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Devastating GMAT- Profile evaluation please

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Devastating GMAT- Profile evaluation please

by Pacos Tacos » Thu Nov 03, 2011 5:53 pm
I just finished the GMAT exam and received a devastating score of 540 (30/30 q/v) after a month of rigorous studying. I had an anxiety attack during the test, the clock was driving me crazy. That's the bad, the good:

*Undergraduate degree from a "public ivy", top 40 rank, Philosophy major, psychology and economics minor. 3.2 cumulative undergrad gpa

*Post grad research from a top 20, 3.70 gpa, 3 letters of rec from distinguished philosophers (including a mathematician)

*6 securities licenses, FINRA principle by the age of 21, supervised over 110 investment advisor reps

*6 years of full time investment experience as a sales analyst, first investment brokers license at 19, first insurance brokers license at 18.

*all of my quantitative coursework, including calc/acct, avg 3.2 gpa

In addition, I am working on publishing in an academic journal for theoretical psychology, and have a full schedule for the next term in computer programming, business and a graduate course in philosophy.

The schools I'm applying to:

USC, SMU Cox, UNC Chapel Hill, UCI, UC Davis

If you could tell me how my application looks, if I'm in the right range of schools, and if you have any pointers, I would really appreciate it!
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by Lisa Anderson » Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:48 am
Dear Pacos Tacos,

I agree you have many positives to balance a GMAT that is below average. However, your GMAT is still outside the competitive range for your target schools, making the hurdle much higher for a successful application. You are correct that your transcript is important to show you can do well in the classroom, and your successful professional track record is evidence of your motivation. Nevertheless, you are competing against a large number of applicants at these programs for a select number of seats--many of whom might be fairly similar to you on paper, except for a higher GMAT. I encourage you to consider taking the GMAT again if you feel your score will increase. Perhaps now that you have survived the first attempt your nerves will be less the second time? I also encourage you to broaden your school list (or revise it) to add programs where the GMAT average is more in the 580-630 range for your reasonable/safety options. While it is possible you might be successful at one of the current schools on your list, it is prudent to have a good mix of schools to ensure you are in business school next year.

Good luck,
Lisa
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by Pacos Tacos » Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:18 pm
Thanks for the quick reply! I have scheduled another test for mid December; I'm getting a time extension accommodation and I believe that this will greatly increase my score to, at the very least, "average" for my target schools. With that said, I find standardized tests wholly irrelevant and I think it is hard to believe that, given a solid holistic profile, an adcom would reject a candidate purely based on the performance of a standardized test. Some really genius people are terrible at these tests and, on the contrary, some really unintelligent people score excellently.

Given your consulting experience, isn't there a very real opportunity to sell myself to the adcom and at the same time share my perspective on how grossly irrelevant these silly tests are?

I was previously a PhD candidate for philosophy and I can safely say the competitiveness of graduate philosophy programs are exponentially beyond those of business, law, or medical school. Admission rates for even mediocre programs are single digits, with only spots for approximately 8-15 candidates per year. Most programs don't even want to see a standardized test scores and they evaluate the candidates based on letters of rec and writing sample. Would it be behoove of my to include a fairly short technical paper in my package? Is it often that adcoms are willing to disregard the gmat, regardless of score, or do they suffer from a severe case of myopia?

I really appreciate your response!
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by Lisa Anderson » Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:35 pm
I'm glad to hear you will retake and were granted the accommodation. The GMAT is a beast, and I commend you for trying again. You are correct that your admissions evaluation will be holistic, meaning your essays, recommendations and other components are as important. Applicants are rarely rejected on one component alone, so the GMAT score is not going to result in an automatic rejection (or admit, for that matter). While I understand your perspective on standardized tests, I think it is best to leave that out of your applications. What you want to show in your applications is your ability to handle the rigor of the program, a solid rationale for an MBA and your unique contributions to the class.

Best of luck,
Lisa
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