Profile evaluation please

[shashwatverma]

Hi,
First of all, many thanks in advance for taking the time to evaluate my profile.
I am looking to apply in fall this year (R1 to maximize my chances) with an aim of matriculating in the Class of 2010. It would be fantastic if I could get some feedback on what I can do between now and then to improve my chances at my target schools.

Target schools: HBS, Wharton, LBS, Columbia

Personal profile:
Indian male

GMAT: 760 (Verbal 40/89%, Quant 51/99%, Analytical Writing (6/87%)

Work experience (19 months at present, target 3 years by matriculation): Management consultant within Financial Services at a top global strategy consulting firm. Recruited from the undergrad campus, only person to be selected from the institute and 1 of only 2 from India.
Have worked thus far in London and am transferring to Delhi late this month.

Summer Intern at Goldman Sachs: Worked in their IT division in India, again selected on campus (1 of 4)

Recommendations: Have been consistently graded above average on performance against my peer-group, so plannig on collecting all recommendations from my managers

Career goals/Why MBA:
I believe I need an MBA for 3 principal reasons:
1. To further my career development: I would have been in management consulting for 3 years by 2010 and want to move up the consulting ladder

2. I also want to open up other future career options:
Here are my future career options:
i. Stay within management consulting but diversify from financial services into other industries and move up the pecking order. Long term goal to be in a leadership position, heading a firm or department
ii. Move into general management within industry - believe it is feasible given my engineering background and finance consulting work ex
iii. Third option is to leverage my FS consulting background to enter PE/VC shops

3. To build an international network which will help me achieve my long-term goal of managing a business (could be entreprenurial) in India

Education: Bachelor of Technology in Industrial Engg from India's foremost engineering college (IIT Delhi). GPA: 8.32/10, 89-90 percentile.
GPA trend split into two halves: First 3 semesters, not that great, mid-7 range but then I realized I needed to pick it up and for the last 5 semesters, averaged 8.5+. Topped my course in my 6th semester with GPA of 9.6/10

High school: Very good results at senior secondary (91.6%) and secondary (90%)

Extra currics: Clear area of weakness. Wide ranging interests (from sports, music, literature, traveling etc) but no real concrete involvement. Compounded by the fact that have been living in London right after graduation in India and been busy with work (which involves travelling so difficult to commit in advance)
Community service is not typical in India, only involvement through membership of the National Service Scheme (Blood donations etc)

[Cindy Tokumitsu]

Hello,

You start with strong core qualifications for the programs you note, based on the information you provided. Your reasons for low extracurricular activity may be justified, but you still will need more in that area to be truly competitive, especially at HBS. Therefore, my first suggestion is to get involved right away, and ideally in a situation where you can take a leadership role sometimes. (I’ve found that smaller, local organizations are a great door to leadership roles – they’re usually hungry for people to get really involved, and the adcoms view them with no less interest than they do big global programs like Habitat for Humanity. In fact smaller, lesser known organizations can be more interesting!) Don’t worry about your motive being transparent: better late than never, and the adcoms aren’t in the business of deciphering your motives. Moreover, if you write compelling essays about the experience that is what will capture their attention.

Next, take leadership roles at work to the extent possible (informal is fine – may even show more initiative). Reflect on what you are learning in the process and how you are growing – this insight will be extremely valuable in the essays and will help differentiate you from the many other highly qualified applicants to these schools.

Last but not least, think about your goals to go beyond just making a rational case; ideally you will convey an interesting message/sense of purpose.

Best regards,
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com

[shashwatverma]

Hi Cindy,
Many thanks for your prompt and detailed response, much appreciated.

My thoughts on the points you raised:
1) Since I'm moving back to India, I expect it to be a bit easier for me to get involved in small NGO type work on weekends, and I'll make a push for it over the next few months.

2) Our office in India is just starting up so I have been thinking of a few initiatives I can take there but they will be quite informal (e.g organizing training for a couple of new joiners, organizing all-office partner staff dinners etc) and on a small scale (total office strength will be apprx 8-10 in the summer). Do you think that would help or will it be seen as too small to be relevant?

3) Around the career goals, I think I can expand a bit more eloquently in the essays to make them appear a bit more interesting.

Assuming I make some progress on the points you raised, how would you rate my chances at my target schools?

Once again, I can't thank you enough for all your help, really is much appreciated.

Regards
Shashwat