A little hope for those that struggle. ACCEPTED

I wanted to share my experience with you all in an effort to give hope to those that believe a test cannot predict your ability in getting into bschool or how well you will do when there. I rarely posted but I was on the site for a solid year everyday. I loved it.

I studied for about 1 year with little results.
1. Princeton Review (twice) low 500's
2. Bell Curves private tutor. $3k and the biggest waste of money in the entire process. My score went down 100 points. Probably one of the lowest points in my life and was not able to get any of my $ back.
3. Self study with MGMAT...absolutely the way to go content and price.

But...still had an issue with test anxiety. I was finally able to score mid 600's on any given day on MGMAT practice exams and GMATPrep exams. I just could not break 600 on the real test.

At the end of it all I never broke 600 on the real test (4 tries) but I had this belief that I was made for a top b school. So I made sure that my application was air tight on the other aspects.

I applied to 6 schools (all tier 1, 2 in the top 10). I have been accepted to 3 so far waitlisted at 1, still waiting on 2. One of the accepted - a top 10. I say this not to brag but to give hope to others. GMAT is not the end all but I put myself in a very hard spot. I put myself at the mercy of who ever read my app. My essays were really good but I also worked on them for a year. My answers to Why MBA Why Now were on point. I interview for my company so my interview skills were sharp. I did many practice interviews with alumni. My undergrad major and gpa, resume and work experience are pretty good too. I knew my app was good, just 1 weakness. I also wrote a really good supplemental essay to explain my gmat. I held off applying for a full year to make sure everything else was great not just good.

Advice - believe in yourself no matter what. At the end of the day 10% get IN under the 80% range of any school. I was one of them. I prayed about it, believed and was blessed. See you ladies and gents this fall in the Ivy league.

Thanks everyone for your help

Thank you for posting this - Congratulations on acceptance!!!

This is an outstanding post. Thanks for the encouragement.

congrats and thank you for the words of encouragement.

Congratulations on acceptance.

Good post Castro.. truly inspiring..Congratulations for the acceptances!!

Congrats! I just sent you a PM if you can answer my questions, I would really appreciate it, thanks!

Hi everyone, similar story here. Took the test four times. The first time I got a dismal 400, the fourth time I got a very mediocre 560. I am happy to report that the fourth time was the last time. Today I was notified that I have been accepted into a top 10 program! WOO HOO! There is hope!!!

Hey Fawreel congratulations for getting accepted..which program did you get into?

Thanks Abhi! I got accepted into Duke's MBA program. Needless to say, I am very excited!

Congratulations this time for getting accepted in Duke's..the excitement is well deserved..

Hi Castrocmc,

I'm stuck in a similar situation as you. My overall background is great however, my GMAT is lacking for top 20 schools. I applied to Columbia, Fordham, UC Irvine, Emory, NYU, UCLA, USC, and have been dinged from Columbia and waitlisted at UC Irvine and Emory. My GMAT Score is as follows.

580 Q44 V27 AWA 5.0
610 Q44 V30 AWA 6.0
550 Q45 V22 AWA 5.5

Obviously not what I was looking for, I feel like I am stupid or something...I'm quite disappointed at myself, can you let us know which schools you were accepted to?

Hey mrturbo, trust me I have been there and still am a little. I look at people who are able to score 680 no sweat and I struggle just to break a 600 and can't help but feel stupid. But you know what? The GMAT is good for one and one thing only; Testing how well you can do taking the GMAT and other standardized tests. It in no way measures how smart you are or how successful you will be. So don't be too hard on yourself.

For those that got in with low GMAT scores, did you happen to have a high GPA to offset them? I unfortunately don't have that going for me, although I do have 12 years experience and two engineering degrees from a top 10 engineering school, my GPA however - 2.81. I made a 650 on my GMAT, lol then a 610.

What do you think of my chances? Also do you think the applications are down compared to last year? I applied last year and it was nuts.

P.S. bb its good to see you, I'm going to give it another shot next year. Started studying for the GMAT again. Oh Boy.

^^^with a 650 -- if your work experience is stellar, i think you stand a chance. low gpa, decent (not low) gmat, i think you stand a chance if you make a compelling argument in your essays. additionally, i'd see if i could meet with one of the admissions people to give your application a nudge. essentially, you're selling yourself so if/when you meet with an admissions councelor, make sure you are able to convey WHY you would be a good fit for the school within a reasonable amount of time. tell them briefly about the past, your present and how the degree at this school will shape your future or how you indend on using it.

I have struggled wilth GMAT and have scores from 480 to 590 (Q45, V26). I do not think I can improve in verbal as I am very slow in the reading comprehension section and this affects the rest of the test. It made me feel good to read this post as I see that there are few like me out there and have succeeded. I hope to succeed as well. I have applied at a few US schools and I am waiting for the results.
My MGMAT scores were between 650 and 690, GMAT prep scores were also inbetween the 600s, however, on the real test I could not break the 600 bracket. I think the prep books, tutoring classes etc provide about 40%-50% of the real test content. What I have seen on the real GMAT at the level where one can score above and beyond 600s, appears nowhere. The classes and training provides you with the familiarity on the topic. The OGs' synopsis on the content if one were to go solely by it (as I did for the first test) is very misleading as the questions are never phrased straight to the point but intentionally made to mislead or "get you" in the short time that you have per question. Only a very few of the OG questions (the latter ones) are somewhat near to the actual GMAT, maybe one or two actually reflect the real test.
It only makes me wonder whether in the real world with an MBA one is expected to make a business decision at all times in a couple of minutes or is everyone out there in business is waiting to con or swindle you.
The post of castrocmc gave me hope and I thank him/her for it.

very good part ... thanks

hi guys the same story i just came back from the GMAT so a scored a low 560(q48,v21) can you pls help me in which colleges can i apply or should i retake the gmat. the last GREP score was a 600

thks

Thanks for this post guys! I'm waiting for the answer from USC and UCLA, and my hope is getting lower. I took the GMAT 3 times, i canceled the first one, got a 500 at the second try, then got diagnosed with ADHD (it doesn't even exist in France) and scored 610 under medication (i was feeling totally high during the all test).

I wanted to take it a fourth time but i didn't have the time before the third round (1month delay between two tests).

My profile: Master of science in finance with a GPA of 3.73, 7 years of professional experience in multiple countries (France, Australia, Portugal...). I think i have a strong application but i maybe fool myself...

I got accepted at Pepperdine and I really like this school, but the people on this website have apparently a low opinion about it. Do you know exactly why?

Hi castrocmc,

Can you please reply to my PM.