Profile Evaluation Please

[sudarshanlal1964]

Hi,

I am an Indian male, 27 yrs as of date. I am planning to apply for 2010 Fall intake.

Work ex - 4 yrs Soft Engg + 2 yrs entrepreneur - a small company in Singapore with revenues of around 100K USD with significant projects.

College - I am from a top 10 indian engineering college, in entrance exam I was in top 0.20% of candidates. After that my acads slumped and I manage to get a mere 63% overall.

GMAT - 730.

Extracurricular - Some volunteer social work in school and college but no certificates. President of a society in College. Associated with an NGO in India for 1 year.

Target colleges :

US:
Aiming high - Kellogs, Wharton, Sloan
Moderate - Ross, Fuqua, Stern
Last Choice - Tuck / Tepper

International:
LBS, INSEAD, IMD

Please evaluate my profile given the above data.
I am willing to take my GMAT again to strech the scores if need be. The only thing in my profile that I can change is my GMAT score, so if I was to have any chance at Moderate/ Aiming high colleges, should I retake my GMAT?

Thanks for your kind help.

Best Regards,
Sunny.

[mbamission]

Business schools focus not only on the "quantity" of work experience, but more on the "quality" of work experience. Have you made a significant impact in your current role? Have you earned promotions or recognition for your initiatives?

Regarding your entrepreneurial venture, I think you can use this to differentiate your application from those with similar profiles. Do you have interesting experiences that you can share in your essays related to building relationships with partners, marketing your company, overcoming setbacks, negotiating business deals, etc? The schools are seeking students that can leverage their experiences to contribute to the class discussions, so reflect on your experiences and determine what you bring to the table.

Your extra-curricular activities are fairly light. Are you deeply involved with the NGO in India?

If you can share more details about your background, that will help me determine whether you are competitive at your target schools. However, I don't feel that retaking the GMAT is going to have a major impact on your chances for any of the schools that you've listed. Given the fact that you have a strong score, your candidacy will most likely be influenced more so by your leadership experiences/accomplishments.

I hope this helps!

Monica Okrah
MBA Mission
646-485-8844
Website: www.mbamission.com
Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: www.mbamission.com/consult.php

[sudarshanlal1964]

Dear Monica,

Thanks for the reply, I do realize that I was a bit short on the work experience description:

Quality of Work experience - Yes, I do have recogntions from my previous employer. The work done had substantial, measurable impact.
I have been awarded with early promotions and was handling a team of 4 after 2 years as a soft. engg. At the time of leaving my employer, I was managing a moderate sized project and a team of 8.

I have done some contributions out of my role, for my organizations, and these have been recognized.

Entrepreneurial Experience - Here too I have good business relationships with clients, and have been rewarded by extentions of projects/contracts. My experiences with quotations for projects, a few successes (and a lot more failures!) have matured me in this industry. I plan to utilize the optional essays in the applications to discuss these experiences in detail.

Extra-curricular - With the NGO I was involved, I had done event management for their quarterly events. Other than this, I can highlight a few other experiences, but honestly do not have much on this front.

Given that I can definitely leverage on my previous company experience and on my startup, please advise on a prudent list of colleges to apply.

Thanks again,

Best Regards,
Sunny.

[mbamission]

Hi Sunny,

Is your entrepreneurial venture in another industry? If so, that will be a great way to differentiate yourself since you are part of an overrepresented category of applicants (Indian engineers). Based on the additional information you provided and your limited community involvement, I think that your high, moderate and safety school choices should be in the 5-15 range (BusinessWeek rankings).

Given that you already have a 730 on the GMAT, I don't think you need to focus on retaking the exam. You can consider taking a business course (Finance or Accounting) to supplement your 63% performance from undergrad to bolster your profile.

Hope this helps!

Monica Okrah
MBA Mission
646-485-8844
Website: www.mbamission.com
Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: www.mbamission.com/consult.php

[sudarshanlal1964]

Dear Monica,

Many thanks for the quick response.
I have two questions stemming from your response:

1. For college range, in which round should I apply?

Range 5-8: R1 or R2 ?
Range 8-12: R1 or R2 ?
Range 13 - 15/16: R1 or R2 ?

2. Please can you guide me for some of the fin/acc courses that I can complete before R1/R2 deadlines? I am willing to strech on the time spent to the extent of 5/6 hrs per day.


Thanks again,

Kind Regards,
Sunny.