GMAT Re-Take

[ricardomba]

Hey guys,

I had two questions regarding GMAT:

1. If I took the GMAT and I sent my score to schools already, would schools be able to see a new score if I don't send them my new scores when I re-take?

2. I'm debating whether I should retake the GMAT. I scored 660 the first time (87v/61q) but I have strong grades in finance in school and three years experience in a quant heavy role for a fortune 100 company. I'm targeting Wharton (Lauder) and NYU and my focus is international brand management. Thoughts?

[vineeshp]

1) If you have already sent scores, they wont get the new scores until you report again.

2) it depends on a lot more factors. If you have sufficient experience, stellar essays, leadership experience, clear goals and lots of experiences in the extra curricular and social work, then maybe you dont. But again, if your GMAT scores are well below the class average, I would recommend a retake.

[essaysnark]

ricardomba, vineeshp is right, AND we'd just like to add that your background in finance might make the adcom expect MORE of you from the quant GMAT score. Since you studied it and worked in it, they may feel you should do better on that part of the test. Also, as you undoubtedly know, Lauder is extremely competitive (as are standard Wharton MBA and NYU of course, but in terms of degree of competitiveness, that program is significantly so).

Now, to counter all this: If you're going into international brand management, this doesn't sound like such a quant-heavy career. It's also in a nicely differentiated niche; they're not going to get a huge number of applicants with that type of goal. And, just judging by your handle, it's possible that you're coming from an underrepresented geography and/or ethnic background. These factors all mean that you might be in OK shape.

We still think that retesting will help you if you've only taken the GMAT once so far, since it shows the school that you're serious about wanting to get an MBA from a great school. It conveys commitment. And, you just might bump up that quant score. As vineeshp already stated, you're well under the average GMAT for these schools (they're both at like 712 or higher right?) plus you're outside the 80% range too. So it's a risk for you to not re-test. That risk may be mitigated by other elements of your profile, and you're starting early enough to put together a good application for Round 1, so there's a chance that the 660 is "good enough".... but we have seen many people end up without an offer in the end by banking on that "good enough" hope.

Sorry to deliver this news - we know how tough this test is and we would not tell you to re-take it if we didn't think it would help.

Good luck with it!
EssaySnark

[PrepMBA.AlexLeventhal]

Based on my client experience, I would recommend taking the test again given the programs you are targeting. I would agree that your finance background might make them expect even more, but I would respectfully disagree that brand management is not a quantitative niche.

I was a brand manager for J&J prior to attending Harvard Business School, and there is a lot of math/quant work. Building production forecasts, analyzing promotions with sensitivity analysis, constructing p&ls.....Marketing is becoming even more quantitative as on line targeting is going to continue to grow over time vs traditional broadcast media.

So buck up and retake if you want to ensure a better admissions season.

I'd be happy to look at your profile in more depth if you email me your resume to [email protected]

Regards,

Alex

[essaysnark]

EssaySnark said that international brand management "doesn't sound like such a quant-heavy career" -- in comparison to a standard finance track. We hope nobody is suggesting that brand management requires the same quant skills as finance.

Adcoms look at applicants in respect to their career goals. This is one aspect of how profiles are evaluated. Yes, brand management requires quant proficiency -- all of bschool does. It cannot be claimed that it requires as much proficiency as finance.

Should you retest? Sure. But there's lots of variables going on here that may mitigate a lower quant/GMAT score for you.

Good luck with it!
EssaySnark

[ricardomba]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am planning on re-taking (and I'm doing better in the quant section in more recent practice tests) but I probably will wait to see my scores before I send them to schools. Though it's below the mean, my 660 is actually within the 80% range of Wharton, and NYU (granted it barely makes the cut). My thought is that if something happens in the test and my quant doesn't go up, I hope my essays + profile get me an interview, where I hopefully get the chance to explain my quant profile.

Unfortunately for me, I don't think there's a great correlation between my scores in the quant section of the GMAT and my ability to create forecasts, sensitivity analyses, building P&L's, etc. I have three years of experience in Finance at a Fortune 30 company where I performed really well doing exactly those things (promotions, awards, and recommenders would be able to validate), but for some reason or another I seem to struggle with the format of the test (I did very well in school and particularly in finance classes so I don't think its quant testing necessarily that gives me problems).