Hi All,
Feeling pretty disappointed, and was hoping for some advice here. Just as some background I have been studing for the GMAT since August 2015. I know studying over this long of a time period isn't the best, but I work in consulting and have developed a pretty good reputation as a "go-to" for my superiors; consequently, I work ~80-90 hours a week so my studying was confined to the weekends only. A little longer than a month ago I took the GMAT for the first time and scored a 710 (Q 44; V42). I was't entirely happy after receiving this score so I scheduled a retake and communicated to my superiors that I needed a little more free time to study, which they tried to oblige with. I made it my effort to study EVERY DAY no matter how late I was at work and took off four days from work preceding the date of the exam to prepare. The result of this second GMAT was 700 (Quant 47; Verbal 40). The verbal is really bothering me, I've taken 10 practice CAT's and my range for verbal was a 40-44, so I scored towards the bottom of my range on my second test. The highest I have ever scored on quant during these practice tests was a 49, but most fluctuated within the 44-46 range, so the recent 47 is fine with me.
I'm from the Philly area and it's my dream to go back for school, and I've been to Wharton sponsored networking events specific to my field and really liked everyone I met. I've also been to Columbia for similar events and enjoyed the people there, albeit I am not as close to the community yet. Although these two school have occupied most of my thoughts while studying, I looked forward to being done and exploring a majority of the top institutions to find somewhere I fit best based on feel and how their program fits into my plan, not necessarily the ranking. As corny as it sounds, a major driver of my happiness these past two years has been the dream that I will get into one of the top B schools, and the GMAT seems to be what is really going to ding me.
What do you all think, is it worth going at it a third time? I've studied for a little over a year and took every precaution I could to make sure this one went right, including taking the time off to get myself in the right mindset, which I do not think I can afford to do again. What's really bothering me is if I "super score" my two scores, you get either a 720 or 730 depending on the chart you use and I would have been more than happy walking away with either of those scores on my recent test. My access to my prep software expires in mid-December so I would have to take it again soon, and I am a little disheartened/frustrated by the whole situation, but I want to be admitted badly. If I were to take it again and get a 730, would that have a large impact on my chances at either of those institutions or top schools in general, or is the fact that they'll see my quant was a little low before and I tried to rectify it enough (assuming they will look at both of my scores)? Thanks for all the insight and advice to hopefully come, and thank you all for being part of a community that has been my favorite site to lurk over the past year.