sjaianand wrote:
Hi,
Thank you in advance for taking out the time to evaluate my profile. I am sharing below my background so you can
i) evaluate my profile,
ii) suggest target schools and backup schools (I have a few in mind)
iii) identify strong areas and improvement areas (and subsequently how to address them)
I saw the below format adopted by one of the fellow members on this forum and that it helped understand the profile better. Hence sticking to the same format.
a) Work Experience: I have 90 months of work experience in the IT and Consulting area. I currently work for one of the Big 3 IT and Consultancy companies and am based out of US. I am a Project/Program manager and lead the Portfolio management office (PMO) for a $40 MN account. My consulting experience revolves around Project/Program management and also setting up Operations/PMO offices from scratch. In the past, I have successfully delivered complex programs running into millions of $$ and have also managed the Program Office of the CSO of one of the most reputed IT consultancies.
b) International Exposure: I have been based in the US for the past 2 years handling multicultural clients. I have also traveled for projects in the UK and have spent 1 year meeting and handling (by way of conf calls) clients in UK. I have spent 3-4 months in France while I was an exchange student and have traveled across Europe during my leisure time.
c) GMAT: I had taken the GMAT once in 2004 and scored around 660-680 range. Since it was more than 5 years ago, I dont think it counts. I am taking the GMAT again in a month from now.
d) Education:
I have
-a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management and
-a Bachelors in Electronics Engineering.
In my PGDBM I scored around a 6.ish GPA and in my Engineering, I secured a 1st class (60%-70%) in Mumbai university, which is considered extremely strict in scoring.(I dont know how to compare/present this in the light of other universities that may not be as stringent in thier scoring)
I am also a
-certified Project Management Professional (PMP),
-LOMA FLMI (L1) certified and
-a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (though a non practising one).
e) Activities outside Profession:
-I have been the Governance lead and an active organizing volunteer for the CSR wing of my organization from 2008-2010 during which I have organized many field trips to over 5 different projects that our NGO works with. I had laid out the governance model of the CSR and streamlined reporting, financials etc in those 2 years.
(I hope the fact that the CSR was my organization's social work, will not make it count under my professional activities. There was no compulsion to join and it was purely a voluntary choice).
-I was the Finance-in-charge and Sponsorship lead for the College committee for 2 years in a row.
-I led the Jamming (music) group at my organization in the years 2009-2010 where I brought together as many as 20 people every week and we played/created music.
-I have won umpteen number of singing competitions (solo and duet) and a number of Instrumental competitions.
I am trained in Indian classical music and can play 5 different musical instruments (only 1 of which I have recd formal training on, rest are self-learnt). 2 of those instruments, I have played and can still play at professional levels.
-I have led my college's musical club for 2 years. I was also a part of a band that was formed when I was in college where we created fusion music.
-I have represented my college as its contingent leader at many inter collegiate events.
f) Programs considered: I am very keen on a 1 year course like that of INSEAD, Kellogg 1Y. I am looking to start the program asap (Eg. starting Jan 2013)
I am 30/M/Married and with a kid, dont know if that matters at all. Kindly do share a frank evaluation of my profile focusing on which areas need to be strengthened. Again, thank you very much for your help, support and time. Hope to hear from you soon.
You are very experienced and successful, so most of the full-time American programs are going to assume that they don't have much to teach you (ie., you aren't a good fit for their programs). Since you are based in the US, I highly recommend you consider some of the excellent
EMBA and part-time programs, depending on where you live. Yes, pursuing these studies while in a full-time job is difficult, but they might put the best-ranked/known programs in your sights. You may certainly also consider the one-year full-time Sloan Fellows/Masters programs at MIT, Stanford, or LBS or a joint program like the
Global EMBA Americas and Europe.
For traditional full-time MBA programs, I do believe your chances are higher at the European programs, which are more lenient about age. If you can get your GMAT to 700 or higher, I do think you're a good candidate for INSEAD as well as IE, IESE, ESADE, and Cranfield, for example.
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