Handicapping Your Business School Odds: Mr. Real Estate Consulting

 

Ms. Cisco Subject Matter Expert

 

• 710 GMAT (Q49 V38)
• 8.4 (out of 10) GPA (Top 20% of class)
• Undergraduate degree in electronics and communication engineering from National Institute of Technology, Trichy
• Work experience includes current job as a subject matter expert with Cisco Systems in customer services; chief editor for the award-winning TechZone forum; events coordinator for Cisco Connected Women; deployed labs for partner summits in India and Bangkok; capacity development specialist, having led several technical and non-technical training seminars
• Twice promoted within three years, received “outstanding” performance results
• Also worked in Dubai for 2 companies as a design intern for a networking solutions firm and as a research intern for a Siemens Telecom division
• Extracurricular involvement as the welfare coordinator for Global Vision Trust International in Bangalore, India; organized two clothing drives for more than 50 rural families; taught science and math to underprivileged kids from slums and construction sites; created and led a new program to introduce more than 200 women to income-generating skills such as arts and crafts and bookkeeping.

  In College, was the the production head of the drama club, captain of the women’s cricket and table tennis teams, second best speaker in a Gavel Club affiliate; president of the Environment Club; and an avid swimmer and runner

• Short-term goal: To join a high tech firm as a business strategy manager
• Long-term goal: To become a strategy consultant, mainly for technical firms and start-ups
• 24-year-old female Indian

Odds of Success:

Duke: 50%+

Columbia: 40%

Northwestern: 40% to 50%

Berkeley: 40% to 50%

Virginia: 40% to 50%

Sandy’s Analysis: Yes, all your target schools are in line and you might toss an application at HBS, MIT or Wharton as well. Those are iff-ier but not moon shots, with a 710 GMAT, top 20% at NIT and three very solid years at Cisco doing Subject Matter Expert gigs (ahem, advising core IT types about subject matters like a, b, c, — I read this

http://management.about.com/cs/adminaccounting/g/subjmatrexp.htm

and got the idea.

Plus, you have lots of extras, many focused on women’s issues. It’s a very positive profile. What you seem to have is an ability to be a bridge between REAL STUFF and TECHIES (that is what Subject Matter Experts do)

and that is something schools will respond to. You should highlight extras like

• Events Coordinator for Cisco Connected Women, organized several events (role model series, women’s week, hackathon, girls in tech)

• Deployed labs for partner summits in India and Bangkok

and talk about how you like doing that, and want to join a consulting firm where that is part of their core function.

You should also play up the woman-in-tech angle.

“Chief Editor for the award-winning TechZone forum (managing 220 members).” I don’t know what that is, but it sounds like more of the same.

“Twice promoted within the span of 3 years; received “Outstanding” performance results.”

Also impressive.

Cisco is one of the more dull companies among “old-line” tech powerhouses (Compared to Apple, Google and even Microsoft). It is more like Oracle, respected but not many 20-somethings are really evangelists for it. Outside tech circles, it has a low-ish profile. They don’t make obvious  consumer products (yes, I have their router)  and don’t have a corporate identity. You can fill in that void in your application and tell adcoms how you took an less-than-dynamic corporate culture and made if very exciting for women.  “Lovin’ the intersection of explaining tech, women, underserved groups . . .”

Calling Dee Leopold. It could happen. Ms Leopold is a huge fan of intersection types.

Your short- and long-term goals work. You could also start with your long-term goal to be a strategy consultant and build it out into the leadership of the firm.