Interview Guides

Age: 31

Education: Bachelor’s in computer science and engineering from a State University (1st Division)

GMAT: 770 (Q 51, V 45, IR 8, AWA 6)

Work Experience: 8 years (9 years by the start of MBA)

Current Role: Group Manager (Director) – Product Management (+ AI Research & Development Lead) at HCL Software

I am the youngest Group Manager in the organization with 250,000 + employees. As Received back-to-back promotions for the past 4 years.
Role I am currently working in requires an MBA and an average of 12-15 years of work experience at my company.

Currently managing a team of ~10 Product Managers (All MBA's from Elite Business Schools in India).

I currently manage a suite of B2B Products with an Annual Recurring Revenue of 100 M $+.
And have filed multiple AI Patents in the past few years.

Extracurriculars:
Held leadership roles in school (Captain)
General Secretary at University
Head of Fashion Club at University
Part time Professional model few years back
Additionally, I am a State level Cricket and Handball player

I also am a Co-Founder and Director at an NGO aimed to help underprivileged children get access to basic education and have helped more than 7000 children till date.

Start-up Experience:
E-commerce Spice Startup (Part-time and Profitable, employing 20+ rural women)

B2B AI and Tech Startup (MVP Completed, Onboarded Ex-COO of HP Enterprise and Startup (Acquired) Founder as Advisors, Discussion with 2 F500s for Pilot and Angel Investors in progress)

Post MBA Goal:
Work in a Product Based Organization (Tech) at the heart of AI Development.
Long term goal will be to build an AI Led Tech company.

I applied to Booth by myself 2 years back. Got the interview invite but couldn't convert the call then.

Planning to apply R1 this cycle.
Honest feedback please.

FYI: I have been working on building startups since some
time now. Did few MVPs , few enterprise grade products. Received validation even from F500s.
However, with VCs and Top investment funds discussions, the 2 barriers i realized were: Pedigree and Location.

Getting into an M7 would help with Pedigree and location both factors. Plus if required, with
M7 on my resume i can target roles in OpenAi, Anthropic, etc. for Al Deep exposure before moving in full Entrepreneurship mode. Most advancements in Al are currently happening in US and China. China isn't a feasible location for me. And Al firms and expertise are still in premature stages in India.

I am applying in Round 1to these schools - currently I am Senior VP at PE company overlooking investment decisions. Do you think I have a good shot or I need to add some safety schools? Also do you think 6 schools in R1 is doable in given timeline?

This is the update of the post done few months ago.
A hardware engineer in a relatively small company is interested in tech-based or SI-based MBA provided by some schools. My ideal post-MBA career is so still abstruct as anything with science or technology background seem attractive. Score 165 (IR:18, V:9, Q:18) on EA, or equivalent to 695 on GMAT acquired. I know most traditional MBAs don't accept EA solely, but no more exam prep I guess.

Extracurricular:

Member of major political party's National Council/Board - competitive election process, 1/30 councilors leading national party operations.

Founded and run major website pertaining to politics, 100+ authors involved and thousands of social media followers.

Misc. political involvement, non-profit work during HS and University (local boards, ambassador, etc.).

Own 2 Online Brands/YouTube channels with 150k+ total followers and profitable.

References:
Will be able to get Sr. Director/VP skip level (Stanford MBA)
Political leader (think head of province/state)

Post MBA - Goal is to accelerate career in tech partnerships and move to similar BD/partnerships role at FAANG. Elevate myself on the political front too.

Did a MA in Philosophy too with a 3.6 GPA.

I graduated in 2022 from Utah Valley University with an undergraduate degree in accounting. My GPA was 3.79.

After my first year of college I took a break to serve a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints full-time for two years. While there I served as a leader of ~20 volunteers for about 1 year. I also taught English as a second language classes twice a week and was program manager for about 6 months.

Upon completing my degree I worked as a financial analyst from Jan 2022 - July 2023 for a healthcare consulting company. I then moved to NYC and now work as a financial analyst for Red Bull New York (pro soccer team owned by Red Bull).

I volunteered for 2 years as an usher at a community theatre in Utah and have volunteered weekly at my church as a teacher / youth leader for the past 3 years.

I took the GRE and scored 160 Q and 168V. My quant score is a below the median / average at my target schools though my verbal score exceeds the median / average. I'm trying to determine if my Q score is going to be a serious roadblock to applying R1 this year. Should I retake the GRE and try to improve my Q score, maybe applying next year, or should I apply this year with my current score and work on crafting my story.