B School Evaluation

[pratsak1982]

Hello ,

I am working for semiconductor domain company since 5yrs.
My work profile in the company is related to software but I have good domain knowledge in semiconductors.
I am interested in doing my MBA in year fall 2010 or spring 2011.

Brief Profile:
Given my GMAT recently scored 600.
Academics were on above average with consistent 75% as an average percent in my High schools and Undergraduate studies.
I started my own Food business in order to understand entrepreneur challenges and ran successfully for some months.
I take part in the charity functions which is held in my company in order to help the poor children.(Though not an active NGO member)
In my school academics have UNO certifications.
I have certifications of merit from my academics.
Also I was active in Martial Arts and have certificates of its grades.

My Career goal and why MBA:
I think I will be better suited for the semiconductor domain and want to make my career in the same industry. I want some position which is responsible for technical Marketing of the product or related to that.
I am confused or rather ignorant about the B schools which can offer me such program which can help me grow with what I want.
Please help me to choose the schools as I am not looking for the top rated B-schools but kind of school which has decent rankings ,less fees of program and can fulfill my ambitions.

thanks
Pratyush.

[mbamission]

Hello Pratyush,

Thank you for your inquiry. If you are interested in starting school this fall, the fall of 2010, you may be a little late. Many schools have three or four rounds of application deadlines and the last deadlines are coming up very soon. In addition, the final round of deadlines is the most competitive since most of the spots in the class have been offered. So if you are really interested in starting school this fall, you will need to begin your application process ASAP. However, it seems as though you are just beginning to think about the programs that you might want to apply to, so I would say that you should probably wait until at least the first round of application deadlines (typically in October) for a school start date of the fall of 2011.

You seem to have quite a bit to offer in terms of strong undergraduate grades, activities outside of work and a strong professional trajectory as well as clearly defined career goals and entrepreneurial experience. Depending on the type of school you want to attend, you may want to retake the GMAT to increase your score. A score of 600 is going to be pretty limiting in terms of your competitiveness, even for second tier schools. I’d consider retaking it if I were you since that will give you many more options for the schools that you will be competitive for. School selection is a very personal decision and since you’re just at the beginning of the process, I recommend looking through school profiles in publications like BusinessWeek and U.S. News and World Report, which profile a large number of schools. You’ll be able to see the details of students, their average GMAT and GPA, the number of years of work experience, school rankings and, of course the geographies (U.S., Europe, Asia, big city, small town, etc...). I think that is the best place for you to start. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Akiba Smith-Francis
MBA Mission
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