Andrii wrote:
Could you, please, evaluate my profile.
Age: 27
Gender: Male Ukrainian
GMAT: 650 (Q50/28) AWA 3.5
Education:
MSc. in Applied mathematics (finished 2008)
MSc. in Finance (finished 2009)
GPA:
Applied mathematics: 3.3
Finance: 3.1
Work-Experience:
Total 5.5 years at risk-management teams of Top Ukrainian’s banks. Developing score cards and other credit risk models. I work as a heard of decision science team (5 person) in a credit-risk department for the last 1,5 years ;
Extracurricular:
• Strong interest in using math. models in business environment;
• Strong programming skills (SAS, SQL). Has SAS base programmer certificate (2010).
I am looking for business school with decision-science or risk-management programs.
Questions:
1. Should I retake Gmat? I know that many people recommend me to retake Gmat because I have a big gap between math and verbal score but I am really tied from it. I have spent last 4 month preparing for verbal part and got quit poor result.
2. AWA 3.5 is appropriate for business school?
3. What schools I should apply? Do I have a chance to be admitted?
4. What scores will business school look if I get lower score on second try?
Thank you very much for your help.
Regards
Andrey.
Hi, Andrey. I do think it is worth finding a good verbal preparation program and trying to boost that score. While you come from a unique background - there are not many Ukranian applicants each year - I do think that the programs will be concerned that you will not be able to communicate in class, with your study groups, and in your written assignments with this score. Do not worry if the score drops - though I hope it doesn't: the schools only use the highest score in their assessment of your application.
In terms of programs,
Columbia,
Fuqua, George Washington University, and Baruch (Zicklin) offer strong decision sciences curricula. And
UT Austin, University of Georgia (Terry), and Temple offer a risk management concentration. Until you boost your verbal score, I tend to believe that Columbia, Fuqua, GWU, and UT Austin are going to be wary of accepting you. You might be put on the waitlist in the hope that you will retake the GMAT to boost your score, so my advice is to retake the test this summer instead.