Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Help required to clarify my MBA related questions

Dear Visitor,


I post my profile at the end. I need all of your thoughts to answer my questions:
  • I am interested to work for a few years in US post MBA. Hence, I have a strong preference for US schools. But, I understand that most US schools have average experience for incoming students as between 3 to 6 years. Will 13 years be considered too old for the schools.
  • Will there be any difference between my GMAT score of 680 and 7XX. Should I retake my GMAT and move to 7XX before applying.
  • On a broad range, what schools should I target? Top 10, 10-20 or below 20.
  • I intend to apply to a max of 7 schools (2 with safe chances, 3 within exact reach and 2 with exceed reach).
  • Schools short listed by me(based on leadership/ General Management with technology flavor) are as below: Any comments on my choice
    • US - MIT Sloan, Haas, UCLA, Darden, Tepper and Mccombs
    • UK - Oxford, Cambridge, Cranfield
    • Canada - Rotman, Ontario, Queens
  • I understand that I belong to the WIDEst pool of applicants (Indian/ Male/ IT) with additional drawback of age. Any pointers on how I should look to differentiate myself to stand out from the crowd.
  • Any specific schools that comes to your mind to be good for Leadership/ General Management that will be a good fit for me.
  • I am given to understand that H1B is becoming a major issue for graduating MBA students. Any idea whether that should discourage me to shift my focus to schools in Canada or UK.

My PROFILE:
  • Male, Indian, 34 years, Engineer
  • 70% in Engineering - Anna University
  • GMAT-680 (Q-48, V-35, AWA-5.0)
  • 12 years total experience of which at least 3/4th is international
  • 3 years in project procurement/ planning in Heavy Engineering Industry
  • 9 years in SAP consulting on technology side.
    • Industries - media, defense, aerospace, utilities, leasing, pension fund
    • Roles: consultant, team lead, development manager, project manager
    • Have lead a team of 10+
  • Reason for change
    • Extremely satisfied with what I am today. This is to "sharpen the saw" before my plunge into management roles.
  • Social activities: normal
    • Educating 3 girls for the past few years sponsoring all of their expenses (fees, dress, books,…)
    • Contributions for college alumni
  • Preferred MBA specializations
    • General Management / Leadership
  • Short term career plan
    • Management/ Leadership roles within same IT industry moving up the ladder into strategic roles
  • Long term plan
    • Career - Non profit organizations/ service industries
    • Passion - Want to do something back to society
Thanks for your time/ efforts to clarify

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