Profile Evaluation Request (Kellogg, Booth, Ross, Mc Combs)

[jvaryani]

Hello Experts,
I am evaluating my school choices and would really like some guidance, given the details of my profile below.

I am 31 yr old female from India. I am also a Mom-On-A-Break for the past 2 years. I am wondering if this will hurt my chances. Any thoughts?

I am a B.Tech from a top 10 Engineering College in India with 78.2% (Top 5 in my class)

My Mock Scores on official GMATPREP were 670 (Q48, V34, IR 5) and 720 (Q48, V40, IR 8).
Target score 720-740.

Work Experience: total 7.5 yrs, with Oracle( 1yr) and SAP (6.5 yrs) as a Developer and Consultant. In my last role, I was a Consultant at a large IT transformation project and was leading a group of 5 when I left for personal reasons.

Additional Certifications / Credentials :
PMP
SAP Certified in Banking and HANA

Extra Curricular:
Volunteer Trainer at SAP
Active member of my school's alumni association - Fund raising & Organizing developmental programs and scholarships.
Performer - College Music Club,
Active in Essay Competitions, Elocutions, Event Organizing, MC..
NCC Candidate ( selected for Republic Day Parade)

Post-MBA Areas of interest: General management, Project Management, Information Systems Management,Corporate Strategy, Product Management, Clean Technology & Sustainability.

What are my chances at Kellogg / Booth / Ross / Mc Combs?
And how can I improve on this profile in the next few months?

[Indradeep]

Hi Jvaryani,
Thanks for your query.
Your chances are quite high given your profile - I think your strengths are strong undergraduate school, good GMAT score (assuming you obtain the score), leadership roles through extra curricular, work experience - scale of enterprise, organisation name.
Your weaknesses - lack of general vision, gap of work experience and possibly years of experience

I would recommend you to keep yourself busy by enrolling in a course, engage in community service or improving a skill (business, language or work experience related). However, I think you need to work on your strategy and approach to the whole process.
Start with the end in mind.
Think long about where you see yourself long term, short term, your current scenario, what skills do you need to reach your goals and how will a particular MBA help you achieve the gap in those skills and knowledge.
What aspects of a program is attractive to you? What learning methods work for you? How diverse a class do you want? Believe me when I say, I used to think these aspects do not make a difference but they so critically do and hence a knowledge of how these work are very important to your decision making.
Please don't hesitate to contact me with more questions ([email protected]) if you need some more clarity.
Best of luck,
Indradeep

[jvaryani]

Hi Jvaryani,
Think long about where you see yourself long term, short term, your current scenario, what skills do you need to reach your goals and how will a particular MBA help you achieve the gap in those skills and knowledge.
What aspects of a program is attractive to you? What learning methods work for you? How diverse a class do you want? Believe me when I say, I used to think these aspects do not make a difference but they so critically do and hence a knowledge of how these work are very important to your decision making.
/quote]

Thank you so much Indradeep, for your time & thoughtful comments.
I am working on some of these things you mentioned, like coming up with specific short and long term goals and then matching the programs to these goals.
It is hard to say the least....