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How to get a perfect 800 GMAT score

Aiming for a perfect 800 score on the GMAT? You aren't the only one. There are many who want to go where few have gone before. The Big 8-0-0! Is it even possible to get a perfect 800 GMAT score? Yes, it is. And you'll find the occasional post on GMAT preparation forums and blogs on 'How I got the perfect 800 score on the GMAT test' (or similar sounding euphoric accounts and debriefs).

Such posts get the maximum attention as every aspiring GMAT student and MBA applicant flocks to the discussion thread to find out the secrets to cracking the GMAT test and getting the best possible score. The rationale is - if more than one regular homo sapien without superpowers can get the perfect 800 score, why can't I?

Here are some examples of people who got perfect scores...Read More

Cornell MBA essay tips (Johnson): Book author of your life story

Cornell MBA essays cover the standard topics such as short term and long term goals, failure essay, career choice essay et al. Then there are some unusual topics (under the Character essay choices) such as the community diversity essay, the life story essay (assuming you are a book author). They force you to discard the standard approach you might have taken for other bschool essays.

MG, one of the best MBA Consultants on this side of the Greenwich Meridien, continues his series on essay writing tips, turning his focus to the Cornell MBA (Johnson)...Read More

Hi Sameer,

Can you please have a look into my following inputs and comment on my Profile.

GMAT Scores
650 (50,28)
640 (47,31)
610 (49, 24) (Yes! My score is falling down everytime I re-take the exam so decided to stop giving GMAT again)

TOEFL:
Yet to recieve the score.

Academics:
10th: 83.5%
12th: 92.5% (I was on top 2% people list on my 11th State exam results(secured 96% in the results))
CGPA: 7.4 from a deemed university.

Work exp:
2 years 3 months work experience with TCS, a multi-national software company, as a quality analyst.
Currently gave up IT job to help Father with his business, a security and labour supply business having over 300 employees. Personally felt that I can come up with some business solutions for the company using the corporate and technological experience I had. Although I haven't started anything yet, due to some family emergencies, I am planning to work with him for the next full year till admission.

Achievements:
1. Several NSS activities(conducted free medical checkup camp(an article regarding this was published in local newspaper), oldest temple in India(Thanjavur Big Temple)),
2. Participated in workshops(1. Entrepreneurship Development Cell. 2. Vedic Mathematics workshop.).
3. Best employee for the month (found redundancies in the work and designed an innovative automation tool to overcome the redundancies), Best team (for finding highest number of valid bus in the system) and several other awards and appreciations from Onshore client managers.
4. Gave many Knowledge Transfer sessions to many trainees.

Initial Targetted University before GMAT exam:
1. Univ of Virginia (impressed by their case study method of teaching)
2. Univ of Maryland
(A small hope still remains that I can land up somewhere in these universities)

After seeing the scores and personally evaluating the profile:
1. North Eastern Univ [D'Amore-McKim](impressed by corporate residential program)
2. Penn State Univ (Smeal)
3. Georgia (Terry)(impressed by its small class size)
4. Boston College(impressed by its age(;-)))
5. Rotman Univ (selected this because its one of the top Canadian Univ having 2 year MBA program.)

Short Term Goals: see myself working in finance or consulting sector in a well reputed company for the next 5 years.
Long Term Goals: Start a business and also, due to personal experience I am having, to open up hospice centers (NGO) for sick and old people back home.

PS: Upon researching, I feel that, being an Indian and having a typical job and average profile (All odds are against me(:-()), I will end up in a mediocre univ and will be kicked out of US soon.

Desi Girl Power Stories

Ipseeta's eccentric GMAT preparation tips for a 760 score
Most GMAT success stories on MBA forums are written by the typical Indian IT Male Engineers. Makes you wonder if the female applicants from India have stopped preparing for the GMAT or failed to get into the high GMAT score club (above 750)...

Darden School of Business - Gowthami's MBA success story
We published an interview with Wendy Huber, Associate Director of Admissions @ Darden MBA. Gowthami Guttikonda was one of the candidates who had her MBA interview with Wendy. Yup, small world...

