I agree with Lisa's comment. You have a wonderful opportunity to use your unique positioning to your advantage. I suggest two parallel strategies. First, use your African heritage as a strength. You will be a valuable perspective to the classroom and you want to tout that in your essays. Talk about ...

I'm not quite sure what you mean about cancelling a score. Once you take the GMAT and get a result, that number will always be a part of your application. You do have the option of not getting a result when you take the GMAT. If, at the end of the test, you know you did poorly, you can decide to 'ca...

The policies differ from school to school. Most require that the GMAT be taken before the application is submitted, though some will accept a second score after the deadline but cannot promise a final evaluation will have not already been rendered.

Hope that helps,

Jay

I agree with Lisa--it's not an important part of the application. It's far more important to come up with specific stories in your essays that demonstrate your skills, your passions, and your aspirations. Most Admissions officials know that it's very hard to decipher the real value of a college awar...

I agree fully with Linda. The only input I'll add is that there is a magic number that many people talk about: getting an 80 percentile on each component of the GMAT. I've heard from several Admission Officers that this is true--they basically see anything over an 80 percentile as passing. They are ...

I agree with Graham. You should avoid R3 at all costs. There will be so few seats available at that time that even with a perfect GMAT, it would still be difficult to get into many programs.


Good luck retaking it!

This is probably not super helpful now but my best advice is not too worry too much about this. I've had plenty of clients with financial difficulty get into great programs. Generally the programs will help you demonstrate ability and will walk you through the process. You can call any financial aid...

I agree with Jill's advice. The only additional input I would offer is to be careful how many schools to which you apply. Every school needs to be treated with focus. Admissions Officers and tell right away if you have cut and pasted essays from a different school. They look to see that you made per...