Apply or retake GMAT

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Apply or retake GMAT

by eki » Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:11 am
My Background :

I am an Indian male with 8.5 years experience in sales and account management with best tech companies of the world.I have never worked outside India, though I have travelled to multiple countries.I want to move to consulting and hence planning for MBA. I took GMAT and scored an avg (or poor) 660.I have have a passed engineering with 72% marks. I have a very good career track record and can substantiate that with examples and figures (revenue impact, increase in market share etc.). I am targeting only top 15 schools(mainly LBS, INSEAD, Chicago booth and Kellog) and the R2 deadlines for all of them are in Jan 1st week, except INSEAD.

I need your help in deciding whether I should apply now (R2) with as score of 660 or retake GMAT and apply in R3 of this year or R1 of next year.

My apprehensions :
1. With a score of 660 it will be unrealistic to expect to get into any of the top 10-15 colleges.
2. If I apply in R3, chances of admission would be very less.
3. If I apply next year, then it might be little late in my career (with 10 yrs of exp).

Request your guidance.

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by Kaneisha Grayson » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:28 am
Hi Eki,

It seems that you're in quite a conundrum. I specialize in working with non-traditional students applying to top programs. You definitely fall into that category with your higher-than-average work experience and out of range GMAT score.

I recommend you apply R2 with your 660 over R3 or waiting until next year. BUT ONLY IF:

1) You have already started drafting your essays and feel good about your progress thus far.
2) You have enough time to dedicate to writing and completing outstanding essays rather than rushing to just turn something in.

If you can say yes to #1 and #2, I give you my admissions fairy godmother blessing to apply in R2 with your 660.

Kaneisha
Harvard Business School MBA 2010, Harvard Kennedy School MPA 2010
Founder, The Art of Applying
Admissions Consulting for MBA, MPP, Joint Degrees, and Fellowships
https://theartofapplying.com

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by paulsbodine » Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:23 am
eki,

Booth and Kellogg will be longshots with your profile and a 660 (especially if the scores are way out of balance), but there are top 15 schools such as Cornell and CMU (depending on whose Top 15 you're talking about) where you have a chance. Keep in mind that your odds of admission when applying to schools with January intakes are not as tough as for true round 3 and 4 applications. Since you should not wait a year given your age you may want to (a) add more European schools to your list, (b) apply to some schools (mix of reaches and doables) in the second round, and (c) also target additional schools in the later rounds (third round + January intake rounds). In the meantime, you can work on raising the score. If you've only taken it once and you took it without the help of a prep service, there is a decent chance you will be able to raise it.

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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(858) 869-1959