aspireformba wrote:
Hi Sameer,
I aspire to do MBA from top US B-schools. (On my list are - Kellogg, Michigan Ross, Darden, Tuck, Duke, Columbia, . Though also wish to apply for Harvard, Chicago and Wharton - It may seem highly ambitious).
However, from secondary research on the net and different forums, I am not sure whether my profile fits the target schools. Below is my profile -
Nationality - Indian
Age - 30 years
Undergraduate - Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from non IIT however, among top 15 engineering schools in India. Passed out in 2001. 72.9% Among top 15% of class
Work Experience - 9 years (in September 2010)
GMAT - 700 (Q49, V35) / 4.5
TOEFL - 109
International Experience -
Belgium - 1 months
Germany - 3 years
Work Experience DetailsOut of 9 years, worked with Infosys for 6 years in application services primarily and last 3 years with mid size Indian IT outsourced product development company
The move from Infosys to product company was well thought of. In last 3 years with Infosys, I worked on a IT redefinition assignment for a German customer wherein I was involved more as a functional consultant who underwent the process of defining IT strategy for a business unit's marketing and sales initiatives, carving out IT programs and projects and execution and deployment of those programs. During this I was exposed to cross-functional business challenges and how these can impede any program if not well executed. During this time, I decided to earn more experience into product development and management and moved to a mid size product company ( because in SME, I could proactively take more diverse cross-functional opportunities which is difficult to get in large companies).
Though I have worked in IT companies, I have some uniqueness in profile as well.
1) For last 1 year, I am managing a business consulting assignment. In this, we do competitive analysis of customer's product suite vis-a-vis its top competitors (who it meets often on sales field). This analysis is more than functional comparison (as is normal with Indian IT professionals) and goes beyond to licensing comparions, industry alignment, market positioning etc. The output of these studies are often product roadmaps and preliminary sales strategy. I am actively involved in these analysis and demonstration to customer product and sales groups.
While working in this assignment, I have some good numbers and results to show such as -
1) Did SWOT for customer and competitor product in a week's time frame and provided backend support to the customer to clinch a sales deal from the competitor. This deal was for one of top 5 European bank and worth in excess of US$ 25 million.
2) Pursued and Negotiated competitor's product purchases in decision maker capacity. These purchases ranged from US$ 100K to US$ 700K. Multiple purchases. For this I involve cross functional teams with in my org - purchase, sales, finance and IT teams. Involves lot of inter-personal and diplomatic aspects
3) This assignment was never done before in my organization. So, instrumental in setting up framework and processes for executing such assignments. FY10 Revenues - US$ 1 million, FY11 expected revenues - US$ 2.5 million. Awarded multiple individual and team awards at org level as recognition
4) During purchase of competitor products, have gone through multiple legal and financial review cycles with my company's legal department and senior management. At times, competitor licenses explicitly discourages us to do any comparative analysis so legal reviews and confirmations are mandatory. This has put us largely in an uncertain environment where license doesn't permit us to do and we are keen to continue with this kind of work. Have some experiences around where we are partnering with Chinese companies to procure and host environment to do such work.
5) Have some experiences where we faced ethical dilemmas and we took assertive stand in front of customer to say No
Other than above assignment, I am also handling two more projects -
Project 2 - It is a staff augmentation project where we get hiring positions from customer. I own the complete process from a) understanding JD from customer, b)settingup selection criteria and process c) coordinating with my recruitment team, interview panels etc. d) negotiating salary approvals from company's senior management etc.
Project 3 - This is a typical IT project (job search portal development) on which I am the project manager. However, to differentiate a bit, I have proactively taken role of account management and pre-sales. When this account/project was started, it was only 5 people big team. After 5 months, it has grown to 12 people. Recently, we have also started discussions on customer support opportunity which will be again 3-4 people team to start with and have a potential to grow. I have some stories around how I engaged customer with showcasing my company's strengths and positive results in initial phase to build confidence and also how I could manage to get focus of my directors on this small account.
Extra Curriculars
College -
1) Participated in many national level paper presentations and other contests and won awards
2) Took leadership roles in organizing college fests
3) Joint Placement Officer for my batch for campus placements
Work
1) To enhance my presentation, people and speaking skills, I volunteer to take org level soft skills trainings - Client Handling Skills
2) Owner of Infrastructure Center of Excellence (at company level). Have stories around setting it up and running it. Also some results around how we helped different pre-sales efforts with collarterals and won deals of medium sizes (upto US$ 1 million annually)
3) Reviewer for different technical and domain initiatives
4) In past, co-owner of technical forums
Community Service
1) Actively involved with an NGO with clear objective of providing vocational skills in underpreviliged children who can take up job in near-community. I take computer and soft-skills classes for these children twice a week. recently, took initiative to help a newly opened rural centre (around 50 kms from my city) where no other volunteer was ready to go
2) Previously involved in Infosys Foundation programs and fund raising initiatives (no big achievements here)
3) Assumed coordinator role in the society where I recently shifted to live. Since society is newly developed, has lot of issues around safety, cleanliness, logistics etc. Taking up issues from residents to builder and maintenance agency to get timely resolutions.
Post MBA Goal
Armed with deep business knowledge, shift into product consulting where I help organizations from identifying right products to build product strategies (functional, marketing, sales, licensing. positioning etc.).
Please provide your evaluation. My main concern is around a) 9+ yrs experience b) average GMAT c) competitive Indian IT male pool of applicants.
Regards,
MBA Aspirant
Kellogg, Michigan Ross, Darden, Tuck, Duke, Columbia
MBA Aspirant,
Given your target programs, I share your concerns, particularly about your GMAT and your competition. You might want to skip
Kellogg and perhaps
Tuck and add a couple of lower-ranked schoosl to your list. Would you consider a European school, like HEC or a Canadian school like Rotman? Since you are applying to programs with higher average ages, I am not so worried about your age.
In your applications focus on your business responsibilities and impact as well as your international exposure because those will distinguish you from your competition.
Best,
Linda
close
29 Jun 2010, 08:16
I do think they are unlikely admits and recommend you focus your efforts on excellent programs where you chances are better.. The same with Harvard, Whartonand Chicago, especially Harvard, which has trended younger. 
