icaniwill,
Thanks for your message. I am happy to offer you my feedback on your application profile.
As you may know,
Stratus Prep (which is based in Manhattan) has worked very successfully with numerous Indian applicants in India as well as in the US. Each of the applicants that we have worked with from India has been admitted to a top 10 MBA program in the US. We have achieved this level of success notwithstanding that fact that, as you likely know, male engineers from India are applying in much greater numbers to American business schools.
Overall, I think that you have a strong profile for the schools to which you are planning to apply (and as you will see below, based on my experience with
Stratus Prep, I think you should apply to some higher ranked schools as well). However, to fully assess your profile, I would need to know your undergraduate grades and the undergraduate institution that you attended (whether in the US or India). MBA programs will look at this as well as your graduate grades from the US state university. They will also look at the rigor of the graduate program and the strength of the school that you attended in the United States.
Obviously, your GMAT (no need to retake) and graduate school GPA are both significant strengths as is your experience managing teams.
One potential weakness that I would work to help you overcome, if we were working together, would be your technical focus. Whenever we work with engineers, computer scientists, or others with a technical focus, we always strive to emphasize their management and strategic experiences and avoid getting into the technical details of their position which can be difficult for AdComs to understand and relate to. In addition, I would not emphasize that you started at your company as a temp and would emphasize your project management not your programming experience.
In addition, I think that it is absolutely imperative that you apply to school this year. There is a clear window of work experience that MBA programs are looking for (about 2 to 7 or 8 years). You are on the back end of that experience curve so it is imperative that you apply this year. Otherwise, you will likely need to start considering executive MBA programs. I always recommend applying in Round 1 if at all possible.
In terms of your school list, I would consider adding some more stretch schools. I think that you will be competitive at the schools you have listed (I would place special focus on MIT and Booth as they would like be great fits for you). I would also consider adding Wharton, Columbia, Yale, and UVA to your list. The international brands of Yale and Columbia are exceptional and both schools would also be great fits for you. Don't be turned off by Yale's perceived social enterprise focus, the school is increasingly an international leader in many fields including strategy and general management.
The
Stratus Prep team and I would be happy to collaborate with you if you are looking to maximize your chances of getting into the MBA program of your choice (possibly with a merit-based scholarship). Feel free to send me a message on here or email me at
shawn.oconnor@stratusprep.com if you would like a 30 minute free consultation which we could do in-person or over the phone.
Best of luck!