Hi all,
I recently took the GMAT and scored as follows:
Overall -750 (98th percentile)
Quant - 45 (72nd percentile)
Verbal - 48 (99th percentile)
While I'm pleased with my overall score (98th percentile), I'm very disappointed in my quantitative score (72nd percentile). As such, I'm wondering if I should re-take the GMAT.
My low quant score is particularly problematic because my background is actually quite technical: I currently work for a highly-quantitative management consulting firm in Chicago (we do a lot of econometrics, statistics, and data analysis); prior to that I worked as an investment banking analyst at a bulge bracket firm in New York. In terms of academic background, I have a BA in economics from the University of Chicago (with coursework in economics, econometrics, statistics, multivariate calculus, and linear algebra), with an overall GPA of 3.9 and a major GPA of 4.0.
Therefore, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma - on the one hand I feel as though I can convince the admissions committee of my quantitative skills in spite of my GMAT score; on the other hand, I worry that my GMAT score will cast doubt on the rest of my application (i.e., "if this guy is so smart, why couldn't he do better on the GMAT?")
For what it's worth, I'm targeting the top tier of business schools (Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, et al.), so any weakness in my application is problematic.
However, at the risk of sounding too whiny - retaking the test will be fairly hard for me: (1) first of all, I'm spending the next few months working as a fellow at a social investment firm in Sub-Saharan Africa - so studying for, let alone re-taking, the GMAT is logistically difficult; and (2) I still have a lot of work to do in terms of business school essays and recommendation letters - so every hour I devote to studying for and re-taking the GMAT is an hour taken away from these other (potentially more useful) pursuits.
Again, any help at all with my situation would be appreciated. I'm really not sure how to proceed, so any advice or perspective would be a great help to me.
Many thanks in advance for the help!
I recently took the GMAT and scored as follows:
Overall -750 (98th percentile)
Quant - 45 (72nd percentile)
Verbal - 48 (99th percentile)
While I'm pleased with my overall score (98th percentile), I'm very disappointed in my quantitative score (72nd percentile). As such, I'm wondering if I should re-take the GMAT.
My low quant score is particularly problematic because my background is actually quite technical: I currently work for a highly-quantitative management consulting firm in Chicago (we do a lot of econometrics, statistics, and data analysis); prior to that I worked as an investment banking analyst at a bulge bracket firm in New York. In terms of academic background, I have a BA in economics from the University of Chicago (with coursework in economics, econometrics, statistics, multivariate calculus, and linear algebra), with an overall GPA of 3.9 and a major GPA of 4.0.
Therefore, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma - on the one hand I feel as though I can convince the admissions committee of my quantitative skills in spite of my GMAT score; on the other hand, I worry that my GMAT score will cast doubt on the rest of my application (i.e., "if this guy is so smart, why couldn't he do better on the GMAT?")
For what it's worth, I'm targeting the top tier of business schools (Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, et al.), so any weakness in my application is problematic.
However, at the risk of sounding too whiny - retaking the test will be fairly hard for me: (1) first of all, I'm spending the next few months working as a fellow at a social investment firm in Sub-Saharan Africa - so studying for, let alone re-taking, the GMAT is logistically difficult; and (2) I still have a lot of work to do in terms of business school essays and recommendation letters - so every hour I devote to studying for and re-taking the GMAT is an hour taken away from these other (potentially more useful) pursuits.
Again, any help at all with my situation would be appreciated. I'm really not sure how to proceed, so any advice or perspective would be a great help to me.
Many thanks in advance for the help!
