Manhattan GMAT vs. Veritas

[rmf30]

Hi,

I am starting to prep for the GMAT. I plan to take the test in late November or early December and meet the January deadlines. I have decided to take a review course and have narrowed it down to Veritas or Manhattan GMAT. Could someone please tell me the strengths and weaknesses of each course and which of the two is better?

Thanks very much!

[beny]

Manhattan is better, though I can't give you a detailed analysis about why. I've just heard nothing but bad stuff about Veritas.

Are you sure you want to take the test late Nov./early Dec.? If you're applying for R2, this gives you only 1 chance to take the GMAT. Even if you think you're going to do well, you don't know what will happen on test day. I would say budget at least enough time to retake it incase you don't get a score that you're hoping for.

[rmf30]

Thanks for your feedback.

Actually, I think taking it in late November gives me enough time to retake if I screw up. Most of the schools that I am applying to have round 2 deadlines in mid to late January. You can retake the GMAT every 31 days, so I should be able to retake the test in late December/ early January if I need to.

I have actually read a few books already and am scoring fairly well. I just figure that there are professionals out there that can give me additional pointers and strategies to raise my score.

[beny]

What ever works best for you. Some people recommend taking a short break (~2weeks) following the GMAT to decompress a bit before retaking it. If you score poorly based on a fluke, I agree, retaking in late Dec./early Jan. would be fine. If you score poorly based on insufficient preparation, then 31 days may not give you much time for improvement.

[staninsocal]

Took Veritas. It was weak. The materials are nowhere near as good nor comprehensive as Manhattan. Those are my .02's but I totally encourage you to do more research and as always take what you read on internet forums with a grain of salt.

[Stacey Koprince]

I won't comment on a competitor, but just wanted to let you know that we hold free sessions live online (via our web conferencing platform) and in-person in NY, Boston, Chicago, SF, and LA. You can come to a free 2-hour session that talks about both the test and some admissions stuff (and our courses) or you can also sign up to attend the first class of a real class for free (there are limited slots for this, and if the class sells out before it starts, then you'd get bumped). That might be a good way to see whether you like our program.

Also, FYI, our students' median score on the official test after completing our program is in the low 700s. (This is self-reported by the students, of course, so it is probably a little inflated, as those who score well will be more likely to share their score than those who don't. But we pursue our students fairly aggressively afterwards to try to get data points from as many people as we can.)

[tmmyc]

I posted this on the other MGMAT/Veritas thread, but I'll post it here as well.

I have actually taken both courses and have written a pretty comprehensive head-to-head analysis between the two. You can find it here:

https://tmmycgmat.blocked/2008/04/h ... -prep.html

It is a bit long, so you can scroll to the bottom for the summary, or to whatever section you find most relevant to your situation.

[DarNoor]

Do you get the strategy guides when signing up for the Manhattan course? Or do you have to purchase them? Thanks.

[Stacey Koprince]

If you take a course with us, all of the course materials are included - you don't have to pay extra for anything.

If you take the main course, you get all strategy guides and official guides, the online practice tests, the online labs, and the online homework banks associated with the course (as well as some other stuff).

If you take one of our workshops, you get the online material associated with that workshop as well as the CAT exams (if you don't already have access to them via signing up for a different workshop or the main course).

[DonDraper]

I don't know if this has topic has been beaten to death, but here is how Veritas compares itself to Manhattan, on the Veritas site:

https://www.veritasprep.com/FAQ/GMAT-Cou ... _GMAT.html

Obviously one-sided (duh), but a pretty thorough response to some of the claims out there.