Hi Thomas,
First of all let me congratulate you on the excellent pieces of advice that you have delivered on this website.

              Let me brief you with my profile. I graduated from the **Indian Institute of Technology, India** in the field of Computer Science & Engineering. This is the premier Institute in India with very distinguished alumnus ,people who have gone on to become CEO at Mckinsey to cite just one such example. The entrance to its Undergraduate program has been rated toughest worldwide. To study in my department you needed to be within Top 500 from 300,000+ examinees in India. Acceptance rate of below 0.2%.Thats how tough it is.

             I was enrolled in the **5 yr Bachelor+ Masters program in Computer Science & Engineering**. Being away from home I could not concentrate on my studies in the first 2 yrs and got a bad GPA. **In my final years I got good grades**. Apart from that I have a decent student profile with **two research publications**. After graduation I joined **Cisco Systems** based out of San Jose, California in its Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Bangalore as a software engineer. My company is a networking giant with a very big brand value. Currently I work in **Data-Center Unit**.

         Now let me give you some stats. At this stage I have **1.5 yrs of job experience**. We were given a cumulative GPA at the end of our bachelor and masters curriculum. I finished with **7.1/10** which is not a great GPA. Although I did take **some management courses** in my school and scored straight A’s in them. I am confident of getting a score of **720+ in GMAT**.

       I basically have 4 questions.

1>I am not particularly interested in continuing in this High-Tech Computer Industry. My ambition is to do an MBA from the best school in US like Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg and take up a management consulting job in a giant like Mckinsey, BCG.As I come from the best school in India I do not want to take admission to anything below these IVY League Universities. But the major problem that I am facing is that because of my low GPA combined with my present job profile. I think these top ranked schools would not admit me. Plus I do not have the kind of work experience at this stage that an average class in such Ivy League schools has like 5-7 yrs. So I was thinking of a stop-gap option of doing a MIM through which I have the chance to redeem my GPA.I want to apply to 1 year MIM program early next year to the best schools in Europe like London Business School. So my plan is If I get an admit to such top schools in Europe and manage to land up job at a good company and work there for 2-3 yrs again before applying for MBA.I think this will enhance my chances of getting admit in the best US schools rather than if I continue my present job. Your take on this?

2> My current job is a back-end development engineering job with no interaction with the clients. We basically develop new software features for our Cisco routers and switches and ship it to the customer. Most of the work is done individually with no chance of leading a team. I am not very fond of this kind of job. I want a job where I feel I can contribute significantly to the dynamics of the company and be an influential figure. So I want to take up management. Do you think MIM program is a fit for me?. I am looking strictly for a 1 Yr program.

3>Finance is a major issue. By the time and if I apply next year I would have saved 20,000 Pounds which I guess would help me complete the course. The focus also is to get a job after graduation there so that I would have sufficient money for my MBA in US. On the other hand if I continue my job in India, by the time when I have 4-5 yrs ex and start applying for MBA I would not have saved more than 50k$ which I don’t think would be sufficient for MBA studies. So getting an International Job is imperative and such a 1 yr MIM program can help me in achieving it. Your take on the Return on Investment Plan ?

4> If I do the MIM now then will it be a hindrance to my MBA application in the future. What I mean by this is that the Graduate Selection criteria for MBA would think that I already have an exposure to Management courses and would do redundant courses?

Your time and co-operation is greatly appreciated  !!!

Thanks,
Kaustav