Please evaluate my profile

Hi Paul:

First of all I want to thank you for providing this service to us GMATclubbers. I know I only get one complimentary evaluation, so I read about 200 of your evaluations before posting mine. Hopefully, everything I need to say and everything you need to know is communicated clearly and succintly in this post.

Candidate Profile:
Age: 25
Nationality: Singaporean Chinese
Years of Work Exp @ Matriculation: 4
Languages Spoken: English (native proficiency), Chinese (2nd language conversational), Italian (beginner)
Undergraduate: B.Sc. Business Admin, unknown univ. in Mid-West.
GPA: 3.9x
GMAT: not taken yet (let's assume less than 650 to be safe)

College Experience:
*Started my freshman year when I was 16 years old.
*Served my Junior & Senior year as Student Manager for their Division I Basketball Team. Started as a full-time volunteer my Junior year and worked my way into the Head Manager position, awarded a full athletic scholarship, and was responsible for leading & training a group of 3 junior managers.
*I do understand that the further I get away from college the less relevant these accomplishments become, but on a personal note, I treated it like my first real job and had a great opportunity to develop my communication & conflict resolution skills, patience, and time management.
*Juggled my work-study commitments well and earned a 3.9x overall GPA (albeit from a virtually unknown school) and was nominated during my Junior year, to my surprise, for a School of Business Student of the Year award (but again it’s a small private university so I don’t think it’s anything to be rah-rah about).
*No other collegiate curricular activities because of the intensive nature of Division I athletics.

Military Experience:
*Upon graduation, enlisted in my country’s military as part of my military service requirement. Served for two and a half years in the U.S. equivalent of the Department of Defense / Pentagon. I was assigned as a specialist in a unit involved in Psychological Operations, Public Information, and Internal Communications.
*My responsibilities included speechwriting for senior commanders, developing training materials on Psychological Warfare, editing publications on Homeland Security & military transformation, and supporing Media Relations activities. My most memorable experience was being staffed as an Operations Assistant during the humanitarian efforts to Tsunami victims in Indonesia.
*Did not have any significant leadership opportunities, nor was I involved in combat situations. I was promoted twice to a final rank of Senior Specialist, and had the opportunity to get a glimpse into the world of strategic planning for a nation's defense force.

Post-Military / Certificate Program (2006-2007):
*Enrolled in a UC Extension program for nine months – obtaining a Professional Certificate in Marketing. No coursework considered quant-heavy.
*My reasons for doing this were (1) I did not feel ready to jump into an MBA/Masters program, and (2) I wanted the opportunity to get back in touch with business and to complete a couple internships in career fields I was interested in.
*I completed a 3-month internship with a Fortune 500 wealth management firm, and another with a startup CSR-type Branding Agency.
*Finished the program: 45 Quarter (UC system) Credits, 4.0/4.0 GPA. Completed coursework in Marketing Research, Strategic Marketing, Brand Management, and a final consulting project, among others.

Current Job (2007-present):
*Currently an Operations Analyst at a Regional investment management firm. Along with the usual responsibilities that come with working in the back-office (transaction processing, monitoring, client communications, account management etc.), I’ve been able to work on some small projects aimed at improving our processes, workflows & procedures, and performance measurement.
*Doesn’t compare to leading teams around the world to implement complex consulting engagements, but I'm just happy that there's some sort of progression in my career (undergrad business degree -> wealth mgt intern -> brokerage ops), and I’m getting work experience.

*I continue to volunteer my time at the CSR Branding Agency. It's a small firm with <10 people. The work is interesting and keeps me busy, and gives me an opportunity to learn about small business and corporate citizenship.
*Some projects worked on include fundraising for a city-sponsored event, preparing feasibility analyses for a European leisure product manufacturer looking to enter the U.S. market, and designing a CSR-oriented marketing curriculum for international students at a local university.

Extra-curricular Activites (current):
*I volunteer at a regional (South West) non-profit aimed at fostering leadership and social responsibility among children and teenagers. Most of my time has been spent working in their corporate office in a marketing/administrative capacity.
*I've helped organize & coordinate fundraising events and gathered researched on potential donors & partner institutions. My personal favorite is teaching high schoolers how to market their chapters to other students on campus, in order to grow our membership base.
*Finally, I’ve been in youth leadership & mentoring positions at my churches for the past 7+ years, although I don’t know how the adcoms will view religious activities so I won't elaborate too much on it.

Personal Evaluation:
Strengths:
*Diversity element (citizenship/language)
*Military experience
*International work experience
*Somewhat non-traditional work experience & decent extra-curricular activities

Weaknesess:
*Crowded Chinese applicant pool with HIGH Gmat scores (?)
*Relatively young (?)
*Unknown undergraduate & current employer is considered a "regional player"
*Lack of any significant leadership experience & accomplishments at work (awards/promotions, leading teams, managing others, developing strategy etc.)
*Ok volunteer experience, but IMO nothing spectacular.

Why an MBA / Career Considerations:
(1) Operations Consulting: Project management, six sigma, process improvement, workflow mapping etc.

(2) Brand Management: for a Financial Services company (e.g. CitiCards, AMEX, Geico marketing)

(3) Prime Brokerage/Operations: My backup is to continue in my present line of work and try to find a job at an Asset Management Firm, either in the US in an emerging Asian/European market.

(4) Start an admissions consulting service helping applicants gain entry into the world's most prestigious MBA programs.........just kidding

Selection Constraints:
*I don’t think I have a “wow” enough profile for a top 15 school that's why I'm not including any.
*I’m trying to choose not-so-elite schools with strong connections in consulting (at least 10% annual placement into consulting services)
*I started prepping very late so there is a very strong chance I will be applying to many of these schools in the 2nd or 3rd round for Fall '08
*Significant offers of Merit-based Financial Aid would be a swaying factor.

Potential Schools:
1. "Longshot IMO": Tuck, North Carolina-KF, Emory, Georgetown

2. "I don't know": Notre Dame, Indiana-Kelley, Rochester, Ohio State, Babson, Boston C.

3. "Good chance": South Carolina, Thunderbird, SMU Cox

Questions:
1. What would be your overall assessment of my profile, and what are the strengths & weaknesses you see?
2. What do you think of the way I categorized my target schools? Is it accurate, realistic? What are some schools you would recommend based on my career goals?
3. If I get 680-720 on the actual GMAT, could I start gunning for a top 20 program? Or am I still limited because of other non-GMAT factors?

If anyone else wants to comment on my profile feel free to do so, I'm sourcing for ideas & opinions.

Thanks Paul!