Profile Evaluation (730 GMAT, Entrep. ex.) School suggestion

Launched April 26, 2006
This topic has expert replies
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:54 am
Hi,

Please evaluate my profile and suggest colleges for me.
GMAT - 730 Q-50, V-40
TOEFL - 111 S-23, L-28, W-30, R-30
GPA - 7/10 IIT Madras in Mechanical Engineering
Work experience - 1 year as Consultant @ Capgemini which includes 2 Forbes 500 clients.
Started my own company in Healthcare/IT space and working full time as CEO in that for past 4 months and part time for about 16 months.
I played chess in school and college. Won Dean's Trophy Silver Medal and was team captain.
I was a Scout in school and won Governor Award. Did lots of community service in college too.
My short term goal post-MBA is to gain global exposure and experience by working in the field of IT/Health care as consultant.
My long term goal is to become a CEO of globally leading company.
The reason for doing MBA is to gain international market exposure, extensive global leaders network and learn sound business practices and finance concepts.

I have shortlisted the following schools. Please give your suggestion..
Dream Colleges - Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Haas, Booth
Target Colleges - Ross, UCLA, Cornell, CMU, Kelleys

I am aware that most of the colleges are in top 20 rankings. Kindly suggest which colleges I have best chance to get and which college I have very low probability and should drop from the list. Also suggest any other safe colleges I should apply to.

Thanks for your reply in advance...

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 351
Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:10 am
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Thanked: 44 times
Followed by:9 members

by MargaretStrother » Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:01 pm
Hi Soolu,
My quick response here is that I'd love to see you gain more work experience before applying for the MBA. It sounds like you only have one year of full-time work at CapGemini and four months running your own startup. Typically, top business programs are looking for applicants with at least three years of post-university experience, so you might get pushed out by competitors with a stronger resume.

The good news is that this is something you can fix; it's all about time and planning. Your GMAT, GPA and undergraduate institution etc are all terrific, so you're starting out strong. However, I'd love to see you build a stronger professional track record before applying to these ultra-competitive programs. Leadership and Impact are the #1 drivers of b-school admissions, so let's see your start-up bear some fruit. Let's see growth: hire some people, manage investors, gain international traction, produce a product, have some outcomes to show. Investing another year in really building up your resume will help you be a stronger candidate for top MBA programs.

I know it's tough when you're a young ambitious go-getter and you want to move on to the next phase of your career ASAP. But my best professional advice is to take another year, plan your career moves with an eye towards applying in fall 2016 (I didn't mention community service and US campus visits, but those are also important), and really make some smart, strategic moves between now and then to lay the groundwork for the school of your dreams.

Hope this helps,
Margaret
Margaret Strother
Senior Consultant
Stacy Blackman Consulting

Learn more about me