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Retake or not? 640 - Q44 V34

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Retake or not? 640 - Q44 V34

by youngandambitious » Sat Sep 13, 2014 1:58 pm
Hi everyone,

Can you please help me evaluate my chances/options for MBA programs based on the following criteria?

Who am I?
25, white male, American
640 - GMAT
Undergrad - 3.3 GPA JMU - Business Management
Work Experience: 3 years in technology SAAS Sales and past year international software sales (4 years exp. by Sept. 2015 entry date or 4-5 by 2016 entry date - still deciding)

I've been part of a company that went public and excelled in an environment with high turnover, a competitive and demanding work environment while the company grew and changed rapidly in just a few short years right before it had an IPO. I have experience training a sales team in India and working on my own cross-divisional projects (3 months in India) and now I have since (last year) switched to a new company where I created the international business plan and me and one other guy are essentially running a startup within a public company having to justify every decision we make while bringing in revenue and advocating for more resources.

Where am I looking?
I am still open to suggestions but since my interests are getting a more rich international cultural experience, creating a good ROI for myself after business school, and technology I have determined that the below are my top choices:

IE
ESADE
IESE
UNC
UCLA or Berkley
LBS

What's my GMAT sory?

Rewind - 4 years ago I took my GMAT Oct. of my senior year - cold turkey, I just walked in and got a 550. I thought it was a business test and not the HS math and reasoning test that it is so I was rusty and unprepared. I also had a job interview the same day and my mind was distracted. I knew by this point no quality MBA program would take someone right out of college but I was committed from the fee and thought why not since it lasts 5 years.

Fast forward to today - I just took the GMAT this morning and scored a 640 after about 3 months of studying. Basically, I studied casually for about a month and took a practice test and got a 610, then I studied a lot harder and took it after about another month of studying and got a 670. Then the last 3 weeks I have been crazy busy with work and pretty much have been working 10-16 hours days in Sales trying to hit my end of our fiscal year quota. This has left me only about 10 hours of studying in the last 3 weeks combined. So the day before the test (yesterday) I took one final practice test and got a 650. While it seems that while I did score around my predicted score I think that if I was able to "cram" the last 3-4 weeks rather than being consumed by work I could have a potential of around 690-700. There were a few easy questions that I know I missed and recalled the answer to shortly after submitting my answer and I wanted to scream back, back, back but I restrained.

So now I am, stuck with a few short weeks until some complete applications are due. When I started studying for the test I thought that I'd have more time to figure out what program I wanted to do and what Ideal score I needed to get. But here I am with little (or no) time for a fall class of 2015 MBA program. Would I be better off waiting another year to fine tune my MBA program desires, my resume, (maybe my GMAT but I'd rather not), my extra curricular activities and recommendations, or can I get into the above mentioned schools with where I am at now?

My weaknesses
From studying for the GMAT I've concluded that my quant weakness is problem solving and my verbal weakness is probably sentence correction and so I feel like if I need to take it again then I could either focus hard and self-study again and really plan out the test at a better period of time in my life to bring it up to a 680-700. Or I could pay for an expensive tutor and get it up to a 700 or above. But is it worth it?

If I am not planning on going into investment banking or a top consulting firm do I really need a top 5 program?

I haven't secured any letters of recommendation yet or even looked at essay requirements which I'm slightly worried about.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
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by brianlange77 » Sat Sep 13, 2014 2:58 pm
I actually think your last thought may be the most important -- before you go any further in thinking about whether or not you need to take the GMAT again, I really think it'd be worth it for you to put together an overall plan for EVERYTHING that's going to be required for your admissions package. As part of that, lay out the pros and cons of taking the GMAT again. At its simplest, what I'd offer is that if you think you have the bandwidth to do better, for the ranges of schools you are considering (and given your background) the possibility of touching the 700s is compelling, IMHO.

Best of luck!

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by [email protected] » Sat Sep 13, 2014 8:29 pm
Hi youngandambitious,

First off, a 640/Q44 is a solid performance (it's just shy of the 80th percentile overall), so you've done pretty well. I can't evaluate your overall prospects though because there are way too many variables right now. Your overall "stats" make it look like you'd have a decent chance at acceptance.

There are some details worth noting in your post:

1) You didn't study consistently for 3 months, so you didn't have enough time to hit your "peak". This likely means that you could score higher IF you put in the necessary work. "Cramming" is NOT what I'm talking about (and cramming almost never helps in these scenarios).

2) Taking a practice CAT the day before your Official GMAT was NOT a good idea. You likely "burned out" a bit and your performance on Test Day suffered as a result.

3) While you might not make Round 1 deadlines, you could easily apply for Round 2. This would give you plenty of time to work on your overall application and take the GMAT again (as needed).

4) You don't need an expensive tutor to hit 700+.

5) For a program that leads to investment banking, a Q44 probably will not be enough to get you in. These types of programs tend to put a much greater emphasis on the Quant Scaled Score.

What resources did you use to study?
If you decided to retake the GMAT, how much available study time do you think you'd have per week?

If you have any additional questions, then feel free to contact me directly.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by youngandambitious » Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:41 am
Thank you both for the reply. The materials I used were as follows:

GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition Bundle - I got through all of the quant. and about a third of the verbal
Veritas Prep Videos - I watched their strategy videos - all of them which provided good strategy but I didn't have the practice problems with them so maybe didn't get enough practice putting those strategies into affect.

I was using multiple sources so I may have gotten confused by the different philosophies and approaches to solving the same problems. I've heard good things about the Princeton Review so If I were to study again it would likely include that option.

As per the cramming, everyone has a different definition of what that is. For me just being able to have 4-6 hours/day for the last 3 weeks to have everything fresh in my mind and get the timing down. The reason I took the practice test again was because it was mainly to help me with the timing of each question.

I will be meeting with some admissions advisers at the DC QS World MBA tour fair and I think that will help me get a better idea for where I need to be. It will also help me get more information on complete deadlines, requirements, and programs I am interested in to develop a timeline. Maybe Spring or Fall 2016 would be better for my situation. I just switched employers in February after taking a promotion so it would be difficult to go back and ask for a primary recommendation there. Maybe just one from an old manager. I am pretty sure with another 3-5 months under my belt at my current employer I can secure a great recommendation from my VP.

On a separate note, I went skydiving yesterday with some college friends, and it was amazing - I recommend it for anyone as it is really quite safe.

Thanks again for the input.

-Steve
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