Please evaluate my profile

Question

Please evaluate my chances.

My profile: 
Age: 28
Sex: Male 
Nationality: Indian 
Education: Iâ€™ve done a 4 yr Engineering degree in Computer Science with 74% marks. Gold Medalist in Final Year 
GMAT:740 (quant-51, verbal-40) 

IT Work Ex- About 6 yrs (Last 4 years in Tata Consultancy Services with 1 year in USA, 1 Year in LG Soft India). Currently working as Project Manager handling seven projects of TCS for ICICI Prudential , Mumbai

Achievements: 
 2nd Prize in Wellness & Fitness Challenge Competition at Deluxe Corporation , Minneapolis 
 Certificate of Recognition for TACTiCS (Technical Architect Configuration at TCS, Hyderabad) 
 Rated 5 on the scale of 5 in Annual Appraisal in April 2004 
 Rated 5 on the scale of 5 in Confirmation rating in December 2003 
 Star of the Month Award from TCS Mumbai in September 2003 
 Got Best Performer Award in German Language Course in ITP Training of TCS in Trivandrum 
 Got Best Employee Award in LG Soft India for Period Jan 2002 â€“ Jun 2002 
 Gold Medallist In Engineering College for the Best Student 
 Active Participant in Annual Program â€œZESTâ€

sm176811 · Answer

Have you looked at what it would take to prepare for any one of the schools? 

It is a lot of work. I suggest you review the schools and identify the ones that will help you with your career progression and then reduce the list to 3-4 (max)!

hellojp · Answer

As per your suggestions, I have reworked on my list and decided on to apply to Round 1 of following Schools:
Insead
Harvard
Chicago - GSB
Wharton
Yale

Please let me know what chances i have in these schools. Do I need to add more to this list to be on safer side?

Thanks in advance.

sm176811 · Answer

I think:
Insead - good chance
Harvard - stretch
Chicago - GSB - good chance
Wharton - stretch
Yale - very good chance

PaulBodine · Answer

HelloJP,

I basically agree with sm176811, but I would tweak his odds downward just a bit from "good" to "decent" chance at INSEAD and Chicago because your bullet list of accomplishments kind of misses the point of what the top schools want -- leadership and impact stories -- which you did not directly provide.

Good luck,

hellojp · Answer

Hi, I am extremely sorry for late reply. Got busy in the applications. Finally I applied to Wharton, Chicago, Insead, yale and Cornell. Got Rejected from Wharton and Chicago

. Still waiting to hear from Cornell, Yale and Insead. Keeping my fingers crossed. Regarding Leadership stories, I have 3-4 quite interesting ones, which i have been putting in my essays. But still not sure abt the reason of rejection from Wharton and Chicago. (may be competitive Indian IT pool) Which all other schools I should apply to? :?:

Seeing the result from Wharton and Chicago, should I try in any of Harvard, Kellog, LBS or Columbia? Thanks in advance JP

PaulBodine · Answer

JP,

Sorry about the dings. I think they may be telling you that you are aiming a bit too high. So I don't think HBS, Kellogg, CBS, LBS would be the most logical choices. Consider strong finance schools like Duke, Michigan, Rochester, Carnegie-Mellon.

Good luck,

hellojp · Answer

Thanks for your reply. My revised list includes following school:
Stern, Darden, Rochester, UCLA, Duke, Michigan, CMU

Any thoughts on them.

Thanks in advance
JP

PaulBodine · Answer

JP, 

A very smart, focused list. All excellent programs, and all programs where you have a decent to good chance. 

Good luck,

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