Quantitative Fluency & MBA for Non-traditional Applicant

[curious]

I am applying to top 5 business schools from a non-traditional background. I have four years of work experience building a start-up education non-profit from the ground up, with most of my energy spent on development and communications.

I'm interested in either an MBA with a focus on social entrepreneurship or an MBA / Masters in Education joint degree. I attended UC Berkeley as an undergraduate and majored in English Literature, graduating with honors. Hispanic female.

I recently took the GMAT and received a score of 700 (89%): Q44 (61%) and V41 (93%). I've never taken any college-level quantitative courses (except for AP Calculus in high school) and my work experience has required that I exercise relatively limited quantitative muscle. Quant experience is going to be the perceived weak spot of my application.

Two core questions:

1) I'm confident in my ability to raise my GMAT verbal score, but not my math. On my last 4 practice tests, I scored in the 99 percentile in verbal and my math stagnated in the high 50-low 60 percentiles. With 99% in verbal, I was scoring a bit higher around 720 on my practice tests. If I were to take the test again, I'd likely be able to pull off a higher score in verbal.

So, my question: In assessing me as an applicant, how much of a difference would a 93 percentile in verbal with a total score of 700 vs. a 96+ percentile in verbal with a total of 710-720 make if my math stayed the same? In short, is it worth taking again with this in mind?

2) Would you recommend that I take additional action to strengthen my quantitative background? If so, what would you recommend?Given my experience and my intended focus, do you see limited quantitative work experience / my GMAT score as a barrier to getting into top business schools?

Thanks!

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for posting and sharing your background. So far, based on the info you've shared, your profile sounds strong for top b-schools, if supported by a strong application, essays, and overall 'story'-- i.e. why do you want the MBA, how does it fit into your short and long term career goals, why that school is right for you, etc.

The non-traditional background and experience in the non-profit education field can help you stand out from the crowd so to speak and could mean that you would bring something unique to the classroom, and schools are always looking for qualified female applicants, as well as ethnic, global, and job function/industry diversity among the group. The start-up experience is also valued; be sure you speak to all that you learned from that experience.

You are right on the money in that the quant weakness may be your biggest challenge. If you have the time/opportunity, you could consider enrolling in a quantitative course before applying if it worked out, and that could help demonstrate your quant ability. If you did feel you could improve your quant score through say some tutoring or additional prep, perhaps you could consider a GMAT re-take, and I will say as a GMAT teacher/tutor for 8 years, generally it was easier for individuals to improve quant than verbal.... but as you said if you feel you'd only be improving verbal some and overall slightly, it's probably not worth it. Your profile is strong as it is, and you could focus that time/effort on essays and other application prep. There are a few schools such as Wharton which are very focused on quant score, but in many cases your quant score is strong enough that the decision may be based on the rest of your application. A few schools such as Haas or possibly Columbia may ask certain applicants or incoming students to take additional quant work, that is another potential scenario.

Keep us posted on questions and your progress and good luck to you!

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for posting. So I definitely composed a reply to you but do not see it here... not sure if it could have been on another board if you posted your questions elsewhere... but no matter! :)

Ok, so what I had been discussing was that overall you have a unique profile which should help you stand out and be remembered. Your non-profit education startup experience will likely be very much valued in the b-school classroom. You likely can speak to a wide variety of skills you've developed through your entrepreneurial experience and establishing and growing a business. I don't know a lot of facets of your candidacy (GPA; extracurriculars, community involvement, other accomplishments etc), but generally schools are looking for qualified female applicants.

With regard to the GMAT, the 700 is solid. Could it be higher-- sure. I see your point though, if you truly feel that you won't likely be able to improve your quant score, it may not be worth it...that said, as a long-time GMAT teacher I do see that it's often easier to improve quant than verbal scores with preparation courses or tutoring. You could go either way with the re-take question here, and some schools like Wharton for example might prefer higher quant... others may just ask you to take an extra quant course or even to re-take (rare but it happens)... my view would be that if the rest of your application is very strong and your explanation of what you'll bring to the program, why you want the MBA, exactly how you plan to use it, and why you are interested in the specific schools, is all very compelling, than the GMAT will not likely keep you out, but anything is possible in a very competitive applicant pool.

Good luck with your decisions and do keep us posted with questions and next steps!