GMAT 640 to 660 but quant score worse

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GMAT 640 to 660 but quant score worse

by Allegra1986 » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:03 pm
I did my GMAT for the first time in December last year and got 640 (Q39 V41). I applied to UC Irvine for FT MBA in 3rd round and got in in but decided to delay my MBA til fall 2012. I've been studying for about a month with various practice books and really felt a lot more comfortable with my maths skills but when I took the GMAT for the second time today I ended up with 660 which sounds like an improvement but Q36 V44 and i'm really disappointed because although the score has improved, the gap between the two parts is so big and I know the quant part is more important and it's actually gotten worse.

Profile -

Female, English, 25.
I've been working for almost 3 years - most recently just under 2 years at John Lewis (big department store chain in the UK) in online merchandising for 9 months and as a manager of a department in a store for 1 year.
Before that I spent two stints of 6 months working in events (in between each stint I first went travelling in Central America for 6 months and then in the second gap to Austria to study German for 6 months).

I left my job to focus on getting into B-School and have spent the last month studying for the GMAT and volunteering at elderly persons care home (my goal after MBA is to work in non-profit with the elderly) and I was planning to continue volunteering while doing b-schools applications and also studying Spanish. I was then planning to enroll in a college from January to study some calculus, stats etc. in prep for starting an MBA.

Undergrad was in Psychology from top 20 school in England - equivalent of about 3.3-3.5 GPA with lots of extracurriculars from University as well, charity work drama etc.

I am thinking now that my plan might not be good enough and wondering if it is worth delaying my applications to round 2 and re-taking my GMAT or taking some online math classes so I have grades to show admissions team that my quant abilities aren't as bad as they seem (I don't have many quant classes from undergrad either).

Just wondering what your thoughts were - can I make up for my quant score with some online classes with good grades or do I have to re-take the GMAT? I am worried i'll do even worse (I really thought my math skills were better this time!)

I'm not aiming for any top 10 schools, I know I would need a lot better scores for that but i'm wondering what i might need to do to get to say a level to be considered for somewhere like Georgetown or UNC?

Thanks in advance for your advice!
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by throughmba » Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:44 pm
What I believe is that you will definitely improve. You just need a normal day. But then it may not matter because your overall score is fine if you are not looking at Top 10. You may well fit in one of the Top 10-30 which is also wonderful.

I am not a great believer in the balancing of score when the overall profile is attractive enough. Infact I believe more in stories, themes, fits and impact.

You are good for Georgetown and UNC. Add 4-5 more.
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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:42 pm
With your grades, you can apply with a score of 660 to Georgetown and UNC and be competitive.

Best of luck,
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by Allegra1986 » Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:54 pm
Thank you both for your responses!

I was wondering if you had heard of a company called Math Prep/Omega Math? I found them online and their courses look very appealing in that you can do them in your own time, study online and I would therefore have grades to show admissions committee hopefully by the end of next month. The only thing I was a bit concerned about is that although you get credits and transcripts from Cal Poly, it seems a bit suspect that you can take tests online?

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:57 pm
I haven't heard of them. If you are looking for more known online GMAT courses you should look at the verified reviews of these courses here on BeattheGMAT (https://reviews.beatthegmat.com/online-gmat-courses).
Michael Cohan
MBAPrepAdvantage Founder & AIGAC Board Director
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