Profile evaluation- Help Needed

[ashutoshtyagi]

Dear mbaMission Consultant,
Hi, I am from India (male), here are my details:

GMAT: 720 (QA:51 VA:39) /5.5.

Graduation: Mechanical Engineering from one of the top 15 colleges in India(70.2%).I am a state topper in physics in class (12th).

College Extra-curriculars: Have organized technical and "Arts-&-Crafts" festivals for two years in a row. Have tutored my juniors for the preparation of placements and various MBA-entrance examinations.

Work-experience: Worked with IBM for 5 months but then i moved to a financial services firm( total experience 4 years). have international experience in south-east asian countries. I progressed from role of testing to being an application consultant in a period of 4 years. have worked on investment banking projects in the capacity of consultant and even project manager (SCB, OCBC, UOB, JPM, etc). i have a failed start-up also.

Post-education extra-curricualrs: worked (as a volunteer) with NGO's for 3 years (teaching blind people, slum children) and even had a social group of my own working on the solid waste management projects.

Professional examinations: CFA levels 1 and 2 both cleared.

I have an interest working either in an M&A role or in a private equity role. can i target top 10 colleges? can you please suggest me which colleges to aim for looking at my profile. i will be applying to b-schools this year.

[mbaMissionJessica]

Thank you for your profile and request. Overall you seem to have a solid background - good grades, a history of promotions at work, and a commitment to community service. The biggest challenge you face though is being from an over-represented demographic, which challenges you to really differentiate yourself in terms of leadership, results and interactions with others, both in and out of work. Your failed start up may be a differentiator, but beyond that I am not sure that I see activities that will really set you apart for a top 10 school. Please don't be discouraged though; all I see is a profile summary - you lived through those experiences and know what kind of challenges you overcame, what initiative you showed, what results you produced. For a top school you want to think in terms of what we call "game changers" - how did you fundamentally change the nature of the environment around you, e.g. on a project, a company, a person.

I think you should still apply to a couple of top 10 schools certainly since you do have some interesting experiences and an overall strong profile. But you may want to add some in the 10-25 rank as well, to provide a bit more cushion with your choices.

Good luck.