Hi Everyone,
So after months of practice and weeks of waking up for 5:30AM alarms to study before work, I took my first real GMAT today and scored a surprising 720 (46Q & 44V). I've spent many hours on this site during my prep work, work that spanned over 5 months - albeit some months more serious than others - and I wanted to start this post by saying thank you to all the great people on this site who offered fantastic advice. Looking back now, I realize that preparing for the exam is as much about the hours you put into learning the material as it is about your attitude towards the exam. The fiery and determined people that have successfully beaten the GMAT and then had the kindness of heart to share their stories on this site were such a great resource when my own motivation faltered, I know I would not have done as well as I did without their help.
Moving on to my concern, I am very interested in doing banking/corporate finance after completing my MBA and I was wondering if my score, with its more even balance between quant and verbal would put me in the running for the top tier finance focused programs. I would suspect that schools that have strong reputation for finance, namely Wharton, Booth, and Columbia, would look for people with these career aspirations to score higher than I have on the quant portion of the GMAT. Am I at any disadvantage when applying to these schools for not having a higher quant score?
Also, and feel free to skip this part as it is not completely necessary to answer the question, but these facts may help to frame my overall candidacy at these schools. I graduated with a BS in Financial Management (3.8 GPA) from a state school in the North/South Carolina and I have 4 years of work experience in the accounting group at BB investment bank.
I appreciate any and all insights.
So after months of practice and weeks of waking up for 5:30AM alarms to study before work, I took my first real GMAT today and scored a surprising 720 (46Q & 44V). I've spent many hours on this site during my prep work, work that spanned over 5 months - albeit some months more serious than others - and I wanted to start this post by saying thank you to all the great people on this site who offered fantastic advice. Looking back now, I realize that preparing for the exam is as much about the hours you put into learning the material as it is about your attitude towards the exam. The fiery and determined people that have successfully beaten the GMAT and then had the kindness of heart to share their stories on this site were such a great resource when my own motivation faltered, I know I would not have done as well as I did without their help.
Moving on to my concern, I am very interested in doing banking/corporate finance after completing my MBA and I was wondering if my score, with its more even balance between quant and verbal would put me in the running for the top tier finance focused programs. I would suspect that schools that have strong reputation for finance, namely Wharton, Booth, and Columbia, would look for people with these career aspirations to score higher than I have on the quant portion of the GMAT. Am I at any disadvantage when applying to these schools for not having a higher quant score?
Also, and feel free to skip this part as it is not completely necessary to answer the question, but these facts may help to frame my overall candidacy at these schools. I graduated with a BS in Financial Management (3.8 GPA) from a state school in the North/South Carolina and I have 4 years of work experience in the accounting group at BB investment bank.
I appreciate any and all insights.
