Good GMAT and AWA, but bad IR - Thoughts?

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aditya988: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:25 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by aditya988 » Fri Apr 12, 2013 6:13 am

Hello,
I took my GMAT a few weeks back. I got a 750 (98 percentile -> Q49;V42), AWA - 6/6, but only 4/8 in IR. While I'm aware that IR is not too important for the next few years, I also know that 4/8 is around 40 percentile and is slightly below the average. So I'm still a little concerned. I'm aware that no one can really tell for sure, but my mind would certainly be at ease if a couple of people on this forum would give their feedback.

With 36 months of Work Ex under my belt, a good under-graduate GPA and what I hope will be good essays and recommendations, I'm hoping to crack at least one of the top 10. I know that these schools are very selective, but I hope that my IR score doesn't cause my application to be rejected.

Can't wait to hear some comments!

There are already many many superb debriefs on this forum, so I will not write one, unless one of you would like to hear about my preparation. I am happy to answer any questions, if anyone is interested.

Source: Beat The GMAT — I just Beat The GMAT! | Fri Apr 12, 2013 6:13 am

essaysnark: Legendary Member; Posts: 795; Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:41 amFollowed by: 85 members; Thanked: 177 times

by essaysnark » Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:04 am

Hey aditya988 - short answer: No, the IR of 4 won't cause your app to be rejected.

It's great that you're looking at everything this way, BTW - shows you're aware of the competitiveness of this endeavor you're embarking upon, and that you want to do what you need to do to earn success in it. Good stuff.

And obviously that 750 is pretty darn impressive - nice job!! The IR of 4 is a little out of whack in conjunction with the strong quant/verbal, so you're right to be wondering about it.

As you noted, the schools are not using the IR heavily - yet. But that is starting to change, at least informally, and we know that all the adcoms are paying attention to the IR even if they're not technically incorporating it into their decisions.

Even when the IR is a standard part of everyone's app (in the 2017 admissions cycle), the schools are not going to be putting all the weight of the world on this one score. We predict that it will have more importance than the AWA but not more than the individual quant/verbal/total components.

To illustrate how the schools are thinking about the IR today, we offer this tweet from a few weeks back where we quoted the Tuck adcom: https://twitter.com/EssaySnark/status/3 ... 7882901504

Since your next question is likely to be, "Should I retake the GMAT because of the low IR?" our answer is "probably not" - unless this is something that's going to drive you bonkers. We don't see the IR as carrying that much weight quite yet; it can help to the positive but we don't feel it's going to be a major detriment in a case like yours.

So. Hopefully that gives you some reassurance. If you were applying next year, our answer might be different, but for a Round 1 app this coming admissions season, we say, go for it with your current score - focus on your strategy from this point forward (it's not too early to get started on that!!!) and commit yourself to a summer of essays.

If we can help along the way, we're here!!

EssaySnark

EssaySnark has MBA application guides for HBS, Stanford, Booth, Wharton, NYU and pretty much any other school you can name - including a fully revised and expanded 2015 Columbia essay guide!
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Jim@StratusPrep: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 2279; Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:51 amFollowed by: 266 members; Location: New York; Thanked: 660 times; GMAT Score:770

by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue May 07, 2013 9:00 am

Got your PM. Awesome! Congrats on the success!

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