Profile Evaluation

[zahidh]

Hello,

I am a 28 yr old IT professional from India. I recently gave GMAT and planning to apply for Fall 2009 & wish to apply only to colleges of Europe & Asia-Pacific region. Here is my profile:

GMAT 710 (Q-49 V-37) AWA 5.0
Exp: Will complete 6 yrs in IT in June 2009. Decent level of managerial experience. Worked in USA for 8 months.
Undergrad: BE from REC Trichy. GPA 6.96. I also did a project on Supply Chain Management from a leading FMCG company in India during my undergraduation.

Strong extra curricular & I am involved in various community service activities since 1999. I have won several awards in college & professional level. In fact I have got a formal recognition from my employer as 'Young Leader'. I believe I'll also get strong recos from my senior managers.

I thought of applying to the following schools but not really sure if my profile will be good enough for me to get an admission with aid. Post MBA I am looking forward to get into consultancy.

1. INSEAD
2. Judge Business School
3. Manchester
4. Cranfield
5. NUS

Can anyone please advice on my choice of schools?

Thanks,
Zahid.

[Graham]

Dear Zahidh,

Thanks for your post!

Based on the information you provided, I have the following feedback:

1) On the surface, your basic profile (710 GMAT, decent academics, 6+ years of experience, int'l work, strong XCs) suggests that you certainly have the basic ingredients to assemble competitive applications to any of the schools on your list.

2) As an Indian engineer with an IT background (presumably male as well), you belong to a heavily over-subscribed group in the MBA applicant pool. As such, you will face particularly stiff competition in the admissions process and will need to present a very strong set of application materials (essays, recommendations, app forms, interview) in order to rise above this competition.

3) I am pleased to see that you have a wide range of schools on your list at present. As I'm sure you know, your admissions odds at an INSEAD are likely to be rather different than your chances at NUS, etc.

Best of luck,

Graham