Profile evaluation

[akalfaya]

I scored a 700 - 90% (Q45 - 78% and V40 - 92%) on the GMAT a few years ago. i have worked for a major bank (analyst then associate level) and an insurance company earlier on (berkshire hathaway owned company) and have strong performance and promotion history. Total work experience will be equal to 5 years upon starting school in fall 2011.


My recomendations should be strong and my community involvement contains two groups/causes that i am heavily involved in (ie team leader/director positions). I got a 3.2 gpa from a top ranked public school, but am worried that I may need to take the GMAT again to meet the 80/80 split and be in the running for the schools i would like to apply to.

Univ. of Chicago, Northwestern, Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Michigan

My question is whether or not I should take the GMAT again to get a 720 or 730?? Would this make much of a difference? Are these schools that i have a legit chance at?

Any help is much appreciated, as I am planning to study and retake the exam if needed this coming spring prior to R1 deadlines next fall..

[mbamission]

Hi akalfaya, and thank you for your question.

Your breakdown is so close to that "ideal" of 80/80, and the quant score of just slightly under that 80% is offset by your work in a quantitative field. I truly don't think that taking the GMAT again just to pull your quant score up by 2 percentage points is going to make a huge difference in your application. There's no harm in doing so if you have the time and think you can pull it up, but I'm not sure how much benefit there is given the time investment. Working on your essays to make them tell the story you want is probably a better way to spend your time.

Overall you seem to have a solid profile; the 3.2 GPA is slightly low but otherwise I don't see any major gaps. The schools on your list are quite competitive as you know, with low acceptance rates, but I think you will be considered a serious candidate at them.

Best of luck,

Jessica Shklar
mbaMission

www.mbamission.com/blog

[akalfaya]

Thank you for your help. I will try to work hard on my essays and the other parts of the application instead of re-testing.