part of regional assoc at college - organized and performed at cultural fests
5.Hobbyist Photographer.

IMP: I have been on a career break from past 1 year due to a difficult pregnancy and child birth. Did not do anything significant during this time other than learning how to take good baby photographs.

Questions:
1.Will my career break impact of chances of getting into top MBA programs?
2.Which schools can I target? My choice of region: (A) US (B) Asia-Pacific (C) Europe. I am constrained by budget and will not be able to spend more than 55-58K USD.
3.I have an ungrad major in Economics with 10/10 CGPA in core courses, but haven't worked in that domain. Can it still be of any help in the application?

Thanks for your time!
Hi,

While your work experience is that of a typical techie, your economics education, BITS pilani brand and great GPA can help you. GMAT score is below average but shouldn't he a challenge as you are looking at Asian and European schools.

Consider ISB, NUS, Nanyang, HEC, Rotterdam, Oxford, Cambridge. These will fit into your budget.

Also, while your break should be a big constraint but if you can get back into the workforce while you are applying that will make the chances much better.

Hope this help.

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by zozoo » Sun Sep 14, 2014 8:56 am
Hello Again,

Thanks for the reply.

I followed your advice and did retake the GMAT but ended up decreasing my score, so I cancelled the score.

I intend to apply with the previous score of 680.

My goal post MBA is - To be in a Product Managerial/Marketing roles at a good Product based technology company in preferably Learning & development or social media domains.

Please advice which schools can I target. My priority for the region is as mentioned in previous post: (A) US (B) Asia-Pacific (C) Europe

Yes, my budget of 55K-58K includes loans. I do look forward to scholarships. Can I be competitive for scholarships?

Thanks

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Tue Sep 16, 2014 5:42 am
If your overall budget is <60K for two years, you will have difficulty at schools within the top 25. BusinessWeek has a school finder that you can filter schools by Program Cost. I would recommend you start your research there - https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ra ... f3070103a7.

Good luck,
Michael Cohan
MBAPrepAdvantage Founder & AIGAC Board Director
305-604-8178
www.mbaprepadvantage.com

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by zozoo » Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:53 pm
Thank You so much Michael.
The link you shared is indeed helpful. I am working on arranging more funding for MBA, so I don't want to focus so much on budget right now. I need suggestion on selection of schools.

Can you please evaluate my chances of getting into the following schools: (OR suggest any other school that is not in the list below)

University of Cambridge: Judge
Oxford Said
UCLA: Anderson
Cornell University: Johnson
University of Virginia: Darden
SDA Bocconi
NUS, Singapore
University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler
Carnegie Mellon: Tepper
Nanyang, Singapore
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Cranfield School of Management
Indiana University: Kelley
Imperial college of London
University of Maryland: Smith
University of Toronto: Rotman
University of Washington: Foster
Purdue University: Krannert
Washington University: Olin
Ohio State University: Fisher
S P Jain School of Global Management

Thanks for your time!!
MBAPrepAdvantage wrote:If your overall budget is <60K for two years, you will have difficulty at schools within the top 25. BusinessWeek has a school finder that you can filter schools by Program Cost. I would recommend you start your research there - https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ra ... f3070103a7.

Good luck,

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:41 pm
One year programs like Oxford Said might work for you because of the overall budget constraints.

Given the strength of your undergraduate degree and work experience you are competitive for those schools, but BusinessWeek's school finder has errors. For example, the two year programs at UCLA Anderson and Darden will be more than $60,000. You need to cross-reference each program versus that tuition and costs pages on each school's website.

Good luck with the research,
Michael Cohan
MBAPrepAdvantage Founder & AIGAC Board Director
305-604-8178
www.mbaprepadvantage.com

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