Hi all
I have meant to seek some advice on this great forum but hesitated until now. My story is a bit long, so my apologies and I hope you can share some thoughts.
Two years ago, I received an adequate scholarship to do an MBA (ca. $70k) at any school of choice. I have an engineering degree from a good school in Northern Europe. My work background is two years in M&A from a top five US investment bank (top ranked) and three years in business development at a US conglomerate (both Europe-based exposures). Prior to that, I ran my own consulting firm for two years and established a start-up in Europe. I am 34, am not a native English speaker but born and bread in several countries due to my parents' job situations. My cumulative GPA is above 80% and I graduated 7 years ago.
After I received the scholarship in mid 2010 and using OG11, I was completely destroyed by the real exam scoring close to 500. Devastated, I forgot about the whole MBA story. In early 2011 however, I took a two month sabbatical from work, studying OG12 and the MGMAT books but was again destroyed by the GMAT, scoring in the same terrible range. I realized that my job at the time really stressed me out. I had sleeping disorders and anxiety from that job which was not helping my GMAT-studies at all. I kept forgetting what I had learned. My rehearsing of the practice questions was not systematic and I simply was very consumed.
Earlier this year, I resigned from that job (best decision ever). I began studying for the GMAT again in April and nearly every day. I have done all the questions in OG12, OQ and OV guides. I have fragmentally reviewed my errors and written post-its to devise the most economic methods to solve the questions. I did my first MGMATs CAT two months ago and scored 660, skipping the AWA and the IR. I even bought an iPad to download the BTG app to do the 111 hard quant questions. I have done 50 of them but scored less than 50% correct. For the OG, OQ and OV guide questions however, I could go through 20-30 questions non-stop, properly paced and average around 70-90% correct answers.
In between the two real GMAT exams, I was in the US with my previous job and made time to meet a few schools. I was clear about my full time MBA intentions as I doubt to qualify for an EMBA and besides, I want an "academic relief" fulltime. Admissions' consistent message was that I have an edged global profile so "just do the GMAT and you will be fine".
You may wonder why I want to do an MBA? Considering my academic background and my work experiences, I may not need one. But my conviction is that I want the US experiences in VC and thereafter work as an entrepreneur as I have ideas. As it stands, I have four more weeks before my personal deadline to retake the GMAT. I have yet not booked the exam date, have 5 MGMAT CATS and two GMATprep CATs left to do. But I feel that my overall octane and hunger is for the exam is on a slide, I have lost motivation when I need my fire power the most.
I wish I could walk in, get a 650-700 score and get out (wishful thinking).
My questions to you are:
1. Any ideas on a proper strategy for the coming four weeks, I basically have 5-10hrs to spend per day.
2. Should I forget about the Top10 US B-Schools considering my age and my first two real GMAT scores even though admissions tend to only consider the highest score?
Any thoughts in this vein would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!
I have meant to seek some advice on this great forum but hesitated until now. My story is a bit long, so my apologies and I hope you can share some thoughts.
Two years ago, I received an adequate scholarship to do an MBA (ca. $70k) at any school of choice. I have an engineering degree from a good school in Northern Europe. My work background is two years in M&A from a top five US investment bank (top ranked) and three years in business development at a US conglomerate (both Europe-based exposures). Prior to that, I ran my own consulting firm for two years and established a start-up in Europe. I am 34, am not a native English speaker but born and bread in several countries due to my parents' job situations. My cumulative GPA is above 80% and I graduated 7 years ago.
After I received the scholarship in mid 2010 and using OG11, I was completely destroyed by the real exam scoring close to 500. Devastated, I forgot about the whole MBA story. In early 2011 however, I took a two month sabbatical from work, studying OG12 and the MGMAT books but was again destroyed by the GMAT, scoring in the same terrible range. I realized that my job at the time really stressed me out. I had sleeping disorders and anxiety from that job which was not helping my GMAT-studies at all. I kept forgetting what I had learned. My rehearsing of the practice questions was not systematic and I simply was very consumed.
Earlier this year, I resigned from that job (best decision ever). I began studying for the GMAT again in April and nearly every day. I have done all the questions in OG12, OQ and OV guides. I have fragmentally reviewed my errors and written post-its to devise the most economic methods to solve the questions. I did my first MGMATs CAT two months ago and scored 660, skipping the AWA and the IR. I even bought an iPad to download the BTG app to do the 111 hard quant questions. I have done 50 of them but scored less than 50% correct. For the OG, OQ and OV guide questions however, I could go through 20-30 questions non-stop, properly paced and average around 70-90% correct answers.
In between the two real GMAT exams, I was in the US with my previous job and made time to meet a few schools. I was clear about my full time MBA intentions as I doubt to qualify for an EMBA and besides, I want an "academic relief" fulltime. Admissions' consistent message was that I have an edged global profile so "just do the GMAT and you will be fine".
You may wonder why I want to do an MBA? Considering my academic background and my work experiences, I may not need one. But my conviction is that I want the US experiences in VC and thereafter work as an entrepreneur as I have ideas. As it stands, I have four more weeks before my personal deadline to retake the GMAT. I have yet not booked the exam date, have 5 MGMAT CATS and two GMATprep CATs left to do. But I feel that my overall octane and hunger is for the exam is on a slide, I have lost motivation when I need my fire power the most.
I wish I could walk in, get a 650-700 score and get out (wishful thinking).
My questions to you are:
1. Any ideas on a proper strategy for the coming four weeks, I basically have 5-10hrs to spend per day.
2. Should I forget about the Top10 US B-Schools considering my age and my first two real GMAT scores even though admissions tend to only consider the highest score?
Any thoughts in this vein would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!
