Update- How are my chances?

[briangtsmith]

I posted this 2 months ago:

Quote:
Hi all,

I am 25 years old, will be 26 when school starts should I get in. My "stats" are below:

3.25 cumulative GPA from The George Washington University, with a major in International Affairs, concentration: East Asia. I studied abroad in Tokyo and am fluent in Japanese.
- During university, interned at The Ritz Carlton
- Accepted into management training program with The Walt Disney Company. Spent 1 year as a Front Desk Manager at 2 hotel properties.
- Left Disney for re-opening of The Plaza in NYC. Took position as opening Front Desk Manager.
- Spent 8 months at The Plaza...decided I was more interested in the development/real-estate side of hotels and left for REDAC, Inc, a Japanese real estate company.
- Promoted after 1 year at REDAC, after proposing a new division be created. Now work as an Asset Manager, as head of that division, managing buildings functioning as extended stay hotels for Japanese corporate clients. Advise on hotel operations and oversee all building aspects, including renovations.

It looks like I will get somewhere between a 630 and 690 on my GMAT, and I have the following schools in mind:

USC Masrhall
University of Maryland
Emory
UCLA
Georgetown
Vanderbilt

My goal is to embark on a career in hotel development.
Since then, I've taken 4 paper practice tests, to the following results:


McGraw Hill 1, 28/37 Q, 35/41 V
Kaplan, 26/37 Q, 32/41 V
Barrons, 26/37 Q, 27/41 V
McGraw Hill 2, 32/37 Q, 36/41 V
McGraw Hill 3, 32/37 Q, 37/41 V


Having a bit of trouble understanding what this is out of 800, but found a scale suggesting 650-720 or so.

How does the above bode for my future?

Thanks as always!

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear briangtsmith,

I think it will be important for you to show quantitative aptitude. Since your major in college is not viewed as heavily quantitative, and your work experience might not have a significant amount of quantitative work, it is critical your quantitative score on the GMAT be solid for you to be competitive at your target schools. Additionally, you need to highlight any analytical and quantitative work you have done in your career to further demonstrate your quantitative aptitude. Your total score is in the right target range, but I think your quantitative score needs to go up a bit.

Good luck,
Lisa

[briangtsmith]

So after 5 paper tests from varying prep-book publishers, I finally took my first CAT version. Selecting Manhattan GMAT's free test, I was nervous my score wouldn't reflect the numbers I had been achieving on the paper exams (650-720).

Good news though!

Ended up with a 680, with the following break down:

39 Q
43 V

I feel good, especially since this was my first try.

But how does it line up with the real GMAT? Am I in good shape?


I plan on taking a few more, and will be reviewing every day until my test (September 24!

[Lisa Anderson]

Great news! It looks like your hard work is paying off. Often, practice test scores come out a bit higher than actual scores as you are not as anxious during a practice exam. However, you still have time before the actual exam to zero in on the areas where you need the most work and increase your comfortability with the questions. Keep it up and your efforts will be worth it.

Good luck!
Lisa