Profile evaluation

[sulabh]

Hi
Below mentioned are my credentials-

GMAT - 750(Q50,V40)

I am a Bachelor of engineering in Electronics and communication ( 72 % with honors) from an average engineering college in India. I don't know what my GPA would be, as my university used percentage system.

Work experience-1.5 yrs of exp in IT sector (worked as system engineer with Tata Consultancy Services,India. Handled a team of 5. Was also involved in knowledge transfer sessions to the new joinees. Promoted once with good rating).Had to leave my job because of my father's health.So I started with my own business of providing personal finance such as personal loans, home loans. It has been running for 1 year now and currently I have a team of 7 employees working for me.

Extracurricular involvements - Invovled in organizing and managing college fests, providing counselling to juniors in college. Active member of a cultural organization. Managed a function with a gathering of 100000 people last year.

Awards-Recieved Scholarship of merit from government of India for my acedemic performance.

I want to pursue consulting as a career after my MBA. Colleges that I have shotlisted are Kelloggs, HSB, Chicago, ISB(India), Duke.
What do you think my chances are? In what ways can I make my profile stronger to get into these colleges. Thnx!

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear sulabh,

The only thing you can do at this point to make your application stronger is to put the time and effort into your application. You need to submit well-written, compelling essays. Your interview needs to be great and memorable in a positive way. And your letters of recommendation must be outstanding. I think you can leverage your entrepreneurial experience as that is uncommon for applicants from India with your bachelor's degree. I would also encourage you to meet with representatives from these schools that might be near you for an event in the coming months.

Best of luck,
Lisa

[prashantnakil]

Edu:
10th 12th above: 80%
Computer Engg: Aggre 60%

Work Ex:
3 years by 2009 Aug Business Analyst in a software firm in India

Gmat:
680 first attempt (50 Q, 32 V)
Toefl:
109/120

Extracurricular: Represented my college for various sports events.
Won several awards for my technical abilities at national and state levels.

Looking for: Marketing or consultancy

I have researched for sometime now and have zeroed on some colleges mentioned below, could you kindly let me know the chances of getting these colleges based on my profile described above, or suggest me some other better colleges which I can target:

1) ISB - Hyderabad
2) University of Virginia: Darden
3) Texas - Austin
4) Ohio - Fisher
5) University of Minnesota - Carlson
6) Owen 2008 (Vanderbilt MBA)
7) Thunderbird School of Global Management
8) UCLA: Anderson
9) University of Rochester: Simon
10) Georgia Tech
11) Carnegie M U, Tepper


Please also let me know if the list I have given is appropriate for my profile. I have selected the colleges purely on the popularity of these colleges amongst the students with similar profile as mine.

Thanks

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear prashantnakil,

You have a pretty long list, so you might research these schools and narrow down your target list to 5-6 programs. For any US school, you will be evaluated against other international students for a small number of seats. Additionally, your profile is highly similar to other applicants from India making it harder to distinguish yourself. The one potential weakness in your profile is your GMAT as many Indian applicants at these schools have GMAT scores over 700. However, your TOEFL is high and undergraduate grades are pretty good, so you could be competitive for the schools on your list with GMAT averages under 680.

I would suggest identifying schools with GMAT averages between 640-690 as a place to start with your target list. Then you should put the work into your essays and resume to ensure you will stand out from the competition.

Best of luck,
Lisa

[prashantnakil]

Thanks Lisa for the guidance. I am working as suggested.

I have 2 other questions for you. Could you kindly help me with them?

1) I have worked as a business analyst for the 2 years in an IT company. Will this work-profile of a Business Analyst support my application profile? Will this role of a business analyst give me an edge over the other Indian IT candidates with 3 years of experience?

2) Could you kindly suggest me the right website or fourm to look for the official Average GMAT scores, the acceptance rates and other relevant details about the colleges? The internet is abundant with information which is confusing me even more.

Thanks again.
Prashant

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear Prashant,

Each school posts its class profiles. These profiles generally include the breakdown of women vs. men, international population, and average GMAT, GPA, years of work experience and age. You can also find these breakdowns in many of the business rankings like BusinessWeek, US News & World Report, and the Financial Times.

I don't know if your Business Analyst experience is a differentiator for you or not versus the other applicants. It depends on what you do in that role. If you are interacting more with clients or other departments, then perhaps it will be different than someone in a programmer role. Think about what skills you use/tasks you have in your job that might be different from the skills/tasks in other technical roles. Then highlight these differences in your application to help distinguish you from others.

Good luck,
Lisa