Profile evaluation (retake gmat?)

I think, and this is my own opinion, retaking GMAT and aim for higher than a 700 will give you a more realistic shot at the schools you're aiming for. I've already talked about Stanford and w/out a higher GMAT, it's just going to be a super steep battle for you. Both CBS and Haas are in the top 10 and especially Haas, it has a notoriously high average GMAT and GPA. Without checking Haas' stats, I think your GPA falls below its middle 80 percentile range, which means you're on the bottom 10 percentile. At this point, you really have to put yourself in the AdComs' shoes and ask yourself why you think Haas should take you in, especially the fact that your GMAT is also below its average. Anderson also has a notoriously high average GMAT and GPA and again, your GPA falls in the very lower range of its student body. The easist way to balance out a lower GPA is to have a high GMAT, full stop. Let's talk about your work experience now. No matter what, unless your family business is a well known family business (such as facebook, AT&T, Intel...), it becomes intrinsically harder for the AdComs to benchmark your quality with that of other applicants. One thing the committee looks for is your employability and the easiest way to show AdComs that is to have corporate experience with a large company. You then become sort of a wildcard for the AdComs to wager upon. USC, in my honest opinion, is probably the school that you should have a good shot in getting in. Your range of school should be focused in the 10-20 ranking. Top 10 b-schools, of course, will accept folks like you, but chances are slim. Again, putting yourself in AdCom's eyes and ask yourself, what have you got to offer the student body that the next Goldman Sachs applicant can't offer? As long as you can convince the AdComs that, you're solid. But the unfortunate news is (again, I'm desperately hoping that you hear good news from Marshall) that you didn't get interview invites to any other schools except USC, and this is a telltale sign that something is not right in the AdComs eyes. Lastly, there can be a lot of different places that may have gone wrong. You may have neglected to fully demonstrate who you are in your essays; or you may have a weak set of recommendations; or your extracurricular activities were lacking. Whatever it may be, it'll be hard for anyone to judge that. The only obvious thing that I can tell is that if you're keen on reapplying to the exact same set of schools (given that Marshall denies you), raise your GMAT score and hope for the best.

I'm not quite sure how you came up with this set of schools. Would you be able to elaborate a little bit on that? It seems that you'd want to stay in California, but a CBS all-of-a-sudden popped out.

I originally started with USC/UCLA as schools I wanted to apply to. My friend who is also applying to bschools this year urged me to apply to maybe stanford/berk as well as he mentioned that gpa is not much of a factor as work experience. After bschool I wanted to start a career in finance and that is where columbia came in. This year was really hectic and I probably should have researched a lot more than I did.
You bring up a really good point about being marketable and I have never really thought about that. I figured with so many years developing the family business under my belt, I had thought that I would for sure be an uncommon applicant. I guess that is not the case. I'm not sure if it is my essays or my gpa or the possible late submission to schools this year thats to blame.
Hopefully I will hear good news from USC, if not I think I will def. retake the gmat and rethink the strategy of my essays as well as the schools I apply to next year.
Thanks bakfed for your detailed responses! I really appreciate it.

No problem! I, too, hope that you hear great news from USC. Being an applicant myself through my round 1 schools, I know first-hand how nerve-wrecking this process is and I only hope that anyone has to go through it just once. Feel free to ask any questions on this board, or reply to this thread, and I'll be ready to help you out.

Just to leave a few comment on your response. It's very true that work experience should trump grade, but a quick search for Haas class profile reveals that its average undergrad GPA is 3.63 (range of middle 80% is 3.39-3.87). This alone goes to show that for top b-schools, gpa is still very important (Haas average GMAT is 718...and the fact that UCLA also has similar numbers is just mind-boggling, I think). And in terms of marketability, this is really about how you sell yourself to the AdCom, and subsequently to your employer. AdCom wants to know that you have transferable skills to your next job. Good luck!