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Hello

How are you?

I am Siddharth from India working for past 14 years in the Indian Army. Offlate, I have started dwelling on the idea of applying and getting through to a top 10 B school and I would appreciate if you can evaluate my profile based on facts given below and give out my chances of getting there.
I finished my schooling with 81% marks in high school and 86% marks in 12th std with science subjects.

Thereafter, I was selected for the premier tri-service (Army, Navy and Airforce)Officers training establishment for the Indian Defence forces, i.e. National Defence Academy(NDA). During my stint at NDA, I was trained for 3 years in the subtle nuances of modern day warfare, tactics, combat leadership and expertise in handling arms and ammunition.

Apart from these, I also excelled in debate competitions, sports, swimming and wildlife photography. Simulatneously, I also completed my graduation(Bachelor in Sciences) from Jawahar lal Nehru university, New Delhi.
After that, I went for advanced training of Army to the Indian Military Academy for 1 year, wherein I was trained to lead an Infantry Platoon(125 men) in war in all types of terrain viz. High altitude, desert, jungle and amphibious environment against a nuclear backdrop. I was also trained for counter insurgency operations.

On completion of my precommission training, I was deployed in North eastern sector of India in anti terrorists operations. Therein, I commanded 125 men carrying out surgical military operations resulting in elimination of large number of militants in my area of responsibility and recovery of large cache of arms, ammunition and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

My efforts were well recognised and I was honoured with three gallantry awards including one from the Honourable President of India and the other two from the top military hierarchy.

Thereafter, I was posted to Jammu and Kashmir(ladakh sector), the highest battlefield of the world, where I along with my team was responsible to provide optimum logistic support to the field Army.

I was then posted to an Aviation support echelon providing logistic backup to the complete Indian Army.

In my past 14 years in the Army, I attended various courses of instructions in a wide range of fields from Inventory Management , tactical deployment of Army and bomb disposal at premier training establishments of Army and have topped all of them with very high academic and practical performance.

I also served with the elite National Security Guards(NSG), the crack anti-terrorist unit of Government of India for 3 years. During my tenure in NSG, I was selected to be a part of OP black tornedo, which was launched in the wake of terrorist attack on Hotel Taj, Hotel Oberoi and Nariman house in Mumbai on 26 Nov 2008. My operation was a success and I was honoured with a gallantry award from the Chief of Indian Army. In NSG, I extensively carried out many detection and disposal of many bombs and carried out post blast investigations at various sites of incidence.

Presently, I am working with an ammunition unit providing ammunition support to the field Army.

I have also extensively participated in social causes especially in terrorist infested areas.

As of now, I am preparing to take GMAT in Sep and wish to do MBA(finance).

I would request you to provide me realistic guidance on my chances of getting into top B Schools like Harvard, Wharton, Stanford etc and what in your opinion should be my ideal GMAT score for getting in there?

Regards
Siddharth

Siddharth,

Thanks for your post.

Your impressive military and leadership experience will be valued by the admissions committee. The biggest hurdles you will have are showing your fit with the class given the greater number of years since college graduation versus the average for the class and also showing your ability to succeed in a business environment.

The average age for top 20 US full-time MBA programs is 27/28 years old. HBS only enrolled 17 applicants (out of class size of 919) with more than 10 years of work experience for the Class of 2014 (12 for the class of 2013, 5 for the class of 2012). I don't believe this factor is insurmountable, but it will be important to consider in your application strategy and school selection. European MBA programs generally have a higher average age, so it could be worthwhile to research schools there as well.

Targeting a GMAT score 20+ points higher than the average for your target school will improve your application chances. For top top US programs that would mean a score in the 730-750 range.

I also recommend speaking with people you might know who are in the business field where you are interested in working. This will help in refining your career goals (an important part of the application). You can also research target career interests online.

Once you have your GMAT score you will be able to refine your list of target schools. Please feel free to post here again. Good luck!

Best,
Heidi