Profile Evaluation

Hello ,

I have been entrenched in the application process for over a year now and had to retake the GMAT. I finally have a score of 720 (Q46|V41) and I don't plan on retaking it.

I am an Indian female, 28. I pursued my undergraduate degree at The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I chose engineering as my major (a choice I am not so happy about when I think about it today - I am more attracted to the liberal arts/economics etc.). Since it wasn't my calling and ended up with a GPA of 3.0 which was quite damming given I have been fairly good at academics all my life, but I assume not so bad since its engineering. I have always had an entrepreneurial side and returned to the country to work in the start-up space.

I was fortunate enough to be able to tread on a slightly non-traditional career path - I worked with a forward thinking consultancy (start-up) set up by a former Kellogg alumni and my team had a few MBA graduates (My manager etc.) from top MBA schools. Hence, my recommendations are going to hopefully be strong since my colleagues have the background. We were in the business of brand equity analysis and extension through licensing & joint ventures. At an early stage in my career, we faced financial distress and had to shut shop (a great learning experience). I then worked in strategy & insight consulting mostly involving consumer & market research, product/brand positioning & roll out, portfolio optimisation, launched a few digital apps. I have been promoted fast over the past 4.5 years starting at an analyst level and reaching the level of a senior consultant. I am passionate about design-thinking & product innovation and work with a non-profit firm (last 2 years) which uses design-thinking to solve waste management issues in the country. I run a curation blog on sustainable innovation. Besides that, I love to travel and have spent a fair amount of time backpacking across SE Asia, some organic farming, yoga is core to my existence.

My goal is to move towards innovation consulting or social impact consulting/work with start-ups in the sustainable innovation space.

I had applied last year with my GRE score and got accepted to IE. I got a reapplication offer (only 10% candidates get it) from INSEAD - they liked my profile but wanted me to take the GMAT and wanted a 70-75 percentile in quant and verbal. My quant percentile is n the 60's and verbal in 90's. Overall percentile in 90's. I will be sending my scores to INSEAD and hope that they consider me for an interview.

I, however, would like to keep my options open and wondering what shot I have at the following schools. Would be great if we could break it up into very strong, strong, competitive & stretch.

1. LBS
2. Berkeley
3. Stanford (Dream school - I know its tough)
4. NYU
5. UCLA
6. Judge
7. MIT

Any other school you may recommend based on my interest. I am not keen on going to a small city to study.

Thank you so much!