Profile Eval: Indian, 27, Male, 5.5 Years @ Deloitte Cons.

[neatrahul]

Hi Experts,

I'd like you to evaluate my profile. The basic details are:
--> Personal: Indian, Male of 27 years.
--> GMAT Score: 700, Essay: 5.5, IR: 6
--> Experience: 5.5 years @ Deloitte Consulting (India) of which 1.5 years were at an Onsite location is US. Primarily joined Deloitte directly from Campus in 2007 as an SAP Technical consultant.
--> Academics: 10th - 88.6% (Central Board), 12th - 89.4% (Central Board), Engineering - 80%
Note: Both in 10th and 12th I had top grade (A1) in all subjects.

--> Extra curricular @ School/College:
Represented my school every year for the Annual State Youth Festival
Was awarded Best Outgoing All-rounder in 2003 (12th)
Was awarded Best Outgoing Singer (Male) in 2003 (12th)
Represented the school Football team as the Goalkeeper
Participated and won prizes in Music Fests and Paper Presentation in College.

Extra Curricular @ Work:
Part of the Deloitte Music Band
Represented Deloitte Football Team as the Goalkeeper
Was a regular member of an Initiative 'Lamp Post Kids' which undertakes daily tuition for around 40 kids. Used to manage the finances, and also used to teach the kids.

Extra about my work:
My work usually requires technical development and consulting on ERP implementation done using SAP. During the 1.5 years onsite though, I was more involved with the client and worked as a functional consultant. The clients were really appreciable of my presence and are willing to provide any reference of the same. This was a State Govt project for one of the US states.

Please let me know how my profile weighs. I'm ideally looking at ISB, NUS, XLRI-GMP (which are all 1 year MBAs). Do let me know if you think any of the US colleges would probably accept me (with scholarships).
Note: The only reason I'm not really looking at US/Europe is because they seem to be out of my budget considering that I'm the sole bread winner of my family since my father's demise 3 years ago. I'm supporting my mom and younger sister, and thus would not want to take undue risk.

Also, let me know if I should either play down or highlight any of these points for the sake of a better looking profile.

Thanks in Advance,
Rahul

[Jon@Admissionado]

Rahul,
From what you have written here you have a pretty good profile. Everything looks right, albeit a bit "middle of the road" (but who knows? perhaps with some digging we will discover that you have a lot more than you think you do - this wouldn't be the first time).

I do understand your concerns regarding costs, as well as your desire to do a one-year MBA. however ruling out Europe and the USA entirely seems a bit silly. I mean, let's assume for arguments sake, that you are a candidate who could get into school ranked number ten. What that means is that if you find a good school ranked say 30, which fits you personally, and fits your goals and you write a great application, you might get a huge scholarship offer. How would that change things??? (of course it depends on your ability to get away, and you would need to solve what you would do while not drawing salary).

At all the MBAs you have listed you have a shot, (ISB might be a bit tough), but I would definitely suggest that you add a lot more schools to your list. If you want to be able to make the best possible decision for your career and your family, it would be best if you had the maximum possible number of options....

hooe this makes sense...