Hi,

Let me give a brief description of my profile and then go into my questions.

My Profile:
-Indian male 28 yrs old, hold undergrad and post grad (Electrical Engg) from IIT Madras
-GPA 3/4
-2.3 yrs experience in Deloitte Consulting (Telecom & technology vertical, Strategy & Operation)
-1.3 yrs experience in Telenor (An Multi national telecom player) as a business analyst to business head
-5 months in a medium size mobile player
-Just started with a similar sized company in online and mobile advertising space
- GMAT: 710 (M 50, V35, 5)
- Good amount of Extra curricular activities in college (College captain for music for 2 yrs, national social service for 2 yrs, Extra mural lecture coordinator etc) but not much work after the college


My questions
-I did my schooling from a small town and then prepared for my college for two years. How severally it will effect my application?
-I am aiming college from 4th to 15th rank. How realistic is the aim ?
-Coming from highly competitive Indian male engineer pool, should I apply to only 1 or 2 schools in R1 and then rewrite the GMAT before R2
- Any suggestions on the split of High/Medium/Low schools?
- Though I was quite active in extra-curricular activities during my college days, but I have not done much since then (2007). Will the previous work will be counted or it's only the recent work that does?

Would be great if I could get some help.
Thanks in advance,
G

Hi G,

Thanks for writing in. As to your questions:

1) Given that your gap was several years ago, you should certainly explain it in the application, but I don't think it will impact you too much, certainly not as much as a career gap would.

2) I think top-15 is a good spot, top-4 may be a bit of a reach so you should maybe just choose one school from there, 2-3 in the top-10 range, 2-3 in the top-15 range.

3) If you think there's opportunity to improve your GMAT it could help you stand out more, but if your practice tests indicate you've about maxed out you're better off using that prep time on your essays.

4) See above re: how to approach which schools

5) Unfortunately MBA applications really only focus on post-college extracurricular work. You can briefly mention your college involvement on your resume and in the short answer part of the applications, but I would not focus an essay on this involvement.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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