encyclo wrote:
The situation has gotten me in a spot. A day before the test, a friend asked me, "What score would you loathe?" and I had replied, "700! Because I wouldn't know what to do next." And that's what has come true!
The short answer that I would give you is DON'T take the test again. I know that it's hard to swallow that advice when you're confident that you can do better, but a 700 will not keep you out of ANY school. Heck, even Stanford (the school that usually has the highest mean GMAT score) only has an average score of around 710. So, nearly half of the people they admit have a score below yours.
The best way to think of the GMAT is that a bad score (which you definitely DO NOT have) alone can keep you out, but a great score alone will not get you in. Our advice for applicants has always been to do well enough on the GMAT to be near a target school's average, and then focus on the other, harder (and more important) parts of your application. That especially means your essays and your recommendations.
Will moving up from a 700 to a 750 make it any more likely that you'll get into a top school? Not really. Will spending that time and energy to take your essays from good to great get you into one of those schools? It's much more likely. My advice is to FORGET about the GMAT now. It's done. You did fine! Now focus on the real meat of your application.
About your work experience, I didn't completely understand your note on your work experience. Do you mean that you've only been working for eight months since college? If so, I'd get another year or two of experience before I applied. Schools will want to see a lot of maturity and a record of accomplishment (both of which are far more important than your GMAT score).
Good luck!
Scott
_________________
Co-Author, Your MBA Game Plan