W.P. Carey School of Business - Ritika's story
The Carey MBA (ASU) has strong ties with the industry, specially when it comes to Supply Chain Management (SCM). Ritika got a graduate assistanship from Carey...

Hi

Took Gmat today. Was hoping for a better score, but alas, turned out to be much lower than expected.
My score is 680 (quant 90 percentile and verbal 67 percentile). I was planning to apply to the following b schools and now i am wary of applying as i think my score is less than the average accepted. Needed your help by looking at the profile, should i apply with the current score or take GMAT again

Schools : INSEAD, Booth, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, LBS, Tuck

Profile:

Undergraduation - among top 3 students
Graduation - Top 20 college in india ; 1st rank in the college
Post-grad MBA from a top 10 b school in india - Allrounder award
Work experience -
1. Big credit rating agency in india (2 yrs)
2. Associate at a domestic PE firm (1.5 yrs)
3. Software consulting at a global IT major (1 yrs)

Other activities - decent activities at school and college level
Currently teach CFA at a leading firm (part-time)
Some charity work in the past though not very active presently

Planning to remain in the same industry but want to target international PE firms which surely need better exposure and a good international b school education in india

Will appreciate any help in deciding between applying with 680 score or target a better score

Rgds
Rohit

MBA Crystal Ball interviews Georgetown MBA (McDonough) Admissions Director

The Georgetown MBA in Washington D.C. is a top ranking program with a diverse class profile. With an average GMAT score of 683, the student age range falls between 22 and 45. Over 30% of the students come from outside the U.S. For the current class the business school admissions team received over 1500 applications and enrolled only 250, making it one of the toughest programs in the world.

Sameer Kamat, founder of MBA Crystal Ball, caught up with Interim Assistant Dean and Director, Katelyn Rosa Stephenson to find out more about the program...Read More

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Management Consulting 101

Best strategy consulting firms

The best management consulting firms in the world (and in India) have more or less remained the same for several years. In this post, we list down the top 10 strategy consulting firms...Read More


Best consulting firms - Technology, Finance, HR

Management consultant Amit talks about firms that focus on a niche - like technology consulting, financial consulting, HR consulting and others...Read More

MBA entrepreneurs: Why many bschool grads may never launch a startup

Here's an intriguing phenomenon. We have seen the same trend in applicants who work with us on the MBA Mock Application Process (MBA MAP). A significant number of MBA applicants explicitly list entrepreneurship as a post MBA goal in their admission essays.

They do a fantastic job in explaining the brilliant entrepreneurial idea they have in mind, the skills & resources need to execute that plan and how an MBA will provide them with the perfect platform to launch their startup in technology, healthcare, education or any of the other 'sunrise' sectors. So far, so good.

But something changes the minute they step into the bschool campus and the mindset change continues as they move into the job hunting phase...Read More

charanbobby wrote:Hi Sameer,

Can you please have a look into my following inputs and comment on my Profile.

GMAT Scores
650 (50,28)
640 (47,31)
610 (49, 24) (Yes! My score is falling down everytime I re-take the exam so decided to stop giving GMAT again)

:

Work exp:
2 years 3 months work experience with TCS, a multi-national software company, as a quality analyst.

:

PS: Upon researching, I feel that, being an Indian and having a typical job and average profile (All odds are against me(:-()), I will end up in a mediocre univ and will be kicked out of US soon.

Sirji, considering that we recently completed the MBA MAP for you, do you think you'd be able to share some thoughts and feedback on the process?

rohitm wrote:Took Gmat today. Was hoping for a better score, but alas, turned out to be much lower than expected.
:

Rohit bhai, I see that many other consultants have responded to your query.

Good luck with the applications, bro.

