Ask ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting

Hi,
I would appreciate your feedback on my profile.

Profile:
Age: 32
Marital status: Married with no children
Gender: Male
Nationality: Brazilian
Languages: Portuguese – Native; English – Fluent; German – Basic; Spanish - Basic

Education:
BS in Industrial Engineering in Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ. My course was recently ranked by the local media the number 1 program in industrial engineering in Brazil.

GPA: 7.8. This grade puts me in the top 20% of engineering students in my university. What would be the equivalent GPA for my grade?

GMAT: 690 Q48, V36, IR8, AWA 5
I will retake the GMAT this February, and I am confident I will improve my score, because I had a terrible night on the day prior to the test. However, I scored a 710 and a 730 on the simulated tests.

I am a CFA charter holder and passed all three levels on the first try.

I also have international experience (01 year). I took my senior year of High School in Aurora, CO, as an exchange student.

Work Experience - Finance background
07 years of experience in finance + 03 years as an intern (30 hours a week for the 03 full years). Total 10 years.
(It is very common for Brazilian engineers to work in the Financial Market)

Partner and Head of department at a local Hedge Fund firm (Jan 2012 - Present).
Trained and managed a team of 4. Company with total of 15 employees, including backoffice.

Local Bank, private local capital, with approximately 100 employees (Aug 2005 - Dec 2011)
Initial position - Trading desk intern
Got 04 promotions
Final position - Equity Manager (Managed 3 people).
I had great work experience, including managing the equity portfolio of my bank during the financial crisis of 2008.

Local Bank, private foreign capital, with approximately 100 employees (Aug 2004 - Aug 2005)
Market Risk Intern

Local Manufacturer with approximately 50 employees (Dec 2002 - Dec 2003)
Production Planning and Control Intern

Extracurricular:
I played several sports, such as soccer, lacrosse, volleyball and basketball, during different periods of my life, including High School. I played only in non-professional teams.

Organized for 4 straight years (8th - 11th grade) the Annual Theatrical Play. I also acted on 2 of the 4 years. It was a competition promoted by my school in Brazil in which different classes competed against each other for the best play. Our team won on the 8th grade and was runner-up on the 11th grade.

In the US I did volunteer work with Denver Children’s Hospital. I also did volunteering in Brazil, supplying food for homeless people.

Goal:
Senior position in Finance/Investment Banking in the USA.
I have little interest in coming back to Brazil, at least in the near future.

Schools:
I decided to apply for MBA programs after the presidential election in Nov/2014. Since then, I have studied and already taken the GMAT and TOEFL (no grade yet, I believe it will be around 110) in Jan/2015. I will also retake the GMAT in Feb/2015 because I am very confident I will improve my score to at least 710.

As I started my process late, my only alternative will be the 3rd round. I have no interest on delaying my application another year.

Considering my profile, a GMAT of 710 and 3rd round application, I would like to know my real chances of getting in one of the following programs:

Harvard and Stanford (I believe my chances are low here..)
Wharton
Kellogg
Chicago Booth
Columbia
UCLA
Darden
Fuqua

At first, I need to short this list and that is why I am sending this post.

Questions:
Which schools do you believe that would fit my goal and what are the real chances of approval for each one? Would you recommend applying to any other US B-school not listed above?

I was wondering how the selection process works. Am I competing with all prospective students, with all international applicants, with the Latin America applicants or just with the Brazilian ones?
Thank you in advance!