Indian Male designer profile evaluation

[sak.saket]

My profile in brief:
Undergrad: Civil Engineer from National Institute of Technology GPA 4
Grad: Industrial Design (M.des)Indian Institute of Technology-Designed award winning products at school GPA 4+
Working (3 yrs experience) now as an Automotive designer (in India and USA) (Motorcycle styling) with the largest manufacturer of 2 wheelers in the world.
I am a passionate person explore new avenues constantly. This keeps me energetic and working on new ventures.
I am looking to move into fields of more leadership and control over innovation & decision making. Post MBA would like to work in Innovation management/Strategy/ New Product Development.
However, I am not interested in a Design MBA type program, and would like to study proper management instead of any mix in it like that of design.
Me and my mother since 10 years have been running a successful family business in traditional Indian art -selling paintings and craft in various media. Also, me and father started a B-School in south India, but unfortunately the school died out in 3 years owing to various reasons. I plan on returning to teaching at a later stage of career (set up a B-School again with father) , where I combine design and management to improve innovation.
My queries are :
1) How do B schools in US perceive creatives like me? I am scoring a GMAT mock scores around 660-700 with practically no prep
2) How easy is it to change the stream of work as I plan to do- Designer to Manager
3) Is it important to look at schools at the west coast for Innovation?
4) Chances of scholarship for an unconventional background student like me? good or bad?
5) What schools should I target?

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your profile. In some ways you have a similar background to many Indian engineering grads, but your masters in design and focus on that area helps differentiate you from the average engineering applicant. That said, you do want to aim to show examples of how you've demonstrated leadership, teamwork, management potential.... do you feel you could speak to those points? That, and your GMAT, and your story for 'why you want the MBA', put forth in well written essays, will be the big drivers in terms of making the difference in admission.

In terms of your family business, if you have been fairly involved in the business side of things as well, not just design, that would be a plus-- basically focus on what you've learned from that experience that you'd bring to b-school.

In terms of changing careers, it can be very personal and while many use an MBA to change careers, it's best to do a lot of research NOW about what potential paths you are interested in post-MBA, and research how feasible it will be for you to follow those paths, how necessary the MBA is, whether certain schools would be best for you, etc. You may even want to set up information interviews with recruiters or HR at companies you may be interested in working for to get their take on it.

For choosing schools, there are lots of factors involved to consider, and you may want to check out our free download at: http://info.mbamission.com/Selecting-Yo ... ram-E-Book

Re: scholarships, to be honest they are not extremely prevalent and generally reserved for the best-of-the-best, and more likely if you apply early. Most b-school students finance their degree through low-interest educational loans, paid back over 5-15 years with their post-MBA salary.

Hope that helps, good luck to you!