Retake GMAT?

by **cassie** Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:43 am

Hello there,

I took the GMAT twice in the past 2 months. The first time I got a 680 (85%V and 75%Q). I was getting 720-750 on practice exams so I decided to take it again. Alas, the second time, I did even worse, getting a 660 (89%V, 61%M). Should I take it again? And if I do retake it, is there a maximum number of times I can retake it? A little on my background:

stanford undergrad - econ and psych major, 3.64 GPA
2 years as an investment banking analyst at a bulge bracket and 1 year in private equity
female
confident i can get strong recommendations and pretty good writing skills
targeting places like kellogg, tuck, sloan and stanford gsb

I am concerned that my low math score will be a huge red flag considering I have been working in finance for the past 3 years.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU!!!

by **MBAApply** Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:54 am

At this point, I would focus on your applications rather than re-take it again. You did well at a top tier undergrad and while your GMAT isn't at the average, it's in the middle 80% (which is around 660-760 for virtually all top schools across the board), so your first attempt was in the safe range anyhow). The GMAT quant would only be a huge concern if you were a humanities major -- being an econ and psych double major you probably took calc and stats and unless all you scored poorly on all your analytical courses at Stanford, you shouldn't really worry about your GMAT quant.

Again, focus on your applications because that's what will make or break you.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com