Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

On the official practice material, my scores were 700 and 660. My score report from the testing center says that i'm in the 84th percentile for quant and 48th for verbal. Overall, i'm in the 75th percentile.

My sealed scores were 48Q and 28V.

I made some stupid mistakes on the quant portion...and i have no idea what happened to me on the verbal portion.

But this is not the purpose of this post.

(From an admissions officer's perspective - or from an "i know what i'm talking about" perspective) I would like to know if it is wise to still consider going forward with my mba applications. I am applying through the consortium and i have a strong desire to stay in the northeast, so the schools that i chose (from the consortium list) were NYU and Yale. NYU is my top choice because i am a new yorker, and i would love to raise a family in nyc.

I'm an MIT engineer with an undergraduate GPA that is less than spectacular (2.9/4.0). I had a bad sophomore year, but an excellent thesis and senior capstone project. My junior year GPA was a huge improvement over my sophomore year

I've got solid work experience. I've been a government management/IT consultant since graduation in June 2006. One of my recommenders promoted me to a more senior position in the company and the other wrote an internal letter of recommendation to give me an out-of-cycle bonus.

I have a strong desire to go into the area of social entrepreneurship and I currently do a bunch of stuff in my community that is related to the field that i want to get into.

Considering the caliber of NYU and Yale, is this case a "wait until next fall"? "Consider applying normally (sans consortium) in the 3rd round and retake the gmat in january"? "Look into less prestigious MBA programs"?

I would like to thank you in advance for reading this and for your thoughtful responses.

a.) and for your thoughtful responses.
b.) and also for your thoughtful responses.
c.) and for not neglecting to leave responses that are thoughtful.
d.) for your responses that are thoughtful as.
e.) responses and thoughtful yours.

So, this is an interesting situation. The combination of the low overall GPA and the low verbal is definitely going to put you into red flag area. It surprising because you did so well on your practice tests and on the Q side of the exam.

Here's the strategy I suggest. Definitely apply in this upcoming round. The overall odds of getting in fall dramatically when you apply in the third round. If you apply now and take the GMAT in January, it can be added to your application. You can send a cover note about having a bad experience the day of the first GMAT and thus, you retook it. This is assuming that you can bring your score up during your second test. Additionally, your essays need to be near perfect so that they can see that you have outstanding writing skills. You recommendations should also focus on your writing ability to help mitigate the initial shock at a low verbal score. Finally, it's okay to admit that you had a bad day and can rebound. MBA programs appreciate candidates that are honest about weaknesses and know to aggressively attack their own weaknesses. Getting this sort of nuanced story across in a clear manner is a difficult, but definitely doable. We'd be happy to help you with it.

We offer a free strategic consultation and one free essay edit. Please let me know if you're interested.

Best,


Jay

I just retook the GMAT.

Q (47 sealed) 79%
V (40 sealed) 89%
Total 700 90%

I was getting REALLY hard questions on the quant. I think i got 3 or 4 wrong at the end of the section. I had no idea how to do any of them.

There were a lot of tricky data suff questions that i saw right through that lead me up to really hard questions.

I submitted my apps on monday and in the explanation essay i stated my intentions to retake the gmat.

I was really pleased with my application essays. Hopefully the Lord will continue to graciously bless me as i continue through the admissions process.

I submitted my consortium app on monday.

i did not study for the retake.

Good luck to you and a hearty congratulations on the significant score improvement!

Did you get in anywhere yet???

i got into nyu and yale!!

i'm probably going to go to NYU, but I will still attend Yale events to give them an opportunity to further sell themselves and to network with other prospective and current students.