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I would greatly appreciate it if you could comment on my profile. I would like to apply to MBA programs for the class of 2012

Personal profile: Indian Male. 26 years
GMAT: 660 (47V, 34Q, 5 AWA)
Academics:
-> Bachelor of Commerce (Major: Accountancy) 69%
-> CFA (Indian CFA offered by ICFAI Universiy - Correspondence Course) 58%

Total Work Experience: 4.5 years at application

3.5 years - Worked in a corporate treasury in India(Indian company with revenues of more than US 2 billion)

1 year - Working in Bank's Treasury in Forex Derivative Sales (Front Office)

Extra-curricular / Outside work activities

1. For 3 years, associated with an NGO (Non government organization) involved in various projects related to energy conservation and solid waste management
2. Taught International Trade and Finance at private tutoring class which coached students for the Indian CFA.
3. President of the Ahmedabad CFA Alumni Association for a year. (Ahmedabad - A city in India)
4. Since last 6 months, teach basis coversational english to a few teenagers of a slum to increase their employment opportunities.

Career Goals
I intend to work in the developed financial markets for 5-7 years. I will use this experience to start my own firm in India which would provide financial consulting in the field of international trade transactions / foreign exchange risk management.

My questions are:
1. Overrepresented pool:
I know that Indian IT Male is the overreprented pool. But is the Indian Finance Male aslo an overrepresented pool?

2. What are my chances at these schools:

CMU, Cornell, Virginia (Darden) Texas McCombs, Rice (Jones Graduate School), Rochester (Simon), Nanyang Business School.

3. Taking GMAT again:
I am very much interested in NYU (stern Business School) and Duke (Fuqua School of Business). I am aware that my GMAT score is below the average score for both the schools.
Till date, I have taken GMAT thrice. My score are
1st Attempt: Mar 2008 - 660 (Q45 V35)
2nd Attempt: May 2008 - 640 (Q44 V34)
3rd Attempt: August 2009 - 660 (Q47 V 34)
My problem areas ar RC and SC. If i improve my problem areas and am able to secure a 700 score, will my previous attempts be seen as a negative (Considering it would be my fourth attempt)

4. Leadership roles:
In both jobs, i have a profile of sales and trading and have individual targets. Hence I have never managed / led a team. Would this be taken as a negative.

Hi and thanks for post. I have posted my replies in ALL CAPS below to make them easier to identify.

1. Overrepresented pool:
I know that Indian IT Male is the overrepresented pool. But is the Indian Finance Male also an overrepresented pool?

NO, I DON'T THINK SO. AND, IN TERMS OF THEIR BEING LOTS OF INDIAN IT MALES, YES, IT'S TRUE...BUT THERE ARE ALSO LOTS OF SLOTS WHEN YOU TAKE ALL OF THE OFFERS THAT TOP TWENTY BUSINESS SCHOOLS MAKE.


2. What are my chances at these schools:

CMU, Cornell, Virginia (Darden) Texas McCombs, Rice (Jones Graduate School), Rochester (Simon), Nanyang Business School.

WHICH ONE IS CMU? AS FOR THE REST, I THINK THEY ARE OKAY WITH YOUR DARDEN, TEXAS, AND RICE BEING THE MOST COMPETITIVE. DONT' REALLY KNOW NANYANG SO CAN'T REALLY SAY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

3. Taking GMAT again:
I am very much interested in NYU (stern Business School) and Duke (Fuqua School of Business). I am aware that my GMAT score is below the average score for both the schools.
Till date, I have taken GMAT thrice. My score are
1st Attempt: Mar 2008 - 660 (Q45 V35)
2nd Attempt: May 2008 - 640 (Q44 V34)
3rd Attempt: August 2009 - 660 (Q47 V 34)
My problem areas ar RC and SC. If i improve my problem areas and am able to secure a 700 score, will my previous attempts be seen as a negative (Considering it would be my fourth attempt)

GIVEN YOUR FINE QUANT SCORES AND THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN IT SEVERAL TIME WITHOUT MUCH CHANGE I WOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT THIS. YOUR 660 IS FINE. YES, IT WOULD BE NICE TO GET IT UP, BUT...IN MY EXPERIENCE...IT'S HARDER TO TEACH VERBAL THAN IT IS TO TEACH QUANT. SO, I WOULD INVEST MY TIME IN KILLER ESSAYS AND KILLER RECS RATHER THAN TRYING TO SQUEEZE OUR ANOTHER 10-20 POINTS.

4. Leadership roles:


In both jobs, i have a profile of sales and trading and have individual targets. Hence I have never managed / led a team. Would this be taken as a negative.

NO, BUT YOU WILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO FIND SOME KIND OF TEAM EXPERIENCE TO TALK ABOUT. BE CREATIVE --EVERYTHING IS, IN SOME SENSE, A TEAM.

Thank you very much for your promt and insightful reply.
CMU is Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper Business School

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