Profile Eval+School Selection; Post MBA focus - Prod. Mgmt.

[vidhansrivastava]

Hi

Could you please evaluate my profile and help in determining if my school list seems in line with my profile or not?

GMAT: 750 AWA 6
Degrees:
1. Masters in Engineering Management from Duke University (2008 - right after completing my undergraduate) GPA 3.77
2. Bachelor in Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering (Top 10 in India) in Electronics (2007) - 75% (first class)
Work Experience:
Since July 2008 to date at BlackRock Financial Management (World's largest asset manager with $3.5 trillion Assets under management) New York, USA - Product Manager for BlackRock's proprietory Investment Accounting Software (its a unique company as it creates its own software platform and sells it as a service to other large asset management and insurance firms). In addition, recently promoted to Vice President - have quick progression from being an Analyst when I started in 2008 to Associate in end of 2009 and now VP (average time taken for peers is atleast 5 years).
Why MBA:
Want to move out of Financial Sector and into High Tech. Current role is Product Management but at a low scale since Financial Sector is a niche domain with a limited 'user' base. So, want to work in a high tech firm where Product Management is at a much large scale (more challenging) and is at the heart of the firm's revenue source.
Type of MBA:
Since I have a 9 month Masters already that covered sort of MBA 101 courses, preferring to focus on 1 year programs. In addition, I am a UK citizen so looking for schools in Europe (location change).
Schools shortlisted so far (need to narrow down to probably 5-6):
INSEAD, Cambridge (Judge), London Business School, Oxford (Said), IMD Switzerland, MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas, Chicago Booth, Imperial College of London, Rotterdam School of Management
Other information:
Have completed internships during undergraduate in Philippines, Netherlands. Attended conferences in Singapore, Stanford. Currently, work very closely with business users in EMEA every day. Have traveled to London and Edinburgh for work. Have good extra curricular activities from Duke as well.

Any help/advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Vidhan

[Bryant@VeritasPrep]

Vidhan--you have a very strong profile, including A+ academic credentials and a mind-blowing GMAT score. When you couple this with your career acheivements, especially at a marquee firm like Blackrock, I don't see how you can screw up an admission to just about any school you would choose assuming you can weave your story together in a clear, compelling way which articulates well why you are making the move and why you need the MBA to do so. Let us know if you need help.

[vidhansrivastava]

Thanks Bryant. Your evaluation is very encouraging and reassuring. One question I do have is, I have not done much community service like voluntary work etc. Not the same type, but I have undertaken leadership in several school clubs and extra curricular activities. Do you think not having any community service is a negative while applying to some of the top schools? Or am I wrong in thinking that having community service experience is one of the minimum essentials in a strong candidacy?

Thanks