Profile Evaluation Please>>GMAT 660 V 33 Q 49

[ravi.uppal2004]

Hi,

I am a male candidate from India and recently appeared for my GMAT and scored Q49 and V 33 with total of 660 and a 5.5 in AWA , I will have 10 + years of experience and have been in the Management Consulting Six Sigma Industry..7 years in India and 3 + year in US
My GPA at graduation was in the range of 2.5 to 3 as it was not up to the mark during the time period i also pursued Master's degree with a GPA 3.7
My Bachelor's degree was in Economics and the Master's degree was in Accounting and International Business

Please let me know what are my options and which schools should i be targeting for a accelerated MBA/Full time MBA in the US, Singapore, Australia and India -- I am keeping my options open and am flexible to move to any country to purse my education, though I have been in the US for the last 3 years and would prefer to apply to schools out here

Also do I have any scope to apply for a Financial Aid as i will be funding my education myself and come from a middle class family?


Regards,
Ravi Uppal

[Dozie@VeritasPrep]

Thanks for sharing your profile. You have a pretty broad question that I won't be able to totally answer but let me help you with a way to approach:
Location:
You already have your location segmented so that is a good start focus on identifying schools in these regions

Career:
What do you want to do post-MBA? Certain schools are industry feeders, some are well known like Kellogg with CPGs and Wharton with Investment Banks, but others are more nuanced and can be uncovered via a quick peek into the yearly job report.

Focus/Programs:
What are you looking to learn in business school? Focus on the functional areas that you are looking to develop and use that to filter your list. If you want to study media-management then schools that do not offer such specialized coursework may not make sense for you.

Stats:
So you've narrowed down your list and now its time to get real. Are you academically qualified for the schools on your list? GMAT and GPA averages and ranges are a good place to start when making your case here. The farther you skew left or right of the mean will indicate your relative competitiveness for a program on paper. Qualifiers like age, work experience type (analytical vs. not), undergraduate rigor will all factor into the relative importance of these stats, so keep this in mind as you filter your choices.

Fit:
People, learning style, size of the class all should factor into what type of b-school experience you are looking to have. Determine what settings you thrive in and weigh the pros and cons. In person visits, outreach to alums, and conversations with current students are a great way to get a feel for your programs of interest.

Reputation:
Last but not least is reputation. I know most people start here but I really would caution against it. Focus on other more tangible areas of your target programs and use reputation as an additional filter or as a way to rank your final list. Also, if you still have a big list use reputation as a way to truncate things so you can focus on a realistic list of programs.

This is the best way to approach identifying schools that will make sense. The more competitive your profile is for your target programs the more likely financial aid will be.

Hope this helps!