How good or bad is 650 for Top-45 US Bschools?

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by res123 » Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:54 am
My cousin was admitted last year to Columbia. His Gmat was 665, 3.35 GPA, but an outstanding resume. He worked for a hedge fund as an analyst, his employer wrote a recommendation letter as to how he would be an asset to the company. For undergraduate, he attended Princeton. His previous experience was almost 7 years and he was also able to get recommendation letters from a Vice President of the firm, who supposedly has a powerful name in the industry. I think you should definitely apply, you should also consider retaking the exam. I did no think my cousin was going to make it. I do know his application was put together phenomenally. I read his essay and he did an outstanding job in explaining what this MBA meant for him and I am not sure if it had to do with anything, his employer paid for the program, which shows that how much a person means to there employer. If you plan to stick with your current employer after your MBA, you should definitely get someone high in chain off command to write a recommendation letter. At least, this is what I thought got my cousin in, as his academics were nothing compared to some of the others who applied. I hope this helps a bit.

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by VP_Jim » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:43 pm
As said above, 650 will get you into some good schools IF the rest of your application is strong. I've had students with 650-ish get into Harvard and Stanford. Your MBA application package is much more than a GMAT score.

Remember - the average at those schools is around 700. Since lots of people with 750-ish scores get in, lots of people with 650-ish scores must, too. Your chances at 25-50 ranked schools are even better.

Go ahead and apply wherever you think you might like to go - you never know what will happen!
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by sophia08 » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:27 pm
Thank you very much.

VP_Jim - I just got my AWA...its a 6.0/6.0

Is it going to help me in any way as far as applications are concerned?

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by VP_Jim » Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:50 pm
Although AWA is typically not a very important piece of your application, a 6.0 certainly can't hurt!

Who knows: it may be you vs. someone else for the last seat at Harvard Business School. Your applications are equal except your AWA is 6.0 and the other applicant's is 4.0....
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