evaluation and advice on when to join admission consulting

[shettyrohan]

Age 28.
GPA, major, school
USC Computer Science 3.3 GPA (strong finish) undergraduate/before that: strong acads
GMAT (Yet to give, expect 730 plus)
experience
4 yrs in Microsoft redmond got promoted from developer to dev lead managing team of 6-7.
job involves a lot more than technical focus. has resulted in newspaper mentions, research collaborations, trip to china etc.

extracurricular involvements
weak in the US except a fund raising seattle marathon, some involvement with united way, and work back home in india. some sports.

awards, patents, publications, etc...
3-4 patents, invovled in an exicting IP venture/licensing currently via job.

interesting personal facts - countries lived in, challenges faced, unusual interests
indian engineer (duh !) but first engineer from a predominantly business family. some stories here.

entrepreneurship or marketing are in my aspirations and would greatly appreciate a short list of schools (3-4) you think I can shoot for including a stretch school.

also when should i look to get involved with a admission consulting firm

thanks in advance,
rohan

[VP_MBA_Guru]

Hi Rohan,

Thanks for your post. I am glad you are starting to plan for applying to a top MBA program early in the process.

As you probably know, as an Indian Engineer, you are in one of the most competitive applicant groups (along with Management Consultants, Investment Bankers). This group is ultra competitive, so you really need to be able to differentiate yourself from your peers.

That said, you have great credentials and would be competitive at many top programs. Without knowing too many details of your post-MBA goals (concentration, regional location, target companies), its difficult to give you a good sense which schools make best sense. Based on your interests in marketing and entrep. some top programs to consider include Ross, Haas, Duke, UCLA, Darden.

I would strongly suggest doing your own research on schools, to get a sense of which programs could be a good fit. I am a HUGE fan of several MBA Admissions books which give a nice summary of the top MBA programs. Its a great place to start the application process.

My faves are "How to Get Into A Top MBA Program" by Montauk and "MBA Game Plan" by Bouknight (full disclosure - MBA Game Plan is affiliated with Veritas Prep)

Regarding Admissions Consultants - I would work on a backwards. For example, lets say you apply for Round One (if possible you should applying in round one to your top schools, will give you the best advantage). Assuming due dates are in late Sept/early Oct, you would need to work on your essay in August and Sept. So you probably want to start working with an Admiss Consultant sometime between when you have identified which schools you are interested in and when you are ready to start working on your essays. (dont forget an Admiss Consultant can also help you with selecting schools).

But for now, focus on your GMAT

Hope this helps!

NP