Request for Profile Evaluation

[hardikm]

Hi,

I was hoping you could help me with a profile evaluation for my target schools of HBS, Kelloggs, Insead, LBS (I prefer shorter courses as I already have masters degree). I am looking for a career transition from IT Consulting to Strategy consulting (Healthcare) and want to be an entrepreneur in long term.

Profile:

Undergrad:
Mumbai University, India: 3.70 GPA

Masters
Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh: 3.94 GPA (Dean's List), Masters in Information Systems Management
Did research with outsourcing mgmt institute during coursework
president of service management club

GMAT: appearing on Oct 16th . getting about 700 (Math 50, V33 in practice exams)

Professional: 5 years of experience since undergrad
2 years after undergrad: Indian IT Firm
3 years after masters: Silicon valley midsized company ($3bn size), IT Product consulting, worked with customers in retail, airline, transportation and telecommunication domain. Involved in preSales as well as post Sales work.
Promoted from Associate Consultant -> Consultant -> Senior Consultant and will be promoted to Sales Consultant / Biz development Consultant (horizontal movement from consulting to Sales organization) soon (in december).

Extracurricular: Worked with as a volunteer for one of the organization for few months.
- member of Governance research group based out of India

International exposure: Worked in three continent North America (USA), Asia (India) and Europe (Swiss)
Languages: 3 Indian languages + English

[Tani]

You have a strong profile, although you will be in a very competitive pool, facing many talented and experienced South Asians with technical backgrounds. Your European exposure will help to differentiate you.

You say you are looking for a shorter course, but most of the US schools only offer a full two-year program. Shorter programs are generally designed for people well into their careers who are simply seeking to broaden their skill sets, not change functions. If you are planning to change you will have to give a compelling rationale for that change. You will need to explain your career choice, why it interests you, what in your background has prepared you, and why you believe you will be a success.

Without a GMAT score it is hard to pinpoint schools, but you should look to be well within the published middle 50% of accepted students for your school. In fact, given how similar your profile is to that of many other applicants, you should shoot for being above that range. There are never any sure bets for admission to the top schools. I always council my applicants that is they are determined to go to school next year they should include safety schools in their list: schools for which they surpass the metrics and meet all other criteria.

Good luck.