Hello All,

Would be great to have this forum's suggestion/inputs on my choices for B-schools. My profile for evaluation, mentioned below.

Profile:
Nationality: Indian
Undergraduate: Anna University affiliated college : Engineering Degree( Electrical and Electronics) 2009 Batch. GPA 2.7/4
Work exp: 8 years (4.5 in India + 3.5 in Saudi Arabia)
Industry : Technology ( Industrial Automation )..all 8 years.
Function : Sales and Marketing ... all 8 years.
Age: 29
Planned intake: 2019 Jan onwards
GMAT : Planned date Feb 2018.


Career History ( Brief):

2009-2014
I Started my career as a Sales Engineer with a local small sized distributor of Rockwell Automation in India ( 25 employees with $0.2 million turnover), and worked there for 1.5 years, later I joined the competitor SIEMENS India Ltd, where I handled promotion and sales of similar technology and products ( $0.4 million Sales Target)

2014-Till present date
After working for Siemens India for 3 years , I moved to middle east market to work with a saudi small-scale enterprise ( 40 employee with $5 million turnover,), with similar job function but with additional responsibility of Business Development ( eg: As getting the company pre-qualification for contracts and tenders ( public & private sector) and with an Individual Sales target of $2 million


Future Career plan:
I wish to manage the Sales and Marketing operations of a product segment or of a technology division in a conglomerate like Siemens, ABB , Schneider ,GE etc and at later stage to establish, in India , a small scale start-up that provides Automation Solutions, in the coming years.


Desired course:
1 year MBA with core focus on Sales & Marketing or Business Development.


Target School:
Canada : Richard Ivey and Queen's School of Business
Australia : MBS, AGSM and may be MGSM ( 2 years)
Singapore : Insead and Nanyang Business School

*I believe INSEAD would be a far-fetched target .. would be glad to get corrected, if i was wrong.. :)


GOALS : Why MBA and what I look forward from an MBA program:
In order of importance : Placement, Career Progression,Networking, Skill Gap, Experience and Raised Income.


Why not : IIM's,ISB,XLRI or SP Jain or native reputed schools etc:

3 frank reasons.
1.Too much competition with young talented freshers out of UG with excellent GMAT and academic performance.
2.Less Diverse MBA class room experience with candidates without work experience & amazing stories.
3.Cost of a native MBA same almost same as an MBA with an International exposure.


Request your reply on the below:

1. Will an MBA from the above short-listed b-schools help me achieve my GOALS and Future Career Plan.
2. With my low GPA and Indian nationality, are the short-listed schools a realistic target. If yes what would be a minimum decent GMAT score.
3. Any alternate school that you might what to suggest??
4.Will my age put me at disadvantage during enrollment I will be 30 years old.
4.what is your opinion about MGSM -2 year course. I am confused; They dont require a GMAT score, then how do they maintain the quality of the candidates and class room ,and also their placement records are on par with AGSM.


Given the ROI factor, I would like to work at least 4-5 years in the country where I learn the business practices, before returning to India.

Looking forward to hear from you community.

p.s. : Last year, I had sent my resume for assessment to Ivey, Director, Recruiting and Admissions and she replied "I have reviewed your resume and am very impressed with your profile and the progression that you have demonstrated in your work experience to date and I feel you have the potential to be a great fit for our program."

Is the above a general statement or did they really mean that??any idea??.


Thanks in advance.
regards
Santosh

[Edited by Santosh1988 on Oct 08, 2017]

Because you are focussed on a narrow range of firms, I suggest you look at which schools they hire from. I doubt that they hire in large numbers from any of your target schools. Schneider Electric, for example, has close relationships with HEC Paris and ITESM. A two year program, or a one year degree with an internship in the middle, would allow you to have time in one of these firms to build relationships.

MGSM maintains its quality because it recruits MBAs with great potential. You can judge this based on factors besides the GMAT, including work experience and undergraduate performance.

For the Ivey comment: if she told you this, she probably thought you met the requirements and could be competitive, but you won't know for sure how you'll stack up unless you apply.