Application Advice Needed

[pranaygupta86]

Hi

I took the GMAT around a month ago and have been researching B-schools since. While I have managed to put a dent in awesome ignorance, there are quite a few questions that I can't seem to wrap my head around. So here are 25 years of my life compressed into a post. Hope I don't bore you to death.

I am a Computer Science Engineer from India (surprise, surprise). Vital stats:

Education:
Bachelors in Engineering, Mumbai University (not a stellar univ but not substandard either): 63%
GMAT: 780 (Q-51, V-46)
GRE: 1520 (Q-800, V-720): Not very sure how I can leverage this.

My main concern about my acads is my Undergrad GPA. I tried an online credentialing agency's GPA converter and it puts me at 3.6/4. But I doubt that is a great representation. I was around the middle of my class and the guy who ranked first had 75-76% (damn him).

Extra-currics at Undergrad:
General Secretary of Student Government: Highest elected position and led a team of 14 other secretaries
Overall-Coordinator and Publicity Manager for a 2-day technical Festival: Led a team of over 200 volunteers and achieved several tangible improvements over previous years.
Captain, College basketball team: Went from not making the team in freshman year to captain in my senior year. Though our team was mediocre at best, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey and learnt so much.

Work Experience:
I work in the consulting arm of one of the Big Four in a Business/Tech role. Was given significant responsibility in my first project. Was the only developer from my firm responsible for delivery of a million dollar project. Led and coordinated efforts between client and vendor teams on 3 continents.
As a result, was promoted from analyst to consultant 12 months ahead of schedule (a rarity).

Extra-currics after Undergrad:
Founder and Editor of a Magazine: I come from a country where a newly empowered youth has a lot to say, but doesn't always have a platform to get it out to others. This magazine is aimed at students and young professional who are interested in what goes on in the world around them and want to get the word out on something they are passionate about.
So far we have been able to solicit articles from students and alumni of some India's finest colleges and have focused primarily on political, social and economic issues. The magazine has a growing readership of 5,000 and is stocked by India's largest book store chain. We have been able to get advertisements from some large Indian corporates and are close to breaking even.
Distance Running Enthusiasts: I enjoy running and have run 4 half marathons. Through a tie-up with a children's foundation, I have also trained around 80 under-privileged children in the past 3 years for local races. We also teach the kids the importance of staying fit and staying away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

Post MBA, I would want to work in the Technology/Media sector and gain an understanding of how companies in these sectors function the world over. In the long term, I would want to return to India to start my own enterprise in the tech/media sector with the goal of empowering the youth and facilitating their involvement in mainstream policy-making and governance.

If you've managed to get this far, you're probably a bit of a distance runner yourself.

My major questions at this stage are:

1. What schools should I be looking at in the United States?
2. My acads are definitely not stellar. How will this affect my chances at a top school? What can i do to offset this?
3. My work-ex is in the IT sector and I am an Indian male. How worried should I be about over-representation?
4. Finally, I will have 36 months of work experience at matriculation if I apply this year. Would it be advisable to wait a year, progress at my job and maybe get some international experience?

Thanks for getting through this. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Pranay

[Jon@Admissionado]

Hey Pranay!
Would you believe
I got through the entire thing? Not even any cramps.

But seriously man, your profile is good. Not to say the least your GMAT (Congratulations there! that is impressive). As for your concern r.e. grades, I wouldn't worry about it toooo much. They are not super good, but good, but your GMAT more than sufficiently shows that you are not the dullest knife in the drawer...

And now, to move on to your specific Qs and answer them with a wee bit of precision (oh, sorry, bad joke!)

1. What schools should I be looking at in the United States?
Any school you want. Keep in mind that your Indian/Male/Tech background makes you a tough candidate. But you have the stats and the personal background of someone who is a doer, a leader, a go-getter, (and your very sweet GMAT doesn't hurt). What I would suggest for you especially is to apply to AS MANY top programs as you can - the logic goes as follows: your application pool is so large that the schools can choose whoever they want, thus the statistics in your case aren't enough - you need to stick out for the AdCom, and there's also a certain amount of circumstance involved there, so you can offset that by applying to more programs.

2. My acads are definitely not stellar. How will this affect my chances at a top school? What can i do to offset this?
I don't think you have to do anything here. While a 3.4 is not stellar, it's not a nadir either. Your GMAT shows you are academically capable, you don't need to do anything else here.

3. My work-ex is in the IT sector and I am an Indian male. How worried should I be about over-representation?
A lot. But not exactly worried as much as you should build your strategy in accordance with the situation. Make yourself more interesting, more unique, more passionate than the others.

4. Finally, I will have 36 months of work experience at matriculation if I apply this year. Would it be advisable to wait a year, progress at my job and maybe get some international experience?

If you are ready to apply now, apply now. Three years is between 8-18 months less than most school's average, which means you are within the standard deviation.

There you go! I hope you've managed to get this far.

[pranaygupta86]

Hey Jon

Thanks for the prompt (and precise *wink wink*) response. That has a lot of great take-aways. I'll probably keep bugging you guys on this forum with more marathon post. Really appreciate your response.

Thanks
Pranay

[apphelp]

Hi Pranay,

We dont think that your undergrad GPA will be an issue ..thanks to your great GMAT score which can compensate low GPA.

Your Indian IT male profile again wont hurt much if you mention technology as your post MBA goal and use elements of your profile well. You can look at MIT Sloan, Haas, CMU Tepper.

You can wait for an year if you feel that the additional year will add really valuable projects/ achievements etc. If you will continue is the same role with nothing much to add on then please go ahead and apply this year only.

Hope this helps

Apphelp Team