vnb wrote:
Hi Paul,
Could you please evaluate my profile and suggest which B-schools should I be applying to ?
Nationality : Indian
Qualification : Bachelors of Engineering in Computer Science with an aggregate of 84%.
Work Experience : I am working with IBM India for the last 6 years, with 2 years in IBM Austin, Texas as a technical onsite co-ordinator. I have been in the role of a team lead since the last 2 yeears. I currently lead a team of 15, and am a prospective candidate towards becoming a manager (project management) in IBM.
GMAT score : 720 (Q50, V38)
Extracurricular activities : Have been involved in a community service initiative by like-minded people in IBM. We work towards helping the needy and poor in more ways than one - distribution of notebooks for school children, help children in an orphanage with educational needs and so on.
Kindly suggest what schools would suit my profile. My focus is on schools which have strong curriculum for consultancy and finance.
Also, I'd like your opinion on doing a European MBA Vs US MBA. I am inclined towards European MBA more so from a cost perspective and the fact that most of the European B-Schools (Insead, HEC, IMD, SDA Bocconi) offer the 1 - 1.5 year MBA. What are the ROI for European Vs US B-schools.
Thanks in advance,
Vijay
Vijay,
For finance, you could consider the following schools as "competitive" given the info you gave me: Chicago, Stern, MIT, UCLA, Duke, Michigan, and Rochester, among others. You don't have the distinctive profile (though it's certainly a strong one) to make me optimistic about your chances at HBS, Stanford, Wharton or Columbia, but feel free to apply to any or all of them as longshots.
For consulting, you seem competitive at Haas, MIT, UNC, Darden, Duke, and Washington (Olin). Feel free to apply at Kellogg and Tuck (big consulting placement schools) as longshots.
As for European schools' ROI vs. American schools, the percentage of the graduating classes of Euro schools that get consulting jobs is generally much higher in Europe then in the U.S. If your post-MBA goal is to work in Europe then a European MBA is the smart move. IMO opinion few schools' have the kind of brand that translates equivalently across the Atlantic. INSEAD and LBS are two Euro schools that have cachet in the U.S.
If by ROI, you mean how do European B-schools stack up against U.S. schools in terms of salary after the degree, take a look at Financial Times' B-school rankings. LBS, Insead, and IMD have post-MBA salaries competitive with U.S. schools; IESE and Empresa do not.
You may want to consult
Accepted.com's
advice for Indian applicants.
Good luck,