700+ is not for everyone?

bilko wrote:MOST people can't get 700+, so I honestly wouldn't worry about that at all. It's a mythical, magical number that people seem to think is required to get into good schools. It's not. A GMAT score can't get you in, although it can keep you out if you're well below a school's average.

If your 650 is within the average range for your school, then you're fine. Especially if your other stats are better. And a 650 is perfectly competitive at a LOT of good schools. Don't sweat it!

yeah.

there's a certain irony in my posting the following, given that a large part of my livelihood is contingent on people's obsession with gmat scores, but here goes:

past a certain point, your gmat score isn't as important as you think it is.
this is business school. the gmat is important, of course - a BAD score can certainly keep you out of the top schools - but other factors in your profile, such as work experience, diversity, unique perspective, and so on, are arguably more important. in particular, the top schools reject people with 770-800 scores on the regular, even though their averages are much lower than that. (there is not a single business school whose average gmat score is more than about 710 or so.)

this is not law school. law schools are notorious for numbers-grubbing; if you're a completely unaccomplished ne'er-do-well with a really high lsat score and a decent gpa, you can pretty much go where you want to go. that is not the case with business school.

in general, here is the best advice to follow:
concentrate the most on improving 2 things: the single weakest thing on your application, and the single strongest thing on your application. this is the best way to make yourself stand out more: your strongest suit is the thing that distinguishes you the most, so improving it will make you stand out even more. in addition, shoring up your biggest weakness will help your overall case, by removing any obvious incentive to disqualify you form the candidate pool.

if your gmat score is somewhere in the middle - 650-660ish - then it's probably not the strongest thing on your application, nor is it probably the weakest thing. therefore, your energies may be better directed somewhere else.

good luck with everything.