It's definitely not the GMAT that is the problem. Not only would you see marginal (if any) more favor with a higher GMAT score, you would run the risk of getting dinged for taking it too many times. Generally, three times is considered a max and you already have four attempts. Your score demonstrates aptitude and is above the average for every top school, so it would be a bad choice to retake. Better to focus on what has gone wrong. Not sure if you received any feedback from your target schools, but you may have simply been lost in the noise of Indian male IT applicants. Sometimes being a reapplicant can give you an advantage, but only if you have made some stubstantial progress or improvements to your profile in the past 12 months (significant work achievements, promotion, milestones etc). If this is the case, you might consider reapplying to another of your choices from last year in addition to Booth. Due to the highly competitive nature of the top tier, you might also look at schools who have a higher acceptance rate such as UNC Keenan Flagler, Duke, Virginia, UCLA Anderson. It could also have simply been that your positioning statment and overall story lacked passion and conviction, or even a thread that holds everything together. Without a complete analysis of your application it's difficult to say, since your experience and involvement seem to be in line with a top tier application. They only take so many Indian Male IT types, so you need to have something extra in your application that makes you stand out, even if it's just a well written, passionate depiction of why you want the MBA, why now is the right time for your career and why you have chosen each school. REad your applications from last year and ask yourself with each sentence: could someone else have said this? Would someone else have done this better? It's all about standing out in your peer group. The only other thing I see is that you say you have "decent to good" recommendations. REcommendations are critical, and you need to find people who are going to rate you above your peers. If you are getting lukewarm recommendations, the top schools are going to pass on you every time--simply too many others with similar qualifications out there. One final thought: have you considered either Part time programs or even EMBA programs? Your number of years WE and your age indicate you would be a good candidate for these programs, which are generally more forgiving of core profile shortcomings. Plus many PT and EMBA programs have the ability to make more room in their program for qualified applicants and are not as restricted to a certain class size like their counterpart FT programs. Just a thought--let us know if we can help.
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