Should I retake the GMAT?

[rohit.bizschool]

Howdy!

I took the GMAT last week after 2 months of preparation.
Score: 700
Quant 48 (80 percentile)
Verbal 38 (83 percentile)

I’m considering applying to part-time programs (Haas-Berkeley, Anderson-UCLA) and maybe (Booth-Chicago, Stern-NYU) I’m not very sure about the latter because I live in San Francisco and flying out to Chi-town/NY every weekend might not be very practical.

I was wondering if I have any realistic chance of getting into these elite schools. Should I consider retaking the GMAT? In the few prep tests I had taken (GMAT Prep, MGMAT), I had scored 730, 720 and 690 (MGMAT 1st test), 730

I’m asking because I’m part of the over-represented pool. Here are the details:

- Software professional in the Silicon Valley with 5 years of experience.
- Ethnically Indian (male/28)
- Undergraduate GPA - First Class from Bombay University - approx 3.75/4.00 GPA if converted (I'm not very sure about the conversion)
- Masters Degree in CS from a reputed school in California. GPA 3.85/4.00
- I’ve been doing well at work (at a reputed tech company ) and can get good (hopefully) recommendation letters from my manager and the director (who’s a Haas part-time alumnus) of the department.
I think mine would be an average profile for Haas/Anderson.

I plan to apply to part time programs for the Fall 2013 class.

Let me know if you think I have a chance or if retaking is the best option. I understand that the GMAT score is just one criterion and the Admission Committee looks into other criteria like work experience, extracurricular activities, recommendations, essays, etc. as well. The reason I’m asking specifically about the GMAT is that from the few posts that I’ve perused through in these forums, I’ve figured that an applicant with my background should ideally have a higher score to stand out from the rest of the pool.

Thanks!
-Rohit

[rachel]

Hi!! A 700 GMAT for someone from your background may present a hurdle. It's not that a 700 is a bad score - far from it, in fact. And the fact that you got in the 80th percentile for quant, also is good. But what's tough for you is that you are from this overrepresented demographic that typically produces applicants who score very well on the GMAT. We often see scores from male Indian technologists that run well into the mid-700s, if not higher.

All that being said, I like that you recognize that the GMAT isn't the only thing that business schools look at when evaluating an applicant. What you can do to improve your chances is to really build a strong story of career accomplishments (not responsibilities) about yourself, and show the AdCom that you are someone that would be a real asset to their business school community.

Best of luck,

Rachel Beck


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