Application in process...Emory or UVA Darden or...?

Question

Hi folks, I am currently preparing for the Round 1 application for MBA 19' and contemplating what schools to apply to. I plan to apply to 5 schools, and already have 4 ideal schools in mind (application in process), but now deciding on the 5th one.

A bit of my background first: 
Male, Taiwanese (no dual citizenship), 28. GMAT: 740, GPA: 3.84 (Liberal Arts background, majored in Slavic Languages and Literature). Speak Mandarin, English, Russian, and French all fluently. 
While number-wise I seem to meet the basic requirements from T15 business schools, I have to admit that my weakness is in WE. I graduated in 2012 and served in mandatory military for 1 year, and after being discharged and upon enrollment (by Aug 19'), I will have accumulated about 54 months (4.5 years) of WE, which inherently means that I do have some pretty big gaps that I'll have to explain during the application.

Some more details: I started my career in hospitality first in the Seychelles as a Russian translator and worked there for about 10 months, then I came back to TW and took about 8 months learning French full-time intensively (however my level went from 0 to pretty advanced) and looking for jobs in France at the same time. Later on I traveled to Paris to participate in an "internship" program at Disneyland Hotel Paris, which lasted for 6 months and was intended for young adults learning advanced French. After Disney I immediately went to Dubai to work in the Four Seasons Hotel for about one year. While the WE could benefit from the multicultural and global immersion, the weak point is obviously that I worked only at Operations Department, which is Front Office (certainly not a favorite for Bschools), and that I kept jumping from one location to another without an apparent promotion in function or even salary.
During my last few months in Four Seasons Dubai, I started reflecting on my career and decided to take a far more serious and aggressive approach, so I switched my career to recruitment consultancy (will have 2 years+ experience upon enrollment next year), and sat GMAT test, hoping that I would be able to secure a place in a good MBA program and further progress my career into MC. While the first few years of my career could look REALLY bad for Adcom, I'm hoping that what I have done in the past 2 years (I started the transition in late 2016) could change how they perceive of my application.

Now into the topic. My logic:
1. For personal reasons, I consider Bschools only in North America.
2. As a Taiwanese male with no dual citizenship, US may not be the best choice for MBA if I look to change the location. For this reason, my first ideal schools are Rotman and McGill, both located in Canada.
3. But if I could get into a really good school in the US, I might consider it as it could still enhance my chance of staying in the US; or if I'm not able to, a degree from a really good US school may still allow me to work in other locations, for example, the Middle East or Africa (I embrace the idea of working in these regions wholeheartedly!), where talents are lacking. By "really good schools" I'm not talking about the M7, it's not realistic considering my WE, so I chose Yale and Ross even though they are still a pretty far stretch (I have to give it a shot anyways!)
4. But if i'm not admitted into any of the 4 schools listed above, I need to have another option, as in my case, a Bschool could really help my accelerate my career into MC (not just talking about the MBB, again be realistic, 2-tier MC and even boutique consulting firms will suit me well).
In this case, I have Emory in mind. However, from what I have read, it seems that any Bschool in the US below UVA Darden is considered a "regional" one(?) I don't really mind working in regional offices, but as an international, regional offices might mind hiring me as they have a handful of other competent candidates ready to work regionally. And if I do not stand a chance to work in regional offices in the US as an international, a degree from a "regional" school in the US may seem of no use in the international labor market.

Should I apply to Emory? Or should I stop at UVA Darden? However UVA Darden is pretty in the same tier as Ross, and just slightly lower than Yale. What other schools would you recommend if in my shoes?

BTW, some may argue that Emory is still ranked higher than Rotman and McGill, and if i don't get the admission from these 2 CAN schools, getting into Emory will still be a hard battle anyways. I don't think so. My logic is, lots of intl. students give up US schools and choose Canada instead because of the intl. students policy, so the competition for top CAN school could be still pretty fierce, even more than schools not in the list of T20.

tommyling · Answer

BTW I cannot think of any other "regional" schools as a better choice than Emory, as it send most students to MC (as opposed to UT for example), and Atlanta is substantially bigger than any other city in the SE US. (although I'm not American and have fairly poor idea of US geography lol)

So this comes down to the question: is an MBA from a "regional" school worth it for intl students?
Also the deposit due date of Emory is on the same day as Ross releases its final decision on admission.... :/

Application in process...Emory or UVA Darden or...?

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