Profile Evaluation Request

[rohit_ramaiah]

Hi,

Please find my profile below; Request your assistance in letting me know which B-Schools I should be targeting.

GMAT: 670 Q49, V33
Male, 27 Years old, India
Educational Background: Bachelor of Engineering (67% Aggregate)
Work Experience: 6 Years in High-Tech Industry.
Designation: Technology Specialist.

Work Experience Details:
-- Worked for the first 2.5 Years in a leading Software Services Firm in India.

-- Worked with the HR Division for 4 months... >> This helped me gain insight into the hiring practices in large corporate firms.

-- Worked as a Consultant for the remainder of my term there. Worked onsite at customer sites, understanding their problems and translating them into technical requirements and built solutions to meet their needs.

Then moved to work with an American Software Product Company. (Have been working here ever since)

-- Worked as a consultant for 3 years. Main responsibilities were building and deploying software solutions for customers, relaying feedback to product engineers regarding feature requests and working with product development to evaluate new releases of the Software.

-- Moved to a Pre-Sales Role within the same organization. Have helped the company in deals totally worth in excess of 18M$ till date. My responsibilities include:
-- Responding to RFI's from customers.
-- Building Proof-of-Concept Solutions for customers.
-- Working closely with Sales to come up with strategies on positioning our products to potential customers.
-- Demonstrating key features of the product to customers.
-- Making executive and corporate presentations to customers.

-- Was the recipient of a Star award within the organization for being the best Sales Engineer during my first year in the pre-sales role.

-- Am only pre-sales engineer in the Country and have not only won deals in India but also across the globe.

-- International experience:
--Have traveled on work to liaise business in:
a) USA -- San Jose, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami
b) UK -- London
c) Brussels
d) Singapore
e) Australia -- Melbourne and Brisbane
f) Hong-Kong

-- In addition, I've also traveled to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai within India on work.

-- All travel has been related to generate business for the company and have been part of the sales cycle.

-- Extra Curricular:

1) volunteer with a local NGO when I find the time to teach under-privileged kids.
2) Work with a local theater group where I'd trained in learning improve theater/acting.
3) Avid sports fan and voracious reader.

I've sent my GMAT Scores to:
1) Oxford
2) Cambridge
3) ISB -- Hyderabad India
4) Berkley (Hass)
5) MIT Sloan

Please let me know if I stand a chance in any of the above mentioned business schools. In addition, please suggest other b-schools that I should consider applying to.

Thanks

[mbamission]

Hi Rohit,

Thanks for writing in and sharing your background information. As you likely already know, the male Indian IT cohort is traditionally over-represented, and this is also a group that is usually marked by a top GMAT score, so I do think your 670 could be seen as a weakness.

Still it does seem that you have some differentiating points that you can focus on in your essays -- your recognition at work, your international experience and your work with the NGO. I encourage you to focus on those points heavily in your application, again to differentiate yourself from the pack.

As to your school selection, I would rate MIT and Hass as "reach" schools but perhaps you favor one and can invest the time in an application to that one. Oxford/Cambridge hover on the "competitive/near-reach" category in my opinion; unfortunately I don't know ISB well enough to comment on that one. I would suggest diversifying your list with another 1 or 2 schools in the top-25 range, Tepper comes to mind as a strong school that could work well with your profile.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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