Hi Oasis,
Thanks for the quick reply; Here are the details you asked for.
Age, Demographic Profile : 24, Indian
Academics - year, stream, GPA (Bachelors + Masters) : 2010, IT engineering from BITS Pilani (its the best private engineering college in India, and among the top 10 overall), GPA of 7.81/10
Short term and long term goal for MBA : I look forward to do an mba in fall 2013, after which I plan to pursue a career in Management Consulting for 4-5 years, get global exposure, work in different firms and grab as much knowledge as I can from the multiple industries I will get opportunity to work for. In the long run, I want to establish my own business but only after getting enough experience, exposure & good contacts.
(There is very limited scope & a cut-throat competition in India, so i believe doing an mba can be a better bet)
Work ex - I have relatively very limited experience (appx 2 years)
Yahoo- 6 months (as an intern, if that counts)
Cisco- 10 months as a software engineer, I quit cisco for I soon realized that I want to build up a career in finance/consulting.
Start-up in a manufacturing business: working for the past 1 year as the chief executive person, have got tremendous exposure in multiple facets of business such as accounting, marketing, production, logistics & planning etc.
Region you want to settle post MBA: In the log run, I want to settle in India with my family. But for my short term goals of getting exposure & knowledge, I dont mind compromising on locations if I get into a good company, although preferably Asia/US/UK in that order.
Any target schools : I'm yet to do research into which schools will I have the best chances of getting into consulting, but my with the limited knowledge I have, I'm looking forward to Kellogg, tuck, Yale, Cornell, Faqua, ISB, Ross, Haas,
Additionally, Harvard(my dream school), Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Columbia, MIT, but I'm not sure if that's realistic.
Any other Question that concerns you : Actually, there are quite a few.
1. Do i need to give toefl? Although the medium of instruction was English in my school & college, but I'm not sure If i need to. I've been getting varied answers from different people.
2. Does it actually makes sense to do an mba from the US considering the huge investment. I know, the placement figures are there as proof but I've heard that the US govt is giving work-permits to very limited Indians & also thte market is not that great, will possibly worsen in the coming years. (It might all be a rumor, but its a big concern )
3. My GPA is decent by Indian standards but when I convert it to the 4 point scale, it comes down a shameless 2.9. Nor are there any opportunities in India to do additional courses from a University to offset your low GPA unlike in the US. What do you suggest I could do to further bolster my profile & make it more competitive.
4. Before you suggest of maybe deferring my MBA by a year or two, I would like to add that I'm keen on doing it next year. It cant wait any longer due to prior commitments & family responsibilities.
Thanks for your time. I so appreciate the great work you guys do of helping us newbies. God bless you!