Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi, was looking for advice on whether to take the GMATs again based on my current situation. I had applied last yr to 4 top schools (hbs, wharton, tuck & chicago gsb), i-viewed at all except hbs, and was dinged at each. Was thinking of applying again this yr. to different schools (nyu, columbia, kellogg & darden) but am concerned about my GMAT. It falls below the avg. for 3 of the schools I'll be applying to. However, I have already sat for the exam 3 times over a two-yr period (although cancelled 1st attempt). I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off: 1) taking one more time to try to score 700+, or 2) applying and using essay #4 to explain that although my quant. portion was weaker than I would like, I have other areas that I believe display my financial capabiltiies (e.g., CFA charterholder, 3 yrs. in financial analyst role, undergrad. finance degree w/strong GPA). I have listed my stats below. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks.

White male, 28 y/o.
5 yrs. finance experience (3 yrs. sell-side, 2 yrs. buy-side)..top companies
Dual major undergrad (finance & communications) from small university...3.7 GPA
CFA Charterholder, various NASD securities exam licenses
3 GMAT seatings:
1st - didn't score, walked out after essays & cancelled
2nd - 690 (40-90% Verbal, 44-73% Quant, 6.0 95%)
3rd - 660 (38-83% Verbal, 43-68% Quant, 6.0 87%)
Extracurriculars: Mobile Disc Jockey, volunteer work, others.

djrobg wrote:Hi, was looking for advice on whether to take the GMATs again based on my current situation. I had applied last yr to 4 top schools (hbs, wharton, tuck & chicago gsb), i-viewed at all except hbs, and was dinged at each. Was thinking of applying again this yr. to different schools (nyu, columbia, kellogg & darden) but am concerned about my GMAT. It falls below the avg. for 3 of the schools I'll be applying to. However, I have already sat for the exam 3 times over a two-yr period (although cancelled 1st attempt). I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off: 1) taking one more time to try to score 700+, or 2) applying and using essay #4 to explain that although my quant. portion was weaker than I would like, I have other areas that I believe display my financial capabiltiies (e.g., CFA charterholder, 3 yrs. in financial analyst role, undergrad. finance degree w/strong GPA). I have listed my stats below. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks.

White male, 28 y/o.
5 yrs. finance experience (3 yrs. sell-side, 2 yrs. buy-side)..top companies
Dual major undergrad (finance & communications) from small university...3.7 GPA
CFA Charterholder, various NASD securities exam licenses
3 GMAT seatings:
1st - didn't score, walked out after essays & cancelled
2nd - 690 (40-90% Verbal, 44-73% Quant, 6.0 95%)
3rd - 660 (38-83% Verbal, 43-68% Quant, 6.0 87%)
Extracurriculars: Mobile Disc Jockey, volunteer work, others.

A higher GMAT never hurt anyone, and if you have the time to prepare, obviously focuing on the quant, then it may help you. At the same time, given your GPA, major, work experience, and CFA, I'm also not sure that 20-30 additional points is going to make the critical difference. You provide plenty of evidence that you can handle the math in b-school.

I certainly don't think it makes any sense to retake it if you can't do some serious prep.

Best,
Linda

Thanks Linda. But do you think it would look negative on me for having sat for the exam 4 times (even though only 3 of the attempts were scored)?

djrobg wrote:Thanks Linda. But do you think it would look negative on me for having sat for the exam 4 times (even though only 3 of the attempts were scored)?

It's the three scored times that count. And it will look good if the score goes up.

djrobg wrote:Hi, was looking for advice on whether to take the GMATs again based on my current situation. I had applied last yr to 4 top schools (hbs, wharton, tuck & chicago gsb), i-viewed at all except hbs, and was dinged at each. Was thinking of applying again this yr. to different schools (nyu, columbia, kellogg & darden) but am concerned about my GMAT. It falls below the avg. for 3 of the schools I'll be applying to. However, I have already sat for the exam 3 times over a two-yr period (although cancelled 1st attempt). I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off: 1) taking one more time to try to score 700+, or 2) applying and using essay #4 to explain that although my quant. portion was weaker than I would like, I have other areas that I believe display my financial capabiltiies (e.g., CFA charterholder, 3 yrs. in financial analyst role, undergrad. finance degree w/strong GPA). I have listed my stats below. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks.

White male, 28 y/o.
5 yrs. finance experience (3 yrs. sell-side, 2 yrs. buy-side)..top companies
Dual major undergrad (finance & communications) from small university...3.7 GPA
CFA Charterholder, various NASD securities exam licenses
3 GMAT seatings:
1st - didn't score, walked out after essays & cancelled
2nd - 690 (40-90% Verbal, 44-73% Quant, 6.0 95%)
3rd - 660 (38-83% Verbal, 43-68% Quant, 6.0 87%)
Extracurriculars: Mobile Disc Jockey, volunteer work, others.

I don't mean to play devil's advocate to the admissions consultants, but I don't think your GMAT had anything to do with you getting rejected. A 690 is right in range for all the schools you mentioned above. A 3.7 GPA is well-above the average of each of those schools, too. You also had 5 years of experience with a background that business schools tend to like. My guess is your essays brought down your application. I find it hard to believe that an ad-com looked at your 'on-paper' profile and said, "sorry, you're not [Harvard, Wharton, etc] material. Did you get any feedback from the schools that dinged you as to why you got rejected?

