Hi People,
I scored a 710 on GMAT, still dont know the AWA score coz official report has not come as yet. I wanted to know how should i go about the entire process from now on. I want to join Sep 2007 session. I have an appointment with Princeton tomorrow regarding admissions procedure. So thought it will be good if you guys could tell me with this profile (below) where do i stand? Will I have an advantage of being an Indian girl? If yes, which colleges would lay emphasis on this?

My Profile:
I will have 3 years of work experience in IT industry by June 2007. I passed out in June 2004 as a Computer Engineer from one of the Karnataka's best engineering colleges.

Initial 5 months strating from 4th July 2004, I worked with a consulting firm. We underwent a training for 2.5 months. It was a team of 28 people from across the country including IITians. I topped that training (The training assessed us on : Temperamant, Communication skills and Technical skills)

After this I joined a US MNC, world's largest Networking giant. Unfortunately, I got into the most difficult team. I worked really hard for the initial one year but could never get along well with my manager so finally he screwed up my appraisal, gave me NO bonus and NO salary hike for this year. And let me tell you all this happened coz of a personal grudge that he has against me. I am the youngest team member (with the next senior person having more than 6 years of exp more than mine). Also I am the only female member in the team. But finally I could manage to get a transfer in another testing team but same domain. Hopefully by the end of this month i should be in the other team. In my stay here I had the responsibilty of making builds for the product independently (guess u would not understand but its an imp task). I also had the responsibilty of 3 interns (now absorbed and are M Techs). I also got an award for outstanding performance. But i have absolutely no on-site experience as we have all the expertise concentrated in india. My company works in such a way tht travel abroad is a rare sight.

Extra- curricular Activities

1. Volunteer for an NGO for children of life convicts of Central Jail of Karnataka. They are 64 in all in 2 facilities. I go to one of them which has 32 kids.
Basically these kids were not confident so my main motive was to let them feel that they are as good as anyone else. So strated doing a lot of cultural activities, games, celebrating festivals with them, teach them painting, english etc. Coz i am good at skating so teaching them the same currently. I organized a fund-raiser in my company for the kids by selling cards tht i made them make.

2. Organized a free eye check upm, health check up camp all alone for approx 370+ slum people in Cox town, Bangalore. Looking at my zeal, Lions Club North, Rotary Club etc came forward to fund my cause. Finally it was v v successful. These patients were given free medicine, free cataract operations by Minto Hospital. I am planning to join Lions Club as a member now.

3. Ran and completed 21 km International marathon that happened last year in Bangalore. Also an 8 km marathon (this was organized to raise funds for disabled children).

4. Member of MENSA IQ org (2% people of the world with highest IQ).

5. Trekking remains my all time fav hobby. I did a course on rock climbing. Have gone to himalayas for trekking. Along with this have gone for a number of treks.

6. Roller skating remains very close to my heart coz this is something i was serious about but due to financial constraints and family background could not follow it up. Apart from this travelling. Have travelled extensively in India.

7. Have identified an old age home and will be going there from coming week to teach yoga to old people.

8. Have been in top 0.1% in X std (CBSE), got scholarships from Bank of Baroda throughout academics. In college throughout was a merit holder.

Now my worry is

1. I have not got any salary hike this year. Will this be a problem? But the sole reason of not getting a hike is not getting along well with the manager on a personal level. I dint want to quit because I really wanted to prove a point that they had gone wrong in assessing me.

2. I was in developement till now but will soon be moving to testing. Is it ok? But the domain remains the same. I can furnish explanations for the same

3. I was the youngest team member and was recruited in a place for a person with 5 years work ex (i am not exaggerrating). Also the only female member. Can this be put in a +ve light?

4. Are my extra-curriculars ok? I am not into any one sport or any particular activity per se. The biggest reason for this was financial constraints as i have a big family and parents wanted us to only focus on studies. So was never encouraged to do anything else except studies. This took its toll.

Lastly, what can I do to make my profile look better. I still have 3 months in hand and I am planning to continue with my social work. But will it be sufficient? I will be really thankful if you could take out time and gimme some pointers on what are my chances of getting into US top 20 schools.

Thanka and regards
Neha