Hi
mbaMission, I would appreciate your thoughts on my profile.
Background: 27 year old Indian IT engineer from a non-target school (kind of – I am an Electrical and Telecommunications engineer but don't think adcoms are going to care about that trifling distinction, so for all practical purposes ORM).
Education:Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Telecommunications from a non-target school in India. (GPA: 3.4-3.7 contingent on the conversion tool used)
Masters of Science in Management Information Systems straight after undergrad from a 50+ ranked business school in Chicago. (GPA: 3.4)
Work Experience:I have been working for a mid-sized (~10,000 employees) Credit Risk Solutions Company in US for 4 years. I started out as a Business Intelligence analyst in the Regulatory & Operations space [Intern (9 months), Analyst (1 year), Sr Analyst (1 year)]. In this role, I had the opportunity to work with the white house, senators, congressmen, regulators, and federal law enforcement along with working with the C-suite of my company. I also worked with the operations teams of some large retail banks. I also led an international project on outsourcing a fraud operations team to LATAM and Asia.
Last year I switched roles internally (with a promotion) to the Credit Risk Strategy & Solutions Consulting team. I primarily work with retail financial institutions (national and regional banks, fintechs, credit unions, etc) on a diverse set of projects helping my clients with growth strategies, credit risk management and expansion, portfolio benchmarking and acquisitions, post-merger risk assessment, etc. I also work with asset management firms on portfolio evaluation, target identification, long-short positions, credit market research, debt asset securitization etc. I have some international exposure in this role for some research studies (Asia). I have had significant exposure to working with CEOs, CFOs, etc of large financial institutions and experience in leading workstreams and engagements. I have also been instrumental in the practice, business, and solution development components for my practice. I have personally been responsible for generating ~$1M in revenues for my practice. In the past 6 months, we have had significant attrition on the team leading me to do all the work of a Director. As a result, I have an upcoming promotion to Senior Consultant/Manager promised for this year-end (which I can probably kiss good-bye thanks to the covid cutbacks).
GMAT:760 (Q51, V41, IR 6, AWA 6)
Extracurriculars:Significant leadership experiences throughout undergrad and grad school. I was the President of the Student Body in undergrad and the President on the Non-profit consulting club in grad school. Post-graduation I have been a part (non-leadership position) of a non-profit focused around financial literacy for marginalized students (2 years) and been on the Board of Directors of the non-profit consulting club of a large state school in the Midwest (3 years).
I was also in the varsity basketball, ping pong, and cricket teams in undergrad. Currently, I still participate in local leagues for all of the above.
Post MBA goal:Management consulting in the financial services domain. Ideally at one of MBB. I would love to be a part of either the Banking/ Financial Services Risk Dynamics practice at McKinsey or the Deals practice at Bain. Backup would be the Deals practice at PWC or financial services consulting at Oliver Wyman.
Target schools in the order of my preference:Northwestern Kellogg (Reach)
University of Chicago Booth (Reach)
INSEAD (Reach)
Dartmouth Tuck (Target?)
Michigan Ross (Target?)
University of Virginia Darden (Target)
Indiana University Kelley (Safety)
Yale SOM/Columbia/Haas/Duke – will probably choose 1-2 here based on MBB recruiting numbers. Still haven’t researched them as thoroughly as I would like.
Application strategy:I plan on applying to Darden for early action and Tuck for round 1. If I make good progress with my applications, then I will try to get Kellogg in round 1 as well, but if I am not happy with my essays then I will probably keep it for round 2. I would appreciate some insights on whether I am thinking about this right. I would also love some input on how to make my application stand out as I can’t visit campuses due to COVID as I had planned on doing.
Finally, I would appreciate some feedback on my profile and a sanity check on my school selections i.e. gauge whether these target schools are truly within reach or am I being delusional/ambitious with my school selection. Also, would love some tips and tricks on how I can further strengthen my application. Please let me know if there is any more information I should provide for a thorough evaluation of my profile! Thanks!