I got a very imbalanced 730. Should I retake?

[chrsmclaughln]

My breakdown was 50 verbal (near the top of the 99th percentile), and 42 quant (61st percentile). As you have probably guessed, I am concerned that my score is far too imbalanced, and that schools will be concerned that I'm weak in quant. I am not sure that the rest of my application will do much to assuage this fear. I was an English and Political Science double major at a top 5 public university (3.6 gpa), and I have been working in management consulting for the past five years, recently focusing on CRM/marketing program management.

I took the test once before and got a 690 (same quant score, lower verbal) because of no sleep and nerves. The funny this is that on practices tests, my breakdown was 45/45 (740 total). It seems that anxiety has been amplifying both my strengths and weaknesses. That said, I have no guarantee that this won't happen again if I retake the test.

I plan on applying to Stanford, Haas, Anderson and maybe Booth and Harvard. My overall score is at or above the median at all of these schools, but I am worried about the imbalance. What do you think?

[mbamission]

Hi chrsmclaughln

Thanks for writing and sharing this information. An overall 730 is a very strong score, and as you noted, is very competitive at just about any school. If you do take the test again, you risk raising your Quant score but losing 30-40 points overall, which is a weaker performance.

Instead of retaking the test, I suggest thinking about other ways to demonstrate your quantitative skills in your application. You can highlight your quant performance in college, mention how you use analytics in your job (and be specific if possible), or even consider taking a community college course in a subject like statistics, accounting or finance. If you can perform strongly in these courses, this demonstrates that you recognize your weakness, but are being proactive about addressing the issue, while also showing you are capable of MBA coursework.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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