nshah15 wrote:
Good Afternoon!
Would you please be able to evaluate my current profile? I would absolutely appreciate any feedback on whether my thoughts are realistic or not, as well as what I might be able to do to help.
US-born Indian Male, 26 y/o. Will have just over 4 years of full time work experience by application time in Fall 2016.
Undergraduate GPA in Mechanical Engineering: 3.42; Minor in Business Administration
Graduate GPA in Mechanical Engineering: 3.34 (did this concurrently with working full time); Professional Certificate of Engineering Management
Both degrees are from a top 50
GMAT: Taking in just under a month, but expecting score to be around 720-740 (currently strong in quant, working on verbal)
Current Work for a Top 3 Aerospace Company (think Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Norththrop Grumman)
6 months as a Systems Engineer (think more project management related)
-do not want to get into details, but I lead technical teams for various defense contracts and proposals for both US and Int'l customers
3 years as a Structural (Stress) Analysis Engineer
1.5 Years of Intern Experience as Structural Design Engineer during college at same company
Awards: I have won multiple awards at a company-wide level and site-wide level for my work/initiatives in Diversity and Inclusion (Specifically for under-represented minorities in the US such as Hispanics, Women, African Americans, etc.)
Extra Curricular Activities
-Volunteer 20-30 hours a month towards diversity initiatives
-Volunteer 5-10 hours towards community service initiatives around my local area.
-Coach and Mentor collegiate dance teams
Post-MBA desires:
I am looking to transition from the defense contractor field to the transportation sector. Specifically, I am aiming to work for a major airline (US or Int'l, no preference) either in fleet/aircraft operations or in strategy.
My list of schools (in no particular order):
U. Chicago
Northwestern
Duke
UCLA
U. Michigan
MIT
I would appreciate the initial assessment very much!
Best Regards.
Good afternoon good sir!
Allrighty then, it's a bit speculation without a real GMAT buuuuut let's start by saying that the biggest and best thing in your profile as you can imagine is your industry/employer. Being a team leader in Aeropsace/Defense is very very good. Also there aren't many of you folks out there and you are all eminently hireable
Your GPAs are fine (without being stellar), and the one negative aspect I can see for your application to Top 10 programs is that Top50 school is not that impressive. They will have enough applicants with 3.6+ from Top 10 programs as well.
You CAN however make up for it with amazing work experience, and uniqueness. So those are the things to really work on. Especially the uniqueness (what hobbies? political involvement? volunteer work? ECs?? etc. etc.)
Right now from how I see things, I would suggest you spreading your net wider, and aiming for a range of schools in top 20. (Again this will depend on your GMAT too). But basically, the lower school ranking + slightly lower than amazing GPA can make things tougher than usual for Top 10 schools. Not that you shouldn't apply to Top 10 as well! But back yourself up by adding Top 20 schools. I would suggest adding (and here you probably know more than me) schools from which Aerospace firms hire.
I hope this helps, and if you have any further questions, do not hesitate,
Best,
JF