Mr. Hopeful CXO

If you weren’t a male, Indian software engineer, you would probably stroll right into MIT Sloan with that 750 GMAT and 3.56 GPA in computer science. But you are a male, Indian software engineer and in the most over represented bucket in the elite MBA applicant pool. Fortunately for for you, you have a great job at a Fortune 10 tech company which elevates you from many other applicants with similar backgrounds. Krista made a number of superb suggestions, and I would reinforce that it wouldn’t hurt you to gain a bit more experience and a promotion, if you haven’t had one already. It would also help you significantly if you were to have an extracurricular involvement in something that shows you care about other people and causes besides your own career. With that 750 and your Fortune 10 experience, you are definitely getting into at least a couple of your target schools. If you have your heart set on Sloan, you may need to shape your candidacy a bit more along the lines suggested here.

Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. Firstly, am going to be contrarian and tell you to disregard all the talk that you come from a common demographic and that Indian, Male engineers need to have extra ordinary “gold dust” on their profile to catch attention of the schools. While some of that may be true, you can uplift your odds by being targeted in your school selection and then executing really well. I love the fact you have picked MIT as your top choice followed by Haas. I would have picked those two as top two choices for you too. Both schools do take younger applicants from India but they will look for evidence that you have undertaken significant leadership roles at work and outside and that you have really created some impact. Therefore am concerned with complete lack of extra curricular activities. More than the fact that there are only X numbers of BITS Pilani applicants who have ever set foot on MIT / Haas, you need to focus more on what makes a good and well rounded applicant at each one of your target programs. I can guarantee you that both schools have taken applicants from undergrad institutions that no one in these forums would have heard of. But what they did well was push right buttons for each of the schools. So if you can show promotions and hence leadership at work, your passion for creating impact outside work and show you have an international orientation I will be really surprised if you don’t have multiple admits. Last thing – you could easily wait a year or two before you apply so make sure to tell adcom why now is est time for you. Good luck

Hello Mr. Hopeful CXO! Krista Nannery from mbaMission here. Thanks for posting.
I love that you work for a Top 10 Fortune 100 company. B-schools like things that they know, especially from international candidates (and Indian engineers), so this will help you in this process. I hope you can show your international experience and leadership experience in telling your story.
BITS Pilani is a good school that AdComs will know as well. What I suggest you do is scour LinkedIn to see how many BITS Pilani students you find at each of the programs you are targeting. It will give you a sense of your odds.
Bear in mind that you may be applying with less experience that successful candidates of similar profiles. That to me says that you may need to broader your school selection a bit. I love that you have Tepper on the list. Safe. How about Ross or Fuqua? They may be interesting options too.
My other suggestion to you — given that you are an engineer — is to make sure your resume isn’t too tech-y. Show your leadership and business impact. (This is where your managing of your peers will come in helpful.)
Lastly — you say you want to work in a developing country, which I find interesting. If you do want to stay in the US post-MBA, make sure you understand STEM-certification of MBA programs as that may offer your best shot at a visa.
I hope that helps! I’m definitely intrigued to see how this process works out for you!
All the best,
Krista

Mr. Hopeful, Lisa Cummings at Stratus is hopeful for you too. As you know, your stats are in line with the Sloan profile, but you are a bit light on experience compared to their average. And you come from a very competitive demographic. But you are Mr. Hopeful so let’s see where we can pull out details to give your application some pizazz. You talk about a “semi-leadership” position. This could be really interesting, remember, not all leaders have titles. It can be hard to lead peers so I would want to know more about that. Were you appointed to this post or did you see an opportunity and go for it? Can you discuss what impact you have had internally and with clients? I like to see that you have been client facing and had exposure to senior management within your firm – sounds like you have solid communications skills to match your engineering talent. What do you do outside of work? Are there any leadership experiences you can talk about there?