isst80 wrote:
Male: 30, Canadian, Asian (Civilian not military)
Languages: English, Mandarin and Cantonese
Education:
- Electrical Engineering GPA 3.3 (B+) (top Canadian school)
- a few course in economics for fun after undergrad
- basic finance certification
GMAT: 710
Volunteer: Food bank intermittently for last 2 yrs (difficult hold down volunteer position due to work travel). Some minor volunteer work while at war zone for Canadian Family members.
WE1: 2 yrs software development
WE2: 6 yrs CIA type organization in Canada (3 promotions + awards). Even balance between HQ work and field work.
- HQ: Research, analysis, Led major projects (1M+ (big for my org)), lead tiger team, Team leader
- Field work: Deployments abroad including to a war zone leading small but high impact team and adviser to a 1-star General. Extensive work with int'l partners and US military forces.
Motivation: Use previous work experience + business fundamentals = new exciting challenges in finance and business
Goal: Finance and entrepreneurship
Targets: HBS, Booth, MIT, Wharton
Question: I scored about 5 points lower on Verbal than my practice test. Is a GMAT retake worth considering?
I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance.
You certainly have a unique profile! I don't think your GMAT score is the most important element of your application, so if you've surpassed the 80th percentile in both Quant and Verbal, you should be fine with the 710. However, if you feel it was just a fluke on test day, I don't see a downside to retaking it to see if you can easily boost to your natural performance level.