580 :( retaking. round 1 or two? - long rant. excuse me.

Figure out where you wish to apply
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Hey guys

I am an Indian girl with a bachelor's in biotech from a top 5 university in India and a master's in microbio from a mid range university here in the US. I have about 2 yrs of work experience working for big biotech names. But due to visa reasons I havenot been working for about 2 years now. I worked in IT for a few months, now I have been volunteering for a non profit educational institution. You can clearly tell I am not a typical MBA candidate. But I got into biotech for the business side of it. I wanted my work experience before I got into an MBA but unfortunately it's only a 2 year experience and R&d that too.

I studied hard for 5 months and took my gmat yday. Got a 580 - 41Q 30V. It was a bizarre experience. All my practice tests were on the 620 -660 range. Even MGMAT. I was hoping for at least a 640. The weird thing is I didnt feel like I didnt know any question on quant. I knew how to solve all of them starting from Q1. I think that means, I must have made some careless mistake early on,which took me on a downward spiral, right?
Verbal was the weirdest. Questions were hard. Harder than any practice test I ve seen. 4 comprehension passages all long difficult ones. I thought I was doing well may be. But The score was shocking.

I am retaking on OCT 21st. Dilemma is if I should start doing app work and continue taking practice tests or if I should apply for round two and not rush my app work now.
I attended veritas classes, I used their material for studying. I completed OG 13 and OG 13 review on quants. I partially completed verbal on OG 13 and OG 13 review. I took veritas practice tests, one gmac and a few MGMAT practice tests - about 7 tests altogether.

Any suggestions on prep/test taking/applying/ general cheering up would be helpful. Thank u

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by brianlange77 » Sat Sep 13, 2014 10:28 am
First off, while I know this is a focused forum... remember, it's a test and it's business school... two things which will not go on your grave marker when you leave this world! Don't let it get you depressed.

Separately, I think most still operate under the assumption that there isn't much of a difference between Round 1 and Round 2. If you think you can make your application stronger by waiting til Round 2 -- why wouldn't you?

Thoughts?

Brian
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by divdharsh » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:05 am
Thank u Brian. Just saw this reply.

So I did retake my GMAt last month and I got a 610. I got a whopping 85 percentile on verbal and bombed badly on quants. I hope that the fact tht I have an engineering degree and a master's in science and work experience in research would help the committee believe in my quant skills despite my score. I am still going to go ahead with my applications because I have already spent 2 yrs waiting for something to come up. But I dont want to waste anymore time. And no I am not going to retake GMAT now because I do not have time,( first round deadlines are gone and 2nd round deadline are here) nor do I believe that one parameter could carry so much weightage. It's still costs lot of time and money to take the test.
I have decided to apply to Santa CLara Univ, UC Irvine, USC, UC davis, UT austin and BU. UC irvine also has a MS in Biotech Management degree which I am also researching about. BU has an excellent healthcare/biotech focus program. I am also looking at taking up business math or business basics courses on coursera to get a head start and to make up for my poor quant scores. Hope it makes some difference. This s where I stand currently. will keep u all posted abt applications. Thank u for the support

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by brianlange77 » Sat Jan 03, 2015 5:29 pm
Hey there --- just going back through some old posts and came across this discussion from a bit ago. Any updates for the group here? How is your process going?

All the best!

-Brian
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by divdharsh » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:06 pm
Hi everybody.

No updates yet. I wasn't ready for first round, applying now - 2nd round. Will keep u all posted. Also, i dunno if it is okay to ask this. Moderators please forgive if this is inappropriate.
Could any of u review my essay and provide feedback?

reg
Divya

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by interviewbay22 » Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:16 am
Hello

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All the Best

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by brianlange77 » Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:45 pm
Sure thing -- just post it in the AWA forum.
Good luck with all you are focused on.
Best wishes!!!
divdharsh wrote:Hi everybody.

No updates yet. I wasn't ready for first round, applying now - 2nd round. Will keep u all posted. Also, i dunno if it is okay to ask this. Moderators please forgive if this is inappropriate.
Could any of u review my essay and provide feedback?

reg
Divya
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Merci, Danke, Grazie, Gracias -- Whichever way you say it, if you found my post helpful, please click on the 'thank' icon in the top right corner of this post.

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