Ask Stacy Blackman

Hi Stacy,

This is Nilanjan and i hope that you wil be able to help me in evaluating my profile which is given below.

I gave my GMAT last week and got a 750 ( Q: 50, V: 41, AWA: 5.0). I have an engineering background with a major in Electrical Engineering from a top fifteen college in India. I was among 1% of the candidates in the All India Engineering Entrance Examinations. I have a CGPA of 7/10 (not proud of it) and 2 years work-ex(at the time of matriculation) at a fortune 15 company.

But i have a host of extracurricular activities that might help.

I was a state level swimmer and tennis player. I was the youngest player ever to make it to the school cricket team. I was at one point of time training to swim the Narmada ( a River in West India) as part of a Say No to Drugs Campaign.

I was a member of the fund raising team for our college cultural fest 3 years out of 4 and as the chairman of the same team, in my final year, delivered the biggest fest of all times.

I was a member of the Entrepreneurship Cell of our college. THis cell worked with a national govt. funded body to identify business plans and incubate these plans. I Organized a series of guest lectures on microfinance for college students. As a member of this group, i co-edited a monthly periodical, which was deisgned to enlighten people about the various events happening in the world of business and also to educate people on technical aspects of business that they may not be aware of.

I was a member of the Rotaract Club, which is affiliated to Rotary International, and as a member of the club conducted various events to raise money for a certain charities. As a member of the club, I also organized mock Engineering Entrance Examinations for students of grade 12th. This mock exam is now regarded as a very important preparation tool for students graduating from high school and is conducted at 5 different locations as compared to just 1 when we took over.

I was a lead guitarist for the college band and that passion still continues as i have played at a number of shows conduted in ur office.

My work -ex is quite cliched actually. I work as a software Engineer in India. An advantage is that, we get to interact with clients from all over the world on a daily basis. That is one aspect of the job i really appreciate. Also, I pioneered the formation of a team that deals mostly with automation. This 3 member team is responsible for creating tools to reduce the number of hours required for a particular job.I am now involved in community service through the employee outreach program. We teach at a school for underprivileged students and are even planning to provide career counselling service to the students.

My interests lie in general management/Technical Management and i feel that a technical degree will be an asset. Also, my immedeate goals after an MBA is to be involved in strategy consulting/project management profiles. i plan to take a few electives on Financial management as that is not only an interest of mine but would also equip me better for my job.


I plan to apply for a fall 2011 MBA at the following schools

Haas
Johnson
Rotman
McCombs
Shulich
Sauder

what do you think my chances are of getting into these schools. Did i make a mistake in choosing Haas and Johnson as i now feel that they are too ambitious.

Thanks a ton
Nilanjan

PS: I have a Canadian PR, so i ll be applying to Rotman, Shulich and Sauder as a domestic Candidate. Also, i apologise for the really long post.