Hi Linda,

Kindly have a look at my profile and help me in reviewing it. Thanks in advance.

Kindly evaluate my profile. Thanks in advance

Work experience : 51 months ( aug-2008 to nov-2012)
Gender : Male
Nationality : Indian
Profession : Software engineer


Professional Experience :
Software engineer: 2 yrs 5 mths in Banking domain ( With one of the most reputed Indian IT company)
Software engineer: 1 yr 8 mths in Trading domain ( With one of the most reputed trading firm head quartered in India)
GPA : 2.63 / 4 ( after scaling )
College : Indian Institute of Technology
Extra acads : Won few competitions in college but do not have any certificate as a proof. Did some event management in technical fest and cultural fest of my college, though my role was not that significant. Did some CSR in my company. Again no certificates of participation here. On a second thought, do colleges really look for any certificates for Extra acads ? If not, then can I convince them with the work I did in CSR or the competitions that I won in college?
GMAT 1 : 650 ( QA :51 , VA :26)
GMAT 2 : 690( QA :50 , VA :32)
Areas of Interest : Primary : Marketing, Secondary : Finance
Colleges to apply :
1) Michigan Ross
2) Dartmouth Tuck
3) Fuqua, Duke
4) NYU Stern
5) Indiana, Kelley
6) HEC Paris
7) Kellogg
What I realize here is that my GMAT score and my target schools are somewhat in a mismatch. Yet, I’m giving a shot. I would really appreciate someone to provided their inputs here.
My Queries :
1) How is my GPA going to affect in admission to the above mentioned schools. Is there any way to compensate for it ?? Apart from retaking GMAT !!!
2) My professional background has been revolving around software/banking/Trading domain. How good are my chances to get into schools that are well known for marketing ? How do I make up for it ?? Are good essays and LORs the only hope for me ??
3) Considering my profile what other schools I can have a best shot at ? I am very skeptical of the huge tuition loans and it would be really great if someone can suggest a good b-school (within Top 50 global rank) based on ROI.

P.S : I am keenly waiting to apply for round 2. For HEC Paris I am thinking of sept- round.

My GPA at IIT was 6.57/10 . Undergrad in Electrical Engineering.
Yes I can definitely raise my verbal quant score by atleast another 6 pts and can work upon my QA score as well. I do feel that I should have got 700+ easily, which unfortunately I didn't ! I am a little bit apprehensive of taking a 3rd attempt because I don't know its implications on a B-school resume and whether it would be good enough to take 3 attempts in a year. Also, I am applying with this score nfor the sake of applying in round 2 of colleges . If need be ,I have to wait for another year and apply in R1 with a good score. Which one is better ?? Please help