Take a look at GMAT Tiers - strong schools for your GMAT www.find-mba.com/board/27082 and also consider narrowing your career goals. You are not a competitive candidate at LBS or Insead, I suspect.

Hi, Duncan.

In what way do you think my profile is not competitive? I am just retrospecting. I have 8+ years total experience with 4 years in Management of a small private company. And I met with LBS and INSEAD alumns during their Info Sessions in my city and they suggested that I have a good chance if presented with a good Essay.

I suspect that you are not competitive for the reasons outlined in the thread I linked to above. Of course I would need to see your whole application, but without a higher GMAT or more focussed career goals it might be hard for LBS to think that you will be easier to place than a similarly-qualified candidate whose work background is with firms that hire most from the school. At Insead, I think they will think you have too much experience, and will be too set in your ways, for example for McKinsey or Goldman Sach to mould you.

I certainly think an 18-21 month MBA with an internship would suit you well, so LBS IESE, and ESADE are the right sort of schools to focus on if you can improve. Without a prior background in IB or strategy consulting, Insead is too much of a stretch for you to move role, industry and country.

I am clear about not going into Finance or Consulting. I am looking at ESADE too. How about Rotman, Toronto. I would like to settle down in the country/region I do my management studies. On that front, is ESADE or Rotman better?

Unless you speak Spanish, Rotman will be a more secure route to residence.

If you don't want to go into either finance or consulting, are you sure that Rotman is the best choice for you? Usually around 70 percent of its grads go into either finance or consulting. Schulich tends to have more rounded placements, with its MBAs going into marketing and operations roles, as well as into finance/consulting...