by Roger That Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:42 pm
Hi Jeremy!
First, a brief background is in order. I'm an Indian male, 27 years of age. My career stats are as follows:
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Undergraduate Academics:
- B.Tech. and M.Tech. in Computer Science (Dual Degree) from IIT Kharagpur (Among the top 5 universities in India)
- GPA: 7.86/10.0
- Final Year GPA: 8.98/10.0
- Won a best poster award at the IEEE International Conference on High Performance Computing, for my paper on a novel software watermarking technology I had developed
- Interned at the University of Glasgow, UK, after my junior year
GMAT:
760: Q-51, VA-41, AWA-5.0
Work Experience:
- 3 years of total work ex by the time I join an MBA programme
- 2006-07: 1 year with Oracle India, as part of their Enterprise Manager development team. During my time there, I also led a team of 3 to develop a proof-of-concept application that showcased next-generation Oracle Fusion middleware technology to corporate customers.
- 2007-08: Launched two technology startup ventures with colleagues from Oracle: the first one was related to social networking and was not successful commercially. The second startup deals with financial analytics, specifically automated financial news analysis for stocks in the S&P 500. I was responsible for technology development, interaction with potential investors, business model development as well as day-to-day operational issues.
- Currently engaged in talks with private parties interested in buying out the second startup.
- 2008-present: Working as a derivatives trader at a prop firm in Bangalore, trading S&P 500 & EuroStoxx 50 futures contracts. Rolling out my own custom quantitative trading strategies for machine-directed trading, based on the work I did with my second startup.
Professional Achievements:
- CFA Level III candidate
- Successfully cleared the FRM examination
Extra Curricular Achievements:
- Avid quizzer. Won quizzes at the national level, state level, and inter-college level.
- Captained my college quiz team on BBC's University Challenge TV Quiz.
- Founder-president of the Quiz Club at IIT.
- Active participation in debating and creative writing.
- Recreational interests in playing the guitar.
- Took an active role in student government as Undergraduate Representative, the 2nd highest student-held post in IIT.
- Editor of my college magazine.
Community Involvement:
- Taught children at a village school next to the IIT campus, as part of my activities with the National Service Scheme for youth.
- Led fundraising efforts in my office for an Indian NGO working with child rights
Goals:
- Short term: Joining a portfolio management firm and working my way up the corporate ladder
- Long term: I intend establishing my own independent capital management venture, focusing on India and other emerging markets where market inefficiencies still exist.
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I *do* know that the above reads like a mini-resume :). Be that as it may, I took a call on providing as much information as is necessary in order for you to help me out in the best possible manner!
I am currently in the process of applying to UCLA Anderson, Chicago Booth, Columbia, Virginia Darden, UTexas McCombs, and CMU Tepper in the US, Rotman in Canada, and LBS in the UK. My choice of schools has been predicated on my interests in finance and entrepreneurship.
The issue is this: Though my profile seems decent enough (to my undeniably biased eyes), I cannot help but feel that my professional experience so far seems to radiate a certain sense of lack of direction. Having traversed the fields of IT, entrepreneurship and finance, I have discovered within myself a strong character trait of opportunity recognition and exploitation, and I feel that this is one factor that unites my experiences in all the sectors that I have worked in. Having said that, however, I'm not quite sure whether the B-schools I'm applying to will respond positively to this imagery.
What I'd like to know is:
- Having taken a look at my profile, do you think I stand a fair chance at gaining admission into the schools I have selected?
- Do you think I should be adding any school to the list above, or dropping any of the ones included?
- Will the fact that I'm 27 years of age, but have just about 3 years of experience, affect the application? (I started college late, and was in a 5-year program.)
- Will the uniting factor that I have identified above be strong enough to add a sense of direction to my overall application?
Hope I'm not bothering you with this inquiry. Your help would be much appreciated!
Thanks and regards,
Roger That
