Round 2 vs Round 3 or next year?

[ayrathod]

I have a question regarding the difficulty level of getting into business school between round 2 and round 3. I am scheduled to sit for the GMAT at the end of November. If I do not get 700+ I will have to re-take GMAT and apply round 3. I am planning on applying to HBS, Chicago, Columbia and UCLA. If I do end up having to take the GMAT again is it better to wait until next year and apply in first round instead of round three this year?

So that you can better assess my situation, my profile is below:

Economics major, UC Berkeley (3.47 GPA)
3 years as Investment Banking Analyst at bulge bracket investment bank
2 years in strategy and corporate development at private company
No community service experience.

Thank you for your insight!

[mbamission]

Hello:

It is much more difficult to be admitted to a school in the third round than the second round. If you can submit a strong application in the second round I would strongly encourage you to do so. If you do not get a high enough GMAT score for the schools you plan to apply to, I would encourage you to consider waiting until the first round of the next application season. That might also give you some time to pursue activities outside of work since you mentioned that you don’t have any right now.

Sincerely,

Akiba Smith-Francis

MBA Mission

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