Last minute R1 vs R2 dilemma

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Last minute R1 vs R2 dilemma

by canadianapplicant » Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:57 pm
Hello everyone,

I'm applying to Wharton, Stanford, and Columbia (ED) this week.

A bit about me:

710 GMAT, 73rd Q, 90th V (second attempt)

Recent grad (June 2012) with 16 months of co-operative education experience working on infrastructure project administration and financial analysis in the Canadian public sector, 3 months post-grad experience with my last co-op job, then working as an assistant manager with my dad's business, which is a franchise operation. Currently up for a higher position at my last co-op job with more responsibility and pay, and a position not regularly given to past co-ops and only usually given to individuals with master's degrees.

My EC experiences are limited: our student accounting society's executive, was a writing tutor on campus for our library, and a volunteer at a social resources centre on campus. I've been involved in a cancer fundraising event since then, and was the Treasurer of a work fundraiser.

My GPA is 3.74 from what I calculate, and is higher for my last two years. I have received 'A' grades or above 80% (including 4 or 5 90%+) in finance, accounting, economics, and stats courses throughout undergrad.

I speak three languages other than English, and am learning French while pursuing a diploma in french language. I am a visible minority born outside of North America and have lived in the Middle East, as well.

No major awards or scholarships, except Dean's List and an award nomination from my employer for Co-op Student of the Year.

Considering all of this, was wondering if I should apply in R1 or R2. My application is good to go, but the 73rd Q scares me a bit. If I apply in R2, I could:

1) get some more EC experiences under my belt to showcase my leadership
2) maybe score that promotion -- though I think my reference may mention that in her letter, anyway
3) have completed the first two levels of the french diploma -- though I have mentioned that I am enrolled
4) improve my GMAT maybe
5) take a uni-level calculus course to show I can handle quantitative analysis -- though I would mention in my optional essay if I apply in R1 that my work has involved a lot of quant. work, plus I have high grades in quantitative business courses

However, there are definitely advantages to R1.

In R2, My new ECs would be very short-term by the time I submit my R2 app and likely seem expedited, my promotion possibility is mentioned in my app anyway (but could be turned into reality), and I have mentioned my french diploma progress on my resume anyway. As well, rewriting the GMAT is a risk - it'd be my third time and I may not improve.

So, with all of this considered, what do you guys think? Should I wait for R2 for Stanford and Wharton and for non-ED for Columbia? Or should I go ahead? My essays for Wharton especially are really refined, and everything is good to go, so I would not really be tweaking my essays if I wait.

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by Jim@StratusPrep » Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:16 am
I would wait til round 2 and give the GMAT 1 more crack. The calc course is will not do all that much.
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by canadianapplicant » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:19 am
Hi Jim,

Thanks for your response. Do you think I should even forgo the Columbia ED round? And how about Stanford who explicitly states round 1 is less competitive? As for Wharton, their website and students on their discussion boards state that a calculus course might help -- I suppose it would just be easier to improve my GMAT score so that it's applicable for all schools; however, will having written it 3 times disadvantage me?

Thanks!
Last edited by canadianapplicant on Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by Jon@Admissionado » Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:00 am
Hey there good sir,
I'm gonna take a different take here. Putting energies into the GMAT so late in the game may not give you the returns that you are looking for, although writing much much better applications likely will. Whether you have enough time anyhow to make your applications stellar before R1 deadlines is a big question. If you haven't started writing them already, then you are likely gonna be too late to get them into great shape before you submit, so I would suggest waiting for R2 anyways...

Buuuut if you are aiming for some other programs with later deadlines (at least 2-3 weeks away) then you could probably make those. But really, to make a great final draft of your essays (at least for the first school) I'd figure about a month of work for thought, feedback and correction.
Last edited by Jon@Admissionado on Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by canadianapplicant » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:33 am
Jon@Admissionado wrote: I'm gonna take a different take here. Putting energies into the GMAT so late in the game may not give you the returns that you are looking for, although writing much much better applications likely will. Whether you have enough time anyhow to make your applications stellar before R1 deadlines is a big question. If you haven't started writing them already, then you are likely gonna be too late to get them into great shape before you submit, so I would suggest waiting for R2 anyways...

Buuuut if you are aiming for some other programs with later deadlines (at least 2-3 weeks away) then you could probably make those. But really, to make a great final draft of your essays (at least for the first school) I'd figure about a month of work for thought, feedback and correction.
I feel like I might actually be able to improve my GMAT quant. score with a bit more studying. I originally scored 59th Q when I wrote back in January, entirely because I did not spend enough time and effort. I have a pretty strong aptitude for quantitative problems/concepts, which is why I was able to bring it up to 73rd with only about 1 week's worth of studying, and there is still more that I wish I could have reviewed before writing the test. For me, it seems like a matter of just doing it rather than having tried everything and still not scoring well. However, I had run out of time and probably would've benefited from even a day or two's more time in order to ensure my Q score was in the low 80s.

With that said, the risk with rewriting the GMAT is that it will compromise my applications otherwise, as you mentioned. My applications for these schools are pretty solid I think, and I have put in a lot of time on each. As such, as an early career candidate, I would like to take advantage of Columbia's ED and Stanford's explicitly-stated less competitive R1.

However:

1) would it be beneficial to rewrite the GMAT for Stanford, who is very score-sensitive?
2) would it be beneficial to forgo Columbia ED to rewrite the GMAT when the rest of my application is relatively strong and ready to go?