Profile evaluation

[lookatami]

Hello -- I request you to please answer questions mentioned at end of this post. I really need your help to start things going. Thanks in advance for helping me out.

I took GMAT a few days back and here is my profile for your assessment. I have just started to pursue my MBA dream, questions below are absolutely novice and dumb. But thanks in advance for your solid response

Academics:

·GMAT 690(Q48, V35 Total 88%), AWA: 5.5
·10th - 78% (CBSE Board) , 12th -83% (CBSE Board)
.Graduation in IT from Kurukshetra University (famous in India) in year 2004. (Percentage -70%, Branch Topper -83%).

Professional:

·7 years core experience in one of the leading IT company.
·International exposure (Chicago, U.S) for about 3 years.
·Experience of working with clients like GE
·Has experience of working in Mortgage and Retail domain related projects.

Extra-Curricular:

.State level Chess champion. Won chess championships for record 3 years during college
.Won few awards at school level.

I want to pursue 1 year MBA program and that is the only thing I know. I sincerely need suggestions from you.

Questions:

a) Which MBA course should I look forward. I am leaning more towards Management Consulting as it is currently linked with my profile of consulting.
b) Please suggest which colleges to focus on? Or at least where and how to look for good MBA colleges.
c) I have heard of people saying one should improve its extra-curricular. How can I do that?

Thanks in advance for your reply

[mbamission]

Hi there,

Thanks for writing -- I'm happy to help you get started.


a) I believe you are asking what path to pursue once in business school. You should choose something that will help you get a job in your desired fields. If that is managing consulting, then that would be a logical choice. Most programs offer more "concentrations" than "majors" so you'll still have some flexibility. I'd also encourage you to stretch yourself a bit and take courses outside of your core interest, as they may become useful in your career.

b) It is nearly impossible for me to suggest programs knowing very little about your interests and desired traits. Since you prefer a 1-year program, that immediately cuts the list down significantly. I suggest starting with BusinessWeek.com's MBA section, and also looking at Financial Times and Economist to get a diversity of viewpoints.

c)Improving your extracurriculars takes time, it can't be done in just a few months since that will be very obvious to the school. It seems that you may have some great stories and experience as a chess player, that would count as an extracurricular. Have you ever held leadership in a chess club? Have you done any chess-related activities since college? Even if you started to do that now, at least it would be a logical form of extracurricular, since you've been involved in chess for years.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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