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Hi Itsamit - thank you for your inquiry and I apologize for taking a while to get back to you.

You do have some strengths to your profile, namely a stellar GMAT score, a side business in trading that gives you opportunities to write about more than just your primary role as a software engineer, and some volunteer work helping other traders (even without having a formal company, this kind of work can be a good source of topics for essays.)

Areas you can strengthen: you are from a very overrepresented demographic and it will be important to differentiate yourself (please see our blog post "overrepresenting your overrepresentation" at www.mbamission.com/blog). Focus on the human interactions of your experiences, not just the software or technical aspects. I also do not from what you wrote have a clear sense of your accomplishments, either at work or in your NGOs. Without understanding what kind of leadership you have demonstrated (e.g. showing initiative, driving results, taking risks, etc.) it's hard for me to understand just how strong or weak your profile is. So my biggest advice to you is to move beyond the "what" - instead of thinking just about the title or actions, think about the "results" of what you have achieved. That is where your leadership strengths can really start to shine.

Best of luck,

Jessica Shklar
Senior Consultat