Profiles Evaluation please.

[JaiP92]

Hi,
I am a 25 year old male from India.
I recently gave my GMAT and I plan to apply to B-schools this year in round 1. Based on my profile, please suggest which colleges I should target and how can I work to strengthen my profile :

GMAT: 730 (Q 51, V 37, IR 8)
10th : 89.23%
12th : 87%
CGPA: 7.6/10 (2015 B.Tech. from one of the top 5 institutes in India)

Work Experience:
- 2 years of experience as Software Developer in an US based health care company (Fortune 500). I work with a team based in US (people a lot more senior to me). I have got many awards for my performance from onshore as well as offshore management (I am sure I can get good recommendations from them).

Internships
-2 months in an IT company as a Software developer
-1 month in a small firm as an IT Analyst

Extra-curricular :
- Chairperson of a Student Chapter : Joined as an executive member and was part of it throughout my Undergrad. As part of this group, I started and lead mentor-ship programs on coding, robotics, etc. for 1st year students. Around 200 students were part of these programs each year and I mentored almost 30-40 of them. It involved giving lectures, organizing workshops, helping them create prototypes, etc. We recruited from these students, and increased the scope of our team from just organizing events to participating in technical events across the country.
- Member of institute's Robocon team: Representing the institute, participated in a national robotic competition.
- Coordinator of the biggest event of our institute's Technical Fest.
- Won few awards in institute's technical events.

Some background info:
I am a self taught full-stack web developer. During college, though I was pursuing Mechanical Engineering, I got exposed to coding. I got more interested in it and was able to bag internships in IT companies. And finally got placed as a Software developer too. Now looking to move up the ladder and to the decision making side of the table!
I have sent my score to Stanford, Wharton, Yale, Michigan and HEC paris. I am planning to send it to Columbia and Kellogg as well.

I would appreciate feedback on my profile.

Thanks in advance!

[Jon@Admissionado]

Hey dude,
Great to hear from you!
And congratulations on your excellent GMAT.


So I think you have a good, but also at the same time tough profile. Tough mostly because of your applicant pool (Indian/Male/Tech). But otherwise quite solid.

First of all though I would say that the school list you provided is far too challenging.

Your application weaknesses as I see them are the following:
- Indian/Male/Tech
- Non IIT grad
- so-so GPA
- no international experience
- no leadership
- relatively little work experience for your profile

You do have a great GMAT, but that is pretty much par for Indian applicants (and in fact at top 5 programs, might even be a bit low )

So I think the first thing to do is to readjust your list so that you are targeting mostly schools ranked 10-30. I would for example drop Stanford Columbia, Kellogg and Wharton, and start with the other schools, adding a few more safe schools along the way.

I hope this helps!

Best,
JF

So I think

[JaiP92]

Thank you for responding!!

Just one correction, I am an IIT grad. I did my B.Tech. from IIT Roorkee.

But I do get what you are saying and it was on my mind as well. I am thinking of applying to ISB this year. If I get in, then fine or else I would work on my profile. Apply for jobs in a leadership role (like product manager or something) and also explore things outside work (community service, sports, etc.). And then apply for these schools maybe in 2 years.

Thanks!

[Jon@Admissionado]

Thank you for responding!!

Just one correction, I am an IIT grad. I did my B.Tech. from IIT Roorkee.

But I do get what you are saying and it was on my mind as well. I am thinking of applying to ISB this year. If I get in, then fine or else I would work on my profile. Apply for jobs in a leadership role (like product manager or something) and also explore things outside work (community service, sports, etc.). And then apply for these schools maybe in 2 years.

Thanks!

That's good to hear!

Actually I think, don't yet apply for ISB. Get your profile ready first and then apply to ALL schools you want to try. In the meanwhile work on your profile. The main things would be:
- Taking on leadership roles at work and everywhere else you can
- Doing some really heavy volunteer work (with leadership/fundraising)
- Getting promoted
- If possible moving to a more MBA "Feeder firm" or job (like consulting)
-
That's the main stuff.

Hope this helps Dude!
Best,
JF