Profile Evaluation Request

[gmataspirant123]

Hi,
Please evaluate my profile and suitable schools to apply to. I am intending to attend only 1 of the top 20 B Schools in the world. Would be great help if you can provide me with some schools to target (realistic target, stretch).
"¢ Indian/IT/Male/25 (Yeah, I belong to the most competitive pool of applicants !!!)
"¢ GMAT - 740 (Q51, V39) - Am contemplating a retake of GMAT as my prep was solid (easily above 760), but screwed up on the exam day due to some unforeseen circumstances in work place. How good Is a 740 from an Indian/IT/Male category? My view is that is just average.
"¢ Education (Consistently solid) :
 B.Tech : CGPA - 8.4 ( in computer science engineering) from a top 15 college in India (Non-IIT) .
 Xth - 85%
 XIIth - 85%
"¢ Work Experience : I believe my work experience is very much different from the normal IT job that people do and this is the area am banking on.
 3 years today, 4 at matriculation
 Got into the Biggest and the Best Software maker(worldwide) in the world straight out of college (Not the indian companies).
 Fantastic career progression till date - Rated among top 20% of the employees.
 Recruited into the Talent cum Leadership Development Program.
 Highest leadership position in the Talent Development program at the company. Leading a team of 80 people in designing and executing the program to develop leaders at the company : Social initiatives, training initiatives, morale initiatives etc.
 Organized plethora of events in the company.
 Have gone to multiple teams over the last 3 years with varied roles in the Software cycle.
 Currently a Program manager.
"¢ Awards at workplace :
 Highest Leadership position in the Talent Development Program.
 Awarded Outstanding Contribution Award (Individual Award) for Leadership in FY11.
 Awarded Star award for Leadership (Individual Award) during Q4 FY11.
 Awarded Pro award for Execution (Individual Award) during Q3 FY10.
 Awarded Pro award for Excellence (Individual Award) during Q4 FY09.
 Awarded Team Award during Q4 FY09.

"¢ Community Services :
 Teaching every week at underprivileged government school over the last 1 year.
 Worked with Help Age India organization a lot during school days.
 Worked for National Student Services during College.
 Organized fund raising events for an NGO.
"¢ Extra curriculars(not much) :
 Learnt French basic level and cleared DELF 1
 Learnt German basic level- no certification yet.
 Took part in national level Quiz Competition (Qualified till Quarter finals)
 Won some jamming contests and essay writing contests.
 Senior executive of the Computer Society of India
"¢ International experience : Negligible, although have a few stories of what I learnt from these to talk about.
Just few training events in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York.

Any suggestions on which all areas to apply will be highly appreciated. I have about 3 months for R1 and 6 months for R2 applications.

Post MBA Goals : Getting into either Consulting or Finance.
Target Schools : Tuck and Insead mainly. Few other top schools

Thanks in Advance.

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi and thanks for your post. You certainly appear to have a good profile with a solid career trajectory to date. Given you don't have a lot of extracurricular activities, you will likely focus the majority of your essays on your professional experience. My advice for you is to try to find a mix of things to write about - some of the essays can focus on your experience as a member/leader of your team and others should focus on the extra things you do outside of the office. Given you are part of a very large applicant pool, the more unique your experience/example the greater your chance on admission success.

Lastly, in regard to your GMAT score, 740 is a great score, but if you feel you can do better I would suggest you do so. You want to be in a place where you feel like you've done your best to represent yourself and if you think a higher score is possible it's worth taking the exam again. In the end you want to be sure you don't have regrets and so retaking the test might be the best way to put you at ease.

Best,

Stacey