Career Advice - Round 2 vs. Lateral

Currently in a tough situation career-wise and am looking for some guidance. I don't really have anyone in my personal or professional network that I can share this with, so I wanted to reach out to this community which has been invaluable to me over the years.

For background, I took a corporate development role after being let go from a PE analyst program due to fund performance compounded by weak personal performance in my last year. I was effectively told: “there’s no path forward to associate, good luck - you have 2 months of runway to find a new job.” The PE market was horrible when I was let go (2022), so I took what I viewed to be a mediocre corporate development job at a multi-billion-dollar Series E start-up. Figured I could spin it as wanting operating experience and use it as a band-aid to keep me in a relevant role until the PE job market recovered or as a pre-MBA role.

Unfortunately, the new role has been terrible, and is arguably a complete bait and switch. I've spent most of my time on IR/reporting functions and a handful of random "strategy" projects - I've been involved in two very early-stage deals since joining ~2 years ago. I escalated these concerns countless times to my manager during my first year, but at this point I've resigned myself to the fact that this company is unable to execute on M&A given its cash flow profile and board dynamics, and really the only way to get proper M&A experience is to go elsewhere. This dynamic doesn’t seem to be an uncommon experience based on other users’ posts I’ve read on here, so it has been a learning lesson for me that you need to really thoroughly diligence corp dev roles at newer companies.

One obvious escape route is to lateral and find another CD role asap. I've tried applying to other CD roles to get out of this dead-end job; however, I've had a really hard time pitching my non-M&A related experience. 100+ apps have yielded a handful of interviews over the past year, with nothing progressing past a second round. When I was in PE, I was regularly making it to final round interviews for large corporates and other investment professional roles at MM/UMM funds. Now, I'm struggling to even land a first round interview, which has been incredibly demoralizing. 

I recently gave up the lateral approach and have been throwing all my chips into applying to M7 programs for a complete reset. That process has been incredibly exhausting for its own reasons - test prep, trying to craft a compelling story/narrative, etc. I'm also really struggling with the GRE and my scores have been pretty mediocre so far (320). Fortunately, I have a strong undergrad record (top private school, 3.9+ GPA), I'm just not sure how much that will carry me if my test score and work experience is on the weaker side.

I have 3 months before Round 2 apps are due, and I'm m trying to optimize as best I can. Is it best to focus my efforts on applying to school, or should I be looking for a new a new job that can position me better for M7 apps in future cycles (i.e., larger corporate with established M&A playbook, better branding, etc.)?

Overall, I have a pretty bitter taste in my mouth after basically being lied to by my current team and being thrown into a function that I didn't sign up to do – and frankly, my relationship with my team has become incredibly strained as a result – but I also feel like a lot of pre-MBA individuals end up in roles they absolutely hate, hence why they are applying to business school. I am also reluctant to wait too long before applying. If I wait another two or three cycles, I'd be 29/30 which seems to be on the older side for M7 programs.

With that in mind, would appreciate any / all insights from users who have evaluated MBA timing for a career change. Should I go all in on test prep for the next 3 months? Or try to find a new role, and settle in for 1-2 years before reapplying at 29/30?