690 GMAT, High Verbal Low Quant!! RETAKE?

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690 GMAT, High Verbal Low Quant!! RETAKE?

by nataras » Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:05 pm
Hi everyone, I have taken the GMAT 4 times now and am at a 690 (42 Quant, 42 Verbal). I was scoring 700-710 on my last 3 practice tests (MBA.com tests), with my Quant as high as 47, but I'm not sure what happened on my official test day. I am fairly confident that I can get a 700 with a higher Quant score.

I went to a large public university in the Southeast and graduated in Accounting with a 3.67. I also obtained my Master's in Accounting with a 3.6 and am a CPA and a CFE. I have 3 years of experience at a Big 4 accounting firm in the Advisory group and am currently working in Internal Audit for a Fortune 10 corporation. I have solid, but not strong, extracurriculars and am an Indian-American female. I think the CPA demonstrates the quant skills that are missed in my GMAT, so I'm not sure if I need to retake or not. I also made Bs and above in all of my quant-related classes: Economics, Accounting, Finance, and Statistics.

My plan is to apply to my top choices in Round 1: Kellogg, Columbia, Booth, Wharton, Berkeley, MIT. Round 2 was going to be used for my 2nd choices: NYU, Duke, Emory.

Any advice as to whether I should re-take the GMAT and as to my chances at these schools with my current score or with a potential 700-710 (Quant max would probably be 47) would be greatly appreciated! Also, please advise as to whether these other aspects of my profile can mitigate a low Quant score!

Thanks!!!

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by mbaMissionJenK » Mon Jul 28, 2014 6:17 pm
Hi there,

So the 42 in quant is the highest you've achieved? That's probably the biggest drawback, more so than the overall score of 690, given you have some other strengths in your profile. It's a bit of a catch-22 in that, yes, your very strong quantitative skills and experiences should help reassure schools that you CAN handle the quantitative nature of the program. But that said, they would also be surprised to see that you did struggle, relative to other applicants, on the quant portion of the GMAT given your background. But the Masters in Accounting and CPA, CFE and accounting experience are all very strong examples of your quant and financial skills. At this point given how many times you've taken the exam, you probably should just briefly comment in the optional essay that you feel your quantitative ability exceeds what was scored on the GMAT, and detail/remind them of why you feel you have specific quant skills etc.

One comment on your schools list-- it's quite long ;). Not sure if you've begun working on applications, to see how time consuming each can be. Each has their own essay questions and generally you'll tailor most of the application to each school. Applying to 6 in one round could be a challenge. Just make sure you don't sacrifice quality of the applications for quantity... each app should look like it's the ONLY one you are submitting (because to that school, it IS!). And your recommenders will be potentially writing that many letters as well to a certain degree.

Good luck on the process, keep us posted!
Jennifer Kedrowski
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by nataras » Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:47 pm
Hi Jen,

Thanks for the response! I got a 43 in Quant the last time I took the test officially, which isn't much better than the 42. Would you recommend even taking some more math classes? Granted, I already took the ones that adcoms would be concerned about....Also, do you think applying this score will be less of an application killer than retaking and achieving the score I want?

As far as the schools list, I am in complete agreement with you. I will probably apply to Kellogg (my first choice), Columbia, and at least one other school in Round 1. I have begun getting my materials together, so I think at least this is do-able. Thanks for the advice thus far!

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by mbaMissionJenK » Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:31 pm
Hiya-- sounds like a more reasonable plan in terms of # of schools. ;)

When you say would this score be 'more of an application killer than retaking and achieving the score...' do you just mean that taking it 5 times could be a negative? If you are considering giving it one more shot and feel you can improve I wouldn't be opposed to that per se; but you've also done it quite a few times so would also feel at this point you can speak in a brief optional essay statement to the reason why you feel the GMAT quant isn't quite the best indicator of your mathematical ability and highlight again all the areas you have demonstrated those skills. I think you're in better shape than if you DIDN'T have all of those quantitative aspects of your background, certainly! ;)
Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
[email protected]

Register for a Free Consult from mbaMission: https://www.mbamission.com/consult.php

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