brownman777
Hello,
I am a Indian-American, newly graduated from UC San Diego (a top public university and a top 15 engineering school)
GPA: 3.13 (serious GPA deflation and a tough courseload)
GMAT: aiming for 750 (confident I should be able to hit it, after my practice tests; standardized testing is a forte)
Work exp: planning on working 2-3 years as an engineer, then 2 years as a project manager. Work at HP currently, plan to move to smaller company later.
Volunteering experience: volunteer 4 hours a month with United Way, signed up (waiting to interview) to volunteer in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, want to diversify this more.
Extras: Fluent in 3 languages (Spanish, English, Tamil)
Plan on taking community college courses in calculus, statistics, and economics, to show that I am capable of quant-heavy courses to make up for my undergraduate GPA.
Goal: Earn MBA and work as a product manager/corporate strategy.
Top Schools: Booth and Kellogg
Next Tier: Fuqua and Ross
Next: UNC and USC.
All being said, where do I stand at my top choice schools? What should I work on? Where do my strengths and weaknesses lie?
Thank you so much xD
Hello there,
So it's great that you are starting off so early thinking about this voyage ahead of you!
It is a bit too early for a profile evaluation though. Since the two primary factors - GMAT and work experience don't exist yet

But I do have a few thoughts for you:
- The average Work Experience for an MBA is about 4-5 years. So you will be ready to apply once you have three years in the bag. It should give you enough experience to make the MBA valuable, whilst keeping you a young, fresh, candidate.
- Start working on the GMAT ASAP. No reason to delay. Your GMAT score is good for five years. You can study on slow burn for a few months, and when you are ready take the test. If things don't go as well as you hope, you can always retake.
- Thing about how you can improve your profile - like by adding leadership, volunteer work, communal activities, other hobbies and activities (especially those with RESULTS - like winning awards, winning sports competitions, raising money, founding a firm, etc. etc.) Any and all of this stuff will help LOTS.
I hope this helps!!!
Best,
Jon