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Question

Hi,

I am a 29 year old Indian female (will turn 30 this August) looking to join a full time MBA program in the US.

Educational history:
B.Tech & M.Tech (Dual degree) from IIT Delhi in 2008
Major: Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology
GPA: 3.3/4.0
Placed in top 5 in class

CBSE Grade 12th: 88%
CBSE Grade 10th: 93%

GMAT Test Scores:
Yet to appear. The following are my Unofficial GMAT Scores from GMAT Test Prep software:

IR 8/92%
Quant 50/90%
Verbal 41/93%
Total 760

I think I should score between 720 and 760 in the real thing.

Extra-curriculars:
Worked closely with 2 NGOs for teaching under-privileged kids at IIT. This experience has hugely affected my choice of career as well.
Trained Indian Classical singer (4 years diploma holder). Captain of the Music Team at IIT hostel. Represented my state at All India Singing Contests three times.
Captain of the Table Tennis women's team at IIT Delhi.

Work history:
In 2008, I founded and set up a non-profit K-12 school in a rural setting near Delhi. I now manage a staff of 80+ including some educators more than 30 years older than I am. Current student strength is 800+ and growing.
All required affiliations and systems are in place and the term loan is paid off.

Now I'm looking to do an MBA either to switch into consulting for the non-profit/ education sector or to build another start-up in the technology for education sector and scale it up to reach rural schools all across India and other developing countries.
I think a full time MBA will help me to consolidate what I have learned so far.

Schools I'm thinking about:
Since I'm 30 already, my strategy is to apply at 2 stretch, 2 target and 1 safety schools. I would appreciate if you could suggest which ones I have the best chances with.
Right now I'm thinking about Stanford, Columbia, Kellogg, UCLA, Haas & ISB Hyderabad (Safety).

Since my work history is unconventional for IIT graduates, it would be a great help if I could get an evaluation.

Thanks

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

Thank you for the detailed evaluation and congrats on such great accomplishments! Your work must be very rewarding! I know I felt the same way when I started a (much smaller) nonprofit before business school on the side.

Your profile is certainly different from the average IIT graduate as you mentioned, but that is a good thing and should help you get into a great program! The key for you is to craft a strong story that wraps everything you did together, while explaining where you were challenged along the way and what learnings you took away. (Somewhat for interviews more than essays).

In terms of schools, you listed a great set of schools and if your application is done right, you should have a good chance of getting into all of them actually. I recently worked with a client who had a similar profile to yours (though much younger) who got into Stanford.

I don't think you'll need to apply to ISB actually, unless you want to be located in India. I would rather see you add a more challenging program.

Reach out if you would like to discuss further.
[email protected]

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

A little late, but here goes nonetheless a few additional points to consider Saumya:
 
  The profile is definitely interesting though it is also challenging in terms of explaining everything in the context. Education sector is pretty different in general and connecting the dots to consulting or technology is not straightforward. There are hardly any, if at all, non-profit consulting firms that hire from bschools - even less so, international candidates. You have not mentioned anything on the tech side - so the bridge to a education oriented, product management job in the tech sector is both too niche and not straightforward. Given your experience and years of experience, this is going to be the single biggest area to focus on. So think hard and deep before you take the plunge on this one 
  Clear spike on the academic side with the GMAT hopefully closer to the mock tests. For reasons mentioned  here , I will refrain from commenting on the school list but overall, could be on the aggressive side. ISB will be a great option btw in my opinion given your spreading the education in India theme.  
  While your work profile is impressive, it isn't clear whether you've kept up with your hobbies/interests/ECs? That dimension is relevant especially at the top schools. So bear that in mind too.

Hope this helps some more.

Cheers,

AugustAcademy · Answer

Saumya, Congrats on everything that you've done so far - I don't think there will be very many applicants who have had the kind of accomplishments that you do. But take that to be a blessing and a curse, as Mr. Monk would say

Try to see if you can answer the following questions: 1) Given that you are someone who is capable of everything that you've done - do you really need an MBA to go forward? The key here is demonstrate the gap between your stated goals and your background, and show that an MBA can help you fill the gap. 2) Iron out your goals - you need to give me strong reasons for the shift to consulting. Understand that most people with niche knowledge do become consultants at some level. As such, you may already be a go to person for people who want to start up schools, etc. And you are probably doing a good job of helping them out already. Why would working for a "consulting firm" be important. If the idea is to start a tech startup - help me understand the motivation, show me that you have about 50 - 60% of what it takes (and I am happy to buy into this), but also help me understand what value the MBA will bring to you. Best wishes, and please feel free to set up a call with us to discuss things further. Best, Karthik

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