Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi! First of all, good job for the useful information on this forum!

I would like to know if it is reasonnable to think that business schools take in consideration that an applicant is not a native english speaker (in my case, french canadian) and therefore, would have naturally more difficulty in the verbal section. On the few practice tests that I have done, I have averaged a GMAT score of 680 very unbalanced (99% in math, an so so in the verbal section). Considering that I am not a native english speaker, do you think I stand a chance to get in a top 10 mba school?

Thanks for your opinion.

Best regards,

Maxime

Dear Maxbasket,

Thanks for your post!

In order to provide you with the best advice here, I'd ideally need to know exactly what you mean by a "so-so" percentile on the verbal. I'm guessing that you are potentially quite low, since you have a 99th percentile on the math and still got a 680...

In any event, here are my thoughts on your question:

1) MBA programs that use English as the language of instruction need to admit non-native English speakers who can contribute in class and keep up with the pace of rigorous management study. They also want to admit students who are going to be sucessful in the recruiting process - a process that is also conducted in English (with rare exceptions). As such, they are very careful in their assessment of non-native English speakers.

2) Admissions officers have several tools at their disposal to assess an applicant's English language skills. These include essays, interviews, the GMAT verbal score, TOEFL exam, application forms and recommendation letters.

3) As to whether or not the adcom takes into account that a candidate is a non-native English speaker when it comes to the verbal portion of the GMAT exam, the answer is yes. Of course, this works both ways - since the adcom is likely to more closely scrutinize the GMAT verbal score for a non-native speaker. If that score is high, great. If the score is low, this may signal a 'red flag' in terms of communications skills and cause the admissions reader to more carefully review one's TOEFL score, essays, recs and interview (if applicable at that stage of the process).

If you intend to apply with a "so-so" GMAT verbal result, my advice to you is that you submit a very high TOEFL result, superb essays and recommendation letters that comment on your comfort using both English and French, etc.

Best of luck,

Graham

Thank you very much for your time Graham, your post really answered my question well and I appreciate the TOEFL tip! I will put more effort in my TOEFL test then I originally intended to!

Thanks again!

Max