Admissions help needed

[aj1978]

Have PhD in electrical engineering in a mid tier school (rank 40-50). Scored 740 on GMAT. Have 2 years experience in R&D. Plus months experience in a research group in a top telecommunications firm. Age 29. Handful of publications. Solid mathematics background.
Grad school GPA 3.96

Citizenship: India

I am interested into entering finance/venture capital program. Aiming Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Uchicago, UCLA, Columbia.

6 years experience practicing karate. Speak Korean and Japanese.

Just got rejection from Princeton finance program.
Dont know why. After this rejection, is it worth to waste money on the above schools? Any suggestions welcome. How competitive would I be in getting into these schools? Should I focus on rank 25-50 schools? I am currently applying for 3rd round.

(Those who get into Uchicago or Columbia or UCLA usually dont apply to Princeton Mfin. So it is in a sense a "second tier" school as they do not get all the outstanding applicants)

[EEPHDWANNABE]

aj, please keep us/me posted on your results. I have a similar background in very similar line of work (though not nearly as experienced as you are) and would like to see how you do.

As for your rejection, maybe you have too "quantish" of a profile and the committee might have determined that you were ready to go straight to the industry as you are. Don't give up.

[jakI]

You're clearly competive applicants and there is no free ticket into to any school, very few of us are going to get in to top programs.

But you have an excellent background, great scores and education, and it seems to me that if you submit a solid essay explaining why you're interested, you're very likely to get in to multiple programs.