GMAT Strategy

Should I retake gmat?

Score: 580 (still waiting for IR and AWA scores)
Target Schools: One-year or part-time in US
Work Experience: 10 years (Engineering/IT, worked with some top companies)
Under-Grad: Bachelors in Engineering

I prepared for 3 months but ended up with a disappointing score. I am still debating if I should take one more time.
Considering the hectic work schedule that I have, it is bit of a challenge. That is the reason I am thinking too hard about another attempt.

With my current score what are my chances of getting into good schools?

If I decide to retake, will a months preparation make a difference?

Please help me decide!

Thanks.

Hi MonicaK!

It depends on what you mean by "good schools" but overall, it's going to be tough for anyone to crack an offer at a Top 20 school with a GMAT this low.

We do see people improve significantly when they spend a lot of time studying - generally, scores go up proportionally to the amount of time invested in preparing for the test.

That being said, this is a tough test! totally understand why you're debating it.

Coming from an engineering background, we'd think that probably you'll have success in increasing the score on the quant side particularly - engineers tend to do quite well on that part.

The other reason behind the suggestion to retest is if you only took it once. It won't hurt you at all to try again, and any improvement you can get will help a lot.

If you're interested in going to a local P/T program then maybe this score will be just fine - it depends on what school you're talking about. If you want to share those plans with us we can be more definitive. And also, admissions depends on a LOT more than just this single factor - the adcom will be looking across all parts of your app. But it's very rare that anyone gets into the best-ranked programs with a score below 600, so we do encourage you to try again if that's your target.

Hope this helps!
EssaySnark

Hi EssaySnark,
Thanks for your valuable advice. I am targeting at top 25 schools, either part time or one-year program. I got Q40, V30. Added, this was my second attempt. I took the test couple of years ago, but for various reasons could not pursue gmat again or mba program. So, it will be my third attempt.
I agree, anything less than 600 is not enough to get into top ranked schools, but I was counting on my experience.
Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I'd say retake the exam. I bet you can get up to a 660 with a month's more of studying.

You need to take a diagnostic exam or two (I recommend Manhattan GMAT) to figure out what questions you're missing. If it's all sentence correction, you study that then, bam, it's another 30 points on the GMAT. If it's algebra and geometry, you study those, and bam there's that other 50 points. Now if you're missing random things all over the place and you can't find a pattern, I'd say it's more about patience and getting questions correct.

All in all, you're probably in the throes of disappointment, but don't give up hope!

Hey MonicaK - you probably need to take it a third time. You said you thought you could "count on your experience" but that really won't offset a GMAT score this low, in our experience. The main purpose of the test is to demonstrate to the adcom that you can handle the very challenging material of a top program - the schools never want to admit someone who would struggle or fail or just give up (not saying that's what would happen with you!! just saying the logic behind using the test in the admissions process).

While the P/T programs are more flexible in the profiles of who they tend to accept, your score is still quite low for them. They just might be concerned about how much fun you'd have in their program!! It's even harder to juggle school and work at the same time, so they wouldn't want to set anyone up for failure.

If you have a lot of "experience" then this indicates you've been out of school a long time - which is yet another reason that they'll need to see a good GMAT score, since it offers recent evidence of your abilities.

Taking the test three times is never an issue, particularly if the first one was long ago. It won't hurt you at all, and it's going to be important in helping the adcoms make an offer.

Obviously there's much about you that we don't know, and we are not the adcom! So it could work out just fine for you - but based on our experience, it's very very rare for someone in this range to break into any of the Top 25 schools, regardless of which program we're discussing.

So sorry to give you that news! It sounds like you're motivated. Knuckling down for one more time on this will likely benefit you a lot.

Good luck with it!!!!
EssaySnark