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Should I retake GMAT / work experience

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Should I retake GMAT / work experience

by coholio » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:37 pm
Hi there,

About me:
- 27 year old
- Moved to US 2 years ago after obtaining BA in Econ + Law degree (cum laude) from good foreign university
- 1.5 years of full time work experience for small startup company in the US (marketing), and also 2 years (OVERLAPPING with full time work) of starting and running my own business + part time work while in school
- GMAT: 730 (46V [99%], 44Q [68%])
- Interested in top 10 business schools (round 2 in January)

My questions:
1. Should I retake the GMAT? I am worried by relatively low quant (scored higher on practice tests), but will my economics degree suffice (very high scores on all math related courses)?
2. Is my work experience sufficient? would you advise that I work for another year prior to applying (or will age be a factor then)?

Thanks for taking the time to help - I really appreciate it!

Coholio
Last edited by coholio on Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by rajasekharp » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:41 pm
If your targeting the top 10 universities in us , as i see they all have a average experience of 4 or 5 years , but may have minimum around 2 or 3 , so i seriously doubht getting in with 1.5 . but i am not sure.

Good Score , All the Best.
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by paulsbodine » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:34 pm
Coholio,

Yes, you should try to raise the quant score since you are aiming so high and are applying from a marketing role, though your quant score is not a showstopper/deal-break in itself. Your work experience and age seem out of whack - did you begin university late for some reason? Two years of work experience is enough to apply with especially since you have essentially been leading two careers simultaneously.

Hope this helps,
--Paul
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
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by coholio » Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:23 am
Thanks for the feedback Paul. Three follow up questions, hope you don't mind:

1. So you don't think high grades on economics degree will make up for low GMAT quant? I was really hoping it will.

2. Regarding work experience - the education system is a bit different in my birth country in the sense that we don't have the first 2 years of college as more "general studies" the way I think it is in the US so people take a little bit longer in deciding what they really want to study... and that's what I did. Do you suppose that will be frowned upon by adcoms?

3. I did work for 2 years before starting my studies (as tech support rep) but wasn't sure if I should mention it since it's pre-graduation and also not too sexy?

Thanks!

C.
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by paulsbodine » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:26 pm
1. They might, but if you think you can raise your GMAT score, you might try given that you're aiming high.
2-3. If your total work experience (before and after university) is roughly the same as a typical U.S. applicant than there's no problem. The bottom line is that business schools value work experience over academic experience.

Good luck,
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
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by coholio » Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:03 am
Thanks Paul!
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