Help with profile evaluation

[kannisi]

Hi Stacy, I'd appreciate any help or insights you can provide on my profile and school goals.

Targeted Schools: Harvard, Wharton, Duke, etc.
Ethnicity: asian american
GMAT: 710 (Q46/V42)

College GPA: 3.73 from a Top 40 undergrad business program and a Top 20 undergrad engineering school (2 years of EE, then switched majors to business, and graduated with a degree in finance and a degree in mgmt information sciences)

Work Experience: 4+ years of management consulting with a focus in strategic sourcing

Extracurricular - College: 1 year as a research assistant to a Finance professor
Extracurricular - Post Graduate: None


My biggest concern is the lack of extracurricular activities throughout my work experience, and also a lack of leadership activities outside of direct project work. I.e. i've led client teams before, but didn't lead any internal firm committees or any outside organizations. This is mainly due to the demands of my job as I have to travel on a weekly basis, and often have to work on the weekends, which leave me with very little time to do any type of community or volunteer work.

My second concern is the low quants on the GMATS, and how that could affect my chances. I've only taken it once, and I think that based on my performance in practice exams, I can improve quants and boost my score to the 730-740 range. That said, my understanding is that it's not that necessarily that big of a jump, and that my strong undergraduate marks in math heavy subjects (due to 2 years of EE & the stats courses required for the finance degree), along with my quant-intensive work experience would be enough to compensate for the somewhat low quant score.

Any advice or insights on my profile and how it fits with my targeted schools would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear kannisi,

I agree that 10-20 points on the GMAT will not make much difference and that your strong quantitative record on your transcripts will demonstrate your high quantitative aptitude. If you feel you can increase your score by 30+ points and have only taken the test once, then you might consider taking the GMAT again. While you are quite busy with your work and I can understand how that has prevented you from pursuing interests outside work, it would be helpful to try and find something you can make work in the coming months. Perhaps volunteering somewhere once a month on the weekend? Other than that, it would be helpful to do some thorough research on the schools of interest to you, visiting them to experience the culture firsthand. Then when it comes time to write your essays, you will have that knowledge to help you in your answers.

Best of luck,
Lisa

[kannisi]

Thanks for the advice Lisa. As an aside, how much of a difference would increasing my Quant score from a 46 (77%) to a 48 or 49 make?

[Lisa Anderson]

I'm not sure how much difference a couple points in your raw score will make. A point does not usually translate to a significant jump in the percentile or total score. To see a 30+ point jump in the total score, I would think you would need to increase your raw score by at least 5 points--but where you fall out in terms of total score and percentiles will also depend on the overall test-taking pool at the time.

Regards,
Lisa