Profile Evaluation Please

Hello Team,

Please evaluate the following profile and provide guidance.

Personal - Indian/Male/29 yrs

GPA, major, school –
67%, Computer Science Engineer, College ranked 35th in India including IITs & NITs

GMAT with breakdown
Scheduled coming September. Targeting 720+

Resume highlights, including company name, job titles and promotions
Worked with India's second largest software exporter for 7.3 yrs

Career Progression - Software Engineer -> Module Lead -> Programmer Analyst -> Domain consultant
Moved into consultant role (Domain consulting group) through internal gating process with multiple interview rounds. Recommended by previous project leaders

Worked with four major clients (Fortune 500) in financial services space. Lead consulting side of the engagement with two clients

International exp - 3 yrs US Geography (Durham, Minneapolis, NYC, Richmond)

Activities in addition to my performance measures-
Took part in recruitment drives
Anchored one of the presales RFP
Published POV (organization level) - Retirement services
Developed a case study (project level) - Ramping up resources
Devised targeted communication for one of the practice with audience 1500+

Extracurricular involvements
IEEE member in Undergrad
Active member of Toastmasters International
Member of NGO dedicated towards teaching and healthcare of children in need
Donations to multiple programs including World food program

Awards, patents, publications, etc...
Certifications -
Association of Mutual Funds India (AMFI) - Mutual Funds Basic
NSE’s Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM) - Securities Market Basic

Presented paper in IIT Roorkee (while in undergrad)

Interesting personal facts - countries lived in, challenges faced, unusual interests
Countries lived in - India & US. Also visited Canada – Quebec French cultural fest
Challenges faced - Took care of undergrad funding myself
Interests - Cooking, Dancing (Bollywood & Salsa), Yoga. Joined Language exchange program (in Minneapolis)

B schools targeted
i) Duke Fuqua - NC
ii) ISB Hyderabad India
iii) UNC Kenan Flagler - NC
iv) UCLA Anderson - CA
v) McCombs UT - TX

Reasons –
i) Ranking - Under top 25.
ii) Geography - SE, SW. From long term perspective, I prefer job opportunities in these regions.
Iii) Relatively Fair chances of getting scholarship
iv) Plan to major in Sales/Marketing/General management

Additional background info
I moved out of previous employer in Dec 2011. Since then I haven't joined any other employer.

My aspiration of moving into client facing group (IT sales/key account mgmt/engagement) looked like a farfetched dream due to lack of qualification ie. MBA and experience. Didn't want to move to any other IT mammoth simply because they all run in same fashion and I would have ended up in same function and position

Tried for client servicing opportunities with budding organizations but to my hard luck they all either asked for qualification or core business dev experience. Got just one chance but got rejected for same reasons

Jan-June 2012 was kind of break period. I waited for right opportunities. Did some freelancing work. Also, made some personal plans, which were on back burner for long, priority.

Now I am preparing for GMAT and planning to apply for 2013-2015 class

Questions
i) Is the targeted school list good enough or should I research for some more schools also?
ii) Do I need to write an optional essay explaining my move out from previous employer?
iii) Any additional thoughts to help me in my application process?

Regards
Vish