Hello! I am a 22-year old Indian male.
To give an overview of my profile:
-->Currently in senior year of Bachelors in Technology (Instrumentation and Control Engineering major) at Top 10 engineering school in India. CGPA - 6.4/10. (However, A+/A grades in the only two business related courses - Industrial Economics and Entrepreneurship Development).
-->GMAT - 760. TOEFL - 119.
-->Two internships - the first in marketing, at the Delhi office of a Canadian cloud security company. The second in strategy consulting, in a boutique SME consultancy at Mumbai. I continue to work part-time for the consultancy.
-->Summer school at University of Cambridge, in Game Theory and Financial Economics.
-->Completed 4 certifications from National Stock Exchange, India. Received 'Investment Analyst Champion' proficiency certificate.
-->Product Developer and Student Director(Operations) at a pan-India financial education firm. This firm delivers short term online training programs for non-business students in equity research, technical analysis, risk management, etc.
-->President of Entrepreneurship Cell (team of 50+) and Treasurer of student-run cultural festival (handled finances of INR 4mn+) in campus.
-->CFA Level 1 candidate this December.
As I understand, the GPA is the weakest link in my profile.
Since I don't want to work in the engineering/software/analytics stream (which is where students here get jobs) - I made a plan to apply to MiM programs in Europe. MBB consulting is my dream. I like Finance too, but not very interested the career paths available. I am doing the CFA program to expand my knowledge, and add a credential which is recognized world-over.
Couple of days back, I was offered an opportunity to take up the position of CEO at the financial education firm, which I mentioned in my profile earlier. The firm till now has no permanent employees, I would be the first. The founder is based in US, and the firm is run here by an active community of 70+ student volunteers spread across the country, like myself. It is 3 years old, for-profit, and has positive cash flows. As a full time employee and CEO, I would have the opportunity to extensively grow the firm, improve revenues, expand presence and services, etc.
Now the questions which I have:
-->How would you compare taking up the job opportunity and doing an MBA later v/s doing an MiM now and getting into consulting?
-->If I take up the position now and do MBA later, would this work-ex help me get into a consulting role? How senior might be the role, if it'll help? (I recognize that this involves a lot of 'ifs', but could you assume an ideal situation - good performance as CEO, good BShcool and good grades in BSchool)
-->Would BSchools value the experience that this job would offer, during admissions? Would I stand a good chance to get into top schools?
-->How much of an issue is my GPA? With regard to MiM admissions, and MBA admissions after gaining work-ex?
-->How strong is my profile otherwise? What should I do to strengthen it, if it isn't?
In case you are wondering - why quit the firm at a later stage? - I do not want to settle in India in the long-term. Hence the plan of studying abroad.
I understand I have asked a lot of questions, but would be really obliged if you guys could help me out.