profile evaluation - early career

[ankut]

I have the following profile, and would like to have it evaluated by you:

GMAT: 740
GPA: 6.8 on a scale of 10 (frankly, quite mediocre in my college)
Doing my Undergrad in engineering from a Top-10 engineering institute in India
Extras: I was a national level sportsman, and have won numerous individual gold medals at the national level
I have been selected to represent the country in (and will be attending) the 5th World Youth Congress and the 20th International Youth leadership conference this July
I am an active member of the marketing team of the Indian Youth Climate Network
I am the batch representative & active member of my college debating team
I am the manager of the master of ceremonies (MOC) team at various fests in college

I am extremely interested in social entrepreneurship, and have interned at a startup social enterprise for a month before. I intend to do a fellowship (roadtrip for social change) and a project on social entrepreneurship under a suitable professor this summer.

Anyway, that's the long & short of my profile. I intend to apply for an MS in management in top European B-schools and some select MBA programmes in the US which encourage early career applications. What would you suggest? And would you suggest I do some a good course in a quantitative subject to better showcase my academic abilities?

Thanks in advance

[erins]

Hi -

Thanks for the inquiry.

I wasn't sure from your post when you will be finishing undergrad but regarding schools that encourage younger applicants - HBS has the 2+2 program and Stanford also tends to have a lower age profile. With that said, those two schools are quite competitive (as I am sure you know!). Other U.S. schools will look at younger applicants and perhaps with exception take some who have not full-time work experience but those tend to be exception, not the norm. Most U.S. programs tend to have class profiles with ~4 years experience. For European MBA programs, they too tend to look for several years work experience. I am not as familiar with MS programs in Europe.

Regarding your quantitative ability - your GMAT is strong (I assume you are above 80% on Quant and Verbal) so this would help offset the average GPA. If you are concerned about it, however, you could consider taking a course in accounting, finance or statistics to showcase your strong quant skills.

I hope this helps.
Erin