[ramdi]

Hi Friends,
I look forward to your honest and straight-forward opinions on my profile.
I was a born Indian citizen who took Singapore citizenship (by naturalization). I studied in India but most of my work experience has been out of India. I am currently based in Singapore.
Some salient points to highlight -
GMAT - 660 (V:50, Q:30, AWA:5.5). Taken in Jan,2008.
Nationality- Indian citizen by birth but currently Singapore citizen (by naturalization).
Education - Master of Science - Physics (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India; 7.3/10; Year-1998; Master of Technology - Electrical Engineering (Indian Institute of Technology,Kanpur, India; 8/10, Year - 2000)
Age - 34 years (born in May 1975)
Experience - Senior Engineer & Project Lead in an MNC (at their Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore) in Semiconductors Industry (IC Design). Have worked in Singapore, India, China, Malaysia, Austria and Germany. Lead a team of R&D Engineers. About 10 years of Industry experience by the time I join the program.
EC- Average
Aim- To obtain General Management degree to shift to Business related roles in technology/communication Industry.

Looking at all of the above factors, what are the programs I should target in USA(preferred)/Europe (where I have realistic hopes of getting in)?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

[waiwai]

Looking at your profile I would strongly suggest you to apply in the 1 year courses in UK. Most of the US schools will not be a good match with your age and work experience. Apply to Cranfield in UK which has 9-10 years of avg work ex of the class.
In UK you can choose any or all from - Said, Judge, Insead, Cranfield, IE, HEC, IMD. You will have good chances in JBS, IMD, Cranfield because of your international experience. Research more to find your match based on post mba goals. Look at LBS as well if you are looking at finance, which I think you are not.
Take opinion from someone else regarding US.

[ramdi]

Originally Posted by waiwai

Looking at your profile I would strongly suggest you to apply in the 1 year courses in UK. Most of the US schools will not be a good match with your age and work experience. Apply to Cranfield in UK which has 9-10 years of avg work ex of the class.
In UK you can choose any or all from - Said, Judge, Insead, Cranfield, IE, HEC, IMD. You will have good chances in JBS, IMD, Cranfield because of your international experience. Research more to find your match based on post mba goals. Look at LBS as well if you are looking at finance, which I think you are not.
Take opinion from someone else regarding US.

Thanks, Waiwai
I would love to be part of Said/Judge/Insead but they look for high and balanced GMAT scores. Do I stand a chance with my GMAT score (low score in verbal)?
Also, How is cranfield in reputation and placement in comparison to other schools you mentioned?

[vikas_blue1]

Originally Posted by ramdi

Hi Friends,
I look forward to your honest and straight-forward opinions on my profile.
I was a born Indian citizen who took Singapore citizenship (by naturalization). I studied in India but most of my work experience has been out of India. I am currently based in Singapore.
Some salient points to highlight -
GMAT - 660 (V:50, Q:30, AWA:5.5). Taken in Jan,2008.
Nationality- Indian citizen by birth but currently Singapore citizen (by naturalization).
Education - Master of Science - Physics (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India; 7.3/10; Year-1998; Master of Technology - Electrical Engineering (Indian Institute of Technology,Kanpur, India; 8/10, Year - 2000)
Age - 34 years (born in May 1975)
Experience - Senior Engineer & Project Lead in an MNC (at their Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore) in Semiconductors Industry (IC Design). Have worked in Singapore, India, China, Malaysia, Austria and Germany. Lead a team of R&D Engineers. About 10 years of Industry experience by the time I join the program.
EC- Average
Aim- To obtain General Management degree to shift to Business related roles in technology/communication Industry.

Looking at all of the above factors, what are the programs I should target in USA(preferred)/Europe (where I have realistic hopes of getting in)?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

With the kind of profile that you have , you stand a great chance of one of the top colleges in US and Europe . You can try for IMD , Switzerland in Europe , HEC-Paris , INSEAD . In US the likes of Fuqua School of Business , GSB,Chicago and Tuck which gives huge importance to an IIT degree ( and i am pretty sure of that ) and an international experience might favour you

[ramdi]

Originally Posted by vikas_blue1

With the kind of profile that you have , you stand a great chance of one of the top colleges in US and Europe . You can try for IMD , Switzerland in Europe , HEC-Paris , INSEAD . In US the likes of Fuqua School of Business , GSB,Chicago and Tuck which gives huge importance to an IIT degree ( and i am pretty sure of that ) and an international experience might favour you

Thanks Vikas, but my GMAT score, age and experience (660/34yrs/10yrs) are the factors that stop me from applying to big league schools... Most of US B-schools are biased towards younger candidates and students from India have great GMAT scores...
I am not sure which B-schools will favour the kind of profile I have....

[waiwai]

I think you are worrying too much. you are way too ahead of the regular indian applicants.
You can offset your low verbal score in GMAT by writing some strong essays and showing some clear thoughts on what you want to do in future. Also show some good english writing skills in your essays and you will be through. In additional essay you can mention about your low verbal score and tell them why. be frank and tell other parts of your profile like international exp/toefel etc which can justify that indeed your skills are good at verbal.

[ramdi]

Originally Posted by waiwai

I think you are worrying too much. you are way too ahead of the regular indian applicants.
You can offset your low verbal score in GMAT by writing some strong essays and showing some clear thoughts on what you want to do in future. Also show some good english writing skills in your essays and you will be through. In additional essay you can mention about your low verbal score and tell them why. be frank and tell other parts of your profile like international exp/toefel etc which can justify that indeed your skills are good at verbal.

So which schools do you think should be within my reach? Judge? Said? Insead (notorious for high GMAT, I think...)?

[vikas_blue1]

Originally Posted by ramdi

Thanks Vikas, but my GMAT score, age and experience (660/34yrs/10yrs) are the factors that stop me from applying to big league schools... Most of US B-schools are biased towards younger candidates and students from India have great GMAT scores...
I am not sure which B-schools will favour the kind of profile I have....

With such an experience at your behest it will always be an advantage rather than a deadlock. And , if you do a bit of a research the Avg GMAT Score even in Harvard is 680-690 .

Do a bit of reserach and you will find what are the advantages that you possess.

Just go ahead and apply . Give it a shot, once so that you get the true situation at hand. I doesnt take much in applying , i guess

[ramdi]

Originally Posted by vikas_blue1

With such an experience at your behest it will always be an advantage rather than a deadlock. And , if you do a bit of a research the Avg GMAT Score even in Harvard is 680-690 .

Do a bit of reserach and you will find what are the advantages that you possess.

Just go ahead and apply . Give it a shot, once so that you get the true situation at hand. I doesnt take much in applying , i guess

Thanks Vikas for all the encouragement.
Problem is that most of the schools are biased on age factor... and those low GMAT scores are ones reserved for minorities :-)
Well, if I ask you to name 5 schools that you think suit my profile best, what'd be your recommendations (with priority order :-)?

[ramdi]

Originally Posted by ramdi

Thanks Vikas for all the encouragement.
Problem is that most of the schools are biased on age factor... and those low GMAT scores are ones reserved for minorities :-)
Well, if I ask you to name 5 schools that you think suit my profile best, what'd be your recommendations (with priority order :-)?

Any further inputs?
Vikas and waiwai?