Couple of Newbie Questions

[wolfdogrhit]

Hello! I have been thinking about getting an MBA since I graduated and I have a lot of free time in my current job so I'm thinking there's no time like the present! I do, however, have some questions that I wasn't able to answer with some cursory googling.

-I plan to work for at least two more years, do MBA programs prefer that you take the GMAT close to when you're applying? I know the scores are valid for 5 years, I'm just wondering if it would hurt my chances of getting into a good school if I took the test now and wait a few years before applying.

-My undergrad was Electrical Engineering from a top undergrad university (Rose-Hulman if you want to check it out), but my GPA was relatively low at a 2.86. How much will that limit my B school choices?

-It seems that Q and V scores are the only ones that contribute towards the overall, but how important are AWA and IR?

Thanks a lot, I'm sure I'll be spending more time around here in the coming months!

[Jim@StratusPrep]

Timing of your exam is not important, but you will want to do your best to ace it given your GPA.

Your assessment of the scoring is correct.

Good luck! Keep the questions coming.

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hey there,

Jim is right - timing doesn't matter - it just has to be valid when you apply.

As for your GPA, they do cut a little bit of slack to engineering students and their GPAs but a 2.86 is low, I won't lie to you. It's quite low, actually. So you have you to CRUSH your GMATs. You have no choice unfortunately. With the right application and GMAT score, it won't keep you out but you'll have to work hard to mitigate its negative impact. What's done is done, so look forward!

To your question about AWA & IR:

AWA: this is considered, but not factored into your raw score. It isn't given that much importance because, honestly, you're writing essays anyway. They get what they need from the essays themselves.

IR: this may, and probably will, change by the time you apply in a couple of years. At the moment, the entire community is trying to get a baseline around this section. They need to understand what it actually measures and how it stacks up against other applicants. For that, they need a couple of years worth of data. Certain schools will focus more on this than others but over the next few years all the programs will start looking to this section. However, it still won't be a calculated component into the three digit score you're targeting.

Good luck prepping for it!

Bhavik