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Hi,

I took the GMAT a week ago and scored a 700 (Quant 48/ Verbal 38); although I don't know for sure yet, I'm pretty confident I got a 6 on the AWA. In terms of the IR, I didn't study the section much and wouldn't be surprised if I came back with a low score (e.g. 3 or 4). I was hoping to apply to business schools this year, but don't want the IR score to be the thing that holds me back.

To provide a little more context about me, I went to a top 20 liberal arts college (e.g. Amherst, Colby, or Colgate) where I got a 3.45 GPA while double majoring in Government and Middle Eastern Studies. I have worked at an major consulting firm (e.g. Deloitte, IBM, Accenture) for the past 3 years and spent almost a year of that working in Afghanistan doing economic development. The one area I'm a little weak in is the quant skills. Due to AP classes in high school, I passed out of all math course requirements in college and didn't take any.

I really want to go to a top 15 school such as Berkeley, NYU, or Northwestern, but I'm not sure if it's even possible with a low IR score. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

jysail15 wrote:Hi,

I took the GMAT a week ago and scored a 700 (Quant 48/ Verbal 38); although I don't know for sure yet, I'm pretty confident I got a 6 on the AWA. In terms of the IR, I didn't study the section much and wouldn't be surprised if I came back with a low score (e.g. 3 or 4). I was hoping to apply to business schools this year, but don't want the IR score to be the thing that holds me back.

To provide a little more context about me, I went to a top 20 liberal arts college (e.g. Amherst, Colby, or Colgate) where I got a 3.45 GPA while double majoring in Government and Middle Eastern Studies. I have worked at an major consulting firm (e.g. Deloitte, IBM, Accenture) for the past 3 years and spent almost a year of that working in Afghanistan doing economic development. The one area I'm a little weak in is the quant skills. Due to AP classes in high school, I passed out of all math course requirements in college and didn't take any.

I really want to go to a top 15 school such as Berkeley, NYU, or Northwestern, but I'm not sure if it's even possible with a low IR score. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Would you be willing to take 1-2 quant courses (freshman level classes in calculus, stats, algebra, accounting, finance, etc.) through an online extension program like UCLA? I think regardless of what your IR score is, you probably should do that to give the adcom some comfort that you'll be able to handle the quant aspects of an MBA program.

If you're able to do that, then I think you should be competitive for the schools you listed (and I would recommend adding 2-3 more schools to that list, since b-school admissions is a numbers game as well, and you want to maximize your odds by applying to a sufficient number of schools).

First, congrats on the solid score! Second, IR is unlikely to play a big role in the admissions process this year (but honestly there is no clear indication of this yet). Try not to worry about it now, wait til you get your scores and come back here to report...

MBAApply wrote:

jysail15 wrote:Hi,

I took the GMAT a week ago and scored a 700 (Quant 48/ Verbal 38); although I don't know for sure yet, I'm pretty confident I got a 6 on the AWA. In terms of the IR, I didn't study the section much and wouldn't be surprised if I came back with a low score (e.g. 3 or 4). I was hoping to apply to business schools this year, but don't want the IR score to be the thing that holds me back.

To provide a little more context about me, I went to a top 20 liberal arts college (e.g. Amherst, Colby, or Colgate) where I got a 3.45 GPA while double majoring in Government and Middle Eastern Studies. I have worked at an major consulting firm (e.g. Deloitte, IBM, Accenture) for the past 3 years and spent almost a year of that working in Afghanistan doing economic development. The one area I'm a little weak in is the quant skills. Due to AP classes in high school, I passed out of all math course requirements in college and didn't take any.

I really want to go to a top 15 school such as Berkeley, NYU, or Northwestern, but I'm not sure if it's even possible with a low IR score. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Would you be willing to take 1-2 quant courses (freshman level classes in calculus, stats, algebra, accounting, finance, etc.) through an online extension program like UCLA? I think regardless of what your IR score is, you probably should do that to give the adcom some comfort that you'll be able to handle the quant aspects of an MBA program.

If you're able to do that, then I think you should be competitive for the schools you listed (and I would recommend adding 2-3 more schools to that list, since b-school admissions is a numbers game as well, and you want to maximize your odds by applying to a sufficient number of schools).

Thanks for the advice. I have thought about doing that, but since I likely wouldn't be able to complete all the courses before applying I wasn't sure if that would matter. Also, other schools I'm looking at are Cornell, UVA, Tepper, and UT Austin. Not sure if they'd be any more reasonable with a bad IR score.

Hi,

I believe you have a competitive score to apply in your shortlisted b-schools. Don't bother about IR. The weight-age given to GMAT in US b-school(s) is not more than 15%-20%. You just need to skillfully frame your application essays and showcase leadership style, achievements at work place, professionalism and other aptitudes during the final interviews. If you are able to position well in essays and interviews, then you would stand a chance in top b-school(s), You may try your chances in b-schools by clicking https://goo.gl/lhc05

Let me know if you require any further assistance. You may PM your details for free profile evaluation and school selection.

Regards
Erina

jysail15 wrote:Hi,

I took the GMAT a week ago and scored a 700 (Quant 48/ Verbal 38); although I don't know for sure yet, I'm pretty confident I got a 6 on the AWA. In terms of the IR, I didn't study the section much and wouldn't be surprised if I came back with a low score (e.g. 3 or 4). I was hoping to apply to business schools this year, but don't want the IR score to be the thing that holds me back.

To provide a little more context about me, I went to a top 20 liberal arts college (e.g. Amherst, Colby, or Colgate) where I got a 3.45 GPA while double majoring in Government and Middle Eastern Studies. I have worked at an major consulting firm (e.g. Deloitte, IBM, Accenture) for the past 3 years and spent almost a year of that working in Afghanistan doing economic development. The one area I'm a little weak in is the quant skills. Due to AP classes in high school, I passed out of all math course requirements in college and didn't take any.

I really want to go to a top 15 school such as Berkeley, NYU, or Northwestern, but I'm not sure if it's even possible with a low IR score. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Your GMAT score is fine, don't worry about the IR score as MBA Admissions Committees have not been looking at this yet. One thing to add is make sure to emphasize any quantitative aspects of your job and the fact that you placed out of math courses in high school (e.g. if you placed out of AP Calculus you can answer this in a question asking about quantitative proficiency or in the optional section).

Best of luck,