santu71182 wrote:
Hi,
I would like to have your inputs on some top notch International B schools that would best fit my profile.
Name: Santosh Panda 29Y / Male
Citizenship: INDIA
Qualification: B.E in EEE - 74.5% (75% is the score for distinction in university) Need to convert to appropriate CGPA or GPA ..how??
Work Exp.: 7+ years in Telecom software development industry.
Since it is a pure product development industry, no fancy boasting of managing 50+ people with 7yr exp or no onsite deputation for years. I worked as project lead managing a small team and had been to US for technical discussion and project integration activities in the past.
Have won recognition awards in 2 projects for effective deliverance.
Extracurricular Activity:
Member of YFS (voluntary organization focused towards encouraging more number of young professionals towards volunteering) since last 2 years. Working on generating awareness and raising funds for different activities undertaken.
Member of CSR group of my company since day 1 of my career. Working towards utilizing e-waste (old computers, printer etc) from office in small schools which lack such infrastructure.
Panelist in cafeteria committee of the organization to decide on vendor appointment. (Don't know whether this actually counts as extra-curricular or not)
Expectations from the MBA: Want to utilize my experience to jump start in a position (preferably in the same industry) 2-3 steps higher than where I am at present. This is considering the fact that vertical movement in such product organization is a time taking phenomena. Long term goal is to start a medium organization in my state to enable many talented students of that region to benefit.
GMAT 1 - 600(Q47,V27)/ 6.0 AWA
GMAT 2 - 710(Q49,V38)/ AWA (yet to obtain)
Please suggest some B schools which are best suited for getting prepared for a consulting position in telecom or similar techno managerial positions. I am targeting top 15 US B schools (If I manage to get some funding), IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Calcutta, and IIM-Lucknow (All the three due to placement stats and fees structure). Please suggest any other alternatives as well.
Thanks in advance for your inputs,
-Santosh
1. Don't bother with converting your GPA. Almost all schools that you will apply to will be aware of your countries scoring methods.
2. GMAT is low for Indian, Male, IT pool of applicants. Are you considering retake or will you apply with this score. You can still have a fair chance at many top schools, but a stronger GMAT will give the adcom one less reason to ding you.
3. What's the reputation of the company you work for in India. Is it a global Fortune 50 conglomerate or relatively less-known software company? How many people on an average apply to business school from your company in a year? This would define how well the company and the work you do is known to the adcom.
4. You don't have to manage 50 people to demonstrate leadership. What differences have you made when you managed that small team? Did your team achieve any stellar results? This will define your professional leadership experience.
5. YFS - what kind of awareness did you raise? Did you recruit many new volunteers, increase the organization size by two-fold? What impact did you have as part of CSR. These are some thoughts for you to position your leadership outside work.
6. The short-term goal is not defined properly. You yourself have mentioned that the growth doesn't necessarily require an mba. Before you prepare that application, you need to clearly define why you need an MBA right now. You need to be able to answer that you can't work another year without an mba. Just saying that you need a promotion will work against your application.
7. Long-term goal is completely vogue. Why you need an mba for that? What kind of benefit are you looking to provide? What prevents them from not getting that benefit now?
If you ultimately wish to work in India, your best bet will be top 5 in US and the ones you have mentioned in India. The rest of the top 20 have too few alumni, too few interest from current students to recruit in India. If you wish to work in US, do look at great schools along with top-10 such as Emory, McCombs, Georgetown, Cornell, USC, UCLA, Wake Forest, Oxbridge in UK, McGill, Schulich, York in Canada.
Hope this helps.