Hi All,

I had taken the GMAT back in late 08 and rushed my applications in an attempt to get accepted for the 09 school year, however that didn't quite pan out as planned. Now that I've taken a year off to try to improve my chances, I want to ensure the most realistic yet well-rounded choice of schools to apply to for the 11 school year, and I'd appreciate any kind of input from the more experienced folks here. =)

First, a little background information:
I want to go to a school with a good GM program as well as a reputable international business or/and non-profit concentration. My goal is to eventually start a non-profit strategic consulting type service in Asia, but want to gain the experience from a company that has a good MDP or LDP which has overseas potential.

I have a software engineering bg with a 710 GMAT score, along with a 3.4 undergrad GPA. I have 4+ years of working experience and have been promoted three times in that span across two companies and now has a role of a QA lead. I do volunteer work via np organizations and through the college alumni program, as well as at the local library. I am a 27-year-old Asian American.

When I applied back in 2008, I applied to Tuck, Ross, Columbia, and Johnson, but all in R2 (Columbia has rolling admission, and I applied in early Feb). I was dinged w/o interviews from all four. I think the major issues were: didn't visit the schools, didn't have standout essays, and didn't possess enough work experience (2.5 years of exp at the time of my applications). I will be rectifying all these.

Now as for the schools, I'd like to have a reach school, one or two competitive schools, one safe school, and another school where I am almost 100% to get accepted, as I really don't want to wait another year to start my pursuit for an MBA. As of right now, here is the list I've come up and am tinkering it still, but any suggestions would be immensely appreciated:

Reach:
Ross (reapply) or Duke?

Competitive:
NYU
Kelley
McCombs

Safe:
Kenan-Flagler
Fisher

Near Lock:
Boston?

I would like to keep the total number of schools between five to six, and of course, I might have underestimated how difficult it is to get into some of these schools. If so, please kindly point out, so I won't be surprised in my application process. =) If there are other schools I've missed in my research, I'd also be very grateful to learn about them and research them.

Thank you all for your help in advance!

It has been pointed out to me by PM that I misread the OP, which says the OP is applying for 2011. That being the case, you're obviously doing fine in terms of advance planning. And yes, you are still competitive at the schools you are listing. You might also want to consider Yale, as it is in that Duke/Ross range and is also very good at non-profit.

My other recommendation would be for you to google for the Net Impact Business as Unusual Guide to Graduate Schools. It will give you a better description of what the specific "social business" strengths of each program are, and also a lot of good content for your essays to answer "why school X."

Personally I applied to 8 schools, but that is because I wanted to give myself as many scholarship opportunities as possible since my future career is not going to be ibanking or management consulting.