Profile Eval

Given your background, you could very well have the potential to be the next Martha Stewart or trailblazing woman entrepreneur. From your experience, I have no doubt you have tremendous street smarts to run just about any business.

However, that's not really what top b-schools are looking for. They are looking for a particular kind of applicant -- they want folks who may have the street smarts that you do, but they also want someone with a more "employable" background - either a few years' experience at a well established firm or a prestigious university. There are certainly those at top schools with entrepreneurial experience, but its coupled with a few years of work at blue chip firms and/or a prestigious school. Especially when you're based in a country that doesn't get as many applicants to benchmark against.

That's why a lot of non-US MBA students at the top schools tend to have worked at large multinationals and graduate from their country's top university (or just as common - non-US students who went to US/UK undergrads at the Ivies).

Again, you aren't completely out of the running as there are a handful of people like you at any of these top schools (there's always a few exceptions to the rule), but you have to treat it as a roll of the dice, and apply to a broader range of schools. Perhaps schools in the lower half of the top 16 (Darden, Duke, Michigan, etc.).