Profile Evaluation & suggestions please!

[yogesh1984]

Hi there, please have a look & suggestion more than welcome , It's gonna be long one so bear with me please..
My profile:
Personal details: Single Indian Male, 29- Even getting a graduation (after 10+2) in science was a daunting task for me given my family background (absolutely nobody to guide and scarcity of money for even daily necessities made life more than wretched). It was only after I got into IIT Bombay for Masters that I could get loans for Banks and continue my studies without bothering my parents and thereafter things changed (at least financial misery was a day of past!) Thanks to IIT brand value (and off course my little hard work ). I do not know for sure if it helps to give one's family background in so detail but I feel given all the odds if some one has been able to show toughness then one should be getting extra points for that.. no ? any thoughts,i do not know just asked what goes ..?

Academics:

A) Master of Science in Applied Statistics & Informatics From IIT Bombay (Top college of India, Statistics shows getting into IIT's & more so in IIT Bombay is more tougher than even HBS!) - 2007 pass out with a CGPI of 7.8 out of 10.(Applied Maths & Stats as Major)
B) Bachelor of Science- From a deemed university- 2003 pass out with 78% in all 3 years (Stats, Maths as major)
C) 10th (1998 pass out) and 12th (2000 pass out) Standard from regional State Board in science stream with about 63% in both the the exams.
D) GMAT1: 680 (Q 49, V34), 4.5 AWA & GMAT2: 730 (Q 49, V41), 5.0 AWA


Work Experience: Fro fall 2013 apps by then I would have 6+ years of work experience- Worked for Citi Bank operation (2+ years), HDFC Bank (India, for 1+ years ), and Genpact (about 2 years or so).will have to join some other organization in 2-3 weeks

Industry - Majorly in the consumer finance business (retail & wholesale- Cards, PL) and to a some extent mortgages with major Banks across globe.

Roles/Job responsibilities -
Started my career as an statistical analyst and now my role involves training people on best model development practices along with consulting my clients on best possible solutions (be it Statistical models or decision trees, in all 2 role progress).

Through all the while in @ 5+ years I have been churning out Statistical models- End to end from project scoping to implementation phase for Risk, Marketing functions (at different stages of the customer life cycle such as Acquisition, Portfolio management- CLI, CLD, Recovery etc...) in order to help Banks prioritize efforts to tweak/improve the current strategies. I undertook some segmentation projects as well for marketing purposes. So to sum it up I am part of a very critical function to Banks in order to make them better (not so better for customers though- you would have seen credit score goes down, credit line decreases or some offers to you - give credit to folks like me! ) strategies and being competitive at the market place.

One more point about the Nature of the work- I have been fortunate enough to work for different markets of the globe- from Emea (Romania), Asia Pacific (India, Singapore) to United States. I find it pertinent to mention this as I think different market places pose although similar problems but solutions (in my case models, trees) were need to be developed differently altogether. Working with people of different corners of the globe has been full of fun and challenges (cultural & work timing differences).

Extra-curricular:Nothing sexy here but still- I am kind of person who loves everything under the sun . That said I have keen interest in social service (I do it every year since I got job in 2007 though not in an organized way) and have started ground work towards building a trust to help deprived students from remote areas of the country (most likely in terms of scholarship based on some exams) to study. I plan to so more- as full time @50's not only in education but in healthcare and social welfare. Good at administrative things- We organized maths Olympiad after 4 years of continuous gap for class 6 to graduate level at IIT Bombay. I played a pivotal role in organizing funds (a good reason why it has not been happening for so many years) for the event as I was maths association treasury at IIT Bombay.
I am an avid reader of wide verity of subjects ranging from social sciences, philosophies to life sciences. Yog, trekking, traveling, and photography to name a few other activities I enjoy and do.

Languages: Apart from English, I am fluent in Hindi (Mother tongue), Bhojpuri. I can understand Bengali, Urdu, and Panjabi and trying to learn some of the south Indian languages.

MBA goals: broadly I am looking for following but not restricted to this only -
A) A short term goal I expect doing MBA would help me to advance my current roles / responsibilities and/or pay- For now you can say I am the workhorse & mostly into all the minute details of the ground work, going forward I would be more interested in Strategy & policy related matters at a broad level for the business.
B) An MBA would increase my marketability and to a some extent job security with my perspective employer or within the industry?
C) In long term I eventually plan to start my own business- a good MBA program will provide me a learning platform applicable to running my own business and will definitely provide good networking opportunities, which will come handy.

Quick Q's
1a: where does my overall profiles stand ? esp. for Ivy's + Insead +ISB ..
1b: My area of interest is mainly 1-Strategy, 2-Consulting & most likely (in prob sense >90%) I am going into the same field of retail/wholesale banking risk management (cpg is another option given it's growth potential in APAC/emerging mkts). I would be more willing to work in APAC region compared to US after my MBA. Now given all this constraints/priorities what would be better places/schools to aim for ? Also financial constraints are a big headache for me (any scope of scholarship at Ivy's ?).


2:Due to some issues at my current job, I left the job & I'll be joining some other place (undecided as yet) by Sept last week- given this I have abt 2 months of job gap, could it be -ve point in over all set up? and reg recos- my previous manager (from the last org) would be the best person to write on my credentials ? since I just left the org, would be it all right to include the previous manager's reco ?

