ak_idc wrote:
Thats an excellent analysis Pelihu. Now I understand how you got 6 in AWA
Before, I mentioned in another thread that I met two guys with less than 700 scores who went to Harvard and Wharton. As Pelihu said, they had exceptional background. One guy was a senior government officer, and won president's medal for his impeccable performance in tax collection. Another guy was a senior police officer, who was heading a 1400 strong anti-terrorist commando force, before he joined Wharton.
Besides, GMAT is the only thing we can improve on in a relatively short-term. Remaining all aspects of application, more or less are unchangeable, I think.
Thanks for the compliment ak_idc. Head of 1400 strong anti-terrorist commando force - now that is some leadership. Pretty unique too I'd say.
And you're totally correct about the GMAT being the only thing you can improve in the short-term. The only way I can improve my GPA is to get a time machine. Work experience and extracurricular involvement can't be changed in a few months without raising flags with the adcoms. Even with essays, you can spend plenty of time to polish them up to the best of your abilities, but there's no way to improve them much substantively if you don't have anything interesting and unique in your background to talk about.
I think it is just human nature how adcoms deal with GMAT scores; put yourself in their shoes. You work at an ultra-elite and you have a huge pile of apps to read in front of you, or it's the end of the day and you've been reading so much your eyes are blury. About 4,000 people have all been answering the exact same essay questions. You pick up an app with a 660 GMAT and mid-line GPA. You think to yourself, that's OK, but I have piles and piles of apps with better basic stats. You might just give it a quick look to see if there is anything truly unique that you want to add to your class, but how much attention can you give it before setting it aside and moving on? If, on the other hand, the app has a 760 GMAT or a 4.0 from Princeton, well, you might pay special attention and/or save it to read it again later. It's just human nature.