Dear Cloodle,

Thanks for your post!

Your first question is about when to apply to Berkeley in light of your GMAT result. As you've already taken the GMAT exam once and have a score on your record (a prerequisite to apply), I suggest that you go ahead and apply in R2. You can then retake the exam on December 20th and send along an updated score to the adcom. Include a note in your application (perhaps via the optional essay) indicating that you have a second test date set up and will be contacting the adcom as soon as you have the score. The benefits of being in the second round outweigh any risk associated with initially applying with the 660 GMAT result.

As to the GMAT result specifically, your score is fairly well balanced - albeit lower than you'd want it for a top school like Berkeley (their average is roughly 40-50 points higher). When you retake the exam, it would be ideal to get your quant. result up above the 80th percentile mark. Beyond that, adding some points to your verbal score would be an efficient way to impact the overall total (the verbal section typically offers more bang for the buck in terms of impacting the overall score - due to the fact that so many applicants do well on the quant. section).

In terms of school selection, your background sounds quite interesting and my hope is that it helps to carry you beyond any liabilities associated wirh your GMAT results. Beyond top schools that are known for marketing, small business and entrepreneurship (Kellogg and Wharton come to mind specifically), you might investigate programs like Indiana and Babson if you are in search of mid-range options. Of course, in order to give you school-specific advice and better grasp your odds of admission (to understand what sort of programs constitute "middle range") I would ideally need to see a resume. Feel free to send one in to [email protected] and set up a free session to review your profile and discuss your odds/school selection.

Best of luck,

Graham

I agree with Graham. You should avoid R3 at all costs. There will be so few seats available at that time that even with a perfect GMAT, it would still be difficult to get into many programs.


Good luck retaking it!