otaviolacerda wrote:
Dear all: I scored 700 on the GMAT (43Q/42V) and since I was not invited to interview, obviously I will be either waitlisted or dinged.
In order to show them I can handle Quant subjects on the MBA Program, do u guys think I should retake the test or enroll online Math classes such as MBA Math ?
I'm a 30 years old Brazilian lawyer with a 7-year work experience:
3 years working as a lawyer; and
4 years working both as a CEO and as a Board Member.
Tks.
I was almost in the same shoes. I got a 710 Q44 V42 and applied with that, and I too was not invited to interview.
I'm guessing as a lawyer you did not have many quantitative subjects at university? I did have some, but my undergrad scores were not amazing. Good scores in quantitative subjects can mitigate a so-so GMAT quant, but I don't know if you had any.
As for me, I did both, I retook the test and signed up for MBA Math, and I wrote in my application that I would do so. This doesn't appear to have helped, unfortunately. After all, the quant side of things is only one element to your application, so even if you had a great GMAT you may be turned down for another reason entirely. I also sent them my updated GMAT score (750 Q49 V44) but they said they would not consider it unless I wanted to move my application to Round 3. I tried to get a feel from them regarding whether they advised me to do so, and they just said that Round 3 is more competitive, which I took as either a subtle hint to not move to Round 3 or just them stating the facts (and those facts were what made me decide to apply in Round 2 in the first place, so I decided that I was going to stick with it in Round 2).
In your shoes, I would definitely try to retake the test, but that depends on whether you have reason to believe you will do better. For example, I had done better on a few mock exams, and I knew I could dedicate some time to intensive study. I switched from textbooks to
Magoosh when preparing for my retake, which was a much better fit for me (I seem to learn better visually and verbally, rather than from reading), and focused on time management for quant (particularly that I need to be *ahead* of time earlier in the test, because as the questions get harder it gets harder and harder to keep up). Regardless, what is clear is that if you land on the waitlist they are on the fence about you, and in my mind that means you need to give them something that pushes you to the right side =)