GMAT is August 25th. I'm looking for some advice.

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I accidently stumbled across "beat the gmat" this evening while searching for GMAT experiences via google. I must say, I wish I would have found this website months ago while seeking information about the GMAT and b.schools.

Background: I graduated about two years ago from a top ten public university with a degree in Clinical Laboratory Sciences. I have been working for two years as a medical technologist at a local hospital. I have always wanted to go onto grad school, but have realized that my GPA from my undergrad is going to be one of the obstacles I am going to face with admissions. I graduated with ~2.8. Ultimately I would like to get an MHA with an MBA. I would like to know the average GMAT score for some of the accredited graduate programs that offer an MHA, but that information seems hard to come by.

Preparation: I have been taking the Kaplan prep course since June and my final session is this week. Juggling work and kaplan has kept me rather busy during the past two months. I had to work every other weekend so I could have a day off during the week to attend class. During the week I usually work evenings, so my study time has been between 10pm-3am. The weekends were a mix of midnight shifts and evenings shifts. Finding time over the past 2 months has been a real struggle, but I put forth as much effort to get the most of the class. Here are some of my initial scores:
Kaplan Diagnostic(6-4): 470(Q29/V28)
Kaplan CAT1(7-2): 530(Q31/V31)
Kaplan CAT2(7-13):540(Q34/V26)
During CAT1 and CAT2 I had to guess the last 10-15 questions of my quantitative section. Ultimately I need to work on the timing issue during the quant section.
I expect to take my third CAT on Wednesday.

I realized that I have about a month of studying available before the GMAT and all my weekends are available till test date. So I hope to make a lot of grounds when it comes to my score. I feel that I need a 680-700 score to overshadow my GPA from my undergrad.
I am wondering if this is at all possible over the next month to actually improve my score about 100-150 points? Is my range for the GMAT good enough that some business schools/pubic health schools would possibly over looking my GPA a bit. I guess I should also list some school that I am interested in applying to: Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Ohio State, and a couple of others. I would prefer to stay in the Midwest. For most of these schools I would be applying to both the School of Public Health(MHA) and the School of Business(obviously the MBA). I don't know if that actually will hurt my odds or increase them. Possibly if I get into one of the programs and excel during the first semester, I can reapply for the program that I did not get into?


Sorry for the long post, some of this has been on my mind for sometime now and I want to make sure that my expectations are not far fetched. I am open to any suggestions anyone might have regarding my post and studying over the next month.

Thanks!
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by MTlookingforMHA » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:54 pm
I just finished CAT3 and increased my score to a 590 (q38/v30).
As for the quantitative section, I feel that I can increase my points quite a bit more before the official GMAT. I am completely bombing proportions and geometry for some reason.
The verbal section will need some major improvement to get me within my goal range. I will need to focus on both CR and SC over the next month to hopefully see improvements with the verbal section!

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by VP_Jim » Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:37 pm
You may be able to improve 100-150 points; I've had students improve that much, for sure.

However, it may be tough with only a month to prepare. I have two large pieces of advice for you: first, buy the three GMAT Official Guides. These are the best study resources, in my opinion. You'll get 1,500 very accurate GMAT problems to practice on.

My second piece of advice, and yes, maybe I am partial, is to get a tutor (or take a class, if you have time). Usually, in order to improve that much, people need a little help along the way. Make sure you find a tutor who has actually taken the GMAT (and done well) and who has taught GMAT classes before.

Good luck!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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by MTlookingforMHA » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:33 pm
VP_Jim wrote:You may be able to improve 100-150 points; I've had students improve that much, for sure.

However, it may be tough with only a month to prepare. I have two large pieces of advice for you: first, buy the three GMAT Official Guides. These are the best study resources, in my opinion. You'll get 1,500 very accurate GMAT problems to practice on.

My second piece of advice, and yes, maybe I am partial, is to get a tutor (or take a class, if you have time). Usually, in order to improve that much, people need a little help along the way. Make sure you find a tutor who has actually taken the GMAT (and done well) and who has taught GMAT classes before.

Good luck!
Thanks for the reply, I just finished my last kaplan class tonight. Now its just going through as many problems as possible up until August 25th. I also plan on taking a CAT at least 1-2 times a week. Basically if I am not working over the next 3-4 weeks, I am going to be putting in as much study time as possible. At least 2-5 hours a day during the work week and 6-10 hours during the weekend.
I have tons of banked questions available through the Kaplan course, OG11th addtion, and kaplan 800 to work through during the next 26 days.
Kaplan has given me enough knowledge on the basics, now it is time for me to solidify what I already know and improve on topics that I am currently struggling on.
I have also downloaded and printed the GMAT notecards and a couple of other notes posted on beat the gmat.