Profile Eval

[pawone]

Hi,
I can understand from the listed profile that you folks are hard pressed for time, but would definitely appreciate if you can respond . Below is my profile for evaluation:

I am 31 year old Indian

GMAT score: 730 (quant 49, VA 40)

Work Ex: 6+ years of in banking software product implementation (IT). Have been recognized as high potential and perfomer in the company.

Education: BE in Civil engg (overall second rank in the class, 80% score)
Initiatives/leaderships: Has successfully implemented two initiatives and handled 2 international projects. One in Africa and another in Panama (Latam). Handled successfully bidding of 10 Million USD

Extra curricular: Was part of the district cricket team. Captained college team in inter college competitions. Was member of Poet's club at college

Individual Social resposibility: Not too much of work here. Have been part of our unit's CSR team and working actively with them. The team works with old age people and orphan childrens.

I am applying to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia and Insead as first options. As second options I am applying to Stern, Kellog.

Please let me know how I need to put my little or no distinguised work on social responsibity front.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Pawone

[Graham]

Dear Pawone,

Thanks for your post. My thougts on your candidacy are below:

Academics: Your grades and GMAT score are competitive. Did you attend one of the top schools in India (e.g. one of the IITs)? Keep in mind that while a 730 and a near-top ranking in your ugrad class are clearly competitive, they may not stand out too much within your segment of the applicant pool (Indian, Engineer, IT).

Work Experience: This sounds good - particularly the financial services focus of your IT work. I assume you have a few promotions to discuss over the 6+ year period? Also, if you finished school at around age 22, and you are now 31, shouldn't you have more like 8 or 9 years of experience? Speaking of your age, you should be aware that you are roughly three years older than the average student at the top business schools, and that programs like HBS rarely take folks who are in your age group (see the Clear Admit blog for more information about HBS's policy on this).

XCs: It looks as though you have some things to work with in this category - especially from your ugrad days. Of course, the key is to show that you are active outside of the office/classroom and to give your target schools a sense as to how you might contribute if admitted to their programs. The CSR work you've been doing at work sounds promising.

Overall, it's hard to really glean much from the information you provided, since I don't have an indication of your career goals, the caliber of ugrad school you attended, etc. I can say that as an Indian engineer (presumbaly male) working in IT, you fall into a heavily over-subscribed group in the applicant pool. I can also say that your age will be a bit of a liability at several of the schools on your list. In short, my suspicion is that your target list is skewed a bit high (it's rare to hear someone refer to Kellogg as a "second option") - especially if you are applying in R2 as opposed to having already applied in the early rounds.

Best of luck,

Graham

[pawone]

Thanks Graham for your response.
You guessed it right I am an Indian male.

As for my age, can justifying explicitly on why an MBA now for me will help.
Also I have passed my undergrad from a college (National Institute of Technology) which is just next to IITs.

TO explain for my lesser number of experience, I devoted two years to build a professional career in cricket(a game played mostly in commonwealth countries). I moved to engineering in order to have a more secured career financially.

As for my short team goal I want to get into consultancy and then started something on my own.

I want to pursue a general management and Entrepreneurship courses at the B school.

Based on the information above can you please suggest 2 schools which can be just right for me.

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

Cheers,
Pawone