Hey Jeff,
Your goals and personal story make sense. They're not exactly exciting (I don't mean that to be rude) in that countless other applicants will be playing the same angle. Not all will be engineering, but some will be. Pay attention to this - you want a hook - you want something to make them remember your application as distinct from the countless others.
Ok - but on to your real questions, eh?
Work experience - I get that you don't have the opps for promotion but since you've been there for years, I think there are ways to structure your resume to show clear progression and trajectory along with key leadership themes. As an engineer, you'll have a lot more on the "thought" and "eminence" side than "people" but that doesn't make them any less important!
Academics - you have a good GMAT (you're in the 700+ club so that's nice!) and your GPA (both overall and major) is average / above average so that's good too. I don't think you'll have any issues on this component.
So on to schools. For you, yes, HBS and Wharton are both stretches. Actually, Wharton is more engineer friendly so perhaps you should consider switching there. I think you should definitely apply to a stretch like a H or W - if you don't try, you won't know!
If your goal is consulting (and yes, consulting will definitely give you the skills, network, and marketability you're looking for) then you want not only the placement, but also the education to help you be successful.
Let's split this into a few buckets keeping the above in mind:
Stretch: Wharton (I know you said HBS but this is my suggestion)
Realistic Stretch: Kellogg
Varying Degrees of Aligned: Columbia, Tuck, and Duke
Safety: McCombs or UNC (UNC tends to feed specific firms and specific service offerings in addition to general management - McCombs is less specific in that regard so it would get my vote)
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts!
Bhavik
Your goals and personal story make sense. They're not exactly exciting (I don't mean that to be rude) in that countless other applicants will be playing the same angle. Not all will be engineering, but some will be. Pay attention to this - you want a hook - you want something to make them remember your application as distinct from the countless others.
Ok - but on to your real questions, eh?
Work experience - I get that you don't have the opps for promotion but since you've been there for years, I think there are ways to structure your resume to show clear progression and trajectory along with key leadership themes. As an engineer, you'll have a lot more on the "thought" and "eminence" side than "people" but that doesn't make them any less important!
Academics - you have a good GMAT (you're in the 700+ club so that's nice!) and your GPA (both overall and major) is average / above average so that's good too. I don't think you'll have any issues on this component.
So on to schools. For you, yes, HBS and Wharton are both stretches. Actually, Wharton is more engineer friendly so perhaps you should consider switching there. I think you should definitely apply to a stretch like a H or W - if you don't try, you won't know!
If your goal is consulting (and yes, consulting will definitely give you the skills, network, and marketability you're looking for) then you want not only the placement, but also the education to help you be successful.
Let's split this into a few buckets keeping the above in mind:
Stretch: Wharton (I know you said HBS but this is my suggestion)
Realistic Stretch: Kellogg
Varying Degrees of Aligned: Columbia, Tuck, and Duke
Safety: McCombs or UNC (UNC tends to feed specific firms and specific service offerings in addition to general management - McCombs is less specific in that regard so it would get my vote)
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts!
Bhavik