Advice needed, retake after 710?

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Advice needed, retake after 710?

by gmatzadeh1234 » Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:16 pm
Hi - I am in need of some admissions and gmat advice. I will apply to business school in R1 of 2015. I just turned 30 so this is just about the last year I can consider going to business school. I want to go to business school to switch from the technology operator space to VC or Venture Growth Equity/PE. Going to business school will LIKELY be a temporary step back for me in terms of earnings but based on all the networking and research I have done so far, it is the surest way for me to make the career pivot I want. I am targeting Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Wharton.

I took the GMAT a week ago and scored a 710 (44 Q & 44 V). Should I retake the test in hopes of getting closer to 750 to have a chance to get into the schools I am targeting? The GMAT tutor I worked with during my last month of prep is encouraging me to do so. He believes I was nervous and would perform better on a retake and have potential to score 720-760. (not to mention that the test proctor cost me 2 minutes of time in the quant section by telling me I had 2 minutes left of break time when I did not).

If I hadn't just started a new job (and I didn't have 2 very young kids and a wife who wants to see me when I am not solving RTD problems) retaking it would be a no brainer. I would really appreciate any words of wisdom I appreciate it immensely. Thanks in advance!

Here is some background on my GMAT potential:
GMAT PREP 1 - 700
GMAT PREP 2- 720
GMAT PREP 3 - 720
GMAT PREP 4 - 740

Here is some background info on my application profile:

Work History:
- Currently the director of a 20MM+ business line leading a cross functional team of product managers, marketers, UI/UX designers and engineers at a high growth technology start up.
- Prior to that I was the first employee at a data analytics tech company where we raised over 40MM in venture financing from top tier VCs. While there i had a number of roles, I lead a professional services team, a product team and an analytics team of data scientists. Helped grow the business from $0 to over $20MM in revenue
- Started a real estate investment firm that has over 2MM in assets at produces 100k in revenue annually
- started a small seed stage investment partnership with founders of the aforementioned tech start up, invested in 18 companies, 3 exits so far
- prior to tech worked in quantitative finance (prepayment model forecasting, credit default risk, etc)
- I run the membership committee of a professional angel networking group where I evaluate and admit lots of alumni from top schools and is run by two HBS alums

Academic
- CFA Charterholder
- Masters in Applied Economics concentration in Econometrics and Financial Economics from Johns Hopkins GPA 3.9
- Undergrad BS in Business with concentration in Economics from large state school, GPA 3.47

Personal:
- Citizen of central asian/middle eastern country
- speak a language other than english

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by mbaMissionJenK » Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:27 am
Hi,

Thanks for your post. You have a lot of really strong facets to your profile (leading such a cross functional team; contributing to growth of a business; starting your own real estate firm and investments; CFA; strong academics; obviously strong quant and analytical experience and likely plenty of potential stories and examples of leadership and teamwork over the years). Other factors that will make an impact would include extracurricular activities and interests/passions over the years; your essays and overall story you tell about why the MBA and why that school etc; your recommendations and interview.

Regarding your GMAT which is your main concern... a 710 is right on the that border ;).... where if schools really loved you, it probably would not keep you out. That said, admissions is competitive, and scoring ABOVE the school's average will certainly help.... plus there's not a lot to lose by re-taking since schools take the highest score, and given that it sounds you may be quite capable of doing a fair amount better. If you decide to go for it, I'd suggest sooner rather than later, since you've BEEN prepping and sometimes just taking it on a different day can make that difference (i.e. don't drag it out for months more or anything, just sign up soon, do some final prep to keep up the mindset and go for it).

Final quick thoughts-- not sure how many actual full time years of experience you have, and if you are interested at all since it's a different structure, but there are some exec type MBA options for 7-8+ years of experience you could have a glance at if that was of interest. Finally you'll need to make a strong case for moving into VC as that can be quite tough to actually do, fyi.

Good luck and keep us posted!
Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
[email protected]

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by gmatzadeh1234 » Tue Mar 17, 2015 3:32 pm
Jennifer - Thank you for your thoughtful advice. I appreciate the time and thought you put into this. I certainly have considered an exec program (and considered not going to B School at all for that matter). I plan to explore both pending the results of my (likely impending) retake and success or lack there of in the admissions process. Full time really only makes sense for me as a last ditch effort to make a career pivot, otherwise an exec program is probably a better move. It will certainly take some soul searching on my part.

Thank you very much for your advice.

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by mbaMissionJenK » Wed Mar 18, 2015 12:04 pm
You are most welcome, good luck and keep us posted!
Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
[email protected]

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

Visit the mbaMission Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog

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