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680: Q39, V42 - :-(

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Manbehindthecurtain
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680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 12:48
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Well, I fell flat on my face during the quant. I really, really struggled with some relatively benign "solve the following equation" type questions- I just couldn't get my mind around common denominators of variable fraction expressions. Ugh.
Verbal obviously went pretty well, no real complaints there except for one RC question I knew I had wrong the instant after I pressed confirm.

I would appreciate any of your feedback on the following issues, as I am debating whether or not to take it again.
1) I'm not sure if I hit the submit button on time for my second essay- obviously if it comes back incomplete on the official report, I'm retaking it. Both of the Essays took me much longer than they did in practice tests.
2) My goal schools were Northwestern and Chicago, as there is a good possibility I may be moving to Chicago this Summer because my wife might "match" to Northwestern for medical residency. I work in Finance, and I KNOW my quantitative score was not reflective of my true ability- will such a glaring discrepancy on my report stand out, especially because the weakness is in Quant? Our other options for cities are Boston (this score gives me no chance at Harvard or MIT), and the Washington area (I don't know much about the quality of Georgetown, GWU, UMD).


I really had my heart set on doing 700+, and I am partially debating whether an MBA not in the top 10 is worth getting at all (on your own dime). I'd appreciate your thoughts.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 13:10
Man,

That is not a bad score

If you think can you do better there is nothing wrong with re-taking the test.

Are you looking at full-time or part-time?

I am applying to part-time for Kellogg and Chicago right now.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 13:14
Sorry, you didn't do as well as you wanted to. But I think you're getting discouraged too quickly if you're reconsidering doing an MBA altogether just based on a "weak" GMAT score.

What I can tell you that if you run out of time on the AWA, whatever portion you already had written down is going to be entered as your response. So if you had finished the essay and just ran out of time before hitting 'submit', you're still in good shape.

A 680 is a pretty decent score, but from what I've heard on this forum, most schools want a 80/80 percentile split on GMAT scores. But take that with a grain of salt. Nobody's corroborated this as being part of an official admissions policy. I know a q39 is a bit below that threshold, but you have to decide really how willing you are to take the GMAT again.

If you've taken a lot of quant in your college days, then that probably mitigates the quant score a little. Or you may simply want to take a couple of math classes from some local college and get A's on them. It's all up to you really.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   Updated on: 29 Jan 2008, 21:04
solaris1 wrote:
A 680 is a pretty decent score, but from what I've heard on this forum, most schools want a 80/80 percentile split on GMAT scores. But take that with a grain of salt. Nobody's corroborated this as being part of an official admissions policy. I know a q39 is a bit below that threshold, but you have to decide really how willing you are to take the GMAT again.

If you've taken a lot of quant in your college days, then that probably mitigates the quant score a little. Or you may simply want to take a couple of math classes from some local college and get A's on them. It's all up to you really.


Well I have a degree from Penn State in Finance, and have worked in corporate finance for 4 years. I don't know why I struggled with it so much, but alas, there it is. I had As in all my finance classes, an A- in Calculus... I know I can do better than this.

What do you think about this logistically - My wife has to basically choose which city we are moving to one month from today. I'm going to have to leave my job at the end of the year and either find something new, or as I had planned, enroll in an MBA program. I really, really want Northwestern, because I really like the school, but it is really hard to say "well if I move to Chicago, the only schools that I would consider are NW and Chicago GSB."

Question is, do I move ahead applying to NW and Chicago with this score (and in my opinion, a strong student profile given my work experience), try again and go to Chicago regardless, or push my wife to go to the D.C area where there are more schools available with this type of score. Hooray for life choices.

Originally posted by Manbehindthecurtain on 29 Jan 2008, 13:23.
Last edited by Manbehindthecurtain on 29 Jan 2008, 21:04, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 13:32
Ok - and I have to ask you this - do you seriously care which school you go to, or do you just want to apply to the best school in whatever city you end up? Does your wife have a preference as to where she'd rather do her residency?

And btw, I'm just a 'kid' who's not going to b-school for another couple of years, is not married etc. etc. so take my 'advice' with a grain of salt as well :D
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 13:39
solaris1 wrote:
Ok - and I have to ask you this - do you seriously care which school you go to, or do you just want to apply to the best school in whatever city you end up? Does your wife have a preference as to where she'd rather do her residency?

And btw, I'm just a 'kid' who's not going to b-school for another couple of years, is not married etc. etc. so take my 'advice' with a grain of salt as well :D


I do care- I really like Northwestern, but its like an all or non proposition right now. I don't feel like I have the luxury of having any "safety" schools if I am limited geographically the way that I am. My wife likes the programs in Boston the most, but I would certainly rather be in Chicago. I think I'm answering my own question.

I guess I am generally disappointed right now because I did not perform to my potential, and I would much rather have felt like "gee I have a real shot at NW with this score, lets go for it!" Instead, things are just as uncertain as they were 6 hours ago.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 14:20
Well let's see - I think you two are going to have to make a compromise somewhere regardless of where you move.

First of all, you can never realistically predict your chances of admission at any school. So think about that.

