rj2014 wrote:
Hi Jon,
I am an Indian male, engineering background.
Academics:
Aggregate 74% (Top 5 percentile) - Mumbai University - Graduated June 2013
12th - 92%
10th - 90%
GMAT: 700
Working in an international bank as a senior technical associate and working on a very critical application which has more than 100,000 users.
Got promoted twice in the 19 months that I have worked with the firm.
Part of all the activities and clubs in office. (Philanthropy, Photography, Toastmasters)
College:
The final year project was funded by Government of India department of science and technology
Worked on a social startup, mobile app that promoted ride sharing, which was widely covered in media and had 5000 users.
Led a marketing team of 50 students for college festival that raised record amount of sponsorships for the festival.
Head of events of computer society of india
Head of PR of Rotract Club
Secretary of Innovation and entrepreneurship development center
After college started a weekend training company and trained 800 students from 4 top colleges in a lot of technical and non technical subjects.
Currently along with work working on another web based start-up that aggregates all tuition and institutes information and gives a platform for students to research and select best teachers.
No leadership experience in office, but outside have led 50 students for marketing, 15 interns for the social initiative and currently leading a team of 10 for the latest start-up.
Cleared CFA Level 1 in January 2015
Post GMAT goals: Want to gain global exposure and build network that can help me in my entrepreneurial ambitions. In the long run want to start my own financial services/ Marketing firm.
Target Schools: Top-10
I read extensively and have an active interest in Economics, Finance, Psychology and Marketing.
What are the chances of making it to the top 10 schools given I am not from IIT's? Also should I start applying with 2 years of work exp? What can I do to boost my profile.
Thanks a lot for your time.
Hello hello!
Thanks for writing. and a good thing you are doing it early. Now it's a bit early for a profile evaluation because you have another year of work ahead of you at least before you should apply, and lots can happen in that year and a half.
And you are right also in thinking about what you can do now. Now overall your profile is pretty good, but top 10 schools will be a bit tough.
The challenges in your profile:
- GMAT about 40 points too low for Top 10
- Non IIT
- so-so GPA
- Tech job
And to be honest, these are a lot of things to overcome for top 10. But, let's start where we can. And the first thing and most obvious is the GMAT. As to whether or not you should retake, have a look at this post here:
https://bit.ly/B613Mgc. I think that should help you out there.
Now, if you are asking yourself: Okay, I'll get the GMAT, but what else can I do? And the answer is be unique! I mean REALLY unique. Like founding an NGO. Or a company. Or making millions in real estate. Or becomes a world-famous cricket player.
Or whatever else you can think of. And even if you feel like this seems like too much - don't worry about it. Do what you CAN. Join an NGO. Be a leader of your community. Continue to excel at work. Every little bit helps for every application.
Hope this helps,
JF
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24 Feb 2015, 07:38
