Taking GMAT day before application deadline?

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mdubskee: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 12:01 pm

by mdubskee » Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:55 am

Hey folks,

I have decided to apply for business school a year ahead of what I had initially planned, so my study has been somewhat cramped and I want to give myself as long as possible before I sit the GMAT.

If I take the GMAT on September 8th 8am, and have the rest of my application ready, will I be okay if the deadline is the following day? From everything I read, you get your unofficial score immediately after the exam, and this unofficial score can be used for the application.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

Source: Beat The GMAT — The Application Process | Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:55 am

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MargaretStrother: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 351; Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:10 amFollowed by: 9 members; Location: Brooklyn, NY; Thanked: 44 times

by MargaretStrother » Sun Jul 26, 2015 6:49 am

You will probably want to double-check with the admissions office at each MBA program you're applying to, but according to a recent update I received on this topic, you should be able to submit your "instant" unofficial score in your application. So your timing, while stressful, will be acceptable to the adcom.

Good luck!

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OptimusPrep: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 410; Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:36 amFollowed by: 8 members; Location: Worldwide; Thanked: 120 times; GMAT Score:770

by OptimusPrep » Sun Jul 26, 2015 8:48 pm

Some schools want the official scores to be reported within the deadline.
You will have to check the requirements with your school.
If they are ready to wait for the official scores after the deadline, then you can do so.
However, I would advice against it as it would be too stressful and you might not be able to give in your 100%
Why don't you target Round 2?

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CriticalSquareMBA: Legendary Member; Posts: 1088; Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 3:29 pmFollowed by: 52 members; Thanked: 171 times

by CriticalSquareMBA » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:04 am

It really depends on each individual school - some, such as Columbia, are ok with your unofficial score report scanned in, others, such as Booth, just ask you to self report, and others, such as Duke, want an official report sent to them.

That said - for anyone else reading this post - avoid this situation if at all possible. Pouring time and effort into numerous applications, especially for a school like HBS, without having a GMAT score in hand is putting the cart before the horse. There is an order to this process for obvious reasons.

Good luck!

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petocities: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 4:00 pm

by petocities » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:29 am

Hey there @mdubskee. I find mislef in the sam situation that you are in right now! I have been checking program by program, and most of them will accept your unofficial scores, as long as you have GMAC send them the official scores once ready. In the end, what i've found to be the deciding factor is that the GMAT has to be taken before the deadline.

Although, I would strongly recommend you to look this up on every program you want to apply to.

Best of luck!

manyaabroadtpr: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 321; Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:04 pmFollowed by: 13 members; Location: B 7/2, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi - 110020; Thanked: 41 times

by manyaabroadtpr » Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:09 am

Yes you can apply in the given scenario. You can submit the application after mentioning the score. But the review will start post the university receives your score.

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Michael@VeritasPrep: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 380; Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:49 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 13 times

by Michael@VeritasPrep » Sat Oct 24, 2015 11:02 am

You should be fine, but I'll ask you a tough question. Why rush it? Are you 100% set on going to school this year? Just think that you could be hurting your chances at getting into your dream school by forcing everything into a tight timeline and performing poorly on your GMAT or other parts of your application like the essays. If you don't get into any schools you like this year, your chances as a reapplicant will be lower than if you just waited a year and built a stronger application.

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