Re-take?

[david2008]

Hi,

Would love some advice. I just took the GMAT and ended with a 710 (78th on math, 89th verbal, 92nd total). Realize the math is below the 80th mark and the overall would be towards the bottom of the mid 50% for HBS last year. Any advice on whether it is work retaking?

From my transcript, the adcom would see a few math courses: Calculus 1A B+, Calculus 1B A-, Statistics A-, Discrete Math B- (no relevance to my business degree, took it for a comp sci degree that I didn't end up doing).

Any adivce? Looking at HBS and Columbia primarily,

Thanks!

[Cindy Tokumitsu]

Hello,

If one’s GMAT is on the lower side but not way out of line for one’s target schools, as yours is not, then the question of whether to retake is relative: how certain of you are raising your score with a reasonable amount of effort? Moreover, what constitutes “reasonable effort” will vary person to person depending on their situation.

Your good grades in quant classes will somewhat or perhaps even largely mitigate the slightly-under-80% quant score – with those grades they’re not going to doubt your quant abilities.

Given the above, you should determine how much time you can devote to preparing to re-take, and how likely you are to score significantly better, say, 730+. If you decide that with reasonable effort you can score in that range, then it would be worth it. Otherwise, you can find better ways to use your time to enhance your applications.

Best regards,
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com