New score evaluation

[NewMBAaspirant]

Hi,

I belong to the most common species of GMAT applicants. Male Indian IT professional. So i need to clarify my doubts:

I appeared for GMAT recently and got 680. I have a work ex of 4.5 years which would be 5 in sep 2009( Working for one of the top Indian software company). I did my engineering from a reputed engineering college(one of the NITs).

ecent accada. College graduation 82.3% (Honours). Have some extracurricular profile also. Involved in some social welfare activity also.

This GMAT was my 2nd attempt, first one was just a wild hit, when even i didn't even have any idea about GMAT. Still it would recoil for me. Score was 610(appeared in 2006).

My Queries:
1) I have selected some colleges to apply for:
INSEAD, NUS, IMD, ISB, TUCK
I have reported the score to all of them in my GMAT exam.

Will this score(680) be sufficient (please suggest for each of them). If not then i'll attemp for GMAT again.
Now the question is if i get more then 680 then i can send across the new score to these colleges, but in case the score dips down then would this attempt of mine put a bad mark on my profile or hinder my chances if any( Is 3rd attemp beneficial ?)

2) Also can you suggest good schools(with my present score - 680) which i can get through after analysing my profile.

3) If a person has given GMAT more than once, is this true that if he reports only one of the scores the colleges do not know about the other attempts/scores? Or do they ask for all reportings ?

[Graham]

Dear NewMBAAspirant,

Thanks for your post!

You've asked a number of questions, so let me try to answer each of them below:

1) Is a 680 GMAT score enough for an Indian male, IT/engineer targeting schools like Tuck, INSEAD, ISB, IMD and NUS?
First off, I would really like to know the percentile scores on your 680. Were you stronger in math vs. verbal? Ideally you should be topping the 80th percentile in each section (at least). Looking at the 680 without the percentiles, and given the fact that you belong to an over-represented segment of the applicant pool (and that this segment tends to perform well on the GMAT), it's clear to me that you'd be in better shape if your GMAT result was higher than a 680. This is particularly true for Tuck, INSEAD and ISB.

Beyond the fact that you would be more competitive with a stronger score, part of my urging you to retake is related to the fact that you have plenty of time this spring/summer to do so before the fall admissions deadlines, so it's not as though retaking it would hurt your ability to write essays (as would be the case if you were asking me this question in September).

2) Will the schools see my score if I take the test again and don't report it?
If you take the test again, the schools will see your score. This is because no matter what you report in the schools' application forms (usually the best score only), the admissions officers will also get the official score report from Pearson, and that report includes your entire history (over the last 5 years) with the GMAT exam.

3) Does it matter if one takes the test three times? Does it look bad?
Despite the fact that the schools will see all of your scores, there is no real issue with taking the exam three times. I wouldn't take it 5-6 times, but 3 times is quite common. Sure, it's ideal to take the test once and score 750, but someone who takes it three times and ends up in the 700s isn't going to be penalized.

4) What schools would be good targets with a 680?
I cannot suggest target schools for a 680 GMAT without knowing more about your career goals/future plans and having more information on your profile. You should email your resume to [email protected] and sign up for a free session with one of our admissions counselors if you'd like a more in-depth review of your profile.

I hope this explanation helps you to better understand the role of the GMAT and how reporting of the exam results works.

Best of luck,

Graham