Where do I stand?

[eloquentgent]

I'd like to start off by saying many thanks to the founders and the entire Beat the GMAT community. Took away a lot of good tips to do decently well on my GMAT.

I am an Indian male (sigh), 25 years old and have decided to go for my MBA this year in line with my professional goals. My story of my life so far...

-- High-school - Some good volunteering work and general achievements related to science fairs, etc. Did very well academically landing scores in excess of 90%.
-- College - I went to one of the IITs and managed to score a GPA in the upper 8s out of 10. Won a couple of awards worthy of mention and headed a student radio-network.
-- Post college - Spent a couple of months moonlighting as a research assistant in Spain doing some work analyzing industry sustainability
-- Work-ex - It's been four years and running in the oil industry. I've been working on the rigs in many different parts of the world leading teams of three to four providing services to oil majors working in some truly nerve-wracking situations. I've been offshore for 70 days on end once. Needless to say, it has been a very humbling journey. This was for the first two years of work... subsequently I've also worked in operations management and sales, hands on for the last two years.
-- GMAT - 730 (M-50, V-42), AWA 5.5

With this in mind, how would you guys rate my chances, I am planning to pick from the following pool:
- Tuck
- Booth
- Wharton
- Kellogg
- Haas
- Columbia
- Yale
- Stern
- Duke
- Darden (U VA)
- Johnson (Cornell)- Safe school
- Tepper (Carnegie-Mellon) - Safe school
- INSEAD
- LBS (London)

As you can see, I am a 'reputation' junkie and would rather get into Cornell or Carnegie-Mellon than many higher ranked schools like Ross.

Your valued opinions are much appreciated! Cheers

- Eloquent Gent

[bajwa2307]

I aint an expert but your profile seems very impressive.

You have a very good GMAT square and i think you stand a pretty good chance in getting an admit.

You can add a few Co-curriculars to the list and your profile will be very hard to ignore.

The only thing standing on your way now are the application essays. Work on them and you can easily get a call from one, if not all the schools you mentioned.

Cheers

[Kavita_Singh]

Hi eloquentgent


Congratulations on your GMAT score. With this score you can easily aim at top institutes abroad. So we would advice you to work on your application now.

Generally most of the Indian applicants are from an engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc. So if you can show that in 2-3 years you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for you can put in a strong set of essays.

So make sure you highlight your academics and beyond well in your application and your profile is differentiated from the rest. Also if your part time work experience could be related to your desired course subject/subjects then it could boost your chances.

Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors."

[money9111]

I would also refrain from referring to any school as a safe school... that's just an FYI and I'm not saying that because I'm going to Johnson, but I'm saying it because you never know who you will encounter (especially on here). So now let's say you asked a question re: Michigan to someone and they saw your post. Do you think they would want to respond/help you out with your queries given your comments?

To be quite frank, none of the schools you've listed are Safe Schools.. not even Michigan. Especially given your background. I can cite many instances where someone who "should have" gotten into a school...was rejected or waitlisted. I would urge you to read some of the applicant blogs from last application season (and no not just mine...). The application process is the most humbling process I have had to endure to date. It's a major crap shoot - everyone will tell you that who has been through it.

Best of luck.