Hi,

This is Abhishek, did my Mba in Marketing from a 2nd tier b-school in India. It wasn't a gr8 experience as had 3 years of pre mba work ex in IT sales while most of my batchmates were freshers. we had 650 students in our batch + 400 seniors - but while the batch wasnt anything to write home about - i went out of my way to take initiatives which stood me apart - i started a community portal for our college - www.IbsRocks.com (much like this one), organised a guest lecture club right from conception to execution, organised events like community cricket matches, management games et all. So in that sense the mba was value add to me as an entrepreneur. Moreover this experience opened my eyes to world of internet and e-business and i stuck on to that passion.

Post that i didnt takeup campus placements - rather joined a Yahoo funded online advertising startup @ delhi with half my campus package - in 3 months i was packed off to start our Mumbai office - setup our sales/servicing teams from scratch. Meanwhile this success led me to also lead our Bangalore operations - and thus within 6 months of joining i was promoted as Regional head for West & South - handling brand solutions for our top 200 advertisers across categories and verticals. i was also given a 100% pay hike - so that brought me on to a equal footing with other MBA's financially ! 1.5yrs into this, finally Yahoo decided to merge operations and leverage our expertise and i felt our mandates were achieved and decided to move on to a new opportunity/role/environment.

I joined a Singapore based advertising agency as a Sr Business Manger last month - and am leading their Indian operations, once again starting from scratch - handling APAC region - clients like Intel/Hp/Dell/Sony. This stint gave me a global exposure and i realised i havent even scratched 1% of global economy & culture yet and thus am tempted to apply for a 2nd MBA

oh i forgot - meanwhile i also setup my own small media venture - an consumer internet products company (www.MawMedia.in) - currently successfully launched a job portal for Mba's (www.MbaNaukri.com) , next on line is a matrimony portal dedicated to Mba's (www.MbaShaadi.com).

Now really why i wanna do 2nd mba ? - surely i yearn for the global experience and learning with equally competent batchmates which my 1st mba never gave me, never challenged me to stretch my boundaries - i also think Mba could be the best place to meet like minded budding entrepreneurs and could end up bonding strong relations within the industry. am surely cut out for entrepreneurship in next 5 yrs or so, but currently wasnt ready to take the fulltime plunge

my profile is very different from most - id say not having the IIM tag was never an impediment

So what do you suggest - am i on the right path ? Which b-schools should i aim for ? Can i expect special scholarships considering my initiative and past record ?

Am no IIT or college topper - have been average academically always - no achievement in sports - have done lot of social work (both my parent are doctors and totally dedicated to social causes)

so in this sense am an abnormal candidate for the panel to consider