bschool2014 wrote:
I recently came across this forum and was amazed by the wealth of information here. you guys are awesome!
I'm considering applying to the class of 2014. So I've a year to go.
Age: Currently 27, next year at time of apps 28
Gender: F
Nationality: Indian
undergrad GPA(india): 3.86/4.00, 2nd in class of 130, Best outgoing student in my dept.
undergrad college(india): reasonably well known, but not IIT or NIT
Grad GPA: 3.66/4.0
Grad School: Large public school in the US, top 10 for Computer Science
GMAT: yet to take, confident of 700+
WE: 4 yrs (come Oct) in a software product development company, promoted once. I was asked to take leadership of some critical components immediately after I joined. I rose up to the challenge and over the years I've become the goto person for it within the company. I've also mentored two engineers in the process. I lead new projects in the area I own and have performed significant performance enhancements to it over the years. However, the problem is being in the software product industry. Its very hard to interact directly with customers. Also being part of a large company and product, its very hard to show tangible improvements in revenue for the performance improvements/projects. I've been the campus representative at my university for my company have participated in the recruiting effort.
Hobby/EC: In college I was involved in my department's tech club and organized tech fest. I was also involved with the blood donors club, where we match donors with recipients. I didn't do much in grad school, but after graduating I've volunteered developing software for a UNHCR project that deployed the kits we built in Darfur. I personally didn't travel to Sudan, but was involved in the software development part of the kit. I didn't work on it on a sustained basis, it was more sporadic. Whenever we needed to deploy a kit, we would work 20 hr/wk for 2-3 months.I was also involved in kick starting and building up the alumni chapter for our college. The regional alumni chapter didn't exist before and I was involved in building it from ground up. I plan to continue this effort. As for hobbies, I love the outdoors and have lead and participated in hiking and backpacking trips. I recently climbed some 14000+ peaks and plan to move into mountaineering. I've also run half marathons.
Goals: I'm not planning to goto b school to switch careers. I want to remain in the high tech industry but understand the business aspects of technology and move into technology management/entrepreneurship.
I didn't do any of this with a goal of getting into b-school, but looking at other profiles here it looks like I don't have enough and need to build my profile more. Also from reading the forums, it looks like I'm from a very competitive pool (Indian, Software Industry). What are my realistic chances of getting into a top 10 school? I'm particularly interested in programs with a strong focus on technology like MIT Sloan, Stanford (I'm may be too old ), Haas etc. Are there things I can do to improve my profile? Some things I can think of from the top of my head are - move to a tech startup where I will have a chance to make a greater impact, get involved with a non-profit on a regular basis, or look for mentoring opportunities. Any suggestions? What are the schools I should target?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
Thanks for the feedback!
Assuming a 700+ (preferably 720+) GMAT you are targeting the right schools given your goals and experience. You have also analyzed your weaknesses well. To enhance your chances, please assume leadership responsibility. Joining a start-up may make it easier to do so and it also will give you a differnet perspective on business. Plus, if you ultimately want to go into entrepreneurship, it will move you in that direction. Making a commitment to a non-profit will also help. Finally, you will need to distinguish yourself through your application and essays. (Please see
Essays That Stick.)
You may also want to consider CMU Tepper and Duke.
Best,
Linda