Emphasis on scores @ top 10 schools

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Emphasis on scores @ top 10 schools

by shadowsjc » Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:23 pm
Hello all,

I'm planning on taking the GMAT in a few weeks for admission in fall of 2010. I'm aiming to get as high of a score as possible to put me in a top 10 (or hopefully top 5) school. I wanted to know - how closely do B Schools weigh a high GMAT score? As with all schools, I imagine they look at "the whole package". Due to my age and limited work experience (especially in business related fields), I am scared that although I may get a good (730+) score, I may be overlooked for B-school.

Summary of stats:

- Undegraduate engineering degree, 3.44
- Graduate engineering management degree, 3.8 (obtained simultaneously)
- URM (not sure if this plays any factor at all)
- 1 summer interning at a financial institution
- 1 summer interning as an engineer
- ~2 years working in both the engineering and sales departments at a company (recently laid off due to economic reasons)
- ability to obtain several strong LOR's from past professors and bosses/executives

Right now, I am sort of banking on the fact that I will get a high score, although I know the GMAT can be very tricky.

- Assuming I get a high enough score, would my relatively small amount of work experience be overlooked?
- If I don't break 700, is there any chance I can still get into a T10 school?

Thanks for any advice
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