great discussion.
I have my doubts that GMAC will be able to perfectly co-relate IR with grander scheme of things (salary, job prospects etc.), but honestly, I would not be surprised if they were able to do that. I can see some co-relation, but only time will tell how significant it is. But again, we are talking about anywhere between 4-10 yrs so that they have enough data on the graduating class.
It would also be very interesting to know the co-relation between IR and the quant & verbal scores. At the end of the day, if IR is just an indicator of one's (advanced) quantitative abilities, it might not serve the purpose. Don't we already have quant scores for that?
I will be also interested to see whether the highly sought firms (consulting/PE) use IR as an indicator. It is unlikely, but, again, I would not rule out that possibility. Especially, because there is some overlap between the skillset required to succeed in the job. (data analysis)
These firms do conduct their own tests, but in future they might want to utilize a 'ready-made' data point, or use IR scores in conjugation with their own tests.
bb wrote:
However, grades and GPA in the Bschool is one of the most useless things after graduation. I am yet to see a job application that would have asked me about my Bschool GPA or my bschool transcript. Do you really care that someone got out of Booth with 3.5 and another person from HBS with 3.0? Are you going to take the Booth guy or an HBS guy? It is irrelevant. What matters the most is what they have been able to accomplish before their MBA and how BSchool has amplified and improved their skills/vision/qualities. Using the same logic, if you have nothing to show for your work experience before bschool or during the internship, then it does not matter how good your grades were or possibly even what school you went to - it is impossible to make a judgement about one just based on the fact that they had gone to a top mba program and received a GPA of x.
I wasn't aware of this, but I'm not too surprised either.
What about the first job after graduation ? Does your b-school gpa play an important role there? With all the non-disclosure policies and people from diff. schools interviewing together, is the bschool gpa just a hygiene factor?
Anyways for the OP, I will suggest to be adequately prepared and don't take the section very lightly. All this debate is great & interesting but just for what GMATNinja mentioned: 'analyzing intellectual and psychological challenges of the GMAT'.
There have been just way to many 'harmless' things that have come to bite me later in life