Keep in mind that while the average GMAT score at these schools is in the low-700s, there are plenty of people who get accepted with scores below 700. I believe the median score at Harvard is 710, which means HALF the people who get in scored below 710. A 690 is statistically the same thing as a 710.

So, I think you should really look at your application and try to figure out where it went wrong. My gut is that your GMAT and GPA are your STRENGTHS. Sure, a higher GMAT score might help, but I really don't think scoring a 730 would suddenly make you Harvard material.

Linda Abraham wrote:

djrobg wrote:Hi, was looking for advice on whether to take the GMATs again based on my current situation. I had applied last yr to 4 top schools (hbs, wharton, tuck & chicago gsb), i-viewed at all except hbs, and was dinged at each. Was thinking of applying again this yr. to different schools (nyu, columbia, kellogg & darden) but am concerned about my GMAT. It falls below the avg. for 3 of the schools I'll be applying to. However, I have already sat for the exam 3 times over a two-yr period (although cancelled 1st attempt). I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off: 1) taking one more time to try to score 700+, or 2) applying and using essay #4 to explain that although my quant. portion was weaker than I would like, I have other areas that I believe display my financial capabiltiies (e.g., CFA charterholder, 3 yrs. in financial analyst role, undergrad. finance degree w/strong GPA). I have listed my stats below. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks.

White male, 28 y/o.
5 yrs. finance experience (3 yrs. sell-side, 2 yrs. buy-side)..top companies
Dual major undergrad (finance & communications) from small university...3.7 GPA
CFA Charterholder, various NASD securities exam licenses
3 GMAT seatings:
1st - didn't score, walked out after essays & cancelled
2nd - 690 (40-90% Verbal, 44-73% Quant, 6.0 95%)
3rd - 660 (38-83% Verbal, 43-68% Quant, 6.0 87%)
Extracurriculars: Mobile Disc Jockey, volunteer work, others.

A higher GMAT never hurt anyone, and if you have the time to prepare, obviously focuing on the quant, then it may help you. At the same time, given your GPA, major, work experience, and CFA, I'm also not sure that 20-30 additional points is going to make the critical difference. You provide plenty of evidence that you can handle the math in b-school.

I certainly don't think it makes any sense to retake it if you can't do some serious prep.

Best,
Linda

Linda,

Can you please explain why you think it would be worth it for him to re-take the GMAT? His score is well within range for these schools, and it seems unlikely, given his financial background and strong undergrad GPA, that he got rejected based on his GMAT score. Plenty of people get in to these schools with 690s (and below). Don't you think it's more likely that his essays played a strong role in him getting dinged?

Stockmoose16 wrote:

Linda Abraham wrote:

djrobg wrote:Hi, was looking for advice on whether to take the GMATs again based on my current situation. I had applied last yr to 4 top schools (hbs, wharton, tuck & chicago gsb), i-viewed at all except hbs, and was dinged at each. Was thinking of applying again this yr. to different schools (nyu, columbia, kellogg & darden) but am concerned about my GMAT. It falls below the avg. for 3 of the schools I'll be applying to. However, I have already sat for the exam 3 times over a two-yr period (although cancelled 1st attempt). I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off: 1) taking one more time to try to score 700+, or 2) applying and using essay #4 to explain that although my quant. portion was weaker than I would like, I have other areas that I believe display my financial capabiltiies (e.g., CFA charterholder, 3 yrs. in financial analyst role, undergrad. finance degree w/strong GPA). I have listed my stats below. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks.

White male, 28 y/o.
5 yrs. finance experience (3 yrs. sell-side, 2 yrs. buy-side)..top companies
Dual major undergrad (finance & communications) from small university...3.7 GPA
CFA Charterholder, various NASD securities exam licenses
3 GMAT seatings:
1st - didn't score, walked out after essays & cancelled
2nd - 690 (40-90% Verbal, 44-73% Quant, 6.0 95%)
3rd - 660 (38-83% Verbal, 43-68% Quant, 6.0 87%)
Extracurriculars: Mobile Disc Jockey, volunteer work, others.

A higher GMAT never hurt anyone, and if you have the time to prepare, obviously focuing on the quant, then it may help you. At the same time, given your GPA, major, work experience, and CFA, I'm also not sure that 20-30 additional points is going to make the critical difference. You provide plenty of evidence that you can handle the math in b-school.

I certainly don't think it makes any sense to retake it if you can't do some serious prep.

Best,
Linda

Linda,

Can you please explain why you think it would be worth it for him to re-take the GMAT? His score is well within range for these schools, and it seems unlikely, given his financial background and strong undergrad GPA, that he got rejected based on his GMAT score. Plenty of people get in to these schools with 690s (and below). Don't you think it's more likely that his essays played a strong role in him getting dinged?

Actually, I don't disagree with you. In my first post I wrote "At the same time, given your GPA, major, work experience, and CFA, I'm also not sure that 20-30 additional points is going to make the critical difference. You provide plenty of evidence that you can handle the math in b-school. "

Regards,
Linda