Why MBA

Why not ? I finally seem to have my answers.
So after weeks of soul searching and reading and researching the net and discussing with wise ppl, I feel that my interests would be best served with a focus on operations + strategy. Why operations ? Because it gives the big picture of how any firm (manufacturing or otherwise) begins its process from procurement to delivering the final product to management of its logistics. Because I have close to 4 years of experience in the distribution sector and have developed a fair interest in SCM. Because I would like to get into operations consulting post MBA, and then move on to lead the supply chain strategy of some manufacturing firm, or lead the distribution sector of an IT firm, and in the longer term become a COO.

COOl ?

I am still trying to research the various career options available after an MBA in ops and an engg. background, and one misconception that has been cleared is that one need not end up on a factory/plant to manage the various things even if one needs to go into hard core operations. I will compile a list of essential reading from the net and post it here very soon for career options post MBA in ops.
A lot of MC firms (AT Kearney e.g.) have a focus on operations consulting, so thats one big area. Another good area is the application of SCM in various industries, be it aerospace to automobiles to retail and consumer products to finance and banking ! Yes, thats right, I can end up in a financial services firm after an MBA in ops !!

This seems to settle my mind a bit, else its been a lot of mixed results and unclear thought processes ever since I began my research. Now that I've decided on my core specialization, I can check if my list of colleges are in tune with what I want, as well as what other electives they offer. I am particularly interested in strategy, and an amalgamation of strategy + operations + economics and information technology. And as per my initial research, I have noticed an admirable list of subjects in most of the colleges on my list. I already have 7 US colleges on my list so far, so need to scale it down or keep it there, so as not to increase the number every time I find any other prospective college to my liking :-)

So its 7 US colleges and 3 in Europe, and my biggest worry is to get recommendation letters for 10 colleges !! It would have been polite enough to ask for a couple of recommendations, but 10 is really stretching the limit of politeness !! So I need to sequence these letters carefully, lest the 8th, 9th and 10th letters start affecting my chances of getting in - negatively !

Careers in operations + strategy after an IT background - tips solicited and would be extremely helpful :-)