Profile evaluation - urgent -Should i plan for retest

[bideshkar]

Hi,
I completed my GMAT last weekend, got 670 with overall 85%ile breakup is Q-47,V-35 with Quant percentile 78 and verbal 73, AWA-5.5. Seems like i am pretty close to the 80-80 split but not sure how competitive is the score for Kellogg,Duke,Darden,Tepper,and Cornell. These are my primary target schools. To give you more background here are some additional details:
- IT professional with 6.5yrs exp., currently leading a small team. I also perform project management tasks in addition to core technical tasks.
- GPA not evaluated (BS in I.T.). But, my % score in my engineering degree was ~ 84% so i guess that my evaluated GPA would be competitive.
- Career growth has been really good so far with promotions before general timeline and additional responsibilites than my peers.
-Extra curricular -> Not much. Just helped develop a business plan for an enterpreneur through MicroMentor website. Also a member of social welfare org. in my area (but this is just recent).
Any help will be greatly appreciated. I am eager to know how competitive my above profile looks.

Thanks in advance!!

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear bideshkar,

You are building a competitive foundation, but you are justified in being concerned that you might not be competitive enough for your target schools. While your 670 is a great score and in range for these schools, it is still below the average for most which means the rest of your application must mitigate that number. While your undergraduate performance in strong and you appear to have a solid track record professionally, you are competing against a very large number of folks with similar backgrounds for a few spots. The IT professional with engineering degree is extremely common, especially for international students, so it makes it that much harder to stand out from the competition and secure an offer of admission. You do need to continue to pursue your extracurricular activities as this can be a way to stand out, but I would also suggest retaking your GMAT to try to get your score up to at least a 700 to be in the best competitive position for your target schools.

Good luck,
Lisa