Hi all,
Many thanks for all of the helpful posts on studying approach, timing strategy, etc. These forums are extremely helpful and motivating.
A bit about my background:
I am planning to apply to attend Fall of 2014 and am interested in top-10 programs (Stanford is my dream choice, Kellogg, HBS, Columbia, UChicago are others in which I'm very interested). Assuming I apply this fall, I will have 3.5 years of strategy consulting experience at a large mid to top tier (depending on who you ask) consulting firm. I am a 24-year old white male with a degree in finance and international business from a top-20 university with a 3.6 GPA. I will likely have sponsorship to attend b-school from my current firm. I have a solid extra curricular activities/community involvement, above average leadership experience (compared to most candidates coming from consulting) and am confident in my recommenders and my "why B-school" story.
My GMAT experience:
I recently scored 710 on my first attempt at the GMAT with a 44V(97%)/44Q(63%) split. I improved my quant score from my first diagnostic 660-44V/Q39 (Knewton), but fared lower on the actual test than I had hoped, as my last diagnostic I scored a 760-Q49/V46 (GMAT.com), and I had scored a 99% on verbal on every other practice test except the diagnostic. I am definitely happy to have notched in the 700s, but I can't help but feel that I left points on the table, and that I might not be considered competitive with this score, particularly with my low quant percentile, at the schools I am looking at.
In terms of preparation, I took the Knewton GMAT course, which I would recommend only to those who are not familiar with the test/want to improve verbal. For me, I think there is too much focus on verbal and not enough focus on quantitative concepts. Also, be sure to make note of the 4 month window Knewton gives you to use their program. I had to push back my test and in order to have Knewton reinstate my access, they made me surrender the money back guarantee. In addition to the Knewton course, I used the MGMAT Word Translation strategy guide, Kaplan 800, and the MGMAT advance quant. In retrospect, I think focusing on the OG could have potentially helped me improve quant further, and if I retake I plan to focus on OG much more.
A few questions for the readers:
Considering my situation, would you recommend I retake?
If I were to retake, would a lower score hurt my chances, or do schools generally look at the highest score?
How important a factor is the quant/verbal split, and how much can a low quant score be made up for by focusing on my heavily quantitative consulting work?
Overall, I am leaning towards taking the test one more time to see if I can't up my quant/verbal scores a few raw points each.
Thanks again for all of the help!
Many thanks for all of the helpful posts on studying approach, timing strategy, etc. These forums are extremely helpful and motivating.
A bit about my background:
I am planning to apply to attend Fall of 2014 and am interested in top-10 programs (Stanford is my dream choice, Kellogg, HBS, Columbia, UChicago are others in which I'm very interested). Assuming I apply this fall, I will have 3.5 years of strategy consulting experience at a large mid to top tier (depending on who you ask) consulting firm. I am a 24-year old white male with a degree in finance and international business from a top-20 university with a 3.6 GPA. I will likely have sponsorship to attend b-school from my current firm. I have a solid extra curricular activities/community involvement, above average leadership experience (compared to most candidates coming from consulting) and am confident in my recommenders and my "why B-school" story.
My GMAT experience:
I recently scored 710 on my first attempt at the GMAT with a 44V(97%)/44Q(63%) split. I improved my quant score from my first diagnostic 660-44V/Q39 (Knewton), but fared lower on the actual test than I had hoped, as my last diagnostic I scored a 760-Q49/V46 (GMAT.com), and I had scored a 99% on verbal on every other practice test except the diagnostic. I am definitely happy to have notched in the 700s, but I can't help but feel that I left points on the table, and that I might not be considered competitive with this score, particularly with my low quant percentile, at the schools I am looking at.
In terms of preparation, I took the Knewton GMAT course, which I would recommend only to those who are not familiar with the test/want to improve verbal. For me, I think there is too much focus on verbal and not enough focus on quantitative concepts. Also, be sure to make note of the 4 month window Knewton gives you to use their program. I had to push back my test and in order to have Knewton reinstate my access, they made me surrender the money back guarantee. In addition to the Knewton course, I used the MGMAT Word Translation strategy guide, Kaplan 800, and the MGMAT advance quant. In retrospect, I think focusing on the OG could have potentially helped me improve quant further, and if I retake I plan to focus on OG much more.
A few questions for the readers:
Considering my situation, would you recommend I retake?
If I were to retake, would a lower score hurt my chances, or do schools generally look at the highest score?
How important a factor is the quant/verbal split, and how much can a low quant score be made up for by focusing on my heavily quantitative consulting work?
Overall, I am leaning towards taking the test one more time to see if I can't up my quant/verbal scores a few raw points each.
Thanks again for all of the help!
