2 Years Later...GMAT Again?

Two years ago in February I took the GMAT. I had studied obsessively, waking up at 5am to put my time in before heading to the office. Yup, that's right a couple hours most mornings to ensure I would get it in. Like most aspiring MBA applicants, my work involves a lot of unpredictability and long hours. I walked out of that little room with almost an even split between quant and verbal, each over that notorious 80th percentile. My face illuminated as I thought to myself, I'm done with the GMAT forever. One and done! At the time, I was thrilled by my 700. I thought it enable me to apply, competitively, to any school in the world. I buried my GMAT books, note cards and anything other reference to that damn test.

Well 1 year and 11 months later, I'm unearthing everything. With a spot on the Haas waitlist, which of course is now my top choice, I am debating whether to retaking the test. In the Haas decision email, the adcom spelled out 6 things to do to potentially improve your candidacy. The first is to interview on campus, which I will do shortly (more to come on that one). Right below that at number 2, yup, you guessed the GMAT.

2) If your GMAT or TOEFL scores fall below our averages, you may wish to retake the test and forward an unofficial score (followed by your official score) to the admissions office.

So at 700, I must be close to the average at Haas, right? Maybe a few points below? Nope, the entering class of 2010 (per their class profile) is 718. Since the GMAT reports scores in 10 points denominations, that means I must go from the 90th percentile, at 700, to the 95th percentile, 720. And that's the class from a couple years ago!

Now the questioning begins. Do I retake the test to achieve a higher score? Could I achieve a higher score than 700? If I end with, say, a 680 would that demonstrate that I tried and thought I could do better? Or would that hurt my already below average GMAT standing? Of course, I realize no one piece is going to make or break my candidacy at this point. I could end up with a 750 and still not be offered a place at Haas. But that's no longer my question. The question is do I put myself through it for the next few weeks or not.

One additional constraint: I must take the test by the end of February. With Haas' round 2 deadline in early March, any additions to my candidacy must be completed before then to be considered when they re-review the waitlist which I'm told will be at that time.

With all of this in mind, I started by taking a practice test. No sense in diving in if it's too far out of reach. While the total was not good at all, there was one promising feature of the split. My verbal score only went down by a single-digit percentile. Theoretically this means I could do minimal work and still end up roughly around where I was last time. However, this means my quant was MUCH lower than my actual test. Some of the questions about rate/work and geometric questions weren't too difficult, that is, if I had remembered the formulas. Since I didn't they were complete guesses.

So now I have to decide whether to invest the time and energy or not. I'm hesitant to begin, knowing how much effort and time it will require. But I have to ask: if I don't get into Haas, will I regret not retaking the GMAT?

Anyone else in a similar spot? Any thoughts or advice?