thatsTheGuy

Bump .. Any reviews ??

Hi , For a long time I have been roaming these halls of wisdom at GradCafe and I am super excited to be posting for the first time. I would greatly appreciate if I could get your inputs and reviews on my profile. My main concern is about [undefined=undefined]how high and wide [/undefined]I should be applying ? Education : Bachelors in Civil Engineering - 74 % (Top 5% in my class ) - 2nd tier Indian University Masters in Project Management - Passed with Merit (69.4% very close to a distinction) - from University of Manchester (U.K) Research experience : a) Authored a technical paper during Civil Engineering and presented at 2 National level conferences (where I was awarded best paper presented in my category) Research conducted during masters on Project Management in Joint Venture Environments (was graded with a distinction for the same). Work Experience a) 1 year in a Big 4 Firm as a consultant : Reviewing Project Management practices for top firms across Manufaturing, Pharma and Power generation industries 2 years in an iOS (iPhone/iPad) Application Development studio as the Head of Projects and Operations : I am a part of the core team and have worked on everything including Programming, operations, business development, client relations and recruitment. c) Volunteered for 3 months in the UK, where I managed a project to train the unemployed to get jobs by gaining skills such as IT and cooking. Recommendations One from my thesis adviser at the University of Manchester, UK One from my thesis adviser at my Undergraduate College . One from my professor at undergraduate college under whom I took various courses. Test Scores I am studying for the GRE which is scheduled for mid November. During mock tests, I am averaging a 322; 164 Q and 158 V. But I am confident of getting to at least 168 (790) Q 162 V and 5.5 A Research interests I am pretty string at computer programming and project management methodologies. Also I do have a broad but informal experience in operations management. I am looking to pursue Ph.D in Information Science and Operations management. I have always wanted to end up as an academic. I developed the interest in Operations during my two years as head of operations in my current job. ]P.S: Although I am very highly interested in research, my passion is for teaching. I have always enjoyed and loved to teaching / help my peers during my studies. Target Schools : CMU Tepper, Kellogs, Cornell, U Mich Ross , PSU-Smeal, UT McCombs, UT Dallas, UChicago-Booth, Fuqua , UToronto-Rotman , UYork-Schulich Age[: 25 - I feel its the perfect time I would like your feedback on - Do I really stand a chance at these schools? If not , which others should I realistically target? - Is my plan to get two recos from my undergraduate college professors OK? - Since my study and research experience are not entirely related to my Ph.D interest, will my work experience be sufficient to balance the deficit? Thanks