innersanctum wrote:
Hi,
I am innersanctum. I am planning to take up GMAT in August 2010. Willing to take up the Feb 2011 admissions. I have a few questions that I would like to seek answers. So before I shoot them, I would like to give you a brief insight into my profile.
I have a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering with 78% overall from India. I switched over to software development and started working as software engineer. I have till date 5 years experience working in retail and banking domains. I also have a distance education MBA. In order to give a boast to my career, I would like to pursue MBA from the US.
1) What are the best universities in the US that suit my profile?
2) What is the GMAT score that is necessary to gain entry to these US universities?
Thanks in advance
Hi innersanctum:
There are a couple of issues at play here - your original question and the fact that you already have an MBA.
First, your original question(s):
I have been an admissions consultant for the last 8 years and have worked with hundreds of applicants.
Trust me when I say that there is simply not information provided to tell you what schools are good for you.
However, I want to provide you with a starting point:
What are you short and longer term goals? You need to think about this first before you try to figure out what school is going to be a good fit for you. Start by creating a high-level goals and then work backwards towards "why MBA? Why this school?"
Now thing about how an MBA (in general) fits into this paradigm. Is the MBA the best path to get you to your immediately actionable (employable) short-term goal? Now, will an MBA help you generate the types of relationships and acumen to get towards your more strategic long-term goal?
While your work experience is good and is a "known quantity", it is a very common background for an Indian IT male. What have you done at work and through extracurricular activities to demonstrate that your goals build on this experience? How is this incrementally different and better than others that are from your applicant sub-group (Indian IT males, for example).
Once you have a story, then do the homework and figure out what schools will get you towards your goals? If your goals are technically oriented, then consider programs like Tepper or perhaps MIT and Berkeley. Again, this is heavily dependent on your GMAT score. If it is more finance-oriented, with a strong element of IT, then consider a school like Johnson.
Now for the 2nd issue - your current MBA:
This is going to be a very big issue for the admissions committee.
Frankly, they are going to wonder why it is that you have an MBA and what you would gain out of your 2nd MBA.
Specifically, they are going to wonder if the "decisioning" framework you used to select, matriculate and complete this first MBA is flawed. Basically, is getting this 2nd MBA a mistake?
You are really going to explain this in your essays and interview. In fact, please note that some MBA programs will not accept those with an existing MBA or those that are transfer students.
I really hope this is helpful. I say the above with the utmost respect for your situation. I have seen this before during the last 8 years.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Respectfully,
Paul
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26 Apr 2010, 07:09
