Well, you have listed 10 schools, so you are cutting a huge chunk leaving few to add and a lot to try to parse. I think what you have to do is work backwards, meaning figure out the schools you love, want to attend, and will best help you in your pursuits, and then master the process of standing out within those applicant pools. Your profile is very common, unfortunately, so it's not as if you can pick some schools that will be "easier" to get into or where you will stand out immediately. The Indian/Male/Engineer background is arguably the most ubiquitous at every school, so while looking outside of big cities (Tuck, Ross, Duke, Kelley, etc.) can be helpful at moving away from huge pools in your demo, the real trick is in standing out within that demographic group. In other words, don't fight reality, just accept that tons of people will look like you at the profile stage (seriously, go through our thread and note how many profiles are basically just like yours - note that being in London for work does help and gives you some separation though) and then work to stand out from that point forward. I'm going to quote from another post because I just worked through the three steps for doing this a few days ago. So rather then retype it, I'm just going to paste it here. This is where your app will reach a make or break stage:
AdamAACG wrote:
"Focus on: 1) perspective, 2) transferable skills, and 3) program interest.
The first is the most critical: perspective. What parts of the world have you seen, what people have you interacted with, what things have you learned, and is your vision for your life, etc. These are super important in a more crowded demo because it's not just similar names and faces ("class photo diversity" as I call it) that schools are looking to mix, but also experiences and vantage points. Part of the reason that Indian applicants get sort of ambushed in the admissions process is because the point of reference is so similar. Often strong family dynamics (usually dating back several generations), lots of non-profit and community activity (usually framed as "NGO" work), high achievement academically in areas of science and technology, client liaison work in a tech capacity, etc. All of these are great and none of them are any sort of "problem," but when a high volume of people share profile elements, it reduces what a b-school class can glean from adding another person with that perspective. So for an Indian Applicant (and also a White I-Banker or any other highly represented group), it's so important to reach for experiences that differentiate and show you have a really unique way of seeing the world, based on the life you've led. (Just to avoid the elephant in the room, yes, this is where we can provide a lot of help.)
Transferable skills are a similar ball of wax and just as important. You can imagine that if the above is true, then most Indian applicants are highlighting the same skill sets as well. (This is when transferable skills are being highlighted at all. I've blogged about this extensively, but SO many applicants miss points for failing to clearly articulate their skills that are transferable to the next job. Indeed, rather than say "I've done X, Y, and Z, people should be thinking in terms of I am excellent at A, B, and C." But I digress.) You want to think carefully about your ST goal, picture what that job calls for, imagine what the recruiter is going to want to say, and then articulate *those* skills in your essays. That will almost automatically diversify you from most in your demo.
Finally, you want to diversify your program interest. Get away from the popular programs and clubs and the brochure literature and dive into areas of true passion. Figure out what makes a school tick and drill down to its DNA. I always say that there are four levels of "school fit" articulation and there is a clear hierarchy to what you can achieve. Level 1 (worst) is aimless, one-size-fits-all stuff that could apply to any school (obviously). Level 2 is what the school markets itself to be (this is the bare minimum standard to hit). Level 3 is what the school actually is (much better), and Level 4 is what the school perceives itself to be (best of all). If you can tap into the fourth level, you will FOR SURE diversity your school fit arguments from 99% of the other applicants from ANY demo.
Hope this helps!
Best,
-Adam/
Amerasia