Hi Everyone,
I have been a silent spectator of this forum for the last 2 years. That's when i made up my mind that i want to get into a top 10 b school. The for 1.5 years work made me travel all over India and I could not pick up enough steam to be prepared enough for GMAT.
Finally studied over the last 6 months and gave the GMAT yesterday. Result - Q47 V40 IR 4!! overall score 710. And the reason I'm writing here is that im in a dilemma now, about retaking the exam. I was aiming to hit at least 730, worked hard.
Colleges that I am targetting - Harvard, Stanford (the dream), Booth (another top 10 in FT), Insead (in Singapore, 1 year and seems achievable since ive seen some similar people get in), Tuck (small class size, not top 10 but top 20).
I will share my concerns 1 by 1.
1. IR score of 4! - This shows as a 37 percentile on my score sheet. A lot of people have told me schools are not considering this yet, but i am still wary. Its just a bit below average and may be detrimental to my chances?
2. 710 with my given break up- Is this enough to apply to the B schools mentioned above and some others that i did not mention (such as cornell, yale, columbia, NYU stern)
3. My quant score is the same as what i had been getting on my mocks all this while Q47 (70th percentile). However my verbal on the actual exam was considerably lower than my mock scores (averaged around 45 , 96th percentile). This is actually where my score was pulled down.
Further, throughout the test i did not feel uncomfortable and thought i was getting the answers right, so i do not know where things went wrong.Sources of study -
1. Basic concepts revision - Quant -
MGMAT, Verbal - CR
MGMAT, SC - Aristotle, RC -
MGMAT, IR -
MGMAT2. Practice books - OG12, kaplan800, Grockit (grockit was what i used majorly and was the main source of my practice)
3. Mocks
a.
MGMAT - averaged 690 while struggling with time always
b. Kaplan - 700, no time issues
c. GMAT prep - 750 (Q47 V47) and 730 (Q47, V43), with a race to the finish.
Now my questions are -
1. Is my current score profile (quant, verbal and IR) worthy of applying to the kind of schools i am targetting (anything below top 15 will not be good from ROI point of view considering my current pay scale and growth. I am a chartered accountant and have been fortunate enough to get a good opportunity to work with Reckitt Benckiser. Also worked with PwC for 3 odd years before that). I have consistently been a topper in whatever exams i have given. But i have not done anything exceptional the way you see about people who go to harvard, stanford etc. I am just another middle class Indian who studied really hard and got a good job.
2. Should i retake - If yes then how do i identify which areas to work on. I know verbal as a whole needs attention. But what in verbal? I could not guage during the paper that i was messing up certain questions. Also, i wanted to know if there are some rock solid techniques for SC and CR. I do know the POE and vertical reading for SC but i still feel higher scorers must have a fool proof strategy (with all due respect a higher capability than me as well). Also i do not have a strong strategy for CR. I do identify question type, then conclusion then premise but the image in my mind comes out a bit blurry and not pristine.
Also, DS questions always bum me. The questions which would need an average level of application of mind i will be able to finish in time. But the ones which need multiple consecutive logics to arrive at the solution, i just give up. How do i work on improving this?
I will apply for the 2015 intake. earliest applications open in June (Insead). i still have some time in my hands. apparently there are some resources i have not yet used - Quant review and Verbal review by GMAC,
E-GMAT (though i do not have unlimited funds
).
I seek the opinion of all the seasoned and unseasoned members here on my general situation and my specific questions. All suggestions will be highly welcome.