Need help regarding school selection

If your wife's career is important to you (it should be) then I would eliminate Tuck. There are limited job opportunities in Hanover, and judging by what you said she is in...there wont be jobs for her there. This is why I didnt apply to Tuck last year, its a great school but not worth my wife's career. In the end if you went there, it would most likely end in a long distance relationship.

If you want operations I would say Ross would be a great school for you. It has a great GM rep and has one of the best reps in the operations area. Judging by your very brief profile I would say with some good presentation you would be competitive at Duke and Ross both of which would be good schools for you. Both also are rather community oriented and your wife would be welcome. Our Indian members did well at both those schools last year, especially at Ross. Darden also has a very good rep, not sure much about its community since I didnt research it but it would be a good school to look into.

You are probably only going to do this application process once (with some luck of course). I would definitely pick on dream school.If you are going to have a dream school that is a top 5 I would say go with Kellogg over Sloan. Nothing against sloan since it and Kellogg are basically equal in operations. Its just that you said you are looking for a school like Tuck in terms of what it is like for spouses. I can tell you Kellogg is second to none in that area. It and Tuck both treat significant others like students, your wife could sit in on classes, join clubs, go on class trips, use the career services area, etc. However, Kellogg is in a MUCH better location for your wife's career, Chicago is a 30 minute train ride.

Not to be harsh but your chances as an Indian IT guy at MIT are slim...as a whole Sloan is extremely popular with engineers and IT people (the MIT brand to those people is god like). I know there has been discussions about Sloan being tough for Indians but I think it goes beyond that to its tough for all engineers. Schools like a nice mix of students, and its a safe bet that a much higher percentage of applicants to MIT are engineers/IT folks. So though it would be a great school for you, you arent going to be as competitive as you would be at some of the other ultra elites like Kellogg or Chicago where though its a tough hill to climb its not quiet as steep.

Being married definitely adds a lot to the decision process, keep her involved. I would suggest you have your wife research her job possibilites in the various locations. Unfortunately the very top schools are the ones located in the big cities where as many other schools are more surbuban. There are some other great schools that would work for you and your wife. Haas comes to mind since it has a great brand (berkeley is strong worldwide) and its location would be great for your wife.