nayha wrote:
Hi, thanks for this great forum of advice.
I took the GMAT in October and received a 670 (42V, 96% and 39Q, 57%, AWA 5.5) I was very disappointed with the Quant score and studied like crazy and retook in November and received a 690 (41V, 93% and 42Q, 66%, AWA 6.0) As you can tell, I raised the Quant score but still not great. I am not going to retake the GMAT because I know this is about the best I can probably do give or take 10 points.
Here is some profile info and my questions are below:
- I graduated from The University of Texas- Austin in 2000 with an MIS-Business Degree, graduated with Honors in 3 years, GPA of 3.54
- Since then I have worked at PwC (IT Consultant), a start-up company (Business Analyst, consumer packaged goods focussed) and most recently for the last 3 years at a health care diagnostics company in Marketing (decided to switch careers, I have been promoted each year I have been there).
- I am an analyst and work heavily with analytics so I do lots of quantitiatve work. My undergrad GPA is a 3.54 with A's in stats and finance but a C in accounting, and I was born/raised in US.
I would like to apply to Kellogg 1 year, Columbia and I'm not sure where else to study Marketing. (I'm more interested in one year programs but I'm not completely against 2 year at all)
My questions:
1. am I competitive?
2. Will my GMAT quant score hold me down?
3. What can i do to make this look better?
4. What schools do you recommend based on this background?
I would like to focus on Marketing and am going back to get more experience in Marketing, learn from others, help bolster my business/mkt acumen because I would ultimately like to start my own small marketing consulting firm.
Thanks very much in advance, I know I wrote too much!
To answer your questions.
1) Yes you are still competitive, but you should probably point out why your quant score is not representative of your quant abilities. You can point to your work experience, your A's in quant subjects, etc. You should also ask your recommenders to comment positively on your quant and technical sckills.
2) Your quant score is a hurdle to overcome. It will raise eyebrows. You need to show them that it doesn't really represent your quant abilities by showing in other ways high capable you are.
3) See above. Also, please see "
MBA Admissions: Applying with Low GMAT/GPA"
4) In addition to the schools you mention, also consider the following programs: Duke, Haas, Michigan, Chicago, NYU, and UNC.
Good luck!