Hi Graham and Alex - I'm a huge fan of the podcast and would be so happy if i was featured on it! Living in Australia, there are lot of times I feel a bit lonely in my MBA journey (not many people apply from here), so listening to you guys every Tuesday morning (not Monday for me) the past couple of months has kept my spirits up.

Hope you can help me navigate the following 3 questions:
1. Ethnicity vs country of citizenship - Will adcom view me in the Indian applicant pool due to my ethnicity or as an Australian (my citizenship)?
2. Switching careers close to the MBA admission process and promotion timing - I've recently gotten an offer from a top tech firm to join as an account manager (google/amazon/uber) - which im really interested in but also conscious of the timing in relation to my MBA aspirations. What would be beneficial purely from an MBA application perspective - stick with my consulting job and possibly get promoted in the next 6-8 months or take up the role in tech, to differentiate my experience. Would your answer change if i applied for the 2021 round?
3. Considering my background, potential gmat score, and experience should apply for round 2 (fall 2020) or just wait and apply round 1 for (fall 2021)
4. Failed a single subject multiple times at uni - is it too big of a hurdle to overcome?

Some background about me to help:
1. Current Location: Melbourne, Australia
2. Background: Male, Ethnically Indian but an Australian Citizen by birth. My family moved around a bit so a grew up going to school in multiple different cities in Australia, New Zealand, US and India. A decent chunk of my teenage years in India (8 years).
3. University: Completed a double degree in Industrial Engineering and Business (5 year course) from a Top 3 school in Australia. My average is 66% which is considered an Honours Class 2 division 2. Marking in Australia is harder - hardly anyone has an average of over 80-85% in engineering. That being said i do have a stain on my academic transcript. I failed a specific engineering subject 3 times before passing it. It is the only subject i ever failed during my degree (i just really struggled with the really technical topics of physics/maths it covered). I eventually passed it. But it sticks out like a sore thumb. At university I've held several leadership rolls as President and Vice President for 2-3 student clubs. I was also elected onto the student representative board 2 years in a row.
4. Work experience: During my time at university I spent a year in the Australian Army as an engineer officer and also interned for a small tech firm. By the end of university I realised hardcore engineering wasnt for me and I joined a BIG 4 firm to do project management consulting work for tech implementation projects and have been with them for 4 years. Currently a senior associate, and might get promoted to Manager in the next 6-8 months. Work has given me exposure to many different industries and regions - I've worked on projects in all major cities in Australia and also projects in the south-east asia regions (but only for a period of 6-8 weeks overseas). At work I've also spent some time working with the analytics team for (3 months). In terms of domain - I've worked in every domain - healthcare, finance, govt etc - and am currently more of a generalist.
5. Extra curricular: I've been volunteering at an a major International NGO for the past 2 years, where I support one of their international programs (which is focused on aid for low socio-economic kids in south east asia) with data analysis. Help them better track, analyse and report the effectiveness of their programs (Via dashboards and data reporting). I personally trade/invest in the stock market and have ben doing so for about 5 years.
6. Short term post MBA goals: MBB, strategy consulting. I currently have lots of hands on/advisory experience in the execution of projects and would now like to gain some experience in the early stages of a project - the strategy and business aspects. Also would consider going into a product management role for a tech firm.
7. Long term post MBA goals - After 5 years or so in consulting I would like use my project execution + strategy/business experience to start my own non-for profit in India focused on effective aid distribution. I still have lots of roots - family and high school friends back in India.