Need Help Picking the 4th School

How about Northwestern? They place very well into MC

I would suggest moving one of your R2 schools into your R1 pool. It appears your R1 schools are higher ranked/your preferred destinations, but it will be worthwhile for you to do an application/get an interview at potentially a lower ranked school for the experience of completing an application/interviewing.

Kellogg would be a good roundout school. I'd also do Wharton. GPA might be a little low though.

I only know one person who used an admission consultant and it didn't work for him. Although i think he only did it for the essays. Anyone else have any positive/negative stories?

Tbh you should move two R1 to R2s and move two R2s to R1. Your GPA is below average for pretty much all the schools listed (I think they are 3.5ish?), GMAT is average at best even for the R2 schools for your demographics and work experience isn't that fancy. And lot of people come with the want to do consulting story. Basically its a crapshoot with your profile and don't be surprised if you see lot of WL actions. R2 ones will also want you to show commitment, so do your legwork (e.g. visit, talk with students).

It will help you a lot to pick consulting versus IB for your career goal. They’re pretty different, and once you get outside the top ~9, schools tend to do better in one or the other.

After that, personally, I would simply move two of your R2 schools into R1, and apply to five R1. Despite what someone said, I applied to five in R1 this year and didn’t find it all that bad. I obviously started very early, but I finished each application with a couple weeks to spare. Plus, I’d much prefer to continue to be swamped on my five apps in R1 and then have much less of a chance to need to gear up for R2. Even thinking about sitting down to do the two R2 apps I was going to do was painful before I got in.

I recommend this because you have three solid reach schools for you in that group now. If you go 0/3 at those schools, I just don’t see you getting a bite at Kellogg or Haas or wherever else. Because of that, I think I’d pick your two favorites from that second bucket and do them in R1. That way, you will likely (hopefully) have an admit (I do think you’d have a good shot at everywhere in your second group), and if you really want to, can throw your name in the hat at one of the top-10 schools that you skipped in R1, without any pressure. It will be much easier to pick Fuqua over Cornell, for example, if you decide that MBB is your goal.

As to your chances, I mentioned above that you have a very good shot at all of your second group. You have good grades (a 3.4 from a decent school is not an issue, despite standard WSO beliefs), a 720 is above average at all of them, and you have decent work experience. I would do as much as possible for that non-profit you’re now involved with – that could be a huge differentiating factor and solid essay/interview material. Columbia and Tuck take plenty of 3.4/720s with decent work experience, as long as you execute well.

As for an admissions consultant, I am a huge advocate of them. I think the application process can absolutely be done right or wrong, and there is a lot of room in the middle. A good consultant will help you get as close to right as possible. I have written elsewhere about my experience and why I would use one – I would look around for one of those posts (there are a ton of consultant posts on here).

I didn't use one, and don't think admissions consultant is necessary. All the advice they'll give out is readily available on the internet, just have friends read your essays to refine them.