Best choice to improve my profile?

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Best choice to improve my profile?

by aphyllophorales » Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:15 pm
Hi,

I have a weaker academic profile in the form of a 2.95 in undergrad (not due to low overall grades, but due to a few quarters where I had to cope with extraordinary family issues), and a 680 GMAT (92% verbal, 59% quant, only taken once). The biggest positive would be that I have taken a tremendously diverse collection of classes, and generally done well across an unusual number of disciplines.

Other than that my profile and essays should be good, as I am a fairly unusual type of candidate, with experiences diverse enough to make for great essays.

I was wondering whether it would improve my profile more if I took the GMAT again and scored higher on quant, or if I took a finance or accounting class over the summer? The main top-tier schools I am looking at are HBS, Tuck, Haas, and Darden.

Thanks!
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by Stacey Oyler » Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:38 pm
Hi,

Thanks for your post. The programs on your list are looking for a minimum of 70% on quant and verbal as well as a GPA above 3.5. Since your GPA is below average your GMAT score matters even more. I strongly suggest retaking the GMAT with a goal to increase your verbal score. One thing to note about Tuck, they will accept your highest overall quant and highest overall verbal score meaning that if your verbal goes up in the next exam, but your quant goes down, they will take the quant score from the fist test and the verbal from the second. They are the only school to do this though, so I strongly encourage you to try to keep your quant score the same if possible.

Best,

Stacey
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Stacey Oyler
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