How to handle GMAT Math questions on Combinations and Probability

The GMAT quantitative (Maths) section often has questions involving concepts of Combinations and/or Probability. The GMAT preparation series on MBA Crystal Ball moves on, as we touch upon questions that cover both Combinations and Probability...Read More


Sample GMAT Question: Probability + Combinations

In post above, we covered tips and techniques to manage GMAT quantitative (Maths) questions that involve concepts of Combinations and Probability. In this post we share a sample GMAT quant question that builds up on the theory...Read More

Hi MBA CRYSTAL BALL,

I wanted your advice on the top colleges in Asia and Europe(will we get a work permit post MBA to work in Europe?) where I should apply,

I took my 2nd GMAT on 8th Nov, 2012 and scored 660.
My 1st GMAT was in Jan, 2011 (score 620)

My background:-

I am a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Chartered Accountant (Indian equivalent of CPA) and a Company Secretary. I have close to 4 years and 6 months of work experience. I have been working with a top KPO in India for the past 2 years, my client is GE Capital, I am advising my clients on Accounting and Financial complexities and also analyzing the valuation of companies where GE made its investments.

Prior to this I was working with HSBC and was involved in preparations of financial statements of Hedge Funds and also involved in analyzing the performance of Hedge funds.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
June '12: Qualified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) under the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (USA)
May '08: Qualified Chartered Accountant (CA), Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
June '07: Qualified Company Secretary (CS), Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

B.Com (Hons.), St. Xaviers' College, Kolkata 70.8%
Class XII- CBSE 85.4%
Class X- CBSE 81.0%

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACHIEVEMENTS
Table Tennis
-1st in my intra Company table tennis tournament (Singles and doubles) in the year 2011
-2nd in intra HSBC CoE Table Tennis Tournament (Singles) in the year 2008
-Represented the school in inter school sports competition in table tennis in the year 2001
-2nd in Singles and 3rd in doubles in Intra school table tennis tournament (Singles) in the year 2001-2002
Literary Events
-Participated in various intra school debate competitions in Apeejay School during the period '01-'03
-Actively Participated in various intra school quiz competitions
POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY
-School Representative for Apeejay School in various Inter School Fests and Events for '02 & '03
-Active member of the organizing committee for annual day function of Apeejay School for '02 & '03 and inter- collegiate fest of St. Xaviers' College 'Xavotsav 2004' and Class representative in St Xaviers' college, Kolkata in 04-05

-Hobbies: Numismatics & Philately

In school, I was also associated with the Duke of Edinburgh awards program which is a self development program and went to different places in India for camping and trekking and as a part of the program I also took teaching classes for the underprivileged. I still carry the experience of the program and from time to time I involve myself in some kind of social activity.

I have taken the initiative to organized blood donation camps in my college and my organization where I am working. From time to time I also take initiatives in my organization to help the underprivileged.

Regards
Vishal

Hi Sameer,

I appeared for my gmat yesterday and could manage only a 690 (Q-50 V-32). Here`s a brief snapshot of my profile:--
Acads- B.Tech (>80% throughout but non-IIT/NIT grad)
Work exp- 3 yrs in Analytics & Consulting. Currently working with a big french multinational. One important thing here is I started my career in IT and moved on to analytics. And have worked with leading brands in this field.
extra curriculars- decent
Foreign languages- German
Others- Also have part time teaching experience in verbal with a leading coaching brand for Indian MBA entrance exams. Also have done quite a few freelancing work mainly in the education sector.

I want to go for a retake and improve my score but the deadlines for most b-schools are looming closer. So I want to apply to at least the following ones and fancy my chances:-

ISB
HKUST
Goizueta business school
AIM, Manilla
Essec
Mannheim b school
Boston college
NUS

Can you please tell me which are the ones I should stuck off since the chances at a score of 690 wud be very low. And can u plz suggest a few more schools which I can add to the list.

Thanks & Regards,
Sayan

Hello Sameer,

Please evaluate my profile:
i. 23 year old Indian
ii. Took GMAT today. Got 720 (Q 50, V37)
iii. Qualified Chartered Accountant (Indian equivalent of CPA). Completed in May 2011.
iv. Cleared CFA L1 in Dec 2011 and L2 in June 2012.
v. Completed 3 levels of ICSI (Indian equivalent of Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, London)
v. Graduated in June 2010 with 68% marks (2.72 on scale of 4)
vi. Have been working as an auditor since April 2011 in a mid size audit firm. Have some leadership and team building experience.
vii. Don't have praiseworthy co-curricular activities.

Can some one tell me which B schools I can look at with the above profile.

Thanks

Nikhil