How "bad" can my AWA be?

[wschaeff]

Hello,

I took the GMAT yesterday and scored extremely well (750, 49Q, 42V). However, I tend to struggle with the AWAs and I'm concerned about yesterday's Issue essay. I chose to argue for the side I normally would argue against, because I thought it would be easier to come up with examples. But I still struggled to provide 2 good examples and I feel as though I may have rambled and may have a hard time earning a 4.0.

I don't want to take the GMAT again if I find out my AWA was bad, and I'm not sure I can improve the AWA score anyway. My GMAT Write scores were 5s on the Argument essays and 4s on the Issue essays. I don't expect to do much better than a 4.5 in the best case scenario.

I'm a native speaker and I have friends who claim to have scored a 3 on the AWA and still got accepted into top programs. I'm confident that I will write outstanding essays when I couple time, effort, and passion into my work but I'm fearful that the adcoms will think I "cheated" on my application essays if my AWA score is subpar. Considering my high GMAT score (and very high Verbal score) what's the worst score I can receive on the AWA portion and not have it tar my application?

[abhishek.gautam01]

dont wrry about the AWA.. I have heard that anything above 3.0 is good..

[ccataries]

Wow, the same exact thing happened to me. I took the GMAT yesterday...didn't do as well as you did score wise, but I absolutely tanked on my second essay. I could barely come up with 1.5 examples. I say 1.5 b/c my first "example" was a brief mentioning of a political theory. I have no idea what I ended up writing.

Ironically, one of my undergrad majors was English. So now I'm going to have to explain in my applications why a native-speaking English major wrote a piece of crap of an essay and got a low score. But boy, reading your post makes me feel better!

[mbamission]

Hi wschaeff,

Thanks for writing in, and congratulations on a stellar GMAT score. Generally, AWA does not hold a lot of weight in admissions decisions, and may be used as one last data point when a tough decision is being made. There is no such thing as a "worst score" you can get that solely determines your admissions decision. Even if you do score well below your expectations, your high verbal score shows you understand communication, and you can also use your essays to show strong writing (I would not worry about perceptions of cheating).

Best of luck!

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (14 individual school titles)

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter

[wschaeff]

Thanks! It makes me feel a whole lot better to know that I can just focus on my essays now.

[ccataries]

Just for an update, I got my AWA back today and somehow, by divine intervention or something, I got a 6. Have no idea how that happened. Anyway, that just goes to show miracles do happen. GL to u!

[wschaeff]

Congratulations! That's great news. I scored a 4.5, so I'm happy. I have always struggled with writing samples going back to CAT in 3rd grade. My Dad claims I even got a 1 or 2 on my SAT II writing sample.

Well, I guess the bottom line is I "passed". Best of luck on your applications.