Indian Admits -Room : Keep all desi discussions here!

haha.. sure i understand the wisdom in what you are saying. but even if theoretically, the question remains. what can someone without the IIT brand do to improve their chances at the UE. In fact the same question applies to non-blue chip work experience to some extent.

#1 sign that I have truly earned my pay at work today: I come back home and realize that my reading skills have completely vanished! Sorry pandey!

I am going to make some dinner now and keep myself away from a keyboard and mouse.

no worries MS. If anything you nudged the poll in the direction it was already headed.

Making dinner ? you are quite the hard worker. I long forgot how to cook anything. take outs and pizza have made my cholestrol shoot through the roof. Now the damn doctor wants me to exercise .. ughh

Speaking of cholesterol, I got my test results from an insurance medical exam. My cholesterol is teetering on the edge at 199. Need to get exercise and being stuck to GMAT club doesnt help at all. Sigh!

P.S : Dosa and other admits, who's taking term life insurance? I took insurance since I am going to be borrowing pretty heavily later in the year.

I voted as well - even though I am a naturalised citizen of 2 other countries. My ugrad was overseas but I have definitely worked in IT. Oh I've got no admits

You overestimate my ability...I "cooked" two frozen garden burgers in the microwave and added cheese, buns, and ketchup. And I drank V8 Splash (my favorite) with my feast.

Anyway, I'm back at the keyboard now, so all those threads out there better watch out for some off-topic additions by msday

I have not- though now that you mention it, I probably should

Its tougher to break into UE school with out education or WE from a reputed place. Pedigree needs pedigree... I don't blame the ad-com as I would do the same if I was in their position.
I should have listened to my parents and really worked hard in kindergarten. Not going to top notch 1st grade school is hurting my future
On related note there is a coaching institute in Hyderabad which sends a lot of student to IIT. This institute has an entrance (screening ) exam. Believe it or not there are coaching centers which preps students to the first coaching center and they do a very good business.

It's funny - a co-worker asked me today about whether schools in India are competitive, and I gave her the example of IIT coaching tiers and sub-tiers. I think we are [i]very[i] competitive with our education, and people around the world usually know that.

On another note, unfortunately pedigree does like pedigree...for whatever it's worth. Doesn't mean that mere mortals like us who didn't go to Ivy undergrads can't break in though!

You lost me here msday86, esp. your use of "we"
Are you desi, an IITian?
I have been following your threads since you posted your 790 story (does that flatter you??) but never quite figured you as an IITian (why would an IITian take SAT and score 1560????). Please clarify

Good thread going here.

pandey, I think a strong GMAT (750+) could especially help folks like us who do not have the IIT tag.
I believe this coupled with some strong essays will definitely get you an admit in the Elite schools.
I have no clue about what it takes to get into the M7 after a rather painful brush with Kellogg this year. I thought my Kellogg essays were really good. Maybe I misread what "really good" really means.

I will wait for one final ding, before posting a similar thread asking for advice from gurus like dosa and ncprasad.

I heard Wharton gives an honest feedback on why they dinged. You may want to enquire when they start feedback sessions. Hopefully next year around this time I will see you replace your current avatar with a more appealing "Wharton MBA" avatar.

Wish you the very best of luck on next years apps.

Hi everyone!

I am posting for the first time on Gmatclub. However I have been a lurker on this forum since August 2007. I know what some of you must be thinking but I had my reasons.
Looking back now, I feel I should have participated and it could have helped me more. Anyways! Not that its going to help much now thinking about it. But always helps to admit when you screw up!

I gave my gmat in Oct last year and scored a 760 (Q50, V42, 6 AWA). Am a Male desi with close to 6 years of commercial banking experience. Have done my engineering (BE - Computer science) from a non-IIT/NIT institute. However I was ranked 9th in my university. Subsequently I gave my CAT and did my PGDBM from a top 10 non-IIM institute in India. Have been with the same company since graduating and have progressed up the ranks. I have been promoted 4 times in the last 4 years and have handled 16 employees in my last profile. Have been managing teams ranging from 4 to 16 employees since 2005.

Now the hard part. I applied to 6 schools in R2 for Fall 2008 and was dinged by every single one of them after earning interview invites from Tuck, Chicago and Wharton. It was a hard reality check and while there were a lot of negatives in my profile (non-IIT brand name, possess an Indian MBA, no international experience, 31 yo, nil community service), I gave it a shot at 5 M7s and Tuck only. I over-estimated my own chances and did not respect the current market reality. And now I feel, I deserved to get dinged for not playing smart.

However I did a little introspection on my own over the last few days and feel the following brought down my downfall this year.

1. All the weaknesses mentioned above

2. My goals pointed towards a career switch within my current industry(commercial banking). I think the adcom did not want a career switcher to place 2 years down the line when they already had a lot of applications from ppl with prior work experience in their future industries. I really feel this did me in and I suspect a lot of other folks!

3. I feel internationals without international experience (ironical!) got the short end of the stick this year due to the added nuisance value that a recruiter would face in procuring a visa for their newly minted employee. Added to this was the shrinking job market especially in Finance.

4. R2 this year was a lot tougher than R1 unlike a few years back when both the rounds offered the same probability of success.

I intend to relook my options for this year and decide if I want to apply for 2009 or wait longer.
From what I have seen of other folks on this forum, it is a very very impressive bunch of ppl and I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that ppl who got in this year are the cream and you guys deserve to be very proud of your accomplishment.

Another desi reporting for the roll call. I must say I am a small fly amongst all the heavy weights here .. Anyway, as of now I have admits from UIUC and UW .. and waiting on decisions from Kelley (mostly a ding), Georgia Tech and Simon. And at present I am having sleepless nights deciding between UW and UIUC ...

Are there any business model competitions open to non students at any of the B-Schools ? I have some ideas and am thinking of entering at competitions. If i win, it will only add to my application and some more credibility. Any ideas ?

Good question - I did grade school in India, and I was talking about my thoughts on the competitive atmosphere at even THAT level of education. I remember my friends in 6th grade would talk about getting into IIT, and we'd work like crazy to get a 99 vs. 98, and so on. And this was SIXTH GRADE! I still keep in touch with some of those guys, and they are at places like Stanford and Dartmouth now for MS, so I guess it paid off in the end.

Glad to see I have a fan on GMATClub I hope I can put that score to good use in the upcoming admit season!

Would love to know how many of us are planning on reapplying (or applying for the first time) for the Fall 2009 class?

I have not yet made up my mind since R1 is just a few months away but if I feel there was something wrong with my essays then I will definitely jump back into the fray. If the dings happened primarily due to my profile then I will take a break from this process for a couple of years atleast and maybe look at an EMBA a few years down the line.

A question for those who finished their Masters in the US.

Did you use CPT/OPT during Masters? Will that be deducted from the available CPT/OPT for MBA ?
I just heard someone talk about it but wasnt sure how true it is.