Hi,
Request you to please evaluate my pofile. I am trying to come up with a list of my dream, reach and safe schools.

Admission season targeted: Spring/Fall 2012

Specializations preferred: General Management, Consulting

Other criteria: Scholarships, good placement assistance, preferred location (in order): USA, UK, India

GMAT Score: 760 (balanced scores), AWA: 4.5

Work experience: Will complete 3 years by time of joining (Jun 2012) at one of the Big 4 auditing/consulting firms as a Consultant.
- International experience (ongoing) since Feb 2011 for one of the top 4 US banks: Information Security strategy, process optimization for one of their most critical business units, program management - for a global project involving over 500 client teams. Youngest consultant on this client to independently be leading the project - good feedback from both the client and firm management
- Industry research: Developed Point of view on the global innovation scenario in the banking sector and the associated emerging risks

Other engagements:
- Fortune 500 Healthcare client - Identiy and Access Management implementation that resulted in increased operational efficiency and helped the client succesfully meet its regulatory requirements
- Work in Business Impact Analysis (BIA). Develped a BIA tool that is now the standard for BIA engagements at my firm
- Developement of a security & privacy framework - analysis with heat maps etc
- Firm activities - recruitment representative, training co-ordinator for new hires in my domain

Academic qualifications: B.E. in IT from the University of Pune. In top 10% of the batch.
- Aggregate: 65% (First class) [66% is distinction, 60% is first class]
- Class XII: 88%
- class X: 82%

Extra curriculars:
- Extensive participation in sports. National level tennis tournament winner, captain of my college and firm basketball teams, captain of the firm's cricket and throwball teams. Successfully revived my college's inter-college sports fest after a gap of 5 years.
- Conceptualized and directed a 10 min movie screened for over 1400 employees.
- Event management - Voluntary logistics and event planning for over 200 attendees
- Positions of reponsibility held:
School Captain
College Sports Secretary
Thread lead for Women's Initiative Network (WIN) at my firm
Recruitment representative at undergrad colleges in India

Appreciate your time!

Regards,
Vandana

Hi Vandana,

Thanks for writing in and congratulations on a great GMAT score. There is a risk of getting put in the same bucket as the other Indian IT candidates, but you seem to have enough work experience to show substantial leadership in the workplace, and really you've taken a non-IT career path since leaving college.

The one piece you don't really touch is "Why MBA?", and that story will need to be strong to serve as another point of differentiation. Still your overall profile looks strong, I think you can look at top-15 with confidence, and perhaps choose 1 or 2 in the top-5 as reach schools.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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