Million months of scrutiny & finally a shortlist of B-Schools!

Been trying to shortlist schools forever and ever now..after much wading through Princeton Review,US News,forming intricate xl sheets complete with color coding in all shades of the rainbow,I ve finally settled on the list
The primary factors in choosing B schools were the following:

(1)A considerate GPA acceptance
(2)Consulting as its main focus
(3)Tuition fees

And of course I am trying my best to stay away from the West Coast thanks to their tax rates!So far I am still dreading the thoughts of being rejected with one look at my GPA, but I ve had a rather smashing career and I am praying and hoping that I will really make a winning statement with that.

I ve narrowed it down to 10 univs(and not 8 as I had hoped)..why such a large number?Well I want to be really really sure on getting through and not making the mistake of applying to high end colls that might reject me at the instant sight of my GPA!After some thorough research on univs, accpetance rates,location,consulting focus etc., Ive slotted 2 in Dream(2 - 3% chance of getting through),3 in Reach(10 - 15% chances),3 in Mid (> 50%) and Safe(>90%).See below my choices(in no particular order)

(1)Chicago GSB
(2)Yale
(3)Darden
(4)Ross
(5)CMU
(6)UCLA
(7)Duke Fuqua
(8)Cornell
(9)Kelley
(10)UNC Kenan Flagler


I was torn between Stern and Tuck, but Stern was dropped due to high cost of living in NYC and the fact that it is primarily a fin college.Tuck was ideally my dream college but the app dates will be too close to my GMAT dates and I really wont have time to send them out so I settled on Cornell instead.

I am yet to delve into the finer nuances of each univ, their curriculum etc which I will be doing in the following days.I plan to give my GMAT by mid-end October since I am currently preparing as well as juggling essay writing/shortlisting etc. all at once...its a rather tall order but I seem to work best under higher levels of stress and pressure so I hope all will end well.

Any comments on the above choices are quite welcome from readers....and in case anyone has an opinion on how to substantiate for the non stellar GPA, I d be very happy to hear about that too!