Hi Linda,

I have an urgent question regarding my MBA application. I am applying
for MBA programs (HBS, MIT, Stanford, and Haas) starting in fall 2005. I
was planning to apply for 2nd round (HBS - Jan 5, Stanford - Jan 6,
Sloan - Jan 19, Haas - Jan 21). However, after having completed my
first GMAT exam yesterday with a 630 (Q 47, V 29), I am unsure. Should
I retake the GMAT in Feb., hopefully do better and go for 3rd rounds
or should I submit now? I am not certain that I can improve my verbal score much more because I am not a native English speaker and I have studied quite hard on the verbal already.

I believe, however, that appart from my low verbal GMAT score and my low GPA in
my first semester of College (1st semester GPA 3.0 gradually increasing
to last semester GPA of 3.8), I have good
professional experience (2 years NYC i-banking with Salomon focussing on Latin America & 3 years of entrepreneurship in New Zealand) and unique personal background (professional athlete before College, and various interesting extra-curiculars) as well as strong essays and excellent recommendations.

It would be great, if you could provide me with your opinion on what I should do - submit for 2nd round or 3rd? The sooner you can post something the better because the HBS and Stanford dealines are due on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Happy New Year!

achuard

Thanks Linda for your advice. I might wait for 3rd round, brush up on my English, take the GMAT a second time and hopefully do better.