Dear Stacy,

Would like to know your thoughts on my chances at LBS (round 2). Following are my details:

Age: 27 years

Gender: Male

Nationality: Indian

Acads:
• Under-grad stream: BTech (ICT)
• Under-grad %age: 62.4 (have a couple of Fs too!)

GMAT: 740

Extra-curricular: Good (Have won a state-level lawn tennis championship, written 2 academic research papers which got published, was active in the student body of my college)

Workex details:
• Years: 4 (on 28th Aug'11)
• Industry: Microfinance (Development Sector) - currently working in Product Development as Senior Manager (Ujjivan Financial Services)
• Work Progress: Good - have done well and moved up in the 4 yrs at Ujjivan
• International Exp: None

Outside Work:
• Lead writer for a social sector oriented blog
• Advisor and volunteer for Activist Circle – a discussion+networking platform for local communities of youth involved in the development sector
o I give introductory lectures on microfinance and mentor fellows who join the Activist Circle fellowship
• Stand-up comedian

Post MBA career goal (short-term): Social Venture Fund (I believe that my on-ground operational work-ex in Ujjivan plus the hard-skills, i.e. finance learnt at an MBA program will equip me for a job at an SVF). I plan on taking relevant electives (Private Equity, Finance) during my MBA to give myself the best shot at an SVF job. Also, I want to come back to India. I think given the recent job scenario, this would make sense to the Adcom rather than working abroad, where the chances for internationals these days seem to be slim

Post MBA career goal (long-term): Start-up enterprise in India – not mentioning the details here, but have thought it through completely

Other notables:
• Got through IIM-Indore in 2008, but decided to stay in Ujjivan (I had initially joined Infosys after my under-grad and gave my CAT exam during my tenure there. By the time CAT cleared and results came out, I had switched to Ujjivan and then I decided to stay and not pursue my MBA)

I also particularly wanted to know if LBS places a lot of importance on international exposure, and if Yes, how do I counter that in my essays (I mean I choose to work in India because I wanted to work in the development sector)

Thanks,
Srijan