Hi Paul,
Thank you for helping us - the applicants - selflessly and I hope you continue the great work!
Target Schools - HBS, Kellogg(MMM), Stanford (MBA+MA in Education) in the order of preference.
Possibly Duke and Ross or INSEAD and IMD if EVERYTHING fails
. I'm looking at only the top 5 - 7 schools (200K of debts makes sense only then)
Please feel free to suggest other schools to widen my reach as you go through my profile.
Snapshot:
GMAT: 2nd attempt : 730, Q-50,V-39, AWA-5. 1st attempt : 560, Q-48,V-19,AWA-5 : 3 years back...Don't ask what happened during the verbal section
GPA: (If converted 2.9 to 3.3 depends from site to site) Actually it is 57.4% - high second division in the top 5% in the batch of 440
Details of UG: University of Mumbai - Bachelor of Science: Major-Mathematics, Minor-Computer Science. Graduate: 2004. 3 year integrated degree - really rigorous and tough subjects at least for my poor brain...And in the process to gain PMP certification by the time of application.
Solid work experience until now: 10 years in Education Technology (ed-tech). 1 year of teaching + 5 years of BD + 4 years of Product Development.
Worked in India, Brazil, 3 countries in Middle East, 2 countries in North Africa (less than 3 months at each) and now in US. I have worked in startups and SMEs only.
Professional Accomplishments have been Fantastic. I have phenomenal hands on approach and have worn multiple hats with proven results. Led direct and indirect - international teams of 4-25 across India, US, Middle East and North Africa. Have proved to be 3 steps ahead of my peers but this also made me hit the glass ceiling faster; One MAJOR reason why I want to do my MBA esp. And I have a lot of success and failure stories!
Community Service: founded a not for profit for K-12 teachers training in Mumbai in Aug 2013. And in the past 10 years have volunteered in quite a few places teaching, mentoring, volunteering in various positions and admin jobs.
Short-term Goals
Plan 1: Growing in my current role of Prod Dev in established companies like Google, MS, Amazon, VMw, Apple and Samsung who have a well defined education vertical. They also have sales,marketing and general strategy mgmt roles, so I am keen on either.
Plan 2: Shift to strategy consulting for at least 3-4 years in companies like McK, Parthenon, Advisory Board and Huron who have an established social sector vertical with education as key component and McK is always open to take specialists. This will also help me repay the loans faster
(and after this stint I can always jump into Google/MS/Amazon but the other way around is not going to be easy)
Back-up Plan 3: i.e. If either 1/2 fail....leadership rotational program in companies like Samsung, FB, GE, J&J, NIKE, etc. There are over 20+ companies in various sectors offering these 2 year LRP. But my heart goes for 1 & 2...
Long-term Goal - They are hazy but I'm trying to weave a story
...would appreciate your help on this one!
Plan 1: Open an education focused consulting and PE firm with my wife - she is from Booth and hardcore "quants" background (is it too far fetched?? )
Plan 2: Start a chain of "model" schools in India, US and Middle East not like KIPPS but something that makes people say "wow! this truly is a school of learning". This will be a private venture.
Plan 3: Become the education minister of the state/country in India or US to bring about the systemic changes necessary so that every school can become a "model" school....without me having to build my chain of schools...in fact I have an actual live case study on this. Hence for plan 3 I am planning MPP+MBA from HBS...your expert thoughts, Paul?
Personal Accomplishments: I have been a theatre actor for 7 years. Chess state ranked player. Led school and college cricket and table tennis teams at various state, regional and national events. But these were all during school and undergrad.
In my candidature i'm concerned about three things:
1. Age on the older side 33 at the time of application - Double edged sword
2. No big/brand names on CV
3. Never paused to complete a prior Masters (only a 3yr UG degree)
Look forward to your reply and detailed evaluation of my candidature. And thank you again.