GMAT and GPA combo - implications?

[hiep.tan.nguyen]

Hello!

Currently, I have a 640 GMAT, a college GPA of 3.94 in Economics/Communication/Management (Regents Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa, etc.), and a few outstanding awards from my company.

With the GMAT and GPA alone, I hope that the admissions* office would think, "Hey, maybe he just had a bad test day. His GPA clearly demonstrates his work ethic over 4 years." Is this a reasonable assumption on my part?

Also, would such an assumption be destroyed if I took the test again, and scored a similar (or even lower) score?
[I realize this may be a ridiculous question, but I'm sure that you guys get ridiculous questions all of the time...]

*Dream schools = Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, and Kellogg.

Thanks for everything,
Hiep

[mbamission]

Hi Hiep,

Thanks for writing in, happy to help.

First, most schools traditionally only consider your highest GMAT performance, so you should feel that you can retake without consequences should you not raise your score.

While your theory about a high GPA counterbalancing a low GMAT is true to an extent, I don't think you can safely say you've addressed the issue. Unfortunately, a 640 is below the lower end of the GMAT range for the schools you listed, so it really would be a far stretch. If you could get that score within the range, then you can argue that your GPA is an indicator of your strong academics. I think you would need about a 680 to even begin that approach.

Good luck!
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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