JonAdmissionado wrote:
Dear Avantika,
Well, given your list, the first three schools will be most challenging. the others, you would have chances at, even if your GMAT is lower than average, because I feel your profile has a good basis. And Boston college is your one "safe school" which is great.
However, the big question is: If you had been expecting to get a 710 or so on the GMAT, what happened? And would it not be a better idea to retake and apply next year and get accepted to far better programs??? (If you feel you can do better on the GMAT)
GMAT was a disaster, I was regularly scoring close to 700 in the mocks and when I took the real test, I got a 640. I did take it again but did even worse - got a 570 2nd time. I certainly think I can do better than that, but, due to some personal and family commitments, I want to start b-school in fall 2013. Which is why I changed the school list and decided to give it a shot.
Also, to clarify, I have completed
https://mbamath.com/ before submitting the applications (except to USC) and have attached my transcripts to the application. I will also take quant, finance courses in spring/summer to make sure I am prepared for the rigors of the b-school. I have mentioned this in my optional essays, I don't know how much difference it will make (maybe the school will still consider my sub-par GMAT score if they think I will be prepared for b-school with those courses), but I wanted to give it a shot and see how it goes - specially since I know that my essays and recos are pretty solid and impressive. Does that make sense?
When you say the first three schools would be challenging, do you mean I have next to no chance there with a 640?