Hi!
First off, I loved reading your profile. I was a dancer myself in a professional Indian dance company/school which I helped launch and this was a big part of my story! Business schools want to see multi-dimensionality and personality and passion in your application, so DEFINITELY include a story on dance. Ideally, you can show leadership within the story while simultaneously highlighting other character traits (creativity, etc.). You don't want every story to be about dance, but definitely it should be at least one story as it is such a big part of your life. Dance is all about teamwork, so definitely highlight that in your story since you don't have a lot of teamwork/leadership stories from work.
The same goes for your community experience - sounds like it's been very consistent and very personal. You should be able to show great strength of character and contributions to your community. Sounds like you haven't held a leadership position in this organization though, which would have been ideal.
The other big + in your application is your academic record -- great GMAT, great GPA, and great grades at Booth, too! Well done!
As for your professional experience, you are dead-on here. I know this field is a difficult one to demonstrate leadership and teamwork. The fact that you are at the Fed, however, (versus a boutique economics research/consulting firm), will be a plus. That said, you'll really need to think hard to find one or two professional stories that show leadership, firm stewardship, impact, etc. Can't ignore it entirely, even if you don't have the strongest material to work with. It's not impossible to overcome with your other credentials, but it's the big handicap in your application as of right now.
HBS, Stanford, Wharton and Chicago are all very competitive, as you know. You want to be careful about a couple things: 1) being overly ambitious in the # of schools you apply to per round, and 2) being overambitious with your schools. Most applicants who are working full time apply to 4-6 schools in one season. It takes a fair amount of time to build and execute each application well. So, while I think you have a shot at these schools, I would caution you against only applying only to top tier schools given the nature of your professional experience. I would suggest you pick 3 of these schools to apply to and then supplement your list with slightly less competitive schools like Michigan, Duke, etc. (or whichever schools appeal to you in that range). Sounds like that was what you were thinking, but I would build the full list now and then stagger the applications (you just can't forecast which ones you'll get done when, and you don't want to be scrambling at the end...). Hope this makes sense!
Best of luck,
Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
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