Need Profile Evaluation - Indian Male, IIT BHU, GMAT 700

[asgup]

Hi,

Could you please evaluate my profile for the top MBA programs? Thank you in advance. I am targeting for the year 2014.

Academics:

"¢ IIT BHU (Formerly IT-BHU), India, B.Tech Chemical Engineering, Year 2009
"¢ Grades - 8.12/10
"¢ Secured 1st Rank in B.Tech Part-2 exams.
"¢ Among top 10% of the batch. (Does one need to justify this, because then I need to ask my college for a certificate?)
"¢ GMAT 700, 90% (Q50, 90% and V34, 69%): I am concerned about the low verbal score. My AWA score is 5.5. Any views here?

Work Exp:

Total: 4 years

Description
~ 1 year at an Engineering Firm (Process Automation), India
~ 2.4 years at a Business research firm (It is basically a KPO company), India
~ 6 months at a Business research firm (Same company), Chile, South America. (Will continue to work from Chile, till I am done with all the applications.)

"¢ Currently working as a Senior Business Analyst in company's office in Chile.
"¢ Promoted to Senior Analyst from analyst within one year of joining the company.
"¢ Have won an award for adding two full time employees for the company within our account.
"¢ Selected for Chile office to grow the oil and gas team over there by imparting trainings and other stuff.

Responsibilities

"¢ Since joining the Business research firm, I have been working with the strategy team of a Global oil and gas major company (Revenue>$100 billion).
"¢ We help the oil company in different kinds of market and business studies such as country/company analysis.


International exposure:

"¢ Would have completed almost 8 -10 months in Chile when I apply to Business schools in R1 and R2.
"¢ Work with a European oil and gas client with a multi-cultural team
"¢ Also, within my company, we have people from almost 25 countries, so good multi-cultural exposure.
"¢ Also learning Spanish (I guess it's a must to survive here as English is not widely spoken on this part of the continent )

Extra-curricular/Interests
"¢ Learning Spanish in Chile. (Fluent with very basic conversation)
"¢ Part of company's Toastmaster group
"¢ During the 3rd and 4th year of the college, I was the Training and Placement representative of my Branch. I helped college streamline its placement process and bring in more companies. (I can ensure good certificates from here)
"¢ Good ping-pong player. (But never got an opportunity to play at college level)
"¢ Made a prototype for a mobile charger that does not require house electricity. It received coverage in print media.

Short-term goal:

"¢ Working with top consulting firms especially in Oil and gas sector. Ex: McKinsey oil and gas practice, Deloitte Energy practice etc, Accenture etc.
"¢ OR Joining strategy/business development division of an oil and gas major such as ExxonMobil, BP etc.


Tentative college list:

Kellogg, Tuck, Duke, Booth, Ross, Darden, UCLA, ISB. (Still trying to figure out)

Could you please help me shortlist the school. Schools that are within my radar are top 15 US B-schools, ISB, LBS and INSEAD. I am also planning to retake GMAT next month, because I believe that my current score is not even up to average score of top US schools. Should I retake the exam? I am under the impression that retake should not jeopardise my application since the schools usually take the highest GMAT score. Am I right?
Also do you think that EA round will increase my chances at Tuck or Duke?

So, I need your guidance in targeting schools based on my credentials.

[mbaMissionJenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your profile. Overall I believe you have a chance at top global MBA programs, including those on your list, though it would still be challenging. From your list, Kellogg and Booth strike me as the schools that would be most difficult and possibly less of a fit?? Though choosing the school that is the best for you is also a very personal decision (see https://info.mbamission.com/Selecting-Yo ... ram-E-Book for more on choosing schools). You also may want to think about the differences between a US vs international/European program such as INSEAD/LBS etc... depending on where you want to work after the MBA. If interested in working in the US I recommend studying here if possible. If looking elsewhere, I might recommend a program with more international diversity in the classroom and within the projects etc, such as INSEAD or LBS (as the US schools tend to be 70% Americans). That said, of course a top global MBA program in any country will greatly help your career no matter where you choose to work.

For your energy interests you may want to research schools in Texas such as McCombs or Jones, side note.

As for your GMAT, 700 puts you within the realm of consideration and puts most of the emphasis on your essays and your overall 'story' about why you want the MBA etc, but certainly increasing it 30-40+ points would be a plus and get you noticed a little more, and yes schools take the highest score.

Let us know what other questions you have and keep us posted on your decisions!