The Application Process

Hi

I need advice on what to do. I sat my first ever GMAT about a month ago scoring a 620 (Q48, V27). I was hugely disappointed with the score but considering my condition I was lucky even to make it to the test centre.

I returned from a trip abroad a week prior and felt pretty rotten for the week leading up to the exam. I put this down to nerves but the day before the exam I was violently ill. I went to see my doctor and described my condition, nausea, fever and other nasties. He recommended that I rest, take plenty of fluids as might be something intestinal or gastric. However he said that he needed to monitor me as I had been to a tropical zone and it could be something more serious. He advised not to sit the test but given I had studied since July and have to apply in the second round (intl student, visa, funding, etc, etc) I decided to sit the exam as rescheduling another exam before the deadline impossible.

So on exam day my symtoms continued and during the exam had to leave the awa and quant to get sick for about 5 mins each time. Not to mention feverish throughout the whole. Ended up rushing the last 7/8 questions in the quant and pretty much randomly picking the last 4. During the verbal all I could think was getting to the end and throwing-up. Anyway I dont mean to be graphic but it was horrible. After the exam I was practically in tears as my chance of bschool had gone down the toliet like so much else that day. However the ladies at the test centre told me I could explain extenuating circumstances for my score as part of my essays.

To cut a long and painful story short the next 12/24 hrs after the exam my fever got much worse. My doctor had the foresight to do a battery of test and it turned out I had caught dengue fever while away. It took the best part of week before I made any improvement and will only got back to work this week but have been like a zombie since returning.

What is killing me is when I started the practice test I scored 650's getting them up to 710/720 just before the exam (even getting one outlier 750!) and now to be so far from what I was consistently getting is devastating. For a couple of reasons this round and year is my only chance. My contract for my job is up in the summer and wont be renewed for funding reasons and if I was take a new position I could not leave it after less than two years let alone one. By that time I expect to be married with a kid(s) and simply I know I will be too old to go through bschool and get the maximum from it. The other reason is as an international student I would simply be unable to arrange a VISA in time assuming I was succesful in a round 3. Plus I am applying for funding and would not be elgible for the grants if applying in R3.

I am applying to the top5 US and a couple of europeans so if anyone can advice on what to do or can share a similar experience please help.

Thanks

I'm sorry to hear about your tragic turn of events.

But if this round and year is the only time in your life you can apply, and I know I may be stating the bleeding obvious, why dont you just apply?

If you're asking about how to respond in your optional essays, it might be something like

I understand my GMAT score is below the 80th percentile. However, I had dengue fever the week prior to sitting the test. This was the only time I could sit the test this year owing to personal circumstances. I am happy to to accept an offer that is conditional upon me achiving a higher GMAT.

I've read somewhere else that people have been given conditional offers to bschool e.g. you must improve this. In fact I believe it was one of the application consultants Kaneisha Grayson who got one from HBS. Perhaps reach out to her?

Hey everyone!

Kaneisha here! How exactly can I help? I skimmed a super-long entry written above but I didn't see a question per se...

I'm here to help!

Kaneisha

Thanks for the reply Kaneisha.

No there was no question per se in my original post. My post was a gambit that hopefully somebody could advise what to do or how to approach detailing extenuating circumstances in my application.

Seeing as you are here to help I want to ask to you in light of my circumstances above how should I go about articulating my GMAT horror to see if the school would be prepared, all other things aside, to make a conditional offer on an improved GMAT?
My trouble is I dont want to seem like the kid who's "homework was eaten by the dog" or is using an illness as an excuse however its not like I just had a cold but rather a serious viral infection.

Therefore can you please help me with how to go about approaching and structuring an extenuating circumstances essay.

Thanks so much!