well said..Indian ITs are similar only in terms of their education and work ex. There is family/personal background to talk about; there is inner orientation to talk about. Learnings from similar work experiences can be different too..

ding, going to back to my CMU app..

Our biggest disadvantage is that Indian IT applicants first gets lumped in the international student category. So we are not exactly in the same boat as the white/male/I-Banker boat.
and from the international student drum we get weeded out.

As other posts say...its up to us to go beyond our profiles and talk about ourselves... I am sure there are a lot of IT applicants who have gone hiking, trekking, done community service, etc, etc.

Well, I guess this is the perfect thread to post this. Those of you I.I.T (Indian Male IT)-ians who are planning to use an admission-consultant for your applications: http://www.general-ed.com/
This is an agency that's run by Indian graduates from top B-schools. They *should* be able to help us better than most other admission consultants. Oh yeah, and they charge in Rupees

Disclaimer: I myself am not using them (or any other consultant for that matter as I prefer to write my own story), but I know one of them personally. So yeah, they're the real deal.

No. Talk about growing up in the US. Talk about finance. You are out of the pool.

Heres what makes someone part of the indian IT pool... so many essays basically read like this:

I am indian born
I grew up in a small town you have probably never heard of somewhere in india, but im compelled to tell you about it anyway
My father was poor, as was most of my family.
I worked hard at school to make a better life for myself because my father /mother/grandmother instilled in my (insert generic statement about ethics or hard work).
I was admitted to (insert top engineering school in Bangalore, Lahore, or other)
I worked hard there too. Here are my scores: X%, Y%. Impressive! No really, look at them again!
I joined (insert HUGE IT company) as a Programmer Analyst / Junior Tester / etc which is a really big deal round here.
I have never left india since for reasons I dont explain
I have worked for 2 years on a variety of low level projects with little strategic focus and will tell you all about the minutiae of these projects, skipping over the big picture.
But I now I want to work for (insert top consulting or IB firm)
Because my father wanted me to succeed
Thus, I want to come to (insert school).
Then I want to come back to india and end poverty somehow.

Avoid telling a story like this and you will differentiate.

Also, I'm not trying to offend anyone here - I really admire those that come from these challenging backgrounds and succeed.... That said, its just a very common story.

Yea, there you go. Don't focus on your indian background, focus on the multicultural experiences youve had growing up around the world. Just remember one other thing: the essay is about you, not your dad. Mention USAID if its relevant (which it probably is as an explanation as your movements around the world) but dont harp on it.

Dont despair, these profiles are not dead meat. Several of the people I worked with last year had this profile and they did just fine (once they changed their essays to be more about them and less about their families).

Never knew there was a Chinese IT pool - anyways I am so horrible with computers that I am not qualified to talk about IT stuff.

Funny. I also thought that (About you) when I saw aviroop's avatar.

HAHA !!! Rhyme, what a riot !!! ... Its funny because its so TRUE !!...

If not B-school at least the company of some lovely women is what I expect as consolation prizes!!!