Hi GMATTER81,
I HATE when business schools do this to candidates. I think that conditional admission is fine for some aspects of an application (In fact, I was admitted to Harvard Business School with several milestones I had to meet before matriculating), but a higher GMAT score is one that I think is plain unfair.
If every part of your application is up to par except for your GMAT score, I think it is up to business schools to either outright reject the candidate because they just can't look past the low GMAT score or to accept the candidate and have them complete tasks that will address the weaknesses they believe the low GMAT score reveals (e.g. Take English language classes if Verbal is low or quant coursework if Quant score is low).
Now that I've finished my rant, I'd say that I have seen something similar to this with an applicant before. She received a similar letter from a prestigious international MBA program saying that they really liked her as a candidate but wanted her to have a higher GMAT score, and I honestly don't even know what ended up happening. She was exhausted of taking the GMAT and was feeling confused as to what to do.
One thing I'd like to point out is that conditional admission based on something you have so little control over is not a real admission at all. If you've taken the GMAT several times, done all you can to study, and STILL have not made a score they deem acceptable, you haven't been conditionally admitted; you've been kindly rejected.
I advised her to do her best in retaking the GMAT but to be prepared to apply to a variety of schools during the next application period. Your educational future is far too important to gamble with--and I truly believe that standardized tests tend to be an inadequate tool for measuring students' aptitudes, thus making it somewhat of a gamble for both AdComs and GMAT test takers. Obviously standardized test scores are useful in a directional sense, but creating a specific numerical hurdle a student must jump over makes little sense to me.
What about your candidacy will have really changed by you scoring 30-50 extra points?
I suggest you do any and everything you can to improve your GMAT score if that is your dream school. Otherwise, take your kind rejection for what it is and apply to other schools.
Kaneisha
Harvard Business School MBA 2010, Harvard Kennedy School MPA 2010
Founder, The Art of Applying
Admissions Consulting for MBA, MPP, Joint Degrees, and Fellowships
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