Ask Stacy Blackman

Hi
Please evaluate my profile for admission to fall 2012 session of B. Schools:

Age: 24
Work ex: 2years 4 months
Work Ex. includes experience as Research Associate In CapitalIQ, a division of S&P and as a teacher/intern/volunteer at an NGO for 7 months.
GMAT: 730, QA: 49 VA: 40 essays: 6
Acads--
Graduation: I do not know what conversion table each school uses, i am only aware that each school has a different mechanism and based on my conversation with some schols' adcoms, some schools have different methodologies for different countries too. I completed my graduation in BA(H)Business Economics, from Delhi University with an overall 67%.
Schooling: stood amongst top 10% consistently.

ACHIEVEMENTS:
For seven months i was engaged in the Youth For Development program run every year by an NGO (pravah) which is based in delhi. I was one among 13 final candidates selected from among thousands of applicants across the country. Under this program i was trained for working at a school in remote rural areas of Jaipur and working with the community there to create sustainable change(achievements mentioned below). I also led a group of 5 of these finalists for conceptualizing and carrying out 5 separate projects in 5 different parts of the country aimed at using their skills to contribute to the local communities at each of these 5 places.
- engaged in teaching English to students at secondary and higher secondary level at a NGO run school in remote rural areas of Jaipur, Rajashthan, India.
- saw opportunity and created a band of boys in the same school. Band played Music out of scrap material, performing in front of huge local crowd.

OTHER ACTIVITIES/ ACHEIVEMENTS
- Planned and executed a self created project for creating learning opportunities for children from a community of domestic helps in a particular part of Delhi. Collaborated with a few local schools for the same. Roped in student-volunteers too from these schools. This project is currently underway.
- Voluntarily taught secondary level subjects for 3 months to children of our domestic help.
- I have also always been involved actively in organising various dance, drama, quiz activities at community level on festivals and other occasions every year. I have also always been actively involved in organising activities at school and college level. I held the post of the Secretary, Prefectorial board, at school. At college i as executive member of organising committee for college fests.
- was part of the school basketball team. played till zonal level.

CAREER OBJECTIVE
To be honest i am a little confused as to what i want to make of my career. However these are the things i know: I want a role where i would actively manage people. so i have often thought of HRM as a career option. I also have a social bent of mind. so whatever i do, i want to be involved with the society at large and benefiting it by my activities. So i could look at being employed by social organizations or be involved in CSR wing of companies. Or i could start small social projects on my own from time to time along with my professional life. It would be very helpful to get any inputs in this regard.

As for schools, i definitely want to study in the US because of the differently structured curriculum (different from Indian institutes) and the flexibility the programs offer. In addition i want to be surrounded by a wide profile of students from across the world.

Can i apply to schools like Tuck, Darden, Columbia, Booth, Haas ?
Any feedback and information would be great help

Thanks for your reply.

I want to do an MBA because i am pretty sure i will want to be a manager (or "business administrator"). In addition, the profile of students in an MBA batch(esp in US) is highly diverse and dynamic. I want to be surrounded by such a group because that environment itself is a great learning opportunity.
Now, which area within that realm of 'business administration'? Well, till recently i was pretty sure i wanted to be a specialist consultant in the area of Human Resources or be an HR manager of a specific company. Basically an HR role. However, recently i have been feeling that i might want to add more to just the HR function. For example CSR. What i wanna know here is that is it a good idea to appear fixed and focused on my desire to be an HR manager and choose schools accordingly and justify my MBA to the selection board accordingly? Or should i make a mention of the fact that i am not fixed on this goal and want to explore, through an MBA, what exactly i wanna do after my MBA.? - many people do find their interest area while doing an MBA, don't they?

As regards choosing a school, my main focus is on internship and placement strength of the school. I definitely want to be at a school where hiring is strong every year. More so because i am an International student.

In the light of the above goals, how does my profile look? Can i apply to the schools i mentioned?