Profile Evaluation - Indian Telecom Engineer

Free advice from the world's top MBA consultants
This topic has expert replies
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:10 pm
Hi Everyone,

I'm an Indian female interested in doing an MBA in either the US or UK. I just wrote my GMAT a week ago and got 660 (Q44 V37), had expected at least 700, so it is a bit of a disappointment but I'm not sure how much I can improve in such a short time period so I've decided to not write it again. I come from an engineering background having done my grad in Telecom from a top engineering college of my State. I'm not sure what my GPA would be but I graduated with First Class lying in the top 30% of my class. I work in a small product company that focuses on video quality monitoring. I wouldn't term myself as an IT person mainly because my job has nothing to do with IT (at least that's how i see it). I have 2 yrs of work experience, by the time i start my MBA it would be 3.

Here's what I'm worried about, i had a job offer from a reputed company in India with a good pay, but I declined that offer to join the company I am working with presently. My dad founded the company and is the CEO, but I mainly joined cause I would be applying everything i learnt about in 4 yrs of college to do my job and i loved the technology they were working with. My designation is Product Manager - now I know ppl automatically conclude that I was given this because of who I am, I thought so too when I joined, but after two years I think I can confidently say I haven't let down my superiors who saw the potential in me and entrusted with such a big responsibility. I was dead set on not doing a job that 90% of engineers do, I wanted to learn, explore and do something different. And I got to do exactly that, I did a lot of research on upcoming strategies that the company should move towards, analysis on the pros and cons of that and helped implement this move as well. I was also responsible for a particular patent pending facet of our product that is our Intellectual Property and a big USP with our clients. The second year I spent a lot of time marketing our products in the US. I have had the opportunity to present and demo our product to our clients like Ericsson. I have also spent close to 5 months training our clients on how to use our products.

I guess what I wanna ask is, do I have a chance at some good schools with my score and work experience. The schools that I would wanna apply are:
Harvard
ISB
Yale
Cornell
Oxford: Said
Cambridge: Judge
Tuck
Tepper
Ross

I understand that some of the above schools may be out of reach, but if so I would like some advice on where to apply and where to not apply. I would love to apply to Booth and Kellogg as well but is it worth it? Am I unique enough for them, do I stand a chance? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Also should I talk about working in a company founded by my dad or not. I understand that some of the opportunities I have been given may have been cause of who I am but I also know that I have gone above and beyond every expectation my superiors have had of me. Due to that I think I was given a lot of assignments well beyond my age and experience, not because of my surname but because I had proved myself before.

Please let me know what I should do in terms of what schools to apply to and what strategy to use.

Many Thanks in advance..
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 10:37 am
Location: India
Thanked: 31 times
Followed by:10 members

by apphelp » Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:56 pm
Hi Prithvi,

We sincerely want to help you so we suggest you to do some research to get a reality check.
At 2 years of IT experience and 660 GMAT score all the schools mentioned by you are almost impossible.

Either target schools with rank 20+ or retake GMAT to cross 700 and add one more year of work ex with considerable achievements. Focus on building some extra currics as well during that time.

Feel free to contact us for any queries.
Apphelp : India's # 1 MBA admissions consultancy

Confused about schools? Need help with Essay Review? Need mock interviews?
All these questions have a single answer : APPHELP (apphelp.co.in)
Phone: +91 9871354580
Website: https://www.apphelp.co.in
Blog: https://www.blog.apphelp.co.in

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:10 pm

by prithvi10 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:21 pm
Thanks a lot for the advice! I will probably retake the GMAT and apply next year.

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 212
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:07 pm
Thanked: 32 times
Followed by:4 members

by 99Colleges: MBA Admission » Sat Aug 11, 2012 4:02 am
Hi prithvi10,

My understanding is that your experience is not strictly IT. If you can differentiate yourself by presenting your work experience in the right manner, I think, you have a chance at schools other than HBS, Yale, Ross. Your work experience is less than the average work experience at most of the schools but given the fact that most of the schools are becoming more and more receptive to younger applicants, I think you can give a try this year. If you are confident of adding some significant work experience in the next year or so then you can wait. Otherwise just adding another year to your resume will not help.
Anil, MBA (Wharton)| MBA Admissions Consultant
--------------------------------------
Consulting| Contact at [email protected] for your queries on MBA Admissions
--------------------------------------
And if you couldn't make it earlier, get a free ding analysis