High GPA, Average GMAT

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High GPA, Average GMAT

by debinchitown » Thu Jun 24, 2010 5:39 pm
Hi,

I ended up scoring higher on the GMAT that I expected, but I am still not sure how far I should stretch for schools to apply to for Part Time MBA programs.

With the below information, would it be too big of a stretch to apply to Northwestern or University of Chicago?

University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate degree (Marketing/Management & HR)- 3.7 Overall GPA
GMAT Score 570 (Quantitative 69 percentile, Verbal 35 percentile)

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
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by Tani » Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:18 pm
With only your stats to go by it's hard for me to tell what is a stretch school for you. Your GPA is excellent. Fortunately the quantitative part of the GMAT is reasonable. The verbal is your weakness. Did you take a test prep course? If so, what were your practice test scores? Do you think it is possible to bring that score up?

Exceptional work experience and other factors could make up for the low GMAT. I would need to know more about what you have done since school to help you there. The University of Chicago admissions blog talks about the importance of looking at all factors. Check out this link: https://blogs.chicagobooth.edu/n/blogs/b ... ns&entry=4

You will note that they recommend taking the GMAT over. A 40 point increase would put you over 600 which would increase your chances. Even then, Kellogg puts the average for their part-time program at 695, which would make that a major stretch.

In summary, if you can get your GMAT score up and Chicago and Northwestern are dream schools and if you have an exceptional work record, these are worth applying to, recognizing that they are definitely stretch schools. If, however, you are determined to go to graduate school in the next year you definitely need to expand your school list. DePaul consistently ranks among the top ten for part-time programs and has both weekend and evening options.

Hope this is helpful.
Tani Wolff