Retake 685 (Trad. Applicant, poor QR score)
Sorry in advance, Ik this topic has been discussed ad nauseam here.
I took the GMAT and got a 685 with a 71st percentile QR (99th VR, 97th DI).
Will improving to a ~715 materially improve my chances at H/S/W? I imagine it would take at least 50-100 more hours of studying quant topics.
For context, I graduated from an Ivy with a 3.95 so the rest of my academics are strong. I'm in investment banking, and will be joining a PE firm next year (so, good but not differentiated work experience). Ton of volunteering experience in college with small leadership roles for my ECs.
I worry that the cohort that I will be compared against (ORM bankers) will have stronger than median test scores, which hurts my chances.
Does it make sense to sink the time to retake? Or are essays really the difference-maker for my profile and GMAT is more of a check-the-box.