My first Step towards a Giant Leap!!

[loki4you]

Hello BTGians ,

This is my first step in my quest to MBA glory . My quest to ace The GMAT and land up in a top tier school had just been a dream due to various family reasons .Its Now or Never that I nail it this time .
I'm planning to take the GMAT by Jun 2012 and aim to score 730+ .I have a decent academics of 85 in X , 92 in Xll and 77 in my Engineering (Mechatronics) .
My career though has been a roller Coaster .Started my career with Cognizant (Campus recruit) as programmer Analyst in Data warehousing and Business Intelligence but had to resign due to family emergency after 14 months . Took care of my Dad's small construction business and completed the then ongoing small project ,Then got back in to Typical mortgage Bpo for an underwriting process and worked there for 15 months.currently working in a Investment banking back end in a Major financial house for the last thirteen months .My total Work EX as now is 40 months .

As far as my Extra curriculars are concerned ,I had been a district cricket player during school and I had presented a number of papers in technical symposiums during my engineering.I'm also part of my company's CSR activity and had been mentoring Kids of clas IXth and X for the last 6 months which has started to yield results .Sorry for this elaborate write up as i wanted to convey the exact scenario.
I'm looking in to top tier MBA's and funds are of major concern .I have done a lil bit of research and most of the legacy top tier schools are out of my reach just cos of funds.I'm looking into 1 year MBA in the 2013 and have short listed
1.Vlerick Leuven , Gent , Belgium
2.NTU
2.ISB
3.Cranfield MBA
4.Warwick MBA
5.SP Jain Global MBA.
Most of the top tier US school are out of my reach due to fees.
I would humbly request your feedback in terms of my profile as well as the B -schools that i have shortlisted .It would be awesome if u can suggest me more options as well . Being a typical middle class my main concern is to land in a job as soon as i finish my MBA,with a good value addition to my profile.Your valuable inputs are much appreciated.
My Apologies for this lengthyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy post. :roll:
Thanks A Ton!:lol:

[FutureWorks]

Hi,


Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. Your chances seem good for the desired schools
However GMAT alone won't determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics will also help you in determining your candidature and your work experience plays a vital role as well. In general most of the Indian applicants are from engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. So you would need to differentiate yourself from others. Start thinking what makes you unique and what's that 'hook' that will be key to your application.
Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors 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 you need to ensure that in 4 years of work experience you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for.

[loki4you]

Hi,
Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. Your chances seem good for the desired schools
However GMAT alone won't determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics will also help you in determining your candidature and your work experience plays a vital role as well. In general most of the Indian applicants are from engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. So you would need to differentiate yourself from others. Start thinking what makes you unique and what's that 'hook' that will be key to your application.
Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors 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 you need to ensure that in 4 years of work experience you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for.

Thank you so much for the response..It sounds encouraging to know that I stand a good chance to crack these schools I'm also looking for Lancaster MBA and HEC Montreal 1 yr intensive MBA .I just wanna know whether I have shortlisted the right schools in terms of value for money (comparatively lesser fees than their peers )It would be gr8 if u suggest me some other schools as well .I know the fact that none of the premier B-schools offers campus placements like India..so what are the prospects of getting in to a decent job if I crack one of these schools.. :

[FutureWorks]

Hi,


Well all the schools are good however it should be you deciding which schools you want to apply. It's your decision on which schools fit your parameters better. We can help you with what these parameters should be
The best way to choose a B school is based on career goals. You need to see if the schools will help you realizing those goals. Apart from that factors like what the school specializes in, geography location including urban/rural factor, size of classes in school (big class or small class), alumni success rate. Also you need to keep in consideration what recruiters tend to come on campus. You can talk to alumni's and career center wings to know further the opportunities the school provides you.
You should spend some time looking at all the factors including finance before you make your school. Alumni Success rate and talking to alumni is recommended to solve your query largely�
Networking is an essential skill that should serve you well in the job hunt. Job prospects depend a lot on you and that countries economy at that point of time.