Research MBA Programs

Dear Experts,

Please suggest the list of schools I should look at after going through my profile.

Indian/IT/Male/29

GMAT: 700(Q49, V35, AWA5). First attempt. I am confident of improving this score as I didn't take the test in ideal conditions. I will retake GMAT only if it is not effecting the application process. However, I do not know this right now as I am just starting with the essays.

Education

3-year Bachelor of Computer Applications, Andhra University - 78%
1-year PGDST, from a central govt. R&D Lab with a monthly stipend - 60%
2-year Msc in Information Technology, Karnataka State Open University - B grade(meaning 60-75%)
2-year Work-integrated, company sponsored MS in Software Systems, BITS, Pilani - CGPA 6.8
I have got few merit awards - top 10 certificate and cash prize in a national level exam in computers. School first in 10th, 12th etc.

Work Experience

3.5 years in a central govt R&D lab

Reponsibilites: research on Indian language computing, open source software, and online learning etc. Teaching was also one of the resonsibilites. There was a bit of interaction with international clients too. Wrote an online book, reponsible for converting the entire branch from the usage of commercial software to open source and then for the creation of a new division that did research in open source software. I got Promoted once in this company. Overall a life changing experience for me.

2 years in an Internet startup

I was the first employee. Recruited, trained and managed people. I was reponsible for the running of the startup. International client interaction. I am proud of my decision to join this company and overall experience I had.

3.5 years in a well-reputed US based software product company
Responsibilities: I started as an individual contributor doing mostly coding. There are opportunities for me to interact with international people when our company buys a company. I integrate their software/technology with ours. This is somewhat similar to IT consulting. I also frequently interact with our company employees all over globe as I also develop and support tools used by our company internally. Promoted once. I get many Instant recognition awards in this company. As the scope of my contribution is limited, I feel like I can do so much but I don't see a way to do that.

So total work experience as of now is 9 years. It will be close to 10 years by the time I join the course.

Extra curricular

* Class representative for three years while in college. School people leader in school days.
* Sports enthusiast - very good Table Tennis and Cricket player. Won chess competition in school.
* Part of various clubs at work
* Developed add-ons for Mozilla Firefox
* I was very active in the open source community few years back.
* I was a mentor to few students when I was working with the govt organization
* I Helped students from my community to get merit based scholarships. I have few other things similar to this, but only in the last three years.
* I help out my dad in his business by interacting with out-of-state customers. I am also part of all the important meetings/decisions.
* I have worked while doing my undergrad to support myself(I was a computer lab helper and taught some computer courses too)

Actually I think I can tell a very good story about my life

Post-MBA career goals

IT consulting

Location preference

US, India, and Canada - in that order.

It would be helpful if you guys put on the expert hats and show me the way.

Thanks,
Prodizy

Anyone? Experts? Thanks.

Hi Prodizy,


Generally a score above 700 is expected when applying to top schools. So we would advise you to look at class profiles of the schools you desire rather than us giving you a list/ this activity will help you in making list of schools that fit with your needs. You can have safe schools and stretch schools here.
The best way to choose a B school is based on career goals. You need to see if the schools will help you realising those goals. Apart from that factors like what the school specializes in, geography location including urban/rural factor, size of classes in school (big class or small class), alumni success rate. Also you need to keep in consideration what recruiters tend to come on campus. You can talk to alumni's and career center wings to know further the opportunities the school provides you.
Please make sure you build your profile keeping these points in mind- the quality of your work (what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc), your academics and beyond academics will play an important role in determining your candidature.
Your work experience is differentiated from the typical and most competitive Indian IT male pool. So this would be a point in your favor.