I wonder if anybody has any suggestions for MBA programs that I can target with a 640 GMAT score.

My profile is as follows:

Nationality: British
Undergrad: bachelor's in business, upper second class honours
Work history: 4 years total work experience (2 years as an administrative assistant, two years as a project manager, all in a wireless firm.)
Goals: to do my MBA in the US and transition into consulting. I would like to work in the US for a couple of years before coming home.

Unfortunately, it seems like the best schools for consulting like Columbia and MIT are out of reach for me with my GMAT. But I would like to know if there are any perhaps lesser-known schools that would accept my GMAT score.

Try:-

GMAT Tiers - strong schools for your GMAT www.find-mba.com/board/27082
Shortcut to find the best US MBA www.find-mba.com/board/36065

Can you try to retake your GMAT to get your score up? Besides the schools you mentioned, something like Duke would be a good choice, and its middle 80% GMAT range tends to be between 640 and 750. Since you're at the bottom of that range, and since you have under the average work experience there (5 years) it's a long-shot. Other schools that are good for consulting placements will most likely have similar stats.

Some other schools you can look at might be Vanderbilt, Boston College, George Washington, and Georgia - Terry, although my feeling is that these are still reach schools for you.

I would rather apply for schools where my GMAT score is securely within the median range, any thought to as those? Otherwise, I'll retake the test.

Seriously, try:- GMAT Tiers - strong schools for your GMAT www.find-mba.com/board/27082 to get a dozen or so to focus on and then use How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571 to pick three or four that best suit your goals.

Maury's suggestions are not bad but, for the top consulting firms, you will need to get over 700 since they focus on the top 10 schools.

[Edited by Duncan on Mar 19, 2015]

I see. Yes, it looks like I'm going to retake the GMAT. I've got some time so best get studying. Thanks!

Sort of in the same boat... My GMAT is higher than yours but still lower than the averages at the best schools for consulting... I did some Linkedin research for people working in boutique consulting firms, and these are the schools I've come up with:

Washington - Foster
Seattle University
Colorado Boulder
Georgia Institute of Technology
Boston University

These are the schools I'm targeting... Maybe they'll work for you too...

Washington - Foster
Seattle University
Colorado Boulder
Georgia Institute of Technology
Boston University