720(Q50, V37) - Totally bummed!!

hmmm, you are from the dreaded Indian IT male category, that is the main problem. Almost everyone in this category has a GMAT score of 740-750 , so i think you should retake the GMAT and score at least 750.

There are so many IT professionals from India applying to the top B schools in the US that you will be just another one for the ad coms. So buddy, you need some serious boost in your score . And if you are serious about R1 , than you need to hurry.

Sorry, I don't quite agree. You are being too hard on bschool2014. I have seem my frnds from my school with stellar GMAT scores (760-800) + stellar GPA (9.5/10) getting dinged from Harvard, MIT, Kellogg, Wharton, etc, and some of my frnds from my school (same batch) with mediocre GMAT scores (700-730) + below par GPA (7/10) getting calls from ALL of the above.

eg.
Friend-1
RANK 1 in his class with GPA ~9.6/10 IIT Bombay
GMAT Score 780 (q51, v48)
Normal 3-4 yrs of work-ex in IT
REJECTED for 2 consecutive years from Harvard, Sloan, Kellogg (wait-listed in 2nd attempt, which cleared later on, but decided to go to other school), Wharton, BUT accepted in another top 10 univ in 2nd attempt.


Friend-2
Below par GPA ~7/10 IIT Bombay
GMAT Score ~730
5 yrs of work-ex in different companies including BCG.
Applied in 2 places - Harvard and Wharton in 1st attempt and ACCEPTED in BOTH.

My friend-1 is in Admissions Panel in his MBA school. I went to that school multiple time and stayed with him. I met many students in the school and the staff, and talked to all of them. It was so very clear that after a point (say ~700-710) NOBODY in the panel even looks at the GMAT score unless he/she had screwed up bigtime in his/her acads, so they want to see if it is consistently reflected in his GMAT score.

I also went to Harvard, MIT and Wharton - met my friends doing MBA there (including friend-2), other local students and the admission directors in the respective schools. All had unanimous say about GMAT. Nobody seemed to care after the threshold. They know that most people who have heavy work load (5-7 years into their work) at their current work will NOT have enough time to spare on GMAT as compared to people who have 1-3 years of work-ex and "probably" have a little bit more time in hand relatively (also they are more fresh off of school).

So, I THINK, just a GMAT number does not give you anything as long as the GMAT score is around the average of a school - there is NO school that has 730+ average. If you don't have the resume to back it up, even 800 won't do any good.

Everybody should evaluate their own case, and see whether he/she really needs that GMAT 760 to help his/her resume. If one already has a stellar resume, 720 should not block anybody.

i love how you categorize 700-730 as mediocre...

I was talking w.r.t to only top 10 universities and FOR INDIAN MALE IT category.

I met more than 40-50 people from various background in MIT, Harvard and Wharton: humanities, medicine, law, army, etc. etc.

These schools are looking for a breadth in their classes. In a batch of 60 they are looking for say 5-10 IT, 5-10 Consulting, 5-10 Finance, 5 law, 5 humanities, 3-4 army, etc etc. They definitely have different expectations w.r.t GMAT scores from each of these categories. For IT, consulting and finance folks, Ad Coms want slightly higher GMAT scores compared to people from obscure backgrounds like teaching, nursing, medicine, humanities, etc, which does not constitute the bigger pool of the applicants.

So if Harvard has 730 as average GMAT score. For IT it might 740 average BUT THAT IS AVERAGE - there will be applicants accepted at 700... and also at 780.

I met the Admissions Panel head in MIT who was from humanities background. She had 3 years of work-ex and 680 GMAT score, and she said that's quite normal for her background.

Great post! I totally agree with you and this has been my experience as well. The GMAT score becomes just a number after a certain point -- and everyone I have talked to about this (alums, ad coms etc) insist that it's more about *your* story. Very few people get admitted to these top schools purely based on numbers (in fact one article about stanford said that they rejected all of the 800 gmat scores one year because those candidates were not well rounded).

And I also heard the following from these people -- that they look at a candidate's decision making skills -- as in if a candidate has a GMAT score of 740 -- and decides to take it again for some reason -- and scores a 750 -- it actually hurts the candidate in a strange way. The more unfortunate ones have their score actually go down -- and that can be a bit of a problem as well.

Another point that I keep hearing is the importance of leadership, extracurricular activities and community initiatives -- something that a lot of applicants do not pay particular attention to. Quite a few of my college classmates participated in programs like "teach for America" and taught in tough urban neighborhoods, making a huge difference to society. Some of these people were rewarded with scholarships to some of the top b-schools and law schools.

i too agree with the importance of the extra curricular blah . i have seen people with below avg gmat getting into harvard and gsb with this social activities trash.

wonder if there is a way to boost the resume using this particular strategy. a few of my medico friends have done this successfully and have great results to show.

It is not the BLAH BLAH, but the impact that your BLAH BLAH made any were. Please understand the reason and reflect upon it rather than judging the activities of the candidates yourself.

Your line of reasoning is different from AdComs, so understanding the difference will be a better way to improve oneself. It is not mediocrity but maturity that matters coupled with a lot of other factors. Some are mentioned above.

Thanks bro - I can honestly say that after a relatively weak performance in quant, everything just came together on verbal. Never saw a question I didn't immediately know the answer to (and this had never happened to me before, not even close, on a practice CAT). I do wish I'd gotten my quant a little closer to 80%, (especially because then I would have like a 780 but overall I am pleased with my score.

Eh, I'm kinda in the same boat as you, scored a lot lower on my verbal than on my CATs (was scoring 45-50). In my situation, I don't feel like it's worth it for me to retake, especially since I'm applying for R1. I mean, a 20-40 point boost would be nice, but I don't think it will make or break the app. Honestly, if you're in for R1, just go ahead and work on the rest of the application. Getting the best GMAT score doesn't have the same effect on b-school as getting the best LSAT does on law school. A 720 won't torpedo your chances by any means.

This is completely true. If we were applying to Law School, where it's totally a numbers game, I'd get it. But adcoms for MBAs care more about your essays than do adcoms at Law Schools, so drive on and write better essays.

you just can t be disappointed from a 720! come on, it s a really good score...retake the exam if you really think you can easily top this score!!
anyway congrats

You might be over analyzing the importance of the GMAT. The schools need a common platform to check if an applicant is capable of handling the academics during his/her two years at school and the GMAT serves that purpose.

I think the reason Indian applicants tend to score well on the GMAT is that success in academics in India depends on acing standardized tests and that effect has spilled over to B school admissions too. Also, I find it difficult to believe that schools have different cutoffs for various backgrounds and quite honestly, I doubt that the schools would even bother to do such calculations. I'd think they would spend more time on reading essays and the other materials in an application than do such pain-staking research.

From what I've heard, a low GMAT (very less than the average GMAT for the school) can lower your odds of admission to your target schools but a high GMAT will not get you in. Unless you're way lower than the average GMAT, it should not matter much. It is a little similar to an interview: A bad interview can kill your chances but a great interview does not guarantee acceptance.

Also, 700-730 does not sound mediocre for an Indian applicant with work experience in the IT industry, even for a top 10 US B school.