750, 98%, high V score, what to do now?

[WilliamWykeham]

Hi everyone.

So I'm really excited about my score - 750 - but it was somewhat lopsided, with 47q (77%) and 46v (99%). Somehow that puts me in the 98th percentile overall. Also pretty sure I did a good job with the essays. I had been expecting between 650 and 700. Will my so-so quant score be an obstacle to admittance at NYU or UVA? Graduated '05 with a 3.3 English degree, been working in NYC for a real estate company the past few years.

I used Manhattan GMAT and Gmatclub.com to help with the math (took only one math course in college). Manhattan GMAT (individual study) was very useful and well worth it, although I still had to make several educated guesses.

Aside from answering questions during practice tests, I did no studying for the verbal section. Manhattan GMAT wants you to diagram the questions but I feel as if that approach would take too much time, especially for those who read at an average speed. My advice for people who need to improve their verbal score would be to read one play by Shakespeare per week. If you can deal with that level of difficulty and the occasionally contorted sentence he throws at you then the verbal section of the GMAT should be no problem.

Oh... one more thing... When I was a senior in college I decided to get ambitious and said to myself ok, now I'm going to learn myself some math, and I took an intro course. My problem is that after getting an "F" on the first test I dropped the class and my transcript notes that I dropped it failing. Doesn't look good, but it was five years ago.

Thanks much!

[DanaJ]

750 is an awesome score! I'd be amazed if anyone turned you down based on it. However, the F might be a problem. Have you considered taking some stats/quant courses at your local college? That's one option of tackling it...

[WilliamWykeham]

Thank you, after researching some more I'm realizing the q47 most likely is not as concerning as I thought it was, even though getting in the 80th percentile on quant would have been preferable.

Now I've got only a few weeks before the October deadlines, going to be a challenge with no essays yet completed. UVA is my top choice.

Will probably take a stats class at City College if I'm allowed to submit grades for that before the first round decisions are made. Have to do some more research on whether that will be possible.

As a side note, I took the LSATs a few years ago I scored only in the low 80th percentile. The difference between then and now: getting three hours of sleep due to worrying about the big day as opposed to getting eight hours and walking in knowing you've given it your all. I had been studying math problems off and on for more than a year, coming from a point where I couldn't even get correct answers to easy questions at the beginning of the GMAT Official Guide.

Good luck everyone who has yet to go!