Dear Veritas, I am 29 years old male strongly interested in starting MBA Sep'13.

My profile is as follows:

Work Experience:

Audit and risk consultant
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; Pharmaceuticals industry
January 2012 – Present (9 months) United Kingdom

Senior Consultant
Big 4 Company
September 2010 – October 2011 (1 year 2 months) Azerbaijan

Head of product development for consumer and corporate markets
Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Telecommunications industry
April 2009 – September 2010 (1 year 6 months) Azerbaijan

Financial reporting manager
Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Manufacturing company.
September 2008 – April 2009 (8 months) Azerbaijan

Senior Assurance & Advisory business services
Big 4 Company
June 2006 – September 2008 (2 years 4 months) Azerbaijan

Commercial Manager/Senior scientific researcher
Privately Held; 101-500 employees; Petro-chemical company.
February 2003 – June 2006 (3 years 5 months) Azerbaijan

Education

Azerbaijan State Oil Academy
Master, Chemical engineer - Petrochemistry
2003 – 2005 - GPA - 4.8

Baku State University
Bachelor, Chemical engineer - Petrochemistry
1999 – 2003 - GPA - 3.2

I didn't take GMAT yet. Based on my profile could you please kindly help me to understand if I should consider applying for the program to a top 10 MBA programme (primarily interested in Wharton, Columbia, Insead, IMD and LBS).

Thank you very much in advance.

Despite being the largest country in the Caucasus region and located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Azerbaijan is way under-represented at U.S. b-schools to say the least. For this reason alone, you automatically get the attention of the admissions committees, who love to hoist new flags in their hallowed halls to represent the countries of origin for their matriculating students. The fact that you have international work experience at major public corporations will also help you stand out even amongst applicants from "remote" parts of the globe. For this reason, I think you stand a valid shot at your target schools, assuming you can 1) craft a compelling story, 2) cast a solid vision for you future and 3) get a great score on the GMAT. From your advanced education, I assume #3 will not be a big hurdle for you. Please let us know if we can be of more specific assistance as you pull everything together.

Thanks a lot.

Your experience looks very interesting and would be perceived as valuable by top b-schools. Assuming you get a good GMAT score (high 600's or more), you should be able to get attention at your target schools. One key reason is your nationality. Azerbaijan is going to be under-represented to say the least in all those schools, and b-schools love diversity. If you can craft a compelling story for how your experience and heritage has provided you a unique perspective on the world, one that will provide interesting insight to your classmates, you will have a shot. Having the right to work in the UK or other Western countries is a plus too. Let us know if we can help you. We have specialists who graduated from your target schools on staff who could provide specific insight.