550 w/ AWA 6.0 1st GMAT score -- should I retake?

In short, I don't think you have a strong chance getting an MBA at ASU, IU, nor UNC full time because of the GMAT.

You vs. the Numbers
https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ra ... s/asu.html
Your GMAT is likely between the 10th and 25th percentile of apps at ASU, but your score is well below the 10th percentile of the incoming class.
the 10-25-50-75-90th percentile for apps: 570-630-680-710-730
the 10-25-50-75-90th percentile for incoming: 630-660-690-710-740

https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ra ... diana.html
At Indiana, your GMAT is likely below that 10th percentile of apps and the incoming class.
the 10-25-50-75-90th percentile for apps: 480-580-640-690-710
the 10-25-50-75-90th percentile for incoming: 620-650-680-710-730

https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ra ... s/unc.html
At UNC, your GMAT is below the 10th percentiles for apps and in the incoming class again.
the 10-25-50-75-90th percentile for apps: 570-630-680-710-730
the 10-25-50-75-90th percentile for incoming: 630-660-690-710-740

The odds aren't good for you to get to any of these programs with a 550, when you combine a sub 3.0 GPA. If your GPA is low, your GMAT has to make up for the difference (and the GMAT means more anyway). Admits with lower than average GMATs likely have well above average GPA's to compensate for it. Obviously admissions isn't just a numbers game, but when a school takes someone with a below average metric which will play into its rankings (like GMAT or GPA), that admit needs another rankable metric that's stellar.

Statistically, you probably won't get a fair shot at these schools without meeting at least the median on the GMAT imo. That means you need at least 100-120 points more, which is a 650-670 which would pull you into the middle 50th percentile. If your score was in the 25th percentile, you may only need 20-30 points to bump up to average for the last incoming class on the other hand, but because your score is very low for these programs, you will have to improve considerably and you're not helping yourself by not giving yourself an extra shot at this test.

It's not easy to improve your score obviously, but it is doable. I went up from a 540 on a cold practice test to a 660, and even now I still think that if EVERYTHING went right for me on test day, maybe I would have a 700, but take your extra points where you can. I'll take the 20 extra points I got last time.

Your goal: Re-take and improve your GMAT score
I recommend that you take a couple more months to study this test again and take it again. The math on this test isn't that hard. It's the wordy tricks in these problems that throw us off. You definitely should get a quant score above 40, which is barely above average too, because everyone in the world understands the language of math. For verbal, you should spruce this up too. You can really gain a lot of percentile points and GMAT score points the more you improve that section. The AWA's and integrated reason won't count as much, but they are still in the application too.

There are many folks here who have below 3.0 GPA's but still got into good schools because their GMAT and other accomplishments made up for it. I know some folks here think you should take community college classes, etc to provide an "alternate transcript" but I don't think that is worth your time at this point in the game. Killing the GMAT is more important right now. Good luck!



UPDATE

*crud* I saw you were going for the online only programs. In this case, the average scores for these programs are generally lower than the full time counterparts. I myself am applying to a part time (but not online program). That said, no schools have a part time or online MBA average at around 700 or more except Northwestern, Chicago, and Berkeley. But still, you should go for a higher GMAT, because the UNC online program's average was well above 600 when I inquired about it.