Hi,
I need a general profile evaluation on my chances for good US schools that I am listing here.
Profile details:
GMAT 720 (51q, 35v). Taken GMAT three times. Other scores were 650 and 690. Last score was 690.
GPA 77% from a non-IIT engineering college in India in Mumbai. Finished first class with distinction. Mechanical engineer with many good projects and internships done in the mechanical engineering field. In class 10 I was a very average student with just 71% marks but in 12th I did better and got 91%.
Work experience:
I started working for a manufacturing company called Denso and worked there for more than two years. The kind of projects I did there were very good, and I also worked in areas like finite element analysis which is considered cutting edge.
Won employee of the month award twice in my tenure. Did not get promoted. Left because I got a very good offer from TCS. After this I spent four more years working for TCS. I got a chance to go onsite, and I worked on TCS financial software. I did not work only on software development but also participated in many client presentations and bids for projects by providing technical inputs. I worked on many products for TCS Bancs (it is like TCS's version of Oracle, except for banks and insurance companies). Two promotions at TCS so far. I also have a chance to go onsite.
Extra curricular:
When I was working for DENSO, I volunteered for a local old age home in Delhi. I went there on most weekends. But I have now lost the certificate I got from there. After I left Delhi to work in TCS, I have been part of many CSR events at TCS but I have not been so regular in terms of NGO work. Other than NGO I play badminton and won some awards for it in college. I have also played chess and I have also won some local tournaments.
You can ask if you want more inputs. Now my questions are
1) I am planning to apply to Columbia, Stern, UCLA, Tepper, Rice Jones, Kelley, and Emory. Is this list ok
2) I am unable to convert my percentage from 77% to 4.0 GPA. How do I do this?
3) Of these MBA's which all will require tofel scores? I have not given toefl yet but if needed I can do it. Also will taking toefl increase my chances at these programs?
4) I switched from mechanical to computers after 3 years. Is this going to be a problem?
5) i have not done any NGO work for last 3-4 years except through csr at TCS. Is this a problem?
6) Should I go onsite now? If I get into a good MBA, I will have to resign. Is going onsite an advantage?
7) Also tell me if I can apply to ISB in India as backup
Thanks in advance.