Dear Aman,

You need to gain the best professional experience you can where you will have opportunities to build a comprehensive skill set. By comprehensive, I mean leadership, teamwork, analytical, problem-solving and communication skills. You can build this set through either path you note. The question to ask yourself is which path will offer you more of these opportunities. Where will you be able to add value and contribute so you have accomplishments and contributions to note on your resume and write about in your essays? Many, many IT consultants go to business school each year--they are the ones that present their backgrounds, skills and experience most effectively in their applications by showing how they are relevant to their post-MBA goals, as well as how they have built this skill set.

Good luck,
Lisa