Hi all,
I recently completed the GMAT with a 740 (97%): Q44 (72%)/V48(99%), AWA 6.
I have a humanities background, 4.0 GPA.
I'm wondering what the impact/perception of a Q44 is... does it really drag down the overall score presentation?
An excellent previous suggestion has been to take community college quant courses to demonstrate quant ability, which I am definitely taking under consideration. However, I'm very interested in what the raw effect of a Q44 is on an admissions committe or merit scholarship contention.
Thanks!
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- RonPurewal
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hi -
a 740 is a really, really good overall score. if you poke around the internet, you'll find the average gmat scores for the accepted classes at various business schools, none of which is above 710 or so. (most of the top b-schools' gmat averages seem to hang around 700.)
once you've scored at that level, the marginal benefit of additional points begins to get smaller and smaller; the other parts of your application are more important at this point. remember that you're still in the 72%ile on the quant section, a result that means you scored better than almost three-fourths of the total population of test takers.
you have mentioned that you're considering community college courses, a fact that seems to indicate that you still have a fair amount of time remaining until your applications come due. is there anything you could do to shore up other parts of your application that might not be so strong? do you fit the stereotype of your industry (in terms of ethnicity, work experience, geography, int'l experience, outside interests, and the like)? if so, then you might want to put more energy into diversifying your application - distinguishing yourself from other candidates in ways that will make your application stand out from the 1000's of other ones. perhaps you could take on a leadership role in a new initiative, or play a role in starting up some sort of new organization?
some other possible suggestions:
* coach your recommenders (including gentle nudges in the direction of testifying to your quant skills)
* perfect your interviewing skills
* etc.
it is very possible that an admissions committee might see your re-taking the gmat in a negative light, especially if the numbers stay roughly where they are (or, god forbid, drop).
you DO NOT want to be branded as someone who sets priorities incorrectly; and this is a rather likely label to be slapped on someone who decides to retake a test on which (s)he has already outperformed ~98% of the competition.
with that said,
if you actually have a known deficit in your quantitative skill set, you may want to go the community college route. for instance, if you've simply never taken a statistics course, or if you got D or F in a college math course, then you could consider a community college class in that particular discipline. if you've always done fairly well in quantitative classes, though, it's probably not worth your time.
a 740 is a really, really good overall score. if you poke around the internet, you'll find the average gmat scores for the accepted classes at various business schools, none of which is above 710 or so. (most of the top b-schools' gmat averages seem to hang around 700.)
once you've scored at that level, the marginal benefit of additional points begins to get smaller and smaller; the other parts of your application are more important at this point. remember that you're still in the 72%ile on the quant section, a result that means you scored better than almost three-fourths of the total population of test takers.
you have mentioned that you're considering community college courses, a fact that seems to indicate that you still have a fair amount of time remaining until your applications come due. is there anything you could do to shore up other parts of your application that might not be so strong? do you fit the stereotype of your industry (in terms of ethnicity, work experience, geography, int'l experience, outside interests, and the like)? if so, then you might want to put more energy into diversifying your application - distinguishing yourself from other candidates in ways that will make your application stand out from the 1000's of other ones. perhaps you could take on a leadership role in a new initiative, or play a role in starting up some sort of new organization?
some other possible suggestions:
* coach your recommenders (including gentle nudges in the direction of testifying to your quant skills)
* perfect your interviewing skills
* etc.
it is very possible that an admissions committee might see your re-taking the gmat in a negative light, especially if the numbers stay roughly where they are (or, god forbid, drop).
you DO NOT want to be branded as someone who sets priorities incorrectly; and this is a rather likely label to be slapped on someone who decides to retake a test on which (s)he has already outperformed ~98% of the competition.
with that said,
if you actually have a known deficit in your quantitative skill set, you may want to go the community college route. for instance, if you've simply never taken a statistics course, or if you got D or F in a college math course, then you could consider a community college class in that particular discipline. if you've always done fairly well in quantitative classes, though, it's probably not worth your time.
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