How to plan the next 5 years to reach the top b school

njindia1234 · August 23, 2007, 11:51am

Hi I have been following this site for some time now and I really believe you folks are doing a great job.Thanks a lot !! And I really apologize for the long post. I am 22 years old and I need a little bit of guidance about how should…

njindia1234 · August 23, 2007, 11:51am

Hi
I have been following this site for some time now and I really believe you folks are doing a great job.Thanks a lot !!

And I really apologize for the long post.

I am 22 years old and I need a little bit of guidance about how should i plan the next 5-6 years so that I can look for a MBA programme from a TOP 10 univ in US.

I completed my Btech from a lesser known college in India . Actually the college is known in India but virtually unknown outside. Finished with GPA of 8.9/10 ( by the rule of US GPA = INDIAN GPA +2 /3 , its equivalent to 3.63/4 )
Although the academic performance is good but would the name of college be an hindrance?

I have been working for Accenture as Software engineer for the past 1 year and am considered as one of the top performers for this year in my company.

I intend to stay in this industry only for the next 5-6 years.
During this period I would grow from an engineer to much higher leadership positions.

My career goal is to join top consulting firm , maybe Accenture only, after I complete my MBA and as most of the consultancies have huge IT arms , i can present a very good case of able to bridge the divide between technology and real business.

Second , I work for a healthcare client , one of the 3 largest in US , and if I stay in this place only , I can showcase my understanding of healthcare business in two ways : one , how i am able to integrate tech with business and thats one thing very important in consultancies ; two , i can use my healthcare industry experiece to improve the state of my own country , india ,and here as the health care is in a mess ,i can really put a nice argument.
What do you suggest ?

Third , I dont know but does certifications carry any weight in getting inside top MBA college ,for e.g. certs like CFA/CPA in finance sector , AHM / LOMA in insuarnce domain. If I aggressively pursue them on top of my technical knowledge , and then can explain the correalation between the two worlds . Would it help ?
Infact I consider the above two to be my biggest strenghts , which come natural to me .

Fourth , for community service do they look for some certificate kind of stuff or only I have to explain what I did ?

Fifth , would 6 years of experiece in Accenture/Capgemini ( 2-3 promotions ) look better than 6 years of an lesser known firm ( maybe 4-5 promotions ) or vice versa ??

Sixth , I would love to learn French . Would knowledge of multiple languages be of any help . I love to learn more languages and if it can be differentiater , I would pursue it more aggressively.

Would be looking forward to inputs from you .

Thanks in advance !!

harsharocks · August 23, 2007, 12:20pm

Hi
I have been following this site for some time now and I really believe you folks are doing a great job.Thanks a lot !!

What do you suggest ?

ddesi · August 23, 2007, 2:52pm

a. Work on GMAT.
b. Get nice work experience (International too)
c. Join a non profit org.
d. Work on interview skills.
e. Save some money.
f. Find the path post MBA.
g. Write a book.:-)

DD

neo2000 · August 23, 2007, 4:29pm

I know Harsha reported this post but what I really want to know is whether the thread poster is really going to spend the next 5years building a profile for the Top10 colleges.

To Lock or Not to Lock, that is the question

linkinpool123 · October 4, 2007, 6:57pm

I dont think anyone spent 5 yrs to build a profile to get into a b school....the biggest motivation to a person for MBA comes either from working in a monotonous job for some time (say a yr and two) or seeing others making good progress (and money) in life comparted to himself/herself..:wow:

and i dont think , this thread serves any purpose..as it will be fulll of all cliches...
do this and do that....

the good plan to stay focus for MBA??? visit pagalguy once in a while , keep reading differnet threads and build(if only possible) a positive attitude...thats it...

what u say PUYS??

PS: no offence to ne1...

goldberg23684 · October 5, 2007, 3:24pm

Take initiatives at work. and make sure you see them out..don't just plan and watch them waste away. If you are doing community service, do it out of interest and not with the only goal of getting a certificate- you could just use that community service time to do something you enjoy (like say learning French and then writing an essay around it!)

Honestly, if you are going to look at everything from now purely as a MBA differentiator you are going to find yourself not enjoying life. Don't worry about your MBA from now (since you only plan to do it after five years), at the end of it, you might have a great degree (and several marriage proposals) but you might have not lived your life at all.

Last, have confidence in yourself. Don't worry about things like no-name college etc. There are hundreds of people who went to no name colleges and are now in the best B schools abroad.

P.S: If you want to be in consulting a CFA/CPA is not going to be of any use BUT if you find learning finance really interests you then go for it!