Hi,
I studied for around 3 weeks and scored 680 (88 percentile) on the GMAT and 5.5 on the AWA.
I have a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and have 9+ years of Full time work experience. Currently I work for Microsoft as a Program Manager.
I plan to apply this year to schools such as Harvard, Standford, University of Chicago, MIT, Berkley, Dartmouth, Kelogg, Wharton, Lonedon Business School, IMD, and a couple others in Spain.
My question is that should i re-take the exam and aim for a 700+ or do I not need to retake the exam?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Much thanks

some additional information:
I am a 29 yr old Asian guy and I have a decent participation in community Services. I have around 3.7-3.8 GPA and I have a decent amount of leadership experience.

thanks!

If you have time to take it and you think you can score at least 40 points better than your last score, by all means do it since the applications won't be out until late summer and you have a few months to focus on re-taking the GMAT.

Having said that, a 680 isn't bad - it's still within range -- also, it depends on the breakdown. If you scored low on the verbal (and given that you're an engineer), that will be a concern for the adcom.

The other thing I suggest is to narrow your list of schools to 5 or 6. Your chances are better by focusing your efforts on a smaller number of schools rather than trying the machine gun approach where you'll dilute your efforts across too many.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

Hi ALex,
thank you so much for the reply...
Here is the breakdown for my score:

Verbal: score 36, 80 percentile
Quant: score 47, 81 percentile
AWA: score 5.5, 83 percentile

total: score 680, 88 percentile

I have a feeling that if I prepare for 7-8 weeks, I can push the score by 40+ points but I wasn't sure if it is worth the effort and whether I have a decent chance at top schools with this score in addition to my existing background.
If you tell me that I will be compared among a pool of candidates of other engineers where everybody is scoring 700+, I would think I definitely need to take it but if you feel that it is not the case and the chances are fair as it is now for the top schools, I would rather not put all that effort on the GMAT and concentrate more on real cool opportunity that might be coming up for me within Microsoft.
As you advised earlier, I will definitely work on short listing the list to 6, atleast for the 1st round.

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I did apply this year for Stanford in the 3rd round but I don't know how much my chances are. I am still awaiting the results. I did get excellent references from within Microsoft and from my community leaders.

many thanks again Alex. I look forward to your response.

Prepping for a GMAT re-take and doing something cool at work aren't mutually exclusive (unless you're sneaking in study time in the office when you should be working haha). Try to see if you can juggle both

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

haha, that is true.
Ok, i believe I will go for a re-take and hope that I can 40+ points to my score.
I am applying for:

Harvard
MIT
Dartmouth
Kellog
University of Chicago

Please let me know if you feel I should modify my list, based on my profile.

thanks

I don't know, it sounds good, if those are the schools you want to go to, although I'd say that HBS is out of reach - you're too old (and same with Stanford and Wharton). The rest you listed (MIT, Chicago, Kellogg, Tuck) will be stretches for you, even with a 760+ GMAT.

If you're dead set on going next year, you need to either apply to lower ranked schools where you'll have a more reasonable shot (i.e. Darden, Duke, Michigan, Haas, NYU, UCLA, Cornell, Yale, etc.) or you have to be prepared to not get in anywhere. It's going to be competitive next year and judging from your list there's a good chance you won't get into any of those schools.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

thanks for the feedback Alex.
If i may ask, with a good GMAT score and 10+ yrs FT experience in good companies and a decent extra-curricular profile, why do I have less chance in these top schools? Is it primarily because of my age?
In addition to the schools I mentioned below, I am also planning to apply to:

LBS
IESE
INSEAD

thanks!

It's because you have 10+ years.

The full-time programs are really designed for those who are very early in their careers (i.e. a couple years out of college), and not for mid-career professionals like yourself looking for a career change. Top schools can afford to be more choosy and can therefore focus on younger folks.

You either need to consider lower tiered schools, or part-time / executive programs where you'll be a better fit.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

alright, thanks for clarifying Alex, it helps a lot!
as for the career change, the primary reason I am going to give in my essays is that I have primarily worked in IT field and now am looking to move into enterprneurship.
I am targetting top schools because of their management trainee programs which can get you started on a solid footing.
In terms of job, all my experience has mostly been for GE, Amgen and Microsoft, hopefully that should help.

That being said, I tend to agree with you as well that I need to rethink my strategy.

Much thanks as always Alex!