3: Given above points, please suggest even shorter group of schools ? also since R1 is approaching fast I am not sure if I'll be able to write essays required with in R1 deadlines, how do I prioritize my apps?

Though I have tried to write with utmost care but if you feel something is not clear please let me know. I hope I have given the reasonable enough information about my profile for you to give a suggestion. Hope to hear from you.

TIA,
Yogesh

[yogesh1984]

Just a little edit on the goals A) here(don't want to edit the original as it would be flagged for spam and again mail writing..) -

MBA goals:
A) A short term goal, apart from advance in my current roles / responsibilities and/or pay, idea is to go to go into strategy consulting. I enjoy and passionate in the area of competitive strategy (works of Michael Porter @Harvard). For now you can say I am the workhorse & mostly into all the minute details of the ground work, going forward I would be more interested in Strategy & policy related matters at a broad level for the business.
to me it feels like a good way break into the top decision making bodies of the business given my experience mainly at mostly grounded level. I am interested in the social service & have had few opportunity to mentor few kids for a better career & certainly would like to enlarge my work in that space and eventually in the long run (15+ yrs) I would like to go into politics. Does this all add up well?

[Jon@Admissionado]

Yogesh,
First of all it was a pleasure to read through all of your long and interesting history, and i very much liked how you started with what is the most important and personal item, of really what this means to you, and how big of a change it is for you. And it works very well, and it would probably be a preeeetty good idea to think of presenting this aspect of yourself also in the application.

So let's jump straight into your question - with your work experience, your 730 plus IIT diploma, you are basically in the cream of the crop of Indian applicants. Meaning you can reasonably apply to ANY MBA program with chances of getting in (doesn't that make you happy). This doesn't necessarily mean you WILL get into specific school xxx or yyy, but you will have chances at INSEAD like ISB like anywhere else. But, DO be aware of the competitiveness of your pool (hence a great application is so important) and try to apply to a greater number of programs, as this will help you offset some of the difficulties of coming from a tough pool.

As for your goals, I think either moving ahead in your industry or moving into consulting would be believable (only use ONE though), as you could make either of them stick. I would say think about it further with your consultant, to figure out what would be best for you.

In general, when considering schools, obviously the slightly lower ranked schools will be more likely to give you money than the Harvards... only natural... but whatever the case, it usually is worth it to go to the best program you can get into.

For R1, apply to the schools you KNOW already you want to apply to (or those which have late enough deadlines which would allow you to get an extra application in (NYU, for example). As for schools, I think you can stay within top Us and Euro schools plus ISB, adding maybe one safety school (NYU???) in the mix, for, well, safety...

You area bit late in the process, so DO hurry up. But still, as a hard worker, you should be able to get between 2-4 schools in before R1, and then R2s chances are good too.

Hope all of this is useful to you.

[yogesh1984]

<snip>

So let's jump straight into your question - with your work experience, your 730 plus IIT diploma, you are basically in the cream of the crop of Indian applicants. Meaning you can reasonably apply to ANY MBA program with chances of getting in (doesn't that make you happy). This doesn't necessarily mean you WILL get into specific school xxx or yyy, but you will have chances at INSEAD like ISB like anywhere else. But, DO be aware of the competitiveness of your pool (hence a great application is so important) and try to apply to a greater number of programs, as this will help you offset some of the difficulties of coming from a tough pool.

As for your goals, I think either moving ahead in your industry or moving into consulting would be believable (only use ONE though), as you could make either of them stick. I would say think about it further with your consultant, to figure out what would be best for you.

In general, when considering schools, obviously the slightly lower ranked schools will be more likely to give you money than the Harvards... only natural... but whatever the case, it usually is worth it to go to the best program you can get into.

For R1, apply to the schools you KNOW already you want to apply to (or those which have late enough deadlines which would allow you to get an extra application in (NYU, for example). As for schools, I think you can stay within top Us and Euro schools plus ISB, adding maybe one safety school (NYU???) in the mix, for, well, safety...

You area bit late in the process, so DO hurry up. But still, as a hard worker, you should be able to get between 2-4 schools in before R1, and then R2s chances are good too.

Hope all of this is useful to you.

Jon first, really thankful to you for your time (I know it's busy period for you guys R1 coming close) ad giving suggestion .. Happy that my typing time was not as useless as I was expecting it to be!
On R1- I had my Gmat thing done in advance but as I stated above, some problem at the current employer & I need to finalize the new Job (hopefully should be done by this week). So I guess I'll most likely go with R2 as I may not be prepared for R1 & I really don't wanna mess things up.

one more correction though on diploma- it was M.Sc. (as they call here master of science akin to MS in state I believe) so not exactly a diploma but post graduation. I am not sure if that makes a difference but just mentioned..

I am thinking of applying to @ 6 schools all in R2 (given my situation)- Harvard, Booth, Columbia, Wharton, Kellogg/NYU, Insead, ISB. Now again I am going to bother you with little few specific Qs- is it all doable in one round (I know its up to me but still how generally happens with other folks?), Given school choice I know it's tough choice I am making there but still which all schools do you think are at stretch/achievable/safe?

on my second post I mentioned about looong term goals-politics, does that make situation any worse for me ?

If Harvard happens then nothing like it, I'll beg, borrow & if required steal (just kidding ) otherwise my decision may be little in favor of relatively less expensive one's (Insead or perhaps Kellogg does have one year programs ?)

Once again thanks so much for your time!