690 GMAT - high verbal (99th percentile), low quant

[ryanfjensen]

I took the GMAT in early August and scored 690, 99th percentile on the verbal and in the 50s on the quant. I retook the GMAT today, doing better on the quant (in the 60s) but lower on the verbal, for an overall score of 670.

My undergraduate degree is in finance, where I graduated cum laude and have an A- average in my quantitative intensive courses. How will my GMAT be viewed by the schools to which I am applying? These schools are HBS, Yale SOM, Stanford GSB, Columbia, and Northwestern Kellogg.

Thanks.

[mbamission]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for writing in. At the caliber of schools you are targeting, I do think your low quant score could be a weakness. If you don't think it will get higher, or are not interested and taking the test again, consider addressing this in the optional essay. You can point to your strong undergraduate performance in Finance, and may even consider taking a refresher Finance/Accounting/Statistics class at a local college to demonstrate your commitment to excelling at MBA-level math.

Best of luck,
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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