If you convince your wife to take up residency in Chicago, then my suggestion would be you to retake the GMAT and apply to Kellogg and Chicago. If you don't get in however, would you be prepared to consider the Part Time programs at these schools?

Otherwise, move to Boston and keep your wife happy. But apply to Kellogg nevertheless *and* come to a consensus with your wife that a move to Boston comes with the possibility that the two of you will be a few hundred miles apart for a year or two. In addition, apply to places like BC or BU (I don't know what else is there in the Boston area) which are less selective but considering you have a pretty good profile, may give you scholarship money.

You don't sound that enthusiastic about DC, and if your wife feels the same you should probably scratch that option entirely and make your decision a little less complex.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 14:35
Heya ManBehindTheCurtain,


firstly, 680 is not a bad score. Its respectable and decent.

Secondly, most people on this forum, an in general struggle either in Verbal (coming from eng/finance/IT background).

If you look at your verbal score, its more solid than a NFL linebacker.

So, lets analyse this a bit more. You want 700+ rite. I have attached a xls sheet here (that i downloaded from another thread). If you keep your verbal in shape (just a bit of practice here and there), you can increase your quant to 45-47, that 700 is all yours.

And guess what, most people agree that Quant is slightly easier to improve than Verbal, purely based on the fact that its easier to identify weak areas and work on them. An besides, you are in finance and got an A- in calculus dude, so don't sweat so much.

anyways, the above only applies if you are considering retaking the GMAT. Keep us posted, in the mean time, take your wife out for a nice dinner over a late harvest pinot noir, because i am sure like my wife she had to put up with a lot during the study.

don't sweat,

Peace
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 15:31
solaris1 wrote:
First of all, you can never realistically predict your chances of admission at any school. So think about that.

If you convince your wife to take up residency in Chicago, then my suggestion would be you to retake the GMAT and apply to Kellogg and Chicago. If you don't get in however, would you be prepared to consider the Part Time programs at these schools?

You don't sound that enthusiastic about DC, and if your wife feels the same you should probably scratch that option entirely and make your decision a little less complex.


I agree. We both like Chicago, her top pick just would have been Boston. I'm so close to the range I need to be in to be competitive @ NW, that I'd be silly not to go for it and to force either of us to "settle" elsewhere.
So, I'll take another month of studying, and redouble my efforts in quant, and hope for the best.

Need some practical advice though, I am all out of practice material - what do you recommend for nailing down the quant? I'm actually better at the mid to advanced range stuff than some of the basic number props and algebra.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   29 Jan 2008, 16:00
Sorry you aren't overly thrilled with your 680...but many people out there would kill for a score like that on the GMAT. If you honestly think you can improve on that score in a month I would suggest retaking it. If I were in your shoes and opted not to retake the test I would be walking around with that big "what if..." in the back of my mind.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   Updated on: 30 Jan 2008, 10:03
eschn3am wrote:
Sorry you aren't overly thrilled with your 680...but many people out there would kill for a score like that on the GMAT. If you honestly think you can improve on that score in a month I would suggest retaking it. If I were in your shoes and opted not to retake the test I would be walking around with that big "what if..." in the back of my mind.


I do think I can improve on it, but my weaknesses are in some of the more basic types of questions. For example, my first question was

The question isn't "would someone else kill for my GMAT score of 680" as much as it is "will 680 with my profile get me into Northwestern?"

***Thanks for the heads up RiverRipper, RiverRipper

Originally posted by Manbehindthecurtain on 29 Jan 2008, 21:00.
Last edited by Manbehindthecurtain on 30 Jan 2008, 10:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   30 Jan 2008, 01:35
if you do choose to retake, a tip on how to quickly and safely answer these types of questions is plugging-in (got it from PR).

1) pick a possibe value for x (in your example, you cant choose 1) and plug it into the stem then solve. store that result somewhere on your work sheet.
2) take that same value for x and plug it into every MC and solve. once you get the same result as the one you got from the stem, you have your answer.

dont break your head with solving these equations using algebra... good luck
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Re: 680: Q39, V42 - :-( [#permalink] 680: Q39, V42 - :-(   15 Mar 2008, 21:20
buffdaddy wrote:
Heya ManBehindTheCurtain,


firstly, 680 is not a bad score. Its respectable and decent.

Secondly, most people on this forum, an in general struggle either in Verbal (coming from eng/finance/IT background).

If you look at your verbal score, its more solid than a NFL linebacker.

So, lets analyse this a bit more. You want 700+ rite. I have attached a xls sheet here (that i downloaded from another thread). If you keep your verbal in shape (just a bit of practice here and there), you can increase your quant to 45-47, that 700 is all yours.

And guess what, most people agree that Quant is slightly easier to improve than Verbal, purely based on the fact that its easier to identify weak areas and work on them. An besides, you are in finance and got an A- in calculus dude, so don't sweat so much.

anyways, the above only applies if you are considering retaking the GMAT. Keep us posted, in the mean time, take your wife out for a nice dinner over a late harvest pinot noir, because i am sure like my wife she had to put up with a lot during the study.

don't sweat,

Peace

thanks for the grid. very